Thomas Aquinas: Medieval Philosophy and Theology
Thomas Aquinas
Context
Aquinas lived in the 13th century and belonged to the Dominican order. He studied and taught at the University of Paris, where his teacher was Albert the Great. The 13th century marked the zenith of the medieval world and the decline of feudal society. Cities grew, leading to the rise of the bourgeoisie, economic stability, and flourishing trade. Culturally, the era saw the rise of universities and the reception of Greek, Arab, and Jewish philosophical translations, making it the century of Aristotelianism. The foundation of mendicant orders like the Dominicans and Franciscans also characterized this period.
Theory of Knowledge
Aquinas’s epistemology, following Aristotle, posits that knowledge originates from sensory experience. However, the human mind can transcend the sensible to acquire intellectual knowledge. This process involves:
- Sensation: Contact with reality through sense organs, forming individual images (phantasms) stored in imagination or memory.
- Abstraction: The active intellect acts on these images, separating individual elements and forming a general representation or essence.
- Conceptualization: This general representation enters the passive intellect, producing the concept.
Reason-Faith Relations
Aquinas argued that reason and faith are separate but harmonious sources of knowledge. He rejected the Averroist theory of double truth, asserting that no contradiction exists between reason and faith. Truths common to both are called preambles of faith, distinct from articles of faith. Reason aids faith by forming revealed theology into a systematic knowledge.
Thomistic Theology
Aquinas sought to prove God’s existence through five ways:
- The Argument from Motion
- The Argument from Efficient Causes
- The Argument from Contingency
- The Argument from Degrees of Perfection
- The Argument from Design
These arguments follow a pattern: observation of experience, the principle of causality, the impossibility of infinite regress, and identifying the uncaused first cause with God. Divine nature is approached via via eminentiae, via negativa, and analogy. God is the First Unmoved Mover, simple, pure act, perfect, good, infinite, immense, omnipresent, immutable, eternal, and unified.
The Structure of Reality
Aquinas’s ontology is influenced by Aristotle but incorporates creation. Beings are categorized as:
- God: Necessary being, where essence and existence are identical (Pure Act of Being).
- Other beings: Contingent beings, composed of essence and existence, granted by God through participation.
Thomistic Anthropology
Aquinas rejected dualism, viewing humans as a composite of body and soul, where the soul is the substantial form of the body. The soul is immortal and subsistent, capable of existing independently, though some human capacities are lost.
Ethical Theory
Aquinas’s ethics are philosophical and theological, sharing characteristics with Aristotle’s hedonistic, teleological, and intellectual ethics. The ultimate human goal is knowing God and achieving happiness, attainable in the afterlife. Natural law, dictated by reason, guides moral actions, emphasizing self-preservation, species preservation, and truth-seeking. Divine law, revealed through commandments, complements natural law.
Political Theory
Aquinas emphasized the social nature of humans, with politics aiming to regulate society and promote happiness. Good governance seeks the common good through positive laws, which must align with natural law. Positive law is a requirement, extension, and realization of natural law, excluding secularism as a social organization principle.