Thomas Aquinas commentary

Thomas Aquinas, Commentaries on Aristotle s Metaphysics, tram. John P. Rowan (Dumb Ox Books Notre Dame) 1995, p. 373. 

Aquinas, Thomas. Aurora consurgans a document attributed to Thomas Aquinas on the problem of opposites in alchemy edited, with a commentary by Marie-Louise von Franz translated by R F C. Hull and A.S.B. Glover. Edited by Marie-Louise von Franz. Translated by R F C. Hull and A.S.B. Glover. London New York Routledge Kegan Paul Pantheon, 1966 reprint, Toronto (ON) Inner City Books, 2000. xv, 555 p. 

Whatever Albert s final position on alchemy may have been, he exercised a serious influence on later commentators of the Sentences. His student Thomas Aquinas, who began lecturing on the Sentences in 1252, takes much the same position as Albert in his own commentary on book 2, distinction 7. Thomas begins his question by asking whether demons can induce a true corporeal effect in corporeal matter. Like Albert, he then proceeds to give a list of negative answers. A number of these are astrological, and have no concern for us. Alchemy soon appears, however, in the fifth responsio quod non ... 

Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, Tertiapars, Quaestio 77, Articulus 2. Thomas s commentary on Aristotle s Meteorology contains a favorable treatment of alchemical gold, but the section of the text where this occurs is not by Thomas, but rather a continuation by one of his followers. For discussion, see Newman, Technology and Alchemical Debate, 437. 

While working on his various commentaries, which took 20 years to complete, Albert became quite respected and enjoyed a reputation as an authority in his own right. He may have been quoted as often as the original Arabian philosophers and even Aristotle. Association with Albert was likewise a step toward respect and authority Among Albert s disciples was the famous Thomas Aquinas. 

Many commentaries are available on the works of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas that summarize the degrees of abstraction that distinguish the speculative sciences. See, for example, Maritain (1959, pp. 35-36) and Te Velde (2006, pp. 51-53). 

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