Thomas Aquinas went down in history as a majora theological philosopher of the Middle Ages, and also as a systematizer of scholasticism and the founder of Thomism, an important direction of the Catholic Church. During his lifetime, he was a Dominican monk. His ideas are used in modern philosophical as well as theological teachings.
Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas provides an opportunity to understand some complex theological questions. His most famous works are The Sum of Theology, and The Sum of Philosophy.
Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas: briefly
This philosopher considered the ontological existence of God to be inadequate. They were five proofs of the existence of higher intelligence:
- motion. Everything moved by someone moves, which means that there is some primary engine. This engine is called God;
- the reason. Everything that exists around has its own cause. The root cause is God;
- chance and necessity. These concepts are interrelated. The original cause is God;
- degree of quality. Everything that exists has different degrees of quality. God is the supreme perfection;
- target. Any goal has everything around. The goal makes sense, which God gives it. Without God, setting goals would be utterly impossible.
The philosophy of Aquinas is connected with the problems of being, God, as well as all things. In particular, the philosopher:
- draws a line between essence and existence. This division is included in the key ideas of Catholicism;
- as an essence, the philosopher represents a "pure idea" of a phenomenon or thing, a totality of features, features existing in the divine mind;
- the very fact of the being of a thing he calls proof of the existence of a thing;
- everything that we see around exists only for the reason that this existence was approved by God;
- God can give the essence of existence, and may deprive it of this existence;
- God is eternal and irreversible.
Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas contains the idea that:
- everything consists of an idea (form), as well as matter;
- the unity of matter and form - the essence of any thing;
- the idea is the defining principle, matter is the container;
- any idea is a threefold - that is, it exists in the mind of God, in this very thing, and also in the mind of man.
Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas contains the following ideas:
- Reason and revelation are not the same;
- reason and faith are always involved in the process of cognition;
- reason and faith give true knowledge;
- untrue knowledge can appear for the reason that reason contradicts faith;
- everything is divided into what you can know, and what you can not know;
- the mind is able to know only the very existence of God;
- the existence of God, the creation of the world, the immortality of the soul, as well as other similar questions a person can understand only through divine revelation;
- Theology and philosophy - this is not the same thing at all;
- philosophy only explains what is known by reason;
- the divine knows theology.
Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas: historical significance
This includes:
- evidence of the existence of God;
- systematization of scholasticism;
- Drawing boundaries between existence and essence;
- a significant contribution to the development of ideas of materialism;
- the discovery of divine ideas that preceded the beginning of the existence of things;
- the idea that knowledge can be obtained only when the mind unites with faith and ceases to contradict it;
- Indication of the spheres of being, which can be understood only through divine revelation;
- the division of theology and philosophy, as well as the representation of philosophy as something subordinate to theology;
- a logical proof of a number of provisions of scholasticism, as well as theology.
The teachings of this philosopher were recognized by the Pope (1878), and adopted as the official ideology of Catholicism. Today, his ideas are based on such ideas as neo-Thomism.
