Book contents
- Suárez’s Metaphysical Disputations
- CAMBRIDGE CRITICAL GUIDES
- Suárez’s Metaphysical Disputations
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I The Character of Suárez’s Metaphysical Disputations
- Part II Being, Its Properties, and Ancillary Notions
- Chapter 2 Suárez’s Metaphysics of Modality
- Chapter 3 The Analogy of the True
- Chapter 4 Suárez, Extrinsic Denomination, and the Explicatio Entis
- Chapter 5 Suárez on the Origin of Falsity
- Chapter 6 Something About Nothing
- Chapter 7 Suárez on Distinctions
- Part III Causation
- Part IV Corporeal Substance
- Part V Categories
- Bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE CRITICAL GUIDES
Chapter 7 - Suárez on Distinctions
from Part II - Being, Its Properties, and Ancillary Notions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2025
Book contents
- Suárez’s Metaphysical Disputations
- CAMBRIDGE CRITICAL GUIDES
- Suárez’s Metaphysical Disputations
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I The Character of Suárez’s Metaphysical Disputations
- Part II Being, Its Properties, and Ancillary Notions
- Chapter 2 Suárez’s Metaphysics of Modality
- Chapter 3 The Analogy of the True
- Chapter 4 Suárez, Extrinsic Denomination, and the Explicatio Entis
- Chapter 5 Suárez on the Origin of Falsity
- Chapter 6 Something About Nothing
- Chapter 7 Suárez on Distinctions
- Part III Causation
- Part IV Corporeal Substance
- Part V Categories
- Bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE CRITICAL GUIDES
Summary
Suárez offered a rich analysis of three types of distinction, which continued to be important in early modern philosophy: the conceptual distinction (distinction of reason), the real distinction, and the modal distinction. They are commonly understood in terms of separability, but for Suárez, separability was merely a sign of specific types of distinctions. And he argued that mutual separability is neither necessary nor sufficient for a real distinction. Furthermore, he required knowledge of actual cases of mutual separation as a sign of real distinction. This chapter examines the real distinction and modal distinction in early modern philosophy. Descartes inherited Suárez’s view that separability is a mere sign and examination of Suárez’s theory results in elegant solutions to thorny problems in Descartes’s theory of body. Finally, the notion of a mode played an important role in arguments for immaterial beings in Descartes and various other early modern philosophers, including Leibniz.
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- Suárez's Metaphysical DisputationsA Critical Guide, pp. 123 - 142Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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