St. Thomas Aquinas: Philosophy, Theology, and Ethics
St. Thomas Aquinas
Early Life and Education
Born in 1225 in Roccasecca Castle, near Naples, Thomas Aquinas was of noble birth and received his education at the monastery of Monte Cassino. In 1244, he joined the Dominican order and moved to Paris the following year to study under St. Albert the Great. He later taught at the universities of Paris and Naples, passing away on March 7, 1272, at the Abbey of Fossanuova while en route to the Council of Lyons. Aquinas was canonized in 1323 and declared a
Read MoreHistorical Materialism vs. Kantian Ethics: A Philosophical Showdown
Historical Materialism (Marx)
Dialectical Materialism Applied to Society
Marx adapted Hegel’s dialectics, creating dialectical materialism. Applying this to human society and life is called historical materialism, the science of society. According to Marx, the basis of social order lies in production. Humans, driven by needs, transform nature through work, a fundamental human condition.
Economic Infrastructure’s Influence
Historical materialism posits that all spiritual, ideational, and social processes
Read MoreWittgenstein’s Tractatus: Language, Meaning, and the Mystical
Item Language and World
The purpose of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is to establish the role and the legitimate use of language. Language can only describe facts, so there are many aspects of life, as essential as those related to moral or artistic values, or even logic, which are beyond the expressive possibilities of language. These aspects, which the author calls mystical, are unspeakable.
The Language and the Picture Theory of Meaning
Wittgenstein considers language as an intermediary between
Read MoreDescartes, Spinoza, Occam, and Machiavelli’s Philosophies
Descartes
The Method
Descartes’s new conception of truth is truth as certainty—something indubitable, something that cannot be doubted. For Descartes, certainty is linked to clarity and distinction. A truth is clear if present, and distinct if defined and differentiable from others.
Descartes realized that many truths believed to be true are later discovered to be false. He sought to create a new philosophy where everything is clear, and truth is easily distinguishable from falsehood. To achieve
Read MoreThe Philosophy of St. Augustine: God, History, and the City of God
Theology and Anthropology
The Existence of God
While there is no definitive proof of God’s existence, St. Augustine points to the “world order” as evidence of an ordering intelligence. He posits that God’s existence is a dogma of faith—credible, but not demonstrably proven.
Anthropology
Humans are composed of body and soul, though St. Augustine emphasizes the soul as the immortal and transcendent essence. Within the soul, two types of reason exist:
- Lower Reason: Focuses on mutable realities, material
José Ortega y Gasset’s Philosophy and the Crisis of His Time
Historical and Sociocultural Context of Ortega y Gasset
Spain During Ortega y Gasset’s Life (1883-1955)
- 1904-1908: Sunday rest law, right to strike law, and regulating working hours to 8 a.m.
- 1919: Crisis of ’98 and Regeneracionalismo.
- 1931: Proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic.
- Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and Ortega’s self-exile.
- 1945: Ortega’s return to Spain.
Political Transformations in Spain
- Monarchy of Alfonso XIII (1902-1931).
- Second Spanish Republic (1931-1939).
- Francoist Spain (1939-1975)