José Luis Irarrázaval

Doctoral Candidate in Philosophy at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Instructor at Universidad de los Andes (Chile), Center of General Studies

My dissertation, "The Impossibility of Infinite Causal Regress and the Distinction Between Per Se and Per Accidens Infinity in Thomas Aquinas," examines a widespread assumption in contemporary scholarship —particularly within analytic Thomism— namely, that Aquinas's rejection of an infinite regress in the first and second ways rests on the distinction between essentially and accidentally ordered causal series. Working through the relevant texts in three groups (the non est procedere in infinitum premise in the context of the ways; the per se / per accidens distinction as applied to causal series and to the eternity of the world; and its application to infinite multitudes), I argue that this reading is inadequate, and that Aquinas most likely kept the distinction out of his theistic proofs deliberately.

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