Thomistic Philosophy: Exploring Natural Law and the Existence of God
Thomistic Philosophy: Natural Law and God’s Existence
Natural Precepts and Human Inclinations
Natural precepts are based on the order of natural inclinations. Man is a composite of soul and body. A key human function is the intellectual or rational, which inclines man to know the truth, especially the divine, and live differently. Society rests on two inclinations and practices.
Response to Objections
- Argument: Two precepts of natural law derived from one. The natural law is one.
- Argument: Various inclinations, one reason. Different requirements exist depending on inclinations, yet all precepts belong to a single natural law because various inclinations are of a similar nature, highlighting the human element. The irascible and concupiscible appetites are not rational but are governed by reason.
- Argument: Difference between reason and precepts of right reason. Reason as a power is one thing, but its provisions are multiple. All rational precepts belong to one natural law.
Philosophical Context: God’s Existence
Thomas Aquinas, a disciple of Albertus Magnus, adapted Aristotelianism to Christian thought. Thomistic Aristotelianism synthesizes Christianity and Aristotelian philosophy. Aquinas aims to demonstrate God’s existence apart from the five ways, remaining faithful to Aristotelian metaphysics and physics. He considers Anselm’s ontological argument. For Aquinas, morality and God are intertwined.
Meaning and Structure of Summa Theologica
The Summa Theologica systematically exposes theological issues related to the knowledge of God. It distinguishes between rational and supernatural knowledge. Rational knowledge seeks to understand God through reason, while supernatural knowledge relies on biblical truths. Aquinas believed that rational reflection alone cannot achieve certainty about divine revelation. Written for students in 1265, the Summa is divided into three parts and consists of 612 questions. Its structure includes: 1. Statement of the issue; 2. Introduction of contrary viewpoints; 3. Citation of authority; 4. Development of the thesis; and 5. Response to objections. Aquinas also authored other works, including commentaries on Aristotle and disputed questions on truth, evil, and the soul.
Relationship with Other Philosophical Positions and Current Assessment
Demonstrations of God’s Existence
Aquinas’s proofs can be related to other philosophical positions:
- Augustine of Hippo: Reason and faith work together in the search for God.
- Anselm of Canterbury: Developed the ontological argument, which was later criticized by Aquinas.
- Descartes: Based his argument on the causality of the idea of God in the mind.
Ockham criticized the demonstrability of divine truths, arguing that God’s existence cannot be proven. He defended natural human knowledge as intuition. Hume acknowledged the tendency to understand the world as ordered but denied a final plan. Kant argued that it is theoretically impossible to prove God’s existence. His critique of pure reason reduced all arguments to three: cosmological, physico-theological, and ontological. He concluded that reason cannot prove God’s existence.
Current Assessment
Attempts to prove God’s existence through reason have fallen into disuse. It is now generally considered impossible to prove God’s existence through either science or philosophy. The intelligent design theory is a more recent attempt to prove God’s existence a posteriori, focusing on the origin and evolution of the universe and human life. This theory has faced criticism and controversy, particularly in its attempts to be included in educational curricula.
Key Terms in Thomistic Philosophy
- Substance:
- That which exists in itself and not in another.
- Accident:
- A non-essential attribute of a substance.
- Truth:
- Conformity of the mind to reality.
- Good:
- Can be understood metaphysically or morally. Absolute good refers to God.
- Intelligence:
- The ability to grasp truth.
- Law:
- A rule of reason promulgated for the common good.
- Human Nature:
- The essence of humanity, explaining its being and behavior.
- Precept:
- A first principle of practical reason guiding free action.
- Knowledge:
- The act of grasping an object of reality.
- God:
- The supreme act of pure being.
- Movement:
- The passage from potentiality to actuality.
- Nature:
- The intrinsic principle of motion and rest in a being (strict sense), or everything in the world except grace (broad sense).