Thomas
Aquinas 1224-1272
 Thomas
Aquinas (Tomasso d'Aquino) was born to an aristocratic
family in a castle four miles north of Aquino in southern
Italy. When he was five years old he was sent to school with
the monks at Monte Cassino. It didn't take long for it to
become apparent that he possessed a sharp, curious intellect
and a religious temperament.
Nine years later he was sent to study at the University of
Naples. The university had become an important center for the
new knowledge that was beginning to spread in the medieval
world and where Classical learning was being rediscovered.
There, Thomas was introduced to Aristotle's treatises on logic
and he attended lectures on natural philosophy (science).
At the same time he found himself drawn to the Dominicans,
a monastic order founded twenty-five years earlier by St.
Dominic. To his family's dismay, he joined the order and
gave up his studies at Naples. He set off to Paris, known then
as the greatest center of learning in Christendom, to study
with Albertus Magnus, one of the finest scholars of the time
and known for his commentaries on Aristotle.
Although Thomas Aquinas was a professional theologian, his
writing and works are philosophical in nature. He is well
known for reconciling the philosophy of Aristotle with
Christian doctrine. In doing so, he aimed at establishing a
harmonious coexistence between faith and reason and pointing
out that the tenants of faith do not contradict the
conclusions of philosophy.
His extraordinarily, large volume of writing, a testament
to his intellectual capability, resulted in many achievements,
including the 'Five Ways' or proofs of the existence of God
(in his Summa Theologiae).
In the first of his proofs, Aquinas says that the
existence of God can be proved by considering the concept of
motion. In studying the works of Aristotle he concluded from
common observation that an object in motion, such as the
planets or a rolling stone, is put in motion by some other
object or force. From this, he concluded, there must have been
an unmoved mover who first put things in motion. That would be
God.
The second proof deals with the issue of existence
and cause. Again, according to Aquinas, common sense
observation tells us that no object creates itself and that
all causes always operate in a series to which there must be a
first cause of the series, or there could not be a series at
all. His conclusion is that there is a thing, which causes
itself, and that is God.
In the third proof, Aquinas notes that we observe
that things in the world come to be and pass away. However,
not everything can be like this for then there would have been
a time when nothing existed. If that were true then nothing
could ever have come into being, since something cannot come
from nothing. Therefore something must always have existed and
that would be God.
These first three proofs of Aquinas have often been called
variations of the Cosmological Argument (an attempt to prove
that God exists by appealing to the principle that all things
have causes).
In the fourth proof Aquinas offers a version of the
Ontological Argument (the proof that God exists because our
conception of Him exists). A thing may have varying degrees of
a quality e.g. more or less hot, good, handsome, etc. These
varying degrees of quality are caused by something that
contains the most or perfect amount of that quality. That
which is the source of, and contains most perfect of all
qualities, is God.
Finally in the fifth proof, Aquinas refers to
Aristotle's notion of purpose in that all things aim towards
some ultimate goal or end. The order and design found in
nature suggests a highest Being, God, at the Source.
Thomas Aquinas was the quintessential master of Scholastic
philosophy. His influence has been vast not only in Western
theology, but in Western philosophy. Two of his most famous
works are the Summa Theologiae and the Summa
Contra Gentiles. His prolific writings also include
considerations on human nature, government, law, ethics,
metaphysics and epistemology, among other subjects. |
