Cosmology

The four proper marks of bodily being — composition, mutability, contingency, limitation; the refutation of cosmological optimism and pessimism, and of pantheism.

Meaning and kinds of quantity; properties of quantity; space and time as they relate to bodily being.

Monism as the theory that all reality is one substance; its principal forms and refutation.

Atomism ancient and modern; the claim that bodies are composed of indivisible particles; its merits and deficiencies.

Dynamism as the theory that bodies are constituted by forces alone without extended matter; its forms and critique.

Hylomorphism — the scholastic doctrine that every natural body is constituted by primary matter and substantial form — its meaning, tenets, and vindication.

Creation ex nihilo: its meaning, proof from reason and faith, and refutation of materialistic and pantheistic alternatives.

The philosophical and theological question of the age of the world; the eternity of matter; compatibility of creation with science.

The nature of movement or local motion; its kinds; the first mover argument and the necessity of an unmoved mover.

How the world developed its present form: evolution, its kinds, and the limits set by philosophy and faith.

Meaning and kinds of final causes; proof that finality is real and intrinsic to natural bodies; objections answered.

Types of ends; the hierarchy of proximate and ultimate ends; proof that God is the one absolutely ultimate end of all creation.

The philosophical meaning of nature in the broad and strict senses; nature as an intrinsic principle of motion and rest.

The meaning of natural law; the constancy and universality of nature's laws; physical determinism and contingency.

Meaning and kinds of miracles; their possibility given divine omnipotence; criteria for identifying genuine miracles.