Life’s Ultimate Questions “Aquinas” Christopher Ullman, Instructor Christian Life College

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Known as the greatest Christian medieval theologian-philosopher, he single-handedly stemmed the tide of Islamic Aristotelianism into Europe His friends playfully called him “the dumb ox” He produced over ninety works in a little over two decades Summa Theologica Summa Contra Gentiles The Ways of God: For Meditation and Prayer He stands at the top of the group of thinkers known as Scholastics At age 48 he suddenly stopped writing Maybe he suffered a brain hemorrhage Maybe he had a vision that academic learning was not the most important thing “All that I have written seems like straw to me,” he told a friend A year later, he died on the road to a church council

Followers and Critics of Aquinas Philosophers who follow Aquinas’ teachings are known as Thomists Pope John Paul II (Fides et Ratio) Etienne Gilson (The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy and The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas) Norman Geisler (Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, and over 50 other books) Catholic hospitals follow Aquinas’ ethics Frances Schaeffer joins Ronald Nash in being a critic of some aspects of Aquinas’ philosophy “In Aquinas’ view the will of man was fallen, but the intellect was not. . . . Out of this, as time passed, man’s intellect was seen as autonomous.” – Escape from Reason, p. 211

Aquinas’ works and methods “The study of philosophy is not done in order to know what men have thought, but rather to know how truth herself stands.” He was objective to a fault, and obsessively thorough in his analyses Received truth wherever he found it Believed that faith and reason can never conflict His greatest works: Summa Contra Gentiles (an apologetic refuting the influence of Islamic teachings in Europe) Summa Theologica (a statement of Christian doctrine, in the light of Scripture, church tradition, and philosophy)

Aristotle, Averroes, and Aquinas The Islamic philosopher Averroes (Ib’n Rushd) had tailored Aristotle’s teachings so that the beliefs in creation, the immortality of the soul, and the unity of truth were discarded Averroes influenced many in Christian academia Aquinas took on the task of studying Aristotle for himself, and building a Christian worldview to counter that of the Averroists

Scholasticism the method and manner of dialectical philosophizing (question and answers) taught in the schools the period from 9th century CE, when new schools arose in Europe to spread Patristic faith disciplined by dialectic methods of thinking Christian Rationalism, as distinct from Augustinian Intuitionism reason applied to nature, human nature and supernatural truth

The Major Scholastic Thinkers St. Anselm (1033-1109) first to incorporate Aristotelian rationalism into Christian theology; rational proofs for existence of God in Monologium and Proslogium Peter Abelard (1079-1142) Sic et non, collection of contradictory sayings from Scripture and Church Fathers, introduces method of resolving contradictions, lays foundation for scholastic method Peter Lombard (c.1100 - c.1160) Sentences, compilation of early theological opinions, becomes central text of scholastic theological instruction

The Major Scholastic Thinkers St. Albertus Magnus (1193/1206 - 1280) from Averroes, introduces Aristotle’s treatises and method; his Summa theologiae disputes Averroes and reconciles Aristotle and Christianity Roger Bacon (1212-1294) Franciscan, first great Scholastic empiricist St. Bonaventure (1221-1274) Franciscan, reconciles Aristotle with Augustine; reason subservient to faith John Duns Scotus (1266-1308) Franciscan, greatest opponent of Thomism William of Occam (1285-1349) Franciscan, scientific empiricist; disputed self-evident principles in Thomism, denying competence of reason re faith

St. Thomas Aquinas St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Century of Dispute Italian, born near Naples Dominican, student of Albertus Magnus, professor of theology at Paris, papal advisor Century of Dispute The 13th Century is torn between Augustinians who make truth a matter of faith and Averroists, led by Siger de Brabant ( ? - 1277), who separate truth from faith St. Thomas advances a middle ground reason and faith constitute two harmonious realms faith complements reason reason has autonomy of its own

St. Thomas Aquinas Thomist Philosophy Aquinas’ Works systematic application of Aristotelian methods and distinctions repeated Avicenna’s position on Universals which becomes standard Scholastic view Aquinas’ Works Commentary of the Sentences (public lectures 1254-56) seven quaestiones disputatae (public debates 1256-72) commentaries on several of Aristotle’s works Summa contra Gentiles (1258-60) Summa theologica (1267-73)

Scholastic Process “Through doubting we come to inquiry, and through inquiry we perceive the truth.” - Peter Abelard

