Catholic/Thomistic
Catholic/Thomistic philosophy synthesizes Aristotelian metaphysics with Christian theology. It holds that reality is composed of matter and form (hylomorphism), that all things participate in being according to their nature, and that God — pure act (actus purus) — created all things ex nihilo as the unmoved mover and ground of all being.
I. Time
| Extent | Finite |
| Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Grain | Continuous |
| Freedom | Non-Deterministic |
| Traversability | Linear |
| Dimensionality | One |
| Direction | Uni-directional |
Time is substantival and finite — it was created by God ex nihilo along with the material universe and will have an eschatological end. Time is continuous, linear, and uni-directional, flowing from creation toward the Last Judgment. God is eternal (outside time) and knows all of temporal history in a single, timeless "now" (nunc stans). Human freedom operates within God's providential ordering of time.
II. Space
| Extent | Finite |
| Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Curvature | Flat |
| Dimensionality | Three |
| Locality | Local |
Space is substantival, finite, flat, and local — it is part of God's created order, real and independent of the human observer. Space is three-dimensional and operates according to natural laws that reflect God's rational design (lex naturalis). God is omnipresent but not spatially extended; divine presence sustains space without being contained by it.
III. Matter
| Extent | Finite |
| Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Conservation | Conserved |
| Dimensionality | Three |
| Locality | Local |
Matter is substantival and finite — it is one of two principles of material being in Thomistic hylomorphism: prime matter (materia prima) receives substantial form to produce individual substances. Matter was created ex nihilo by God and is conserved through natural law within creation. It is local: material substances occupy determinate spatial positions and interact through natural causality.
IV. Observer
| Time Instance | Single |
| Space Instance | Single |
| Extent of Knowledge | Immediate |
| Retainment of Knowledge | Total |
| Physicality | Embodied |
| Agency | Active |
| Number | Plural |
V. Energy
Finite and pre-existing — all energy is part of God's created order, real and independent of the observer. Conservation: Conserved — natural laws, including energy conservation, reflect God's rational ordering of creation (lex naturalis). Usage: Multiple — natural processes recycle and transform energy according to the finality built into creation by God.
VI. Information
God's intellect contains all information (divine ideas) — every truth, every possibility, every fact is known exhaustively and eternally by the divine mind.