7 - Analogy

Summary

In the writing of Thomas Aquinas, and more widely, the metaphysics of participation goes hand in hand with an account of language set out in terms of analogy (and particularly in relation to religious language). The question of how human words can have the capacity to bear witness to God isacknowledged as a real and considerable problem. The response provided here comes from Aquinas: words that we have learned, in by use in relation to creatures, can have bearing for discussion of God (not least as given in revelation) because the perfections that we name in creatures are first, foundationally, and causally, in God. The approach summed up as 'analogy' is contrasted with two others: equivocity and univocity. An analogical approach to language is seen to be present in the scriptures. The chapter closes with a survey of some of the forms of analogy that were put forth in the High Middle Ages.