Ramos, Alice. Dynamic Transcendentals: Truth, Goodness, and Beauty from a Thomistic Perspective.

Smith, Benjamin L.

RAMOS, Alice. Dynamic Transcendentals: Truth, Goodness, and Beauty from a Thomistic Perspective. Washington, D. C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2012. ix+ 259pp--In this book Alice Ramos develops a compelling and important account of transcendental goodness, truth, and beauty within the Thomistic tradition. Although there have been a number of recent studies of the transcendental properties of being, what makes this book really interesting is its urgency, anthropological focus, and practical agenda.

Ramos engages a wide spectrum of metaphysical, anthropological, and aesthetic topics, but her work is united by three related theses: (1) truth, goodness, and beauty unite all of reality by relating it back to God; (2) the transcendentals illumine the meaning of human life; (3) art and beauty are uniquely positioned to help men and women connect (or reconnect) with the authentic purpose of human life.

Ramos explains the metaphysical unity of things in terms of divine artistry and exemplars. We usually think of minds as being measured by reality, but in the case of art this is not the case. In art, the product is ruled and measured according to the model or exemplar (or inspiration) in the mind of the artist. The artist measures the materials, construction, and final product of his work by an internal plan. An artifact is "true" when it corresponds to the exemplar of the artist. In the Thomistic tradition, God is compared to creation as artist to artifact. God created and designed all things according to His own exemplars, and as Ramos explains, the more something conforms to the divine exemplars, the more it is good, beautiful, and true. This relation is grounded in the Thomistic thesis that the goodness of thing is the perfection (completeness) of its being and that the manifestation of this perfection, the splendor of form (see Jacques Maritain, Art and Scholasticism), is beautiful. Something perfect is good, manifest perfection is beautiful, and something good and beautiful is true in relation to the divine exemplars. In this perspective, all things are united because they are related by goodness, beauty, and truth to the divine exemplars.

According to Ramos the transcendental order of being sheds light on the authentic meaning of human life. Employing Aristotelian ideas about human nature, reason, and the desire to know, Ramos argues that human beings are naturally inclined to contemplate and respond to truth, goodness, and beauty. This inclination initiates a dynamic process of discovery that culminates in God and makes it possible for the human person to order all things to God. According to Ramos this is the authentic meaning of human life. However, following Thomas and others, she balances her optimistic view of human life with a frank and searching discussion of the moral, psychological, and cultural factors that subvert our engagement with the transcendentals. In this context, Ramos argues against the modern tendency to separate intellectual life from personal purity and virtue.

Perhaps Ramos's most intriguing and controversial thesis is her claim that art and beauty provide the best means within our cultural milieu for opening the human person to the transcendental order of being and God. In the Thomistic perspective, beauty is the splendor of perfect form that delights the intellect. Beauty understood as the intellectually delightful splendor or radiance of form naturally turns the intellect towards goodness, the perfection of form, and truth, the good of the intellect, and ultimately the truth of all things in God. For Ramos, this schema indicates a clear agenda for art: artists are responsible for creating beauty and for not separating aesthetic judgment from virtue.

This book should be of interest to a wide range of philosophers and artists because Ramos manages to synthesize metaphysics, human beings, and art into a compelling and balanced philosophical vision. Many elements of this synthesis are old Thomistic theses and doctrines, but Ramos's orchestration of the elements is refreshing and original. This is especially evident in two ways. First, although Ramos focuses on the transcendentals, it is arguable that the divine exemplars are just as important for her line of argument. All being is united and ordered to God through goodness and truth, which ultimately consists in conformity to the divine exemplars--the plan in God's mind. Ramos combines this with an emphasis on the moral importance of beauty and art that is very reminiscent of the Symposium and the Phaedrus. The result is a Thomistic account of the transcendentals and ethics, combined with an account of divine exemplars, and the moral importance of beauty and art that evokes the Platonic ethos. Second, Ramos's book is suffused with a vibrant urgency surprising for a book in Thomistic metaphysics. At least in part, this is a result of Ramos' anthropological and practical focus. Ramos clearly believes that the meaning of human existence is engagement with the transcendental order of being and that the experience of beauty plays a major role in this process. This is especially evident in Ramos's views on Kantian aesthetic judgment and the moral responsibility of the artist. To be sure, many contemporary philosophers and artists will dispute elements of Ramos's work, but it certainly merits careful consideration.--Benjamin L. Smith, Aquinas College.