Thomism

(c. 1225-1274), the eponym of Thomism. Picture by Fra Angelico (c. 1395-1455).]]

Thomism is the philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, his commentaries on Aristotle are his most lasting contribution. In theology, his Summa Theologica was one of the most influential documents in medieval theology and continues to be studied today in theology and philosophy classes. In the encyclical Doctoris Angelici, Pope St. Pius X cautioned that the teachings of the Church cannot be understood scientifically without the basic philosophical underpinnings of Thomas's major thesis:

The Second Vatican Council described Thomas's system as the "Perennial Philosophy."

Thomistic philosophy

General

St. Thomas Aquinas believed that truth is true wherever it is found, and thus consulted Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Muslim philosophers. Specifically, he was a realist (i.e., he, unlike the skeptics, believed that the world can be known as it is). He largely followed Aristotelian terminology and metaphysics, and wrote comprehensive commentaries on Aristotle, often affirming Aristotle's views with independent arguments. Thomas respectfully referred to Aristotle simply as "the Philosopher." He also adhered to some neoplatonic principles, for example that "it is absolutely true that there is first something which is essentially being and essentially good, which we call God, ... [and that] everything can be called good and a being, inasmuch as it participates in it by way of a certain assimilation..."

Shortly before Thomas died, his friend Reginald of Piperno implored him to finish his works. Thomas replied, "I cannot, because all that I have written seems like straw to me." Apologist Peggy Frye of Catholic Answers comments that "Aquinas’s vision may have been a vision of heaven, compared to which everything else, no matter how glorious, seems worthless."

Distinctive ideas

With the decree Postquam sanctissimus of 27 July 1914, Pope St. Pius X declared that 24 theses formulated by "teachers from various institutions ... clearly contain the principles and more important thoughts" of Thomas.

Ontology

1. Potency and Act divide being in such a way that whatever is, is either pure act, or of necessity it is composed of potency and act as primary and intrinsic principles.
2. Since act is perfection, it is not limited except through a potency which itself is a capacity for perfection. Hence in any order in which an act is pure act, it will only exist, in that order, as a unique and unlimited act. But whenever it is finite and manifold, it has entered into a true composition with potency.
3. Consequently, the one God, unique and simple, alone subsists in absolute being. All other things that participate in being have a nature whereby their being is restricted; they are constituted of essence and being, as really distinct principles.
4. A thing is called a being because of "esse". God and creature are not called beings univocally, nor wholly equivocally, but analogically, by an analogy both of attribution and of proportionality.
5. In every creature there is also a real composition of the subsisting subject and of added secondary forms, i.e. accidental forms. Such composition cannot be understood unless being is really received in an essence distinct from it.
6. Besides the absolute accidents there is also the relative accident, relation. Although by reason of its own character relation does not signify anything inhering in another, it nevertheless often has a cause in things, and hence a real entity distinct from the subject.
7. A spiritual creature is wholly simple in its essence. Yet there is still a twofold composition in the spiritual creature, namely, that of the essence with being, and that of the substance with accidents.
8. However, the corporeal creature is composed of act and potency even in its very essence. These act and potency in the order of essence are designated by the names form and matter respectively.

Cosmology

9. Neither the matter nor the form have being of themselves, nor are they produced or corrupted of themselves, nor are they included in any category otherwise than reductively, as substantial principles.
10. Although extension in quantitative parts follows upon a corporeal nature, nevertheless it is not the same for a body to be a substance and for it to be quantified. For of itself substance is indivisible, not indeed as a point is indivisible, but as that which falls outside the order of dimensions is indivisible. But quantity, which gives the substance extension, really differs from the substance and is truly an accident.
11. The principle of individuation, i.e., of numerical distinction of one individual from another with the same specific nature, is matter designated by quantity. Thus in pure spirits there cannot be more than individual in the same specific nature.
12. By virtue of a body's quantity itself, the body is circumscriptively in a place, and in one place alone circumscriptively, no matter what power might be brought to bear.
13. Bodies are divided into two groups; for some are living and others are devoid of life. In the case of the living things, in order that there be in the same subject an essentially moving part and an essentially moved part, the substantial form, which is designated by the name soul, requires an organic disposition, i.e. heterogeneous parts.

