Key Concepts in Thomas Aquinas’ Thought
Reason and Faith
We must use reason to study God. Aristotelian thought, being empiricist, is part of the experience to reach absolute truths of reason. There are two kinds of truths: revealed and rational, and they have something in common. The truths revealed are the dogmas of faith, communities are the preambles of faith, and the latter are not rational truths revealed.
God reveals the truths common for two reasons: 1) because many Christians do not have time to understand. 2) because philosophers can reach different conclusions.
Reason helps faith to sort dogma, defend rationally against atheism, and clarify some aspects of the Bible. Faith helps reason because it serves as a criterion of truth. It is extrinsic to the right and negative.
Metaphysics
The core includes material and form. The form is identical to the manifold; each person is like another but different. The matter is different in each person but has a common subject.
Imaginary things are essentially given form and matter, but do not exist. God can give life because God cannot not exist; it is necessary. For things to exist, God must exist in them and outside them; it must be understood with faith.
Angels have no matter; they are imperfect. God is existence, not non-existence. Five points: 1) God gives life and cannot not do so; the world is contingent, God is necessary. 2) a being cannot exist without essence. 3) angels are immaterial but not perfect because they are created.
- Matter is there because it is imperfect, and it is the power and the existence event.
- Matter is not an accident.
- It is not formal.
Gradation of Beings
Authorities have varying degrees of perfection. Existence relates to God (maximum perfection). The more perfect the essence, the more there will be, and it is based on the amount of matter.
Epistemology
Knowledge is obtained through experience, but it is not the limit; we need reason. The universal essence is in every individual; by reason, the abstraction of individual characteristics is removed, and usually, it remains.
Theology
Arguments to defend the existence of God: a priori and a posteriori.
The most important a priori argument is that of Saint Anselm. It is based on reason, analyzing the concept of God (a perfect being). You cannot think of a being more perfect. Saying that God does not exist is to say that a perfect being is not perfect, a contradiction. Thomas says it takes experience, and he gives five arguments. 1) Five-way point. 2) principle of causality. 3) the principle of the impossibility of an infinite series. It requires an external motor to perform an act, and that of another, but this series is not infinite because it must be able to go, and God is the unmoved mover. 4) God exists.
Five Ways
- Point of Departure: Everything moves. Principle of Causality: Every being is moved by another. Principle of Impossibility: The arguments given earlier. Point of Arrival: First unmoved mover.
- Point of Departure: They are all causes. Principle of Causality: Every cause is caused by another. Principle of Impossibility: There is a cause that is the cause of itself. Point of Arrival: First uncaused cause.
- Point of Departure: All are contingent. Principle of Chance: Everything was not before, and for it to be, another contingent being is given. Principle of Impossibility: There must be a being from being himself. Point of Arrival: If necessary.
- Point of Departure: In bodies, there are limited perfections. Principle of Causality: We need another cause to be the cause of limited perfections in entities. Principle of Impossibility: Perfection cannot limit itself because of other constraints. Point of Arrival: Perfect or unlimited.
- Point of Departure: Everything has an end that is met. Principle of Causality: It cannot be given to yourself; it takes an intelligent being. Principle of Impossibility: There is a being who directs all purposes, including his own. Point of Arrival: Being computer.
The essence of God cannot be known because it is infinite, but there are two ways to know:
- Negative Way: Denial of imperfections of this world in God.
- Positive Way: Attributing to God the perfections of this world indefinitely.
God creates the world from nothing, freely.
Psychology
- The human being is made up of matter and form (soul) that constitute a substantial unity.
- The soul gives the body vital functions and its corporeality. The soul lives after the death of the body.
- The soul can survive being alone.
Ethics or Morals
- The ultimate goal is happiness, to reach God through death; happiness is not in this world.
- For happiness, one can turn to the Bible or the faith/reason relationship.
- Topics to be happy. What is good?
Everything created has a purpose; the purpose is to fulfill the function for which we were created.
Human Nature Has Three Functions
- It is a substance. All nature tends to remain in being.
- It is an animal. We have trends. The sexual organs are to procreate; otherwise, use is going against God.
- It is rational. We tend to think and interact.
These rules are universal; they cannot be changed, described, and everyone can see them.
- There are rules beyond reason (love your neighbor as yourself).
- Eternal laws are of two types: physical and moral. Moral laws may be broken.
- The laws of men are based on two theories: it is natural and is due to convictions.
Politics
Sociality is natural. We accept the monarchy but add elements of democracy. The Pope is above the king in matters of morality but not in other competencies.