Knowing or Believing (the separation of reason and faith) Knowing applies to the domain of reason Any truth humans gain apart from divine revelation is acquired by the unaided light of the intellect Philosophy, natural science, mathematics, psychology are examples Believing applies to the domain of revelation Truths of the faith are acquired by believing the authoritative word of God Theology is the example Knowledge of God is the one exception

The Five Ways (how philosophy can support the belief that God exists) 1. The Argument from Change to a Prime Mover 2. The Argument from Cause and Effect to a First Cause 3. The Argument from Contingent Beings to a Necessary Being 4. The Argument from Degrees of Perfection to a Perfect Being 5. The Argument from Design in the Cosmos to a Designer of the Cosmos

The Five Ways Summed Up Logic is employed in each to show that the cosmos as we know it depends in different ways upon the existence of God God is the sufficient answer to the “why” questions God is the one necessary being upon which all the existences of all other beings depends logically Only the existence of God can make sense of the facts of existence

Aquinas the Empiricist Denial of innate ideas means that sensed experience is the trigger or catalyst of all knowledge Only then can my passive intellect become aware of it A particular thing Sensed Experience Only then can my active intellect analyze and categorize it as one of many of a universal kind

Knowing God God is not perceived through the senses, but We can know what God is not (the way of negation) Focuses on God’s absence of limitations The Jewish philosopher Maimonides also taught the way of negation Arguments based on universal negatives (“No X is Y”) are always deductive (their conclusions are believed to be necessarily true) Does the certainty of negative knowledge depend on some positive knowledge? How can I say, “God is not ____,” if I have no idea of what God is?

Knowing God God is not perceived through the senses, but We can know what God is like (the way of analogy) Focuses on the similarities between particular things and God Knowledge that X is similar to Y assumes that they share some attribute in common, and that each possesses some attribute the other does not Arguments from analogy are always inductive (their conclusions are only probably true) Since Aquinas believes we have no innate ideas, the way of analogy cannot escape the charges that It depends on anthropomorphism (human nature is the point of reference: “God is like us”) or It commits equivocation (a fallacy in which one term is used in two different ways)

Knowing God The way of negation and the way of analogy are useful means of ascertaining who God is if and only if We have innate ideas One of those innate ideas is the idea that God exists Aquinas’ empiricism makes no place for innate ideas, so neither way is effective Augustine’s emphasis on imago Dei makes the two ways usable The starting point must be the divine nature, not human nature FROM GOD TO US

What Happens After Death? Aquinas agreed with Aristotle that the soul exists in union with the body, giving the body its “form” He affirmed that the soul survived the death of the body, because God willed that it should This stance requires a setting aside of Aquinas’ empiricism Aristotle’s soul-body union

What is the right thing to do? What is the right way to live? Right is that which corresponds to a thing’s nature It is our nature to seek happiness (fulfillment) This is attainable only in heaven Moving toward this good goal is the standard for judgment We are capable of right acting and right living because of virtues and laws

Virtues: Guidance from the Inside Cardinal virtues are part of the created nature of all humans and are knowable through reason Aquinas affirms Plato’s doctrine of four virtues (prudence, courage, temperance and justice) and Aristotle’s doctrine of the golden mean (virtue is somewhere between the deficiency and the excess) Theological virtues are attainable only by grace through faith Faith: leads our minds to see truth and our wills to assent to truth Hope: makes us willing to seek God’s help in attaining happiness Love: is the divine gift that inclines us to seek God’s friendship

Law: Guidance from the Outside Four different kinds of law Eternal law: both moral and physical principles governing all of God’s creation Natural law: the part of eternal law that applies to humans, knowable through reason Human (positive) law: humans trying to make practical laws based on natural law Divine law: God’s law knowable through the Bible (Refer to Figure 7.2 on p. 185)

Natural Law Aquinas takes insights present in Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics (such as Epictetus and Cicero) He then sifts them through a Christian filter The result is a powerful tool for coaxing non-Christians to an awareness of objective moral standards Natural law shows up in our Declaration of Independence, the Civil Rights Movement, and the ethical positions of the Catholic Church

Some Tenets of Natural Law Every created thing has a God-given nature The nature of humans is to love and obey God A thing’s nature should always be allowed to be expressed Good is that which corresponds to a thing’s nature Good is to be done. Evil is to be avoided. The Principle of Double Effect: Every action has a good effect, and a bad effect Weigh the good and the bad Assess the motive of the action

Why Aquinas Made a Difference He realized the need for a comprehensive worldview, and built one with God at the center He had the faith and the courage to confront the culture in which he lived on its own terms He applied logic to a study of the world God created He employed his mind to understand the teachings of the wise, and used those he believed corresponded to truth