Psychology

14. Souls in the vegetative and sensitive orders cannot subsist of themselves, nor are they produced of themselves. Rather, they are no more than principles whereby the living thing exists and lives; and since they are wholly dependent upon matter, they are incidentally corrupted through the corruption of the composite.
15. On the other hand, the human soul subsists of itself. When it can be infused into a sufficiently disposed subject, it is created by God. By its very nature, it is incorruptible and immortal.
16. This rational soul is united to the body in such a manner that it is the only substantial form of the body. By virtue of his soul a man is a man, an animal, a living thing, a body, a substance and a being. Therefore the soul gives man every essential degree of perfection; moreover, it gives the body a share in the act of being whereby it itself exists.
17. From the human soul there naturally issue forth powers pertaining to two orders, the organic and the non-organic. The organic powers, among which are the senses, have the composite as their subject. The non-organic powers have the soul alone as their subject. Hence, the intellect is a power intrinsically independent of any bodily organ.
18. Intellectuality necessarily follows upon immateriality, and furthermore, in such manner that the further the distance from matter, the higher the degree of intellectuality. Any being is the adequate object of understanding in general. But in the present state of union of soul and body, quantities abstracted from the material conditions of individuality are the proper object of the human intellect.
19. Therefore, we receive knowledge from sensible things. But since sensible things are not actually intelligible, in addition to the intellect, which formally understands, an active power must be acknowledged in the soul, which power abstracts intelligible likeness or species from sense images in the imagination.
20. Through these intelligible likenesses or species we directly know universals, i.e. the natures of things. We attain to singulars by our senses, and also by our intellect, when it beholds the sense images. But we ascend to knowledge of spiritual things by analogy.
21. The will does not precede the intellect but follows upon it. The will necessarily desires that which is presented to it as a good in every respect satisfying the appetite. But it freely chooses among the many goods that are presented to it as desirable according to a changeable judgment or evaluation. Consequently, the choice follows the final practical judgment. But the will is the cause of it being the final one.

God

22. We do not perceive by an immediate intuition that God exists, nor do we prove it a priori. But we do prove it a posteriori, i.e., from the things that have been created, following an argument from the effects to the cause: namely, from things which are moved and cannot be the adequate source of their motion, to a first unmoved mover; from the production of the things in this world by causes subordinated to one another, to a first uncaused cause; from corruptible things which equally might be or not be, to an absolutely necessary being; from things which more or less are, live, and understand, according to degrees of being, living and understanding, to that which is maximally understanding, maximally living and maximally a being; finally, from the order of all things, to a separated intellect which has ordered and organized things, and directs them to their end.
23. The metaphysical motion of the Divine Essence is correctly expressed by saying that it is identified with the exercised actuality of its own being, or that it is subsistent being itself. And this is the reason for its infinite and unlimited perfection.
24. By reason of the very purity of His being, God is distinguished from all finite beings. Hence it follows, in the first place, that the world could only have come from God by creation; secondly, that not even by way of a miracle can any finite nature be given creative power, which of itself directly attains the very being of any being; and finally, that no created agent can in any way influence the being of any effect unless it has itself been moved by the first Cause.

Metaphysics

Thomas says that the fundamental axioms of ontology are the principle of non-contradiction and the principle of causality. Therefore, any being that does not contradict these two laws could theoretically exist, even if said being were incorporeal.

Predication

Thomas noted three forms of descriptive language when predicating: univocal, analogical, and equivocal.

Univocality is the use of a descriptor in the same sense when applied to two objects or groups of objects. For instance, when the word "milk" is applied both to milk produced by cows and by any other female mammal.

Analogy occurs when a descriptor changes some but not all of its meaning. For example, the word "healthy" is analogical in that it applies both to a healthy person or animal (those that enjoy of good health) and to some food or drink (if it is good for the health).

Equivocation is the complete change in meaning of the descriptor and is an informal fallacy. For example, when the word "bank" is applied to river banks and financial banks. Modern philosophers talk of ambiguity.

Further, the usage of "definition" that Thomas gives is the genus of the being, plus a difference that sets it apart from the genus itself. For instance, the Aristotelian definition of "man" is "rational animal"; its genus being animal, and what sets apart man from other animals is his rationality.

Beings

In Thomist philosophy, the definition of a being is "that which is," which is composed of two parts: "which" refers to its quiddity (literally "whatness"), and "is" refers to its esse (the Latin infinitive verb "to be"). "Quiddity" is synonymous with essence, form and nature; whereas "esse" refers to the principle of the being's existence. In other words, a being is "an essence that exists."

