ABSTRACT
In Chapter 9, Andrea Aldo Robiglio pays attention to the fact that the notion of recognition, as far as the oeuvre of Thomas Aquinas is concerned, is still waiting for a survey. This is the aim of his contribution, which proposes a twofold approach. On the one hand, it tries to provide a concise overview of the different ways and modes in which Aquinas uses the vocabulary of recognition, especially in the use of verbs such as acceptare, agnoscere, colere, commendare, confiteri, honorare, laudare, recognoscere, revereri, salutare, and suscipere. In such a line of inquiry, some attention must be paid to Aquinas’ commentaries on the Scripture as an underrated source for genuine philosophical analysis. On the other hand, however, the study vindicates an original conception of recognition, coalescent with cognate notions like ‘reverence’, ‘testimony’, and ‘divine honour’ (all of them scantly explored in the case of Aquinas). The crucial texts, in this second case, are taken from the Summa theologiae, arguably Aquinas’ more personal work, and especially from its Second Part. Even though on the notion of ‘reverence’ (reverentia) one can find some significant scholarly contributions (e.g., R. Heintzman’s Rediscovering Reverence, 2011), the implications for the question of recognition have so far remained unexplored. At the junction of these two lines of investigation, Aquinas’ conception should finally manifest its structure and peculiar characteristics when applied to the proper relationship between God and humans, which constitutes in itself a peculiar sort of asymmetrical relation. Finally, it will be possible to sketch a few cases of successful ‘recognition’ which Aquinas finds in the Holy Scripture and elaborates upon: they might work as a litmus test for the categories previously uncovered.
