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Summa Theologica

Summa Theologica. Philosophy 1 Spring, 2002 G. J. Mattey. Thomas Aquinas. Born 1224 From Roccasecca, Italy Studied Aristotle in Italy Studied in Paris Died 1274 Pope Leo XXIII declares him “chief and master among all the scholastic doctors,” 1879. Aquinas’s Contributions.

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Summa Theologica

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  1. Summa Theologica Philosophy 1 Spring, 2002 G. J. Mattey

  2. Thomas Aquinas • Born 1224 • From Roccasecca, Italy • Studied Aristotle in Italy • Studied in Paris • Died 1274 • Pope Leo XXIII declares him “chief and master among all the scholastic doctors,” 1879

  3. Aquinas’s Contributions • Applied newly-recovered philosophy of Aristotle to Christian theology • Challenged the theology of Augustine • Distinguished clearly between what can be demonstrated by reason without revelation and what cannot • Gave arguments for the existence of God from the existence of the universe

  4. The Recovery of Aristotle • The logical works had been translated into Latin by Boethius in the 5th and 6th centuries • Only two were widely available by the 12th century • At that point, many Greek and Arabic texts were translated • The rest of Aristotle’s works became available • The Arabic commentaries were translated as well • Avicenna (Ibn Sina, 980-1037) • Averroes (Ibn Rushd, 1126-1198)

  5. Reason and Revelation • It can be argued that philosophy reveals all of being without recourse to revelation • But there must be revealed knowledge as well • The ends of God surpass reason, and humans must know what these are • And what can be known through reason might be known only to a few

  6. Theology • There is a science, theology, of what is known through revelation • It is one science because all that it treats is divinely revealed • It includes both the theoretical and the practical • It is more certain than the lower sciences because its source is the infallible God • It draws on philosophy only to clarify its teachings

  7. The Practice of Theology • The subject-matter of theology is God • It uses reason to argue from first principles, which are articles of faith • Thus it uses arguments from authority, which are the strongest arguments when the authority is divine • Its claims cannot be disputed with those who reject all articles of faith

  8. The Investigation of God • There are three divisions of the treatment of God, concerning • The divine essence • The distinction of three Persons in one God • The creatures as they proceed from God • The treatment of the divine essence has three parts • Whether God exists • How God exists • The operations of God (knowledge, will, power, etc.)

  9. Is God’s Existence Self-Evident? • One knows something self-evidently when the predicate is included in the essence of the subject (Man is an animal) • Existence is included in the essence of God • But we do not know God’s essence • So we must infer God’s existence from God’s effects in nature

  10. The Ontological Argument • Anselm argued that one knows God exists when one understands what God is • Many people do not understand God as something than which nothing greater can be thought • Understanding this only means that what it signifies exists in the mind • The argument must beg the question against the atheist, for it can only assume that this something exists in reality

  11. Proving the Existence of God • We prove God’s existence as the cause of effects in nature • If the effect exists, its cause must exist before it does • But this kind of argument reveals the cause only to a limited extent, as the effects are finite and God is infinite

  12. The Argument From Motion • An object cannot both move and be moved in the same respect and the same way • So, if an object is moved, there is a distinct mover • The series of movers cannot go on infinitely • So, there is a first mover which is not moved • The unmoved mover is God • So, God exists

  13. The Argument from Causality • Nothing can be prior to itself • So, nothing in nature can be the efficient cause of itself • The series of efficient causes cannot go on infinitely • So, there is a first efficient cause • The first efficient cause is God • So, God exists

  14. The Argument from Contingency • Everything in nature can not be • What can not be sometimes is not • If everything can not be, then once nothing existed • What exists only comes from what exists already • So, if everything can not be, then nothing would exist • So, some being cannot not be • A being that cannot not be is God • So, God exists

  15. The Argument from Gradation • All things in nature come in degrees • If something comes in degrees, it must be comparable to a maximum • The maximum in a genus is the cause of all that falls into the genus • So, there must be a maximum of goodness and all perfections • The maximum of perfections is God • So, God exists

  16. The Argument from Governance • Natural bodies act for an end • Acting for an end depends on a purpose • A purpose depends on knowledge • Many beings that act for an end lack knowledge • So, those beings are directed by a being that has knowledge • God is the being who directs all natural things • So, God exists

  17. The Problem of Evil • The argument from evil • If God exists, then goodness is infinite, and there is no room for evil in the world • There is evil • So, God does not exist • But the existence of evil is compatible with that of God • God allows evil for the production of good

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