Being is divided in two ways: that which is in itself (substances), and that which is in another (accidents). Substances are things which exist per se or in their own right. Accidents are qualities that apply to other things, such as shape or color: "[A]ccidents must include in their definition a subject which is outside their genus." Because they only exist in other things, Thomas holds that metaphysics is primarily the study of substances, as they are the primary mode of being.

The Catholic Encyclopedia pinpoints Thomas's definition of quiddity as "that which is expressed by its definition." The quiddity or form of a thing is what makes the object what it is: "[T]hrough the form, which is the actuality of matter, matter becomes something actual and something individual," and also, "the form causes matter to be." Thus, it consists of two parts: "prime matter" (matter without form), and substantial form, which is what causes a substance to have its characteristics. For instance, an animal can be said to be a being whose matter is its body, and whose soul is its substantial form. Together, these consist of its quiddity/essence.

All real things have the transcendental properties of being: oneness, truth, goodness (that is, all things have a final cause and therefore a purpose), etc.

Causality

Aristotle categorized causality into four subsets in the Metaphysics, which is an integral part of Thomism:

:* (a) refers to the material cause, what a being's matter consists of (if applicable). :* (b) refers to the formal cause, what a being's essence is. :* (c) refers to the efficient cause, what brings about the beginning of, or change to, a being. :* (d) refers to the final cause, what a being's purpose is.

Unlike many ancient Greeks, who thought that an infinite regress of causality is possible (and thus held that the universe is uncaused), Thomas argues that an infinite chain never accomplishes its objective and is thus impossible. Hence, a first cause is necessary for the existence of anything to be possible. Further, the First Cause must continuously be in action (similar to how there must always be a first chain in a chain link), otherwise the series collapses:

Thus, both Aristotle and Thomas conclude that there must be an uncaused Primary Mover, because an infinite regress is impossible.

However, the First Cause does not necessarily have to be temporally the first. Thus, the question of whether or not the universe can be imagined as eternal was fiercely debated in the middle ages. The University of Paris's condemnation of 1270 denounced the belief that the world is eternal. Thomas's intellectual rival, St. Bonaventure, held that the temporality of the universe is demonstrable by reason. Thomas's position was that the temporality of the world is an article of faith, and not demonstrable by reason; though one could reasonably conclude either that the universe is temporal or eternal.

Goodness

As per the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle, Thomas defines "the good" as what all things strive for. E.g., a cutting knife is said to be good if it is effective at its function, cutting. As all things have a function/final cause, all real things are good. Consequently, evil is nothing but privatio boni, or "lack of good," as St. Augustine of Hippo defined it.

Commentating on the aforementioned, Thomas says that "there is no problem from the fact that some men desire evil. For they desire evil only under the aspect of good, that is, insofar as they think it good. Hence their intention primarily aims at the good and only incidentally touches on the evil."

As God is the ultimate end of all things, God is by essence goodness itself. Furthermore, since love is "to wish the good of another," true love in Thomism is to lead another to God. Hence why St. John the Evangelist says, "Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love."

Existence of God

St. Thomas Aquinas holds that the existence of God can be demonstrated by reason, a view that is still taught by the Catholic Church. The Quinque viae (Latin: five ways) found in the Summa Theologica (I, Q.2, art.4) are five arguments demonstrating the existence of God, which today are categorized as: : 1. Argumentum ex motu, or the argument of the unmoved mover; : 2. Argumentum ex ratione causae efficientis, or the argument of the first cause; : 3. Argumentum ex contingentia, or the argument from contingency; : 4. Argumentum ex gradu, or the argument from degree; and : 5. Argumentum ex fine, or the teleological argument. Despite this, Thomas also thought that sacred mysteries such as the Trinity could only be obtained through revelation; though these truths cannot contradict reason:

Thomas responds to the problem of evil by saying that God allows evil to exist that good may come of it, (for goodness done out of free will is superior than goodness done from biological imperative) but does not personally cause evil Himself. Gottfried Leibniz later expounds on this view in his work Théodicée (1710), which argues that God has authored the best of all possible worlds, one that requires the existence of evil to be optimal.

View of God

Thomas held the orthodox Christian view of God. Accordingly, he implicitly contradicted Aristotle's view of God as a being that is not omniscient; Thomas held that not only did God have knowledge of everything, God himself is knowledge. Further, he held that because God is the first cause of the universe, it is consequently true that the universe is not eternal.

