I very much doubt whether the four senses of Scripture have much to
do with "proofs physical and metaphysical", which were technical terms
in Scholastic philosophy, obviously derived from the Aristotelian
distinction between physics and metaphysics. They had nothing to do with
biblical exegesis and its various levels (historical/literal,
allegorical, tropological, anagogical).
The phrase "proofs physical and metaphysical" is used by Dante in
*Paradiso* XXIV, 133-134, where these proofs are demonstrations (of
God's existence) that can be arrived at by human reason, as distinct
from the revealed truths of theology. The usual reference is to the five
such proofs (physical and metaphysical, as distinct from revelation) set
forth by Aquinas in his *Summa Theologica* I, q.2, art. 3 . Albert the
Great makes metaphysical proof a part of "prima philosophia". He defines
the different methods employed to arrive at "physical" or "metaphysical"
proofs in his *Metaph.* I.iii.tex. 5: “Tamen tam physicus quam
meaphysicus considerant omnes quattuor causas, sed physicus considerat
eas prout sunt principia mobilis: primus autem philosophicus reducit
efficientem in formam primam et finem ultimum ...”
John Scott
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