THE APEX OF MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY:
THE SCHOLASTIC SYSTEM OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS AND HIS SUCCESSORS
Source: Stumpf, Samuel Enoch & Fieser, James. 2008. Socrates to Sartre: A History of
Philosophy. New York: McGraw Hill
______________________________________________________________________
Contents Page
A. The Scholastic System of St. Thomas Aquinas 3
1. Introduction 3
1.1 Life & Writings 3
1.2 Bonaventura and University of Paris
4 1.3 Philosophy and Theology
5
1.4 Faith & Reason 6
1.5 Proofs of God’s Existence 7
1.5.1 Proof from Motion 7
1.5.2 Proof from Efficient Cause 8
1.5.3 Proof from Necessary vs Possible Being 8
1.5.4 Proof from Degrees of Perfection 9
1.5.5 Proof from Order of the Universe 9
1.6 Knowledge of God’s Nature 10
1.6.1 The Negative Way 10
1.6.2 Knowledge by Analogy 11
1.7 Creation 12
1.7.1 Is the created order eternal? 12
1.7.2 Creation out of nothing (ex nihilo) 12
1.7.3 Is this the best possible world? 12
1.7.4 Evil as Privation 13
1.7.5 The Range of Created Being 13
1.8 Morality & Natural Law 14
1.8.1 Moral Constitution 14
1.8.2 Theory of Natural Law 15
1.8.3 Eternal Law 16
1.8.4 Natural Law 16
1.8.5 Human Law 17
1.8.6 Divine Law 17
1.9 The State (Political Philosophy) 18
2.0 Man and Knowledge (Epistemology) 20
2.0.1 Human Nature 20
2.0.2 Knowledge 20
B. Some Reactions to Thomistic Philosophy 21
1. Voluntarism (Against Scotus) 21
2. Nominalism (Against Ockham) 22
3. Mysticism (Against Eckhart) 23
1
,C. The Renaissance Interlude (15th-16th c.) 24
1. Trends in the Renaissance Period 25
1.1 Decline of the Medieval Synthesis (faith & reason) 25
1.2 Revival of classical philosophy (Aristotelianism) 25
1.3 Humanism: focus on the human form 26
1.4 A Time of Discovery and Emancipation 26
2. Erasmus and Luther 28
2.1 Erasmus 28
2.2 Luther 30
3. Macchiavelli 31
4. Michel de Montaigne 32
4.1 Various Meanings of Skepticism 34
4.2 Science 36
5. Advocates of the Method of Science: Bacon & Hobbes 39
5.1 Bacon 39
5.1.1 Distempers of Learning 40
5.1.2 Idols of the Mind 41
5.1.3 Inductive Method 42
5.2 Hobbes 43
5.2.1 Influence of Geometry 43
5.2.2 Bodies in Motion 45
5.2.3 Mechanical View of Human Thought 46
5.2.4 Theory of State 48
5.2.5 State of Nature 48
5.2.6 Obligation in State of Nature 49
5.2.7 The Social Contract 50
_______________________________________________________________________
A. THE SCHOLASTIC SYSTEM OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
1. Introduction
The great achievement of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) was that he brought
together into a formidable synthesis the insights of classical philosophy and Christian
theology. More specifically, Aquinas “Christianized“ the philosophy of Aristotle.
Although his philosophical orientation was dominated by Aristotle, he was aware of the
vast scope of thought produced by the ancients, the Christian fathers, and the earlier
medieval writers, including the Arabian and Jewish writers. By the time he began his
literary work, a large of part of Plato’s and Aristotle’s writings had become available in
Western Europe.
Lines of development
2
, Augustine had formulated an earlier synthesis of philosophy and theology by
combining the Christian faith with elements of Plato’s thought, which he had discovered
in the writings of the Neoplatonist Plotinus. Shortly after Augustine, in the 6 th century,
Boethius made a portion of Aristotle’s works available in Latin for the first time and
thereby stimulated philosophical speculation again. From about the 7 th to the 13th c. there
were several lines of development, leading toward differences and controversies
between Platonists and Aristotelians. This conflict continued after the 13th c. as a
1. controversy between Augustinians and Thomists, insofar as each of these
theologians built his thought around Plato and Aristotle, respectively. In these formative
centuries, medieval thinkers wrestled with the problem of relating philosophy and
theology, expressing this problem as the relation between faith and reason. There was
also
2. the problem of the universals, which not only reflected the different
viewpoints of Plato and Aristotle but also had important ramifications for the Christian
faith. On all these matters, Aquinas now exerted a decisive influence by clarifying the
precise questions involved, acknowledging alternative solutions offered by different
authorities, and answering the major objections to this Aristotelian-Christian solutions.
