Thomas Aquinas’ Metaphysics of Creation as Relation

Abstract

The concept of creation in the tradition of human thought was investigated in the theological perspective—to explain the article of faith about the origin and God-world relation. Recently, the understanding of the issue has often been dominated by an ideologically based dispute between so called creationism and evolutionism.

In his theory of creation (mostly contained in De Potentia, Summa contra Gentiles and Summa Theologica), Thomas Aquinas uses strictly philosophical instruments to analyze the problem. It allows to treat the issue of creation as a detailed explanation of the metaphysical causation theory. Furthermore, it lets us define the nature of relation between the Creator as the First Cause and the world—the set of created beings.

The concept of creation is therefore a metaphysical explanation of ontic pluralism and contingency, that is, the existence of many beings (more than one) which do not have the necessity of existence. Creation is a way of explanation how the First Cause acts, which results in the existence of numerous accidental beings. It is not a transformation or a creation of something on the basis of previous elements. It is a production in being with no previous conditions (creatio ex nihilo). The formal end of the creative action is the act of existence of accidental beings.

The creation of accidental beings generates a mutual relation of the Creator and the created beings. For the Creator (creatio activa), the creation is his own nature (Subsistent Existence) in its relation to the created beings. Such a connection has a feature of a mental relation, as practically it is not different from the nature of the Creator. For the created beings the creation (creatio passiva) is a real dependence in existence of the created beings on the Creator. This relation is a real accident, inherent in every created being, which means it is a predicable relation in the category of property (proprium).