God, in Thomism, is the sole being whose existence is the same as His essence: "what subsists in God is His existence." (Hence why God names himself "I Am that I Am" in Exodus 3:14.) Consequently, God cannot be a body (that is, He cannot be composed of matter), He cannot have any accidents, and He must be simple (that is, not separated into parts; the Trinity is one substance in three persons). Further, He is goodness itself, infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, knowledge itself, immutable, and eternal. Summing up these properties, Thomas offers the term actus purus (Latin: "actual perfection") as a composite.

Thomas was an advocate of negative theology, which says that because God is infinite, people can only speak of God by analogy, for some of the aspects of the divine nature are hidden (Deus absconditus) and others revealed (Deus revelatus) to finite human minds. Thomist philosophy holds that we can know about God through his creation (general revelation), but only in an analogous manner. For instance, we can speak of God's goodness only by understanding that goodness as applied to humans is similar to, but not identical with, the goodness of God. Further, he argues that sacred scripture employs figurative language: "Now it is natural to man to attain to intellectual truths through sensible objects, because all our knowledge originates from sense. Hence in Holy Writ, spiritual truths are fittingly taught under the likeness of material things."

In order to demonstrate God's creative power, Thomas says: "If a being participates, to a certain degree, in an 'accident,' this accidental property must have been communicated to it by a cause which possesses it essentially. Thus iron becomes incandescent by the action of fire. Now, God is His own power which subsists by itself. The being which subsists by itself is necessarily one." and the definition of being is "an essence that exists,"

Soul

Thomists define the soul as the substantial form of living beings. Thus, plants and bacteria have souls,

The appetite of man has two parts, rational and irrational. The rational part is called the will, and the irrational part is called passion.

Ethics

Thomas affirms Aristotle's definition of happiness as "an operation according to perfect virtue," and that "happiness is called man's supreme good, because it is the attainment or enjoyment of the supreme good." Regarding what the virtues are, Thomas ascertained the cardinal virtues to be prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude. The cardinal virtues are natural and revealed in nature, and they are binding on everyone. There are, however, three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity (which is used interchangeably with love in the sense of agape). These are supernatural and are distinct from other virtues in their object, namely, God.

In accordance with Roman Catholic theology, Thomas argues that humans can neither wish nor do good without divine grace. However, "doing good" here refers to doing good per se: man can do, moved by God even then but "only" in the sense in which even his nature depends on God's moving, things that happen to be good in some respect, and are not sinful, though if he has not grace, it will be without merit, and he will not succeed in it all the time. Therefore, happiness is attained through the perseverance of virtue given by the Grace of God, which is not fully attained on earth; only at the beatific vision. Notably, man cannot attain true happiness without God.

Regarding emotion (used synonymously with the word "passion" in this context), which, following St. John Damascene, Thomas defines as "a movement of the sensitive appetite when we imagine good or evil," Thomism repudiates both the Epicurean view that happiness consists in pleasure (sensual experiences that invoke positive emotion), and the Stoic view that emotions are vices by nature. Thomas takes a moderate view of emotion, quoting St. Augustine: "They are evil if our love is evil; good if our love is good." While most emotions are morally neutral, some are inherently virtuous (e.g. pity) and some are inherently vicious (e.g. envy).

Thomist ethics hold that it is necessary to observe both circumstances and intention to determine an action's moral value, and therefore Thomas cannot be said to be strictly either a deontologicalist or a consequentialist. Rather, he would say that an action is morally good if it fulfills God's antecedent will.

Of note is the principle of double effect, formulated in the Summa, II-II, Q.64, art.7, which is a justification of homicide in self-defense. Previously experiencing difficulties in the world of Christian philosophy, the doctrine of Just War was expounded by Thomas with this principle. He says:

Law

Thomism recognizes four different species of law, which he defines as "an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community, and promulgated": : 1. Eternal law, which is "the type of Divine Wisdom, as directing all actions and movements;" : 2. Natural law, "whereby each one knows, and is conscious of, what is good and what is evil," which is the rational being's participation in the eternal law; : 3. Human or temporal law, laws made by humans by necessity; and : 4. Divine law, which are moral imperatives specifically given through revelation.

