In his masterwork the Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas sought to prove that God could be understood through reason as well as faith, and that reason and faith could support each other, rather than be in opposition to each other, in terms of demonstrating God's existence.
If we can define dogma as the "values laid down by the Christian Church as incontrovertibly true," and we can establish that Scholasticism is "the teaching(s) based on Aristotelian logic having a strong emphasis on dogma," then we can argue that the only true difference in Aquinas' proposed ideas and those already proposed by the Christian Church was the facilitation and implementation of reason.
Aristotle served as a perfect example from which to do so. Of course, by the time of Aquinas, the principles of the Greek philosophers had been forgotten for over a thousand years. However, Aristotle (whom we could refer to as the last of the great philosophers [Socrates, Plato, Aristotle]) summarized the principles of all of his predecessors, and was the ultimate purveyor of reason for his time.
Aquinas uses Aristotelian philosophy in his Theologica when he proves the existence of God in 5 different ways. The most striking similar (to Aristotle's ideas) of the five arguments is the "second way," in which Aquinas refers to the "nature of efficient cause." Here, Aquinas refers to an intermediate (middle) cause, which is the "cause of the ultimate cause." Aquinas then argues that there must be a first efficient cause (namely God), in order to have intermediate causes between the first cause and infinity; therefore, God exists.
In short, by using Aristotelian philosophy, Aquinas promotes the teachings of the Church by proving that reason can be combined with faith in order to prove the existence of God.
Aquinas' purpose of the Summa Theologica was to restore reason in a religious society controlled by faith. He desired to prove that God could be proved through logic in nature (much like Aristotle) in addition to faith. Through Aquinas, all people had to think critically about the existence of God rather than believe on blind faith.
With his work, Aquinas promoted dogma drastically and managed to reconcile the differences between the philosophy of Greek thinkers and that of the Middle Ages. In his opinion the best example of a Greek thinker that could relate to the middle ages was Aristotle. Aristotle was known for being one of the greatest users of reason as he applied it to the understanding of nature. Aquinas desired to revive his knowledge and apply it to religion and the proof of God.
With this, Aquinas developed five points that prove why God exists in nature. To the church these were undeniable and therefore accepted the use of logic. So by using Aristotle's ideas, Aquinas was able to promote Dogma by reviving the idea of reason and associating it with religion seamlessly.
Aquinas in his Summa Theologica, argued, unlike many people of the Middle Ages, that not just faith comes from God, but also reason. He believed further that reason can actually be used to demonstrate the existence of God. He tried to reason out God's existence in five different ways. These "proofs" are all associated with a necessary first entity to initiate the existence of everything. He believed that since everything stems from something else, something had to create the first life and cause motion in the universe. Therefore, his views promote Scholasticism, the emphasis of reason, especially with regards to Christianity.
The methods of Aquinas were partially rooted in the methods of Aristotle, because they both used concepts from our natural world to think about and examine a higher world. For Aristotle, this world was the world of ideas and reason, and of course for Aquinas, this other world was Heaven. In his Summa Theologica, Aquinas uses what he sees on Earth such as necessity, intelligence, and even heat. Thus, just as Aristotle used both reason and nature to investigate a higher world, Aquinas believed in God because of both faith and his application of reason to the natural world. To answer the question of how Aquinas used Aristotelian philosophy to promote dogma, he examined the natural world and used reason to try to prove the existence of God.
In his masterwork the Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas sought to prove that God could be understood through reason as well as faith, and that reason and faith could support each other, rather than be in opposition to each other, in terms of demonstrating God's existence.
ReplyDeleteIf we can define dogma as the "values laid down by the Christian Church as incontrovertibly true," and we can establish that Scholasticism is "the teaching(s) based on Aristotelian logic having a strong emphasis on dogma," then we can argue that the only true difference in Aquinas' proposed ideas and those already proposed by the Christian Church was the facilitation and implementation of reason.
Aristotle served as a perfect example from which to do so. Of course, by the time of Aquinas, the principles of the Greek philosophers had been forgotten for over a thousand years. However, Aristotle (whom we could refer to as the last of the great philosophers [Socrates, Plato, Aristotle]) summarized the principles of all of his predecessors, and was the ultimate purveyor of reason for his time.
Aquinas uses Aristotelian philosophy in his Theologica when he proves the existence of God in 5 different ways. The most striking similar (to Aristotle's ideas) of the five arguments is the "second way," in which Aquinas refers to the "nature of efficient cause." Here, Aquinas refers to an intermediate (middle) cause, which is the "cause of the ultimate cause." Aquinas then argues that there must be a first efficient cause (namely God), in order to have intermediate causes between the first cause and infinity; therefore, God exists.
In short, by using Aristotelian philosophy, Aquinas promotes the teachings of the Church by proving that reason can be combined with faith in order to prove the existence of God.
Aquinas' purpose of the Summa Theologica was to restore reason in a religious society controlled by faith. He desired to prove that God could be proved through logic in nature (much like Aristotle) in addition to faith. Through Aquinas, all people had to think critically about the existence of God rather than believe on blind faith.
ReplyDeleteWith his work, Aquinas promoted dogma drastically and managed to reconcile the differences between the philosophy of Greek thinkers and that of the Middle Ages. In his opinion the best example of a Greek thinker that could relate to the middle ages was Aristotle. Aristotle was known for being one of the greatest users of reason as he applied it to the understanding of nature. Aquinas desired to revive his knowledge and apply it to religion and the proof of God.
With this, Aquinas developed five points that prove why God exists in nature. To the church these were undeniable and therefore accepted the use of logic. So by using Aristotle's ideas, Aquinas was able to promote Dogma by reviving the idea of reason and associating it with religion seamlessly.
Aquinas in his Summa Theologica, argued, unlike many people of the Middle Ages, that not just faith comes from God, but also reason. He believed further that reason can actually be used to demonstrate the existence of God. He tried to reason out God's existence in five different ways. These "proofs" are all associated with a necessary first entity to initiate the existence of everything. He believed that since everything stems from something else, something had to create the first life and cause motion in the universe. Therefore, his views promote Scholasticism, the emphasis of reason, especially with regards to Christianity.
ReplyDeleteThe methods of Aquinas were partially rooted in the methods of Aristotle, because they both used concepts from our natural world to think about and examine a higher world. For Aristotle, this world was the world of ideas and reason, and of course for Aquinas, this other world was Heaven. In his Summa Theologica, Aquinas uses what he sees on Earth such as necessity, intelligence, and even heat. Thus, just as Aristotle used both reason and nature to investigate a higher world, Aquinas believed in God because of both faith and his application of reason to the natural world. To answer the question of how Aquinas used Aristotelian philosophy to promote dogma, he examined the natural world and used reason to try to prove the existence of God.