Published in The rise and fall of Western tradition

Language:

Spanish

This article analyzes De ente et essentia by Thomas Aquinas as one of the fundamental ontological frameworks that contributed to shaping the Western intellectual tradition. It argues that the introduction of the real distinction between essentia and esse constituted a decisive reformulation of Aristotelian metaphysics, shifting the focus from substance to the act of being (actus essendi). The study further examines how this structure addresses the tension between the finitude of created beings and the necessity of an absolute foundation (Ipsum Esse Subsistens). The article also explores the projection of this synthesis within the Spanish Second Scholasticism, particularly the School of Salamanca, where the ontology of the act of being acquires a normative dimension. In this context, human dignity is grounded not as a legal concession but as an inherent property derived from participation in being. Finally, the Suárezian turn is examined as a moment of systematization which, by conceptualizing ens as an object of thought, contributed—through various mediations—to the transition toward modern rationalism.