The development of natural law is one of the most influential parts of Thomist philosophy. Thomas says that "[the law of nature] is nothing other than the light of the intellect planted in us by God, by which we know what should be done and what should be avoided. God gave this light and this law in creation... For no one is ignorant that what he would not like to be done to himself he should not do to others, and similar norms." This reflects St. Paul the Apostle's argument in Romans 2:15, that the "work of the law [is] written in [the Gentiles'] hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them."

Thomas argues that the Mosaic covenant was divine, though rightfully only given to the Jews before Christ; whereas the New Covenant replaces the Old Covenant and is meant for all humans.

Free will

Thomas argues that there is no contradiction between God's providence and human free will:

Thomism is opposed to Molinism in how they view God's grace in relation to free will. Thomas argued that God offers man cooperative grace, whereas Luis de Molina held that God's grace was given based on a middle knowledge.

Epistemology

Thomas adhered to the correspondence theory of truth, which says that something is true "when it conforms to the external reality." Therefore, any being that exists can be said to be true insofar that it participates in the world.

Aristotle's De anima (On the Soul) divides the mind into three parts: sensation, imagination and intellection. When one perceives an object, his mind composites a sense-image. When he remembers the object he previously sensed, he is imagining its form (the image of the imagination is often translated as "phantasm"). When he extracts information from this phantasm, he is using his intellect. Consequently, all human knowledge concerning universals (such as species and properties) are derived from the phantasm ("the received is in the receiver according to the mode of the receiver"), which itself is a recollection of an experience. Concerning the question of "Whether the intellect can actually understand through the intelligible species of which it is possessed, without turning to the phantasms?" in the Summa Theologica, Thomas quotes Aristotle in the sed contra: "the soul understands nothing without a phantasm." Hence the peripatetic axiom. (Another theorem to be drawn from this is that error is a result of drawing false conclusions based on our sensations.)

Thomas's epistemological theory would later be classified as empiricism, for holding that sensations are a necessary step in acquiring knowledge, and that deductions cannot be made from pure reason.

Impact of Thomism

Saint Thomas was important in shifting the influence of scholastic medieval philosophy away from neoplatonism and towards Aristotle. In this he was influenced by contemporary Islamic philosophy, especially the work of Averroes. The ensuing school of thought, through its influence on Catholicism and the ethics of the Catholic school, is by any standard one of the most influential philosophies of all time, also significant due to the sheer number of people living by its teachings.

Thomism's affirmation was not at all easy and quick. Even before Thomas's death, Stephen Tempier, Bishop of Paris, forbade certain positions associated with Thomas (especially his denial of both universal hylomorphism and a plurality of substantial forms in a single substance) to be taught in the Faculty of Arts at Paris. Through the influence the more traditional Augustinian theologians, some theses of Thomas were condemned in 1277 by the ecclesiastical authorities of Paris and Oxford (the most important theological schools in the Middle Ages). The Franciscan Order vehemently opposed the ideas of the Dominican Thomas, while the Dominicans quickly and institutionally took up the defense of his work (1286), and soon thereafter adopted it as an official philosophy of the order to be taught in their studia. Early opponents of Thomas include William de la Mare, Henry of Ghent, Giles of Rome, and Jon Duns Scotus.

Early, noteworthy defenders of Thomas were his former teacher St. Albertus Magnus, the ill-fated Richard Knapwell, William Macclesfeld, Giles of Lessines, John of Quidort (a lay master), Bernard of Auvergne, and Thomas of Sutton. The canonization of St. Thomas Aquinas in 1323 led to revoking the condemnation of 1277. Later, Thomas and his school would find a formidable opponent in the via moderna, particularly in William of Ockham and his adherents.

Thomism remained for quite a long time a doctrine held principally by Dominican theologians, such as Giovanni Capreolo (1380–1444) or Tommaso de Vio (1468–1534). Eventually, in the 16th century, Thomas found a stronghold on the Iberian Peninsula, through for example the Dominicans Francisco de Vitoria (particularly noteworthy for his work in natural law theory), Domingo de Soto (notable for his work on economic theory), John of St. Thomas, and Domingo Báñez; the Carmelites of Salamanca (i.e., the Salmanticenses); and even, in a way, the newly formed Jesuits, particularly Francisco Suárez, and Luis de Molina.

