Bonaventure’s metaphysical thought and his interpretation of Aristotle Contemporary scholarship on Bonaventure has characterized him as the Neo-platonic foil to the Aristotelianism of his day. The present book, however, shows a Bonaventure who is highly enthusiastic about utilizing the philosophy of Aristotle, and who centers much of his philosophical project around interpreting and understanding the texts of Aristotle. Two goals are central to this book. The first is to shed light on Bonaventure’s greatly understudied ontology and theory of forms, demonstrating how his philosophical system is an important and unique alternative to other medieval Aristotelian systems. The second is to establish, more broadly, how Bonaventure’s interpretation of Aristotle is a resource which should be mined for contemporary efforts in thinking about and reading Aristotle himself. Contemporary scholarship on Bonaventure has characterized him as the Neo-platonic foil to the Aristotelianism of his day. The present book, however, shows a Bonaventure who is highly enthusiastic about utilizing the philosophy of Aristotle, and who centers much of his philosophical project around interpreting and understanding the texts of Aristotle. Two goals are central to this book. The first is to shed light on Bonaventure’s greatly understudied ontology and theory of forms, demonstrating how his philosophical system is an important and unique alternative to other medieval Aristotelian systems. The second is to establish, more broadly, how Bonaventure’s interpretation of Aristotle is a resource which should be mined for contemporary efforts in thinking about and reading Aristotle himself. Acknowledgements Abbreviations for Editions and Translations of Primary Texts Introduction Chapter 1. Historical Background 1. The Neoplatonic via Proclus: The One and the Many 2. The Problem of Neoplatonism in the Christian Tradition 3. Aristotle via Avicenna and the Early Franciscan Tradition, or What Exactly Is Aristotelianism? Chapter 2. The Theory of Forms in Thomas Aquinas 1. The Structure of Creation 2. Participation 3. Participation in the Fourth Way? 4. Participation in Exemplar Causes? 5. Conclusion Chapter 3. The Controversy: Bonaventure and Aristotle 1. History of Scholarship on Bonaventure 2. The “Anti-Aristotelianism” of the Collationes Chapter 4. An Aristotelian Account of Universals 1. Form, Esse, Actuality, Goodness 2. Universal Forms and Seminal Reasons 3. Universals 4. Conclusion Chapter 5. Forms as Caused by God 1. God Beyond Being 2. Exemplar Causation 3. A Multiplicity of Ideas? 4. Conclusion Chapter 6. Forms in the Natural World 1. Individuation 2. Light and the Question of a Plurality of Substantial Forms 3. Causation 4. Evil 5. Conclusion Conclusion Bibliography Primary Sources Secondary Sources Index