St.

Thomas Aquinas
Aakriti Bhasin Vikas Jaiswal Hellen jansen Adam Suleiman Djo Ilele

Before Aquinas
Last

centuries of the Western Roman Empire witnessed growth of Christianity. Growing belief in demons, magic, astrology & other dark superstitions. Known as the DARK AGE Original philosophy was almost nonexistent.

Before Aquinas
Lasted

till 1000 After which all the invaders of the Roman Empire were Christianized. Prosperity & security followed the Dark ages. This period of growing personal liberty, spreading literacy & increasing intellectual vigor was known as the MIDDLE AGE.

The Middle ages

Contact

with the Arabian World rekindled the interest of European church leaders in the philosophies of ARISTOTLE. There were two groups of Christian church philosophers One who thought it was necessary to reject Aristotle's philosophy and the other which came to regard him as one of the greatest philosophers.

St. Thomas Aquinas

Thought

Aristotle to be a great philosopher. His philosophy was deemed to be the official Catholic philosophy by Pope Leo XIII in 1879.

St. Thomas Aquinas

His

feast day is January 28. He was born towards the end of the year 1226. He was the son of Landulph, Count of Aquino, who, when St. Thomas was five years old, placed him under the care of the Benedictines of Monte Casino.

St. Thomas Aquinas

When

he became of age to choose his state of life, St. Thomas renounced the things of this world and resolved to enter the Order of St. Dominic in spite of the opposition of his family. In 1243, at the age of seventeen, he joined the Dominicans of Naples.

His philosophy.
Aquinas

blended Christianity & Aristotles philosophy to reveal truth. The result was a complete Christian philosophy with a theory of knowledge, metaphysics, ethical & political philosophies & a philosophy of law.

His philosophy
Thomas

also greatly influenced Catholic understandings of mortal and venial sins. Denied that human beings have any duty of charity to animals because they are not persons. Otherwise, it would be unlawful to use them for food. This does not give us license to be cruel to them.

Creation
St.

Thomas believed that God is the creator of heaven &earth, all the things visible & invisible. God is unmovable, unchangeable and eternal. All things have an ultimate creator, cause , source of being which is GOD.

Ethics

Thomas defined the four cardinal virtues as prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude. The cardinal virtues are natural and revealed in nature, and they are binding on everyone. However, three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. They are supernatural and are distinct from other virtues in their object, namely, God.

Philosophy of Law
Thomas

distinguished four kinds of law: eternal, natural, human, and divine. Divine law is the decree of God that governs all creation. Natural law is the human "participation" in the eternal law and is discovered by reason. Human law is positive law: the natural law applied by governments to societies. Divine law is the specially revealed law in the scriptures.

Economic contribution
Contributed

to economic thought as an aspect of ethics and justice. He dealt with the concept of a just price. He argued it was immoral for sellers to raise their prices simply because buyers were in pressing need for a product.

Tracing boundaries

He traced the boundaries of philosophy & theology. He did not believe reality is a product of the human mind. According to him there is only one truth, part of which is accessible to human reason, part of which requires faith. The knowledge which can be acquired is not enough as the supernatural truth is beyond human reason.

Psychology

He understands the soul as the form of the body, which makes a human being the composite of the two. The body belongs to the essence of a human being. The soul is not corporeal, or a body; it is the act of a body. Soul is immaterial, it continues after bodily death. The human soul is perfected in the body, but does not depend on the body, because part of its nature is spiritual.

Theology
Thomas

viewed theology, or the sacred doctrine, as a science: the raw material data of which consists the written scripture and the tradition of the Catholic Church. Used for self-revelation of God to individuals & groups. He believed FAITH & REASON, distinct yet related where necessary for revealing the true nature of God.

Goal of Human life

In

Thomas's thought, the goal of human existence is union and eternal fellowship with God. Thomas stated that an individual's will must be ordered toward right things, such as charity, peace, and holiness. He sees this as a way to happiness.

Metaphysics
He

explained change using Aristotles four cause theory. Efficient cause: is which produces the change. Material cause: is the thing that changes. Formal cause: is the form it takes. Final cause: is why there was a change.

Conclusion
His

ideas continue to play a vital role in the Church as an institution and in religion as a governing factor in daily life, till today.