The Modern Period brought considerable difficulty for Thomism. By the 19th century, Thomas's theological doctrine was often presented in seminaries through his Jesuit manualist interpreters, who often adopted his theology in an eclectic way, while his philosophy was often neglected altogether in favor of modern philosophers. And in all this, the Dominican Order, was having demographic difficulties. Pope Leo XIII attempted a Thomistic revival, particularly with his 1879 encyclical Aeterni Patris and his establishment of the Leonine Commission, established to produce critical editions of Thomas's opera omnia. This encyclical served as the impetus for the rise of Neothomism, which brought an emphasis on the ethical parts of Thomism, as well as a large part of its views on life, humans, and theology, are found in the various schools of Neothomism (which arose in response to the 1879 encyclical Aeterni Patris encouraging the revival of Thomism). Neothomism held sway as the dominant philosophy of the Roman Catholic Church until the Second Vatican Council, which seemed to confirm the significance of Ressourcement theology. Thomism remains a vibrant and challenging school of philosophy today, and influential in Catholicism, though "The Church has no philosophy of her own nor does she canonize any one particular philosophy in preference to others." According to one of its most famous and controversial proponents, Alasdair MacIntyre, a Thomistic Aristotelianism is the best philosophical theory so far of our knowledge of external reality and of our own practice.

In recent years, the cognitive neuroscientist Walter Freeman proposes that Thomism is the philosophical system explaining cognition that is most compatible with neurodynamics, in a 2008 article in the journal Mind and Matter entitled "Nonlinear Brain Dynamics and Intention According to Aquinas."

Influence on Jewish thought

Thomas's doctrines, because of their close relationship with those of Jewish philosophy, found great favor among Jews. Judah Romano (born 1286) translated Thomas's ideas from Latin into Hebrew under the title Ma'amar ha-Mamschalim, together with other small treatises extracted from the "Contra Gentiles" ("Neged ha-Umot").

Eli Hobillo (1470) translated, without the Hebrew title, the "Quæstiones Disputatæ," "Quæstio de Anima," his "De Animæ Facultatibus," under the title "Ma'amar be-KoḦot ha-Nefesh," (edited by Jellinek); his "De Universalibus" as "Be-Inyan ha-Kolel"; "Shaalot Ma'amar beNimẓa we-biMehut."

Abraham Nehemiah ben Joseph (1490) translated Saint Thomas's "Commentarii in Metaphysicam." According to Moses Almosnino, Isaac Abravanel desired to translate the "Quæstio de Spiritualibus Creaturis." Abravanel indeed seems to have been well acquainted with the philosophy of Thomas, whom he mentions in his work "Mif'alot Elohim" (vi. 3). The physician Jacob Zahalon (d. 1693) translated some extracts from the Summa contra Gentiles.

Connection with Jewish thought

Thomas did not disdain to draw upon Jewish philosophical sources. His main work, the Summa Theologica, shows a profound knowledge not only of the writings of Avicebron (Ibn Gabirol), whose name he mentions, but also of most Jewish philosophical works then existing.

Thomas pronounces himself energetically against the hypothesis of the eternity of the world, in agreement with both Christian and Jewish theology. But as this theory is attributed to Aristotle, he seeks to demonstrate that the latter did not express himself categorically on this subject. "The argument," said he, "which Aristotle presents to support this thesis is not properly called a demonstration, but is only a reply to the theories of those ancients who supposed that this world had a beginning and who gave only impossible proofs. There are three reasons for believing that Aristotle himself attached only a relative value to this reasoning..." In this, Thomas paraphrases Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed, where those reasons are given.

Scholarly perspectives on Thomism

Individual Thinkers

René Descartes

Thomism began to decline in popularity in the modern period,

Existential Thomism

Etienne Gilson (1884-1978), the key proponent of this approach to Thomism, tended to emphasize the importance of historical exegesis but also to deemphasize Aquinas’s continuity with the Aristotelian tradition, highlighting instead the originality of Aquinas’s doctrine of being or existence. He was also critical of the Neo-Scholastics’ focus on the tradition of the commentators, and given what he regarded as their insufficient emphasis on being or existence accused them of “essentialism” (to allude to the other half of Aquinas’s distinction between being and essence). Gilson’s reading of Aquinas as putting forward a distinctively “Christian philosophy” tended, at least in the view of his critics, to blur Aquinas’s distinction between philosophy and theology. Jacques Maritain (1882-1973) introduced into Thomistic metaphysics the notion that philosophical reflection begins with an “intuition of being,” and in ethics and social philosophy sought to harmonize Thomism with personalism and pluralistic democracy. Though “existential Thomism” was sometimes presented as a counterpoint to modern existentialism, the main reason for the label is the emphasis this approach puts on Aquinas’s doctrine of existence. Contemporary proponents include Joseph Owens and John F. X. Knasas.

