Course of Thomistic Philosophy III, Natural Philosophy II - Edouard Hugon

This third volume continues Hugon’s systematic exposition of Thomistic natural philosophy, completing the study of the physical order begun in the previous book. It further develops the Aristotelian-Thomistic account of the material world, deepening the analysis of nature as a dynamic reality governed by intrinsic principles.

Working within the framework of Thomas Aquinas and Aristotelian physics, Hugon examines more advanced topics in cosmology and the philosophy of nature, including the structure and properties of bodies, the elements, the principles of change, and the hierarchy of natural beings. Special attention is given to the intelligibility of natural processes and the metaphysical foundations that underlie physical explanation, such as act and potency, substantial form, and final causality.

The work maintains Hugon’s characteristic clarity and pedagogical order, aiming to guide the reader from observable physical reality to its deeper philosophical principles. It serves as a bridge between elementary natural philosophy and the higher speculative studies of psychology and metaphysics in the Thomistic system.