Intro to Philosophy

1. Intro to Philosophy Lesson 5: St. Thomas Aquinas Reason and Revelation “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…”

2. St. Thomas Aquinas • 1225-1274 CE • Naples, Italy • Benedictine then Dominican monk • Primary Works: • Summa contra Gentiles • Summa Theologiae • “Of all the pursuits open to the human person, the search for wisdom is more perfect, more sublime, more profitable, and more full of joy.”

3. Faith and Philosophy • The difference between a “religious” belief and a philosophical one can be thought of as a question of authority. • Christianity places authority on revelation (via Scripture primarily) • Philosophy places authority on reason and our ability to make, or rather observe, logical connections • Aquinas posits two modes of knowing: reason and revelation. • Reason (scientia) – many things can be known by means of philosophical demonstration and empirical observation. • Revelation (sapientia) – some things can only be known by God making them known to us (e.g., Trinity, Incarnation, etc.)

4. Natural Philosophy Why is reason (philosophy) important if revelation (faith) is all that is necessary for salvation? As beings created in the image of God we are endowed with characteristics common with God, reason being one of the chief of them. To ignore our intellect or work contrary to it would be to work against not only our nature, but God’s. To use our intellect to discover, discard, and sharpen helps us work toward not only our highest good, but the highest good for all existence.

5. Knowledge • There are different kinds of knowledge: • Scientific knowledge (data) • Knowledge by familiarity • Intuition • Etc. • To know something as a fact (data) or to have it ordered rightly in our heads is little more than a starting point. • Knowledge, in any form, is the necessary starting point for spiritual growth. • By its nature, gaining knowledge is not just an accumulation of facts, but also an implicit and explicit formative process.

6. Faith • Aquinas defines faith in a way that offers important correctives for our modern understanding • Typically the way we use the word faith today means simply a belief in an idea that we do not necessarily grasp. • Aquinas proposes that faith has two essential and interrelated elements: Belief and Will • Belief – assent to a set of ideas; belief presupposes reason • Will – to choose to act on one’s beliefs

7. Aquinas’ “Five Ways” • Two Principles • Cause and Effect – Every effect depends on a greater cause • Infinite Regress – Everything has a beginning except for the beginning of everything • Cosmological Arguments: • Prime Mover • Uncaused Cause • Necessity • Perfection • Teleological Argument: “Intelligent Design”

8. Cosmological Arguments • The Prime Mover • All things are in motion • Things that are in motion must be put in motion by another • That “other” must be greater (things cannot move themselves) • Therefore motion must (eventually) be retraced to its origin in the “prime” (first) mover that is unmoved but moves everything else. • The Uncaused Cause • Nothing can cause itself • There must be a cause that is uncaused that causes everything else.

9. Cosmological Arguments • Necessity • Everything that is caused can be said to be contingent upon the thing that caused it. • That prior cause is “necessary” for the thing to exist • Everything that causes something else has a greater degree of necessity than that which it causes, ad infinitum • This can be traced back to a being who is fully necessary. “That which exists necessarily cannot not exist.” • Perfection • We can make comparisons between things because we posit a standard of perfection by which other things can be compared • Everything has a set of attributes (being, goodness, etc.) that must have a maximum which is their cause. • God is the most perfect of all beings and is therefore the cause of all things.

10. Teleological Argument All things have a purpose (nature). Things are good to the extent that they fulfill this purpose. Physical objects display an order or intelligence Humans can use intelligence but they cannot manipulate it or change it, nor do they impose it upon other things. There must be a power/being that guides all things towards their natural purpose (someone who imposes intelligence upon matter). “This we call God.”

11. Criticisms

12. From “Within” • The most popular criticism from within Christianity is that the God that Aquinas describes and generally relies upon in his thought is not the God of revelation. • The uncaused cause is a long way away from the self-emptying God Incarnate in Jesus Christ. • Some of this criticism can be mediated by looking at methodology: • Aquinas admits that our descriptions of God in natural reason do not have the status of absolute knowledge. • Aquinas is also not necessarily trying to attain to the kind of full theological description when he does philosophy.

13. From “Without” The most popular criticism outside of Christianity is that there are logical problems with the proofs that render them useless. Saying that God is the cause of all things seen to be in effect only substitutes one problem for another—who caused God (since all things must have a cause that come into existence)? The teleological argument presupposes that the universe has order, but what many people argue is that order is not necessarily in the universe, but rather something that we impose upon it as a way of understanding and making use of it.