“Essence” and “Existence” in Understanding of Human Nature in Scholastic Philosophy
The study aims to reveal the meaning of the notions “essence” and “existence” and features of their correspondence in scholastic philosophy, due to which the issues concerning understanding of human nature, which are fundamental for medieval philosophy, are substantiated. Scientific novelty of the work lies in the premise, obtained in the course of the study, that in scholastic philosophy, reason as evidence of theomorphism of human nature acts as a source of correspondence between the essence and existence concepts in the anthropological dimension. The result of the study amounts to conclusion that human mind manifests the Divine, guarantees achievement of non-contradiction between essence and existence, due to which desire for vice is overcome and sinfulness as such is impossible, and human nature, in the image of the natural world, is able to improve itself.