ASEITY (Lat. aseitas, from a se «from itself, by itself»). - The property of a reality that does not derive its being from another. In Christian philosophy, aseity is a perfection exclusive to God, the underived and unparticipated Being, a se and per se. According to the doctrine of certain Thomists, aseity would further indicate the metaphysical nature of God: the metaphysical nature of God being understood as that fundamental note of the divine essence which, according to the human mode of knowing, is the first root of God's distinction from every created being, and the foundation of every other attribute of his. According to the more genuine Thomist thought, however, the doctrine that prevails is the one that places the metaphysical essence of God in the pure actuality of the divine being "per se subsistens." It is this infinity and self-subsistence of the divine being that grounds and explains, for us, his aseity.
Opposed to aseitas, in scholastic terminology, is the term abafetas (ab alio "from another").
Bellofiore, Luigi. “Aseità (Lat. Aseitas, da a se « da sé, per sé »).” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, col. 105. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/aseita-lat-aseitas-da-a-se-da-se-per-se.
MLA
Bellofiore, Luigi. “Aseità (Lat. Aseitas, da a se « da sé, per sé »).” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, col. 105. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/aseita-lat-aseitas-da-a-se-da-se-per-se.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec2_aseita_lat_aseitas_da_a_se_da,
author = {Bellofiore, Luigi},
title = {Aseità (Lat. Aseitas, da a se « da sé, per sé »)},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {II},
pages = {105},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1949},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/aseita-lat-aseitas-da-a-se-da-se-per-se}
}
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