This approach emphasizes the Aristotelian foundations of Aquinas’s philosophy, and in particular the idea that the construction of a sound metaphysics must be preceded by a sound understanding of natural science, as interpreted in light of an Aristotelian philosophy of nature. Accordingly, it is keen to show that modern physical science can and should be given such an interpretation. Charles De Koninck (1906-1965), James A. Weisheipl (1923-1984), William A. Wallace, and Benedict Ashley are among its representatives. It is sometimes called “Laval Thomism” after the University of Laval in Quebec [which produced this brilliant thesis: Thomism and Mathematical Physics], where De Koninck was a professor. The alternative label “River Forest Thomism” derives from a suburb of Chicago, the location of the Albertus Magnus Lyceum for Natural Science, whose members are associated with this approach. It is also sometimes called “Aristotelian Thomism” (to highlight its contrast with Gilson’s brand of existential Thomism) though since Neo-Scholastic Thomism also emphasizes Aquinas’s continuity with Aristotle, this label seems a bit too proprietary. (There are writers, like the contemporary Thomist Ralph McInerny who exhibit both Neo-Scholastic and Laval/River Forest influences, and the approaches are not necessarily incompatible.)

Transcendental Thomism

Unlike the first three schools mentioned, this approach, associated with Joseph Maréchal (1878-1944), Karl Rahner (1904-84), and Bernard Lonergan (1904-84), does not oppose modern philosophy wholesale, but seeks to reconcile Thomism with a Cartesian subjectivist approach to knowledge in general, and Kantian epistemology in particular. It seems fair to say that most Thomists otherwise tolerant of diverse approaches to Aquinas’s thought tend to regard transcendental Thomism as having conceded too much to modern philosophy genuinely to count as a variety of Thomism, strictly speaking, and this school of thought has in any event been far more influential among theologians than among philosophers.

Analytical Thomism

This newest approach to Thomism is described by John Haldane, its key proponent, as “a broad philosophical approach that brings into mutual relationship the styles and preoccupations of recent English-speaking philosophy and the concepts and concerns shared by Aquinas and his followers” (from the article on “analytical Thomism” in The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, edited by Ted Honderich). By “recent English-speaking philosophy” Haldane means the analytical tradition founded by thinkers like Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, which tends to dominate academic philosophy in the English-speaking world. Elizabeth Anscombe (1919-2001) and her husband Peter Geach are sometimes considered the first “analytical Thomists,” though (like most writers to whom this label has been applied) they did not describe themselves in these terms, and as Haldane’s somewhat vague expression “mutual relationship” indicates, there does not seem to be any set of doctrines held in common by all so-called analytical Thomists. What they do have in common seems to be that they are philosophers trained in the analytic tradition who happen to be interested in Aquinas in some way; and the character of their “analytical Thomism” is determined by whether it tends to stress the “analytical” side of analytical Thomism, or the “Thomism” side, or, alternatively, attempts to emphasize both sides equally.

See also

Neo-Scholasticism

Analytical Thomism

School of Salamanca, 16th century Spanish Thomists

Étienne Gilson, Jacques Maritain, Alasdair MacIntyre, John F. X. Knasas, and Benedict Ashley; all recent Thomists

Thought of Thomas Aquinas

Aquinas and the Sacraments

List of Thomist writers (13C. to 18C.)

Rule of law

Rule According to Higher Law

Philosophy in Canada

References

External links

Complete works of St. Thomas Aquinas Corpus Thomisticum - his complete works

Bibliographia Thomistica

The Thomist, a scholarly journal on Thomism

Introductory chapter by Craig Paterson and Matthew Pugh on the development of Thomism

The XXIV Theses of Thomistic Philosophy and commentary by P. Lumbreras, O.P.

Electronic Resources for Medieval Philosophy

;Books

Reality: A Synthesis of Thomistic Thought by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange

Modern Thomistic Philosophy by Richard Percival Phillips, a good introduction on the Thomistic philosophy of nature for students

Category:Theology Category:Catholic theology and doctrine Category:Christian theological movements Category:Philosophical movements Category:Philosophical schools and traditions Category:Pope Leo XIII Category:Philosophy of religion Category:Thomas Aquinas Category:Christian terms Category:Scholasticism