In this way, Aquinas perfected the “scholastic method.”
The term scholasticism in this context is derived from the intellectual activity
carried on in the medieval cathedral schools, and its proponents were called doctores
scholastici. Eventually, scholasticism came to refer to the dominant system of thought
developed by the doctors in the schools and to the special method they utilized in
teaching philosophy. Scholastic philosophy was an attempt to put together a coherent
system of traditional thought rather than a pursuit of genuinely novel forms of insight.
The content of this system was for the most part a fusion of Christian theology and the
philosophies of Plato and especially Aristotle. Most distinctive in scholasticism was its
method, a process relying chiefly upon strict logical deduction, taking on the form of an
intricate system and expressed in a dialectical or disputational form in which theology
dominated philosophy. (philosophia est ancilla theologiae)
1.1 Life and Writings
Thomas was born in 1225 near Naples. His father was a count of Aquino who
had hoped that his son would someday enjoy high ecclesiastical position. For this reason,
Thomas was placed in the Abbey of Monte Cassino as a boy of five, and for the next nine
years he pursued his studies in this Benedictine abbey. At the age of 14, he entered the
Univ. of Naples, but while in that city he was fascinated by the life of some Dominican
friars at a nearby convent and decided to enter their Order. As the Dominicans were
particularly dedicated to teaching, Thomas had, upon entering their Order, resolved to
give himself to a religious and also a teaching vocation. Four years later, in 1245, he
entered the Univ. of Paris, where he came under the influence of a prodigious scholar
whose enormous intellectual achievements had earned him the names “Albert the Great”
(Albertus Magnus) and the “Universal Teacher.” During his long and intimate
3
, association with Albert both at Paris and Cologne, Thomas’ mind was shaped in decisive
ways by the vast range of Albert’s learning and by his views on particular problems.
Albert had recognized the significance of philosophy and science for grounding
Christian faith and for developing the capacities of the human mind. While other
theologians looked askance at secular learning, Albert concluded that the Christian
thinker must master philosophical and scientific learning in all its forms. He had respect
for all intellectual activity, and his writings attest to his acquaintance with a vast amount
and variety of learning. He knew virtually all the ancient Christian, Jewish, and Arabian
writers. His mind was encyclopedic rather than creative. Still, it was Albert who had
recognized the fundamental difference between philosophy and theology, sharpening
more accurately than his predecessors had the boundaries between them. Albert thought
that such writers as Anselm and Abelard, for example, had ascribed too much
competence to reason, not realizing that from a rigorous point of view much of what they
ascribed to reason was in fact a matter of faith. Albert’s particular objective was to make
Aristotle clearly understandable to all of Europe, hoping to put into Latin all of
Aristotle’s works. He considered Aristotle the greatest of all philosophers, and much of
the credit for the dominance of Aristotle’s thought in the 13 th c. must be given to him. It
was inevitable, under these circumstances, that his pupil Thomas Aquinas would also see
in Aristotle the most significant philosophical support for Christian theology.
Unlike Albert, who did not change anything in the philosophers he quoted in his
works, Thomas used Aristotle more creatively, systematically, and with a more specific
recognition of the harmony between what Aristotle said and the Christian faith. After an
interval of teaching under the auspices of the Papal Court from 1259 to 1268, Thomas
returned once again to Paris and became involved in the celebrated controversy with the
Averroists. In 1274, Pope Gregory X called him to Lyons to participate in a council, and
while on his way there, he died in a monastery between Naples and Rome, at the age of
49.
Thomas left a huge literary legacy, the vastness of which is all the more
remarkable when one recalls that it was all composed within a 21-year span. Among his
principal works are his commentaries on many Aristotle’s writings, careful arguments
against the errors of the Greeks and the Averroists, a brilliant early work on essence and
existence, a political treatise on rulers, and many other notable works. His most
renowned literary achievements are his two major theological works, the Summa contra
Gentiles and Summa Theologica.
