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The transcendentals (Latin: transcendentalia, from transcendere "to exceed") are "properties of being", nowadays commonly considered to be truth, unity (oneness), beauty, and goodness.[citation needed] The conceptual idea arose from medieval scholasticism, namely Aquinas but originated with Plato, Augustine, and Aristotle in the West.
From the time of Albertus Magnus in the High Middle Ages, the transcendentals have been the subject of metaphysics. Although there was disagreement about their number, there was consensus that, in addition to the basic concept of being itself (ens), unity (unum), truth (verum) and goodness (bonum) were part of the transcendental family.[1] Since then, essence (res), otherness (aliquid) and, more recently, beauty (pulchrum) have been added.[citation needed] Today, they are found in theology, particularly in Catholic thought, as unity, truth, goodness and beauty.[citation needed]