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Thetranscendentals (Latin:transcendentalia, from transcendere "to exceed") are "properties ofbeing", nowadays commonly considered to betruth, unity (oneness), beauty, andgoodness.[citation needed] The conceptual idea arose from medievalscholasticism, namelyAquinas but originated withPlato,Augustine, andAristotle in the West.
From the time ofAlbertus Magnus in theHigh Middle Ages, the transcendentals have been the subject ofmetaphysics. Although there was disagreement about their number, there was consensus that, in addition to the basic concept ofbeing itself (ens), unity (unum), truth (verum) and goodness (bonum) were part of the transcendental family.[1] Since then, essence (res), otherness (aliquid) and, more recently, beauty (pulchrum) have been added.[citation needed] Today, they are found in theology, particularly in Catholic thought, as unity, truth, goodness and beauty.[citation needed]
Parmenides first inquired of the properties co-extensive with being.[2]Socrates, spoken throughPlato, then followed (seeForm of the Good).
Aristotle'ssubstance theory (being a substance belongs to beingqua being) has been interpreted as a theory of transcendentals.[3] Aristotle discusses only unity ("One") explicitly because it is the only transcendental intrinsically related to being, whereas truth and goodness relate to rational creatures.[4]
In theMiddle Ages,Catholic philosophers elaborated the thought that there exist transcendentals (transcendentalia) and that they transcended each of the ten Aristoteliancategories.[5] A doctrine of the transcendentality of the good was formulated byAlbert the Great.[6] His pupil,Saint Thomas Aquinas, posited six transcendentals:ens, res, unum, aliquid, bonum, verum; or “being,” "thing", "one", "something", "good", and "true".[7] Saint Thomas derives the six explicitly as transcendentals,[8] though in some cases he follows the typical list of the transcendentals consisting of the One, the Good, and the True. The transcendentals areontologically one and thus they are convertible: e.g., where there is truth, there is being and goodness also.
InChristian theology the transcendentals are treated in relation totheology proper, the doctrine ofGod. The transcendentals, according to Christian doctrine, can be described as the ultimate desires of man. Man ultimately strives for perfection, which takes form through the desire for perfect attainment of the transcendentals. TheCatholic Church teaches that God is Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, as indicated in theCatechism of the Catholic Church.[9] Each transcends the limitations of place and time, and is rooted in being. The transcendentals are not contingent upon cultural diversity, religious doctrine, or personal ideologies, but are the objective properties of all that exists.[citation needed]
Modern “integral” or holistic philosophy within theWilberian lineage, as well as Steve Mctintosh, author ofEvolution’s Purpose seek to integrate Beauty,Truth, and Goodness as necessary requisites of all evolution in the Kosmos (body, mind, soul, spirit) within the individual at the microcosmic developmental level, as well as sociologically.
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