1.2 Bonaventura and the University of Paris
The first universities grew out of what were called “cathedral schools.” The
University of Paris evolved from the Cathedral School of Notre Dame, its formal rules of
organization and procedures being approved officially by the Papal representative in
1215. Originally, like all early universities, Paris consisted of masters and students
without any special buildings or other features we now associate with universities, such
as libraries and endowments. These were added in the 14 th and 15th c. But the most
4
THE SCHOLASTIC SYSTEM OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS AND HIS SUCCESSORS
Source: Stumpf, Samuel Enoch & Fieser, James. 2008. Socrates to Sartre: A History of
Philosophy. New York: McGraw Hill
______________________________________________________________________
Contents Page
A. The Scholastic System of St. Thomas Aquinas 3
1. Introduction 3
1.1 Life & Writings 3
1.2 Bonaventura and University of Paris
4 1.3 Philosophy and Theology
5
1.4 Faith & Reason 6
1.5 Proofs of God’s Existence 7
1.5.1 Proof from Motion 7
1.5.2 Proof from Efficient Cause 8
1.5.3 Proof from Necessary vs Possible Being 8
1.5.4 Proof from Degrees of Perfection 9
1.5.5 Proof from Order of the Universe 9
1.6 Knowledge of God’s Nature 10
1.6.1 The Negative Way 10
1.6.2 Knowledge by Analogy 11
1.7 Creation 12
1.7.1 Is the created order eternal? 12
1.7.2 Creation out of nothing (ex nihilo) 12
1.7.3 Is this the best possible world? 12
1.7.4 Evil as Privation 13
1.7.5 The Range of Created Being 13
1.8 Morality & Natural Law 14
1.8.1 Moral Constitution 14
1.8.2 Theory of Natural Law 15
1.8.3 Eternal Law 16
1.8.4 Natural Law 16
1.8.5 Human Law 17
1.8.6 Divine Law 17
1.9 The State (Political Philosophy) 18
2.0 Man and Knowledge (Epistemology) 20
2.0.1 Human Nature 20
2.0.2 Knowledge 20
B. Some Reactions to Thomistic Philosophy 21
1. Voluntarism (Against Scotus) 21
2. Nominalism (Against Ockham) 22
3. Mysticism (Against Eckhart) 23
1
,C. The Renaissance Interlude (15th-16th c.) 24
1. Trends in the Renaissance Period 25
1.1 Decline of the Medieval Synthesis (faith & reason) 25
1.2 Revival of classical philosophy (Aristotelianism) 25
1.3 Humanism: focus on the human form 26
1.4 A Time of Discovery and Emancipation 26
2. Erasmus and Luther 28
2.1 Erasmus 28
2.2 Luther 30
3. Macchiavelli 31
4. Michel de Montaigne 32
4.1 Various Meanings of Skepticism 34
4.2 Science 36
5. Advocates of the Method of Science: Bacon & Hobbes 39
5.1 Bacon 39
5.1.1 Distempers of Learning 40
5.1.2 Idols of the Mind 41
5.1.3 Inductive Method 42
5.2 Hobbes 43
5.2.1 Influence of Geometry 43
5.2.2 Bodies in Motion 45
5.2.3 Mechanical View of Human Thought 46
5.2.4 Theory of State 48
5.2.5 State of Nature 48
5.2.6 Obligation in State of Nature 49
5.2.7 The Social Contract 50
_______________________________________________________________________
A. THE SCHOLASTIC SYSTEM OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
1. Introduction
The great achievement of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) was that he brought
together into a formidable synthesis the insights of classical philosophy and Christian
theology. More specifically, Aquinas “Christianized“ the philosophy of Aristotle.
Although his philosophical orientation was dominated by Aristotle, he was aware of the
vast scope of thought produced by the ancients, the Christian fathers, and the earlier
medieval writers, including the Arabian and Jewish writers. By the time he began his
literary work, a large of part of Plato’s and Aristotle’s writings had become available in
Western Europe.
Lines of development
2
, Augustine had formulated an earlier synthesis of philosophy and theology by
combining the Christian faith with elements of Plato’s thought, which he had discovered
in the writings of the Neoplatonist Plotinus. Shortly after Augustine, in the 6 th century,
Boethius made a portion of Aristotle’s works available in Latin for the first time and
thereby stimulated philosophical speculation again. From about the 7 th to the 13th c. there
were several lines of development, leading toward differences and controversies
between Platonists and Aristotelians. This conflict continued after the 13th c. as a
1. controversy between Augustinians and Thomists, insofar as each of these
theologians built his thought around Plato and Aristotle, respectively. In these formative
centuries, medieval thinkers wrestled with the problem of relating philosophy and
theology, expressing this problem as the relation between faith and reason. There was
also
2. the problem of the universals, which not only reflected the different
viewpoints of Plato and Aristotle but also had important ramifications for the Christian
faith. On all these matters, Aquinas now exerted a decisive influence by clarifying the
precise questions involved, acknowledging alternative solutions offered by different
authorities, and answering the major objections to this Aristotelian-Christian solutions.
