ABSTRACT
There is a long tradition among Christian philosophers that ontological realism is the cornerstone of Christian philosophy, although of course many centuries have been spent arguing over just what realism actually is. The question of universals and of the intelligibility of being did not impact only on the question of the ontological status of universals, but also on the epistemological question about the intellectual knowledge of particulars. The difference between Plato and Aristotle turns on the intelligibility of being: Plato began with pure intelligibility, and pushed real things off into the domain of illusion. The relationship between German idealism and the broader movement we have called 'modern rationalism' is close and yet full of tension. It was in German idealism that freedom and the self-constitution of reason became the highest values. The twin desire, Kant and Transcendental Idealism, to know being as it is and to construct a system came together in this current of philosophy.
