Thomas Aquinas & His Philosophical Context

Posted on Nov 22, 2024 in Philosophy and ethics

St. Thomas Aquinas: Historical Context

The Rise of Christendom

Since the 9th century, Europe saw attempts to unite under a single political power and the Christian faith.

12th Century: The Age of Universities

Church institutions served as professional associations for teachers and trainees, possessing their own laws and privileges. The four faculties were:

  • Arts
  • Decrees (Law)
  • Physics (Medicine)
  • Theology (most prestigious)

Papacy and Decline of the Empire

This period witnessed the formation of national dynastic monarchies.

Rise of Cities

City-states emerged in Northern Italy.

Sociocultural Context

Pre-Renaissance Feudal Society

Society comprised nobility, bourgeoisie, and peasantry.

Influence of the Church

The Church influenced all aspects of life, with mendicant orders like the Dominicans and Franciscans playing key roles.

The Century of Cathedrals

Gothic architecture flourished.

Schools of Translators

Key centers of translation included Toledo, Barcelona, and Tarragona.

Philosophical Context

The Scholastic Method

  • Exposition of opposing views.
  • Presentation of the thesis.
  • Arguments supporting the thesis and refutation of counterarguments.

Fundamental Problems

  • The relationship between faith and reason.
  • The existence of universals (Platonic universal ideas).

Aristotelian Philosophy and Faith

  • Averroes in Islam.
  • Maimonides in Judaism.
  • Thomas Aquinas in Christianity.

Aristotelianism in Universities and the Church

Mind, Body, and Soul

According to Aristotelian theory, man is a substance composed of body and soul. The soul is the animating and specifying principle, while the body is the principle of individuation. The soul is simple, immaterial, immortal, and divinely created. Man has three souls, yet only one, which is rational (formally) but also potentially sensitive and vegetative. The soul is endowed with intellect and will, naturally inclined towards truth and good, respectively. For Aquinas, man’s nature comprises both soul and body. Man is not just a soul; the body is part of his essence. Besides understanding, man feels and senses, which are not solely operations of the soul.

Theory of Knowledge

Aquinas doesn’t explicitly develop a theory of knowledge. Like classical philosophy, the problem of knowledge arises in relation to other problems, during which it becomes necessary to clarify what is known. For Aquinas, these problems are primarily theological and psychological. All knowledge begins with the senses. Following Aristotle and rejecting separate forms or ideas, Aquinas agrees with this basic approach. At birth, the human soul has no imprinted content. Knowledge objects stimulate the sense organs, producing an impression. This is a compound human act, involving both soul and body, not just the soul as Plato believed. Knowledge requires the joint action of both, excluding the possibility of pure intuition. Aquinas adopts Aristotle’s explanation of knowledge. The proper object of intellectual knowledge is the form, the universal, which can only be grasped in the substance. Therefore, the senses must capture the substance, the specific and individual entity, to provide the proper object of understanding. This primary activity is performed by the senses, which, with imagination and memory, produce a sensible image of the substance. This remains a particular image, upon which the agent intellect acts, abstracting from it. Sensory experience is the starting point of all knowledge, including knowledge of divine things. Thus, Aquinas adopts the a posteriori method, demonstrating God’s existence through the Five Ways.

Structure of the Five Ways

  1. Presents a fact of experience.
  2. Demonstrates the impossibility of infinite regress.
  3. Concludes, “This is what we all call God.”

The Five Ways

1st Way: Motion

  1. Some things are in motion.
  2. Everything that is moved is moved by another. A thing cannot be both mover and moved.
  3. Therefore, there must be a First Mover (Pure Act), “which we all call God”.

2nd Way: Efficient Cause

  1. There is an order of efficient causes in the material world.
  2. A thing cannot be the cause of itself.
  3. Therefore, there must be a First Efficient Cause, “which we all call God”.

3rd Way: Contingency

  1. Some things in nature are contingent (can be or not be).
  2. Contingent beings cannot exist unless there is a Necessary Being.
  3. Therefore, there must be a Necessary Being, “which we all call God”.

4th Way: Degrees of Perfection

  1. Beings possess qualities to greater or lesser extents.
  2. There must be a perfect being possessing all qualities in perfect degree.
  3. Therefore, there must be a Being who concentrates all perfections, “which we all call God”.

5th Way: Teleology (Final Cause)

  1. Things in nature, lacking knowledge, act for an end.
  2. Things cannot tend towards an end without being directed.
  3. Therefore, there must be an intelligent director, “which we all call God”.