In this way, Aquinas perfected the “scholastic method.”
The term scholasticism in this context is derived from the intellectual activity
carried on in the medieval cathedral schools, and its proponents were called doctores
scholastici. Eventually, scholasticism came to refer to the dominant system of thought
developed by the doctors in the schools and to the special method they utilized in
teaching philosophy. Scholastic philosophy was an attempt to put together a coherent
system of traditional thought rather than a pursuit of genuinely novel forms of insight.
The content of this system was for the most part a fusion of Christian theology and the
philosophies of Plato and especially Aristotle. Most distinctive in scholasticism was its
method, a process relying chiefly upon strict logical deduction, taking on the form of an
intricate system and expressed in a dialectical or disputational form in which theology
dominated philosophy. (philosophia est ancilla theologiae)
1.1 Life and Writings
Thomas was born in 1225 near Naples. His father was a count of Aquino who
had hoped that his son would someday enjoy high ecclesiastical position. For this reason,
Thomas was placed in the Abbey of Monte Cassino as a boy of five, and for the next nine
years he pursued his studies in this Benedictine abbey. At the age of 14, he entered the
Univ. of Naples, but while in that city he was fascinated by the life of some Dominican
friars at a nearby convent and decided to enter their Order. As the Dominicans were
particularly dedicated to teaching, Thomas had, upon entering their Order, resolved to
give himself to a religious and also a teaching vocation. Four years later, in 1245, he
entered the Univ. of Paris, where he came under the influence of a prodigious scholar
whose enormous intellectual achievements had earned him the names “Albert the Great”
(Albertus Magnus) and the “Universal Teacher.” During his long and intimate
3
, association with Albert both at Paris and Cologne, Thomas’ mind was shaped in decisive
ways by the vast range of Albert’s learning and by his views on particular problems.
Albert had recognized the significance of philosophy and science for grounding
Christian faith and for developing the capacities of the human mind. While other
theologians looked askance at secular learning, Albert concluded that the Christian
thinker must master philosophical and scientific learning in all its forms. He had respect
for all intellectual activity, and his writings attest to his acquaintance with a vast amount
and variety of learning. He knew virtually all the ancient Christian, Jewish, and Arabian
writers. His mind was encyclopedic rather than creative. Still, it was Albert who had
recognized the fundamental difference between philosophy and theology, sharpening
more accurately than his predecessors had the boundaries between them. Albert thought
that such writers as Anselm and Abelard, for example, had ascribed too much
competence to reason, not realizing that from a rigorous point of view much of what they
ascribed to reason was in fact a matter of faith. Albert’s particular objective was to make
Aristotle clearly understandable to all of Europe, hoping to put into Latin all of
Aristotle’s works. He considered Aristotle the greatest of all philosophers, and much of
the credit for the dominance of Aristotle’s thought in the 13 th c. must be given to him. It
was inevitable, under these circumstances, that his pupil Thomas Aquinas would also see
in Aristotle the most significant philosophical support for Christian theology.
Unlike Albert, who did not change anything in the philosophers he quoted in his
works, Thomas used Aristotle more creatively, systematically, and with a more specific
recognition of the harmony between what Aristotle said and the Christian faith. After an
interval of teaching under the auspices of the Papal Court from 1259 to 1268, Thomas
returned once again to Paris and became involved in the celebrated controversy with the
Averroists. In 1274, Pope Gregory X called him to Lyons to participate in a council, and
while on his way there, he died in a monastery between Naples and Rome, at the age of
49.
Thomas left a huge literary legacy, the vastness of which is all the more
remarkable when one recalls that it was all composed within a 21-year span. Among his
principal works are his commentaries on many Aristotle’s writings, careful arguments
against the errors of the Greeks and the Averroists, a brilliant early work on essence and
existence, a political treatise on rulers, and many other notable works. His most
renowned literary achievements are his two major theological works, the Summa contra
Gentiles and Summa Theologica.
1.2 Bonaventura and the University of Paris
The first universities grew out of what were called “cathedral schools.” The
University of Paris evolved from the Cathedral School of Notre Dame, its formal rules of
organization and procedures being approved officially by the Papal representative in
1215. Originally, like all early universities, Paris consisted of masters and students
without any special buildings or other features we now associate with universities, such
as libraries and endowments. These were added in the 14 th and 15th c. But the most
4
