Étienne Gilson: Thought

Étienne Gilson was French historian and philosopher. Explore interesting quotes on thought.

Étienne Gilson: 44 quotes3 likes

“While Descartes finds being in thought, Saint Thomas finds thought in being.”

Étienne Gilson

Methodical Realism

“Having left us with thought (not a soul), and extension (not a body), [Descartes] does not know how to account for the union of soul and body.”

Étienne Gilson

Methodical Realism

“What, then, will this philosophy be? Thomas only employed it for the service it renders Christian wisdom. No doubt this is why he never thought of separating it from this wisdom and giving it a name. He probably did not foresee that the day would come when people would go through his works to extract the elements of a philosophy from his theology. He himself never attempted this synthesis.”

Étienne Gilson

Introduction
Thomism: The Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas

“Having expelled quality from the field of extension, [idealists] do not know how to account for it when it reappears in thought.”

Étienne Gilson

Methodical Realism

“Every given reality implies the thought which apprehends it. Therefore being is the condition of knowing; knowing is not the condition of being.”

Étienne Gilson

Methodical Realism

“The mathematician always proceeds from thought to being or things. Consequently, critical idealism was born the day Descartes decided that the mathematical method must henceforth be the method for metaphysics.”

Étienne Gilson

Methodical Realism

“All realism derives from the analysis of knowledge; all idealism derives from the analysis of a thought.”

Étienne Gilson

Methodical Realism