Philosophical views of Aquinas. The teachings of Thomas Aquinas

4. Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas (1225 or 1226–1274) - central figure medieval philosophy late period, an outstanding philosopher and theologian, systematizer of orthodox scholasticism, founder of one of its two dominant directions - Thomism. The legacy of this thinker is very extensive. Special place are occupied by two of his monumental works - “Summa Theology” and “Summa against the Pagans” (sometimes called “Summa Philosophy”). He commented on the texts of the Bible and the works of Aristotle, of whom he was a follower. His works, in addition to theology and philosophy, examine issues of law, morality, government system and economics.

The starting principle in the teaching of Aquinas is divine revelation: a person needs to know something that escapes his reason through divine revelation for his salvation. Aquinas distinguishes between the fields of philosophy and theology: the subject of the former is the “truths of reason,” and the latter “the truths of revelation.” Due to the fact that, according to Aquinas, the final object of both and the source of all truth is God, there cannot be a fundamental contradiction between revelation and properly functioning reason, between theology and philosophy. However, not all “revealed truths” are accessible to rational proof. Philosophy is in the service of theology and is as much lower than it as limited human reason is lower than divine wisdom. Religious truth, according to Aquinas, cannot be vulnerable from philosophy; in a purely vital, practical and moral sense, love for God is more important than knowledge of God.

About being. Based largely on the teachings of Aristotle, Aquinas considered God as the first cause and final goal of existence, as “pure form”, “pure actuality”. The essence of everything corporeal lies in the unity of form and matter. They are the real supersensible internal principles that form every real thing, everything corporeal in general. According to Aquinas, matter is only a receptacle of successive forms, “pure potentiality,” for it is only thanks to form that a thing is a thing of a certain kind and kind. In addition, the form acts as the target cause of the formation of a thing. And the reason for the individual uniqueness of things (the principle of individuation) is the “imprinted” matter of this or that individual. Based on the late Aristotle, Aquinas canonized the Christian understanding of the relationship between the ideal and the material as the relationship of the original principle of form (“the principle of order”) with the fluctuating and unsettled principle of matter (“the weakest form of being”). The fusion of the first principle of form and matter gives birth, according to Aquinas, to the world of individual phenomena. This last point dotted the i’s in one of the most pressing controversial issues in Christian scholasticism. Emerging Christianity, and therefore scholasticism, could not help but be preoccupied with the interpretation of its relationship to matter, since the third hypostasis of the supreme absolute deity - Jesus Christ - was, according to the Bible, revealed in the image of a man, i.e., he combined in himself the divine ( ideal), and human (material-corporeal) nature. The very fact of this unification did not make it possible to completely ignore matter as “nothing” (which was required by the dogma of creation from nothing), therefore Aquinas qualified matter with the help the whole system refined reasoning as the “weakest form of being” was perceived by the church as a way out of a logical impasse. Matter thus received a partial “justification” in scholasticism. Following Aristotle, Aquinas divided existence into substances and accidents. Accidents, i.e. attributes, properties of a substance (quality, quantity, relation, place, time, etc.), are definitions of a substance.

About man and his soul. In Aquinas’s interpretation, human individuality is the personal unity of soul and body; it is the soul that has the life-giving power of the human body. The soul is immaterial and self-existent: it is a substance that finds its completeness only in unity with the body. But corporeality has an essential significance: it is through it that the soul can only form what a person is. The soul always has a uniquely personal character. According to Aquinas, the bodily principle of a person organically participates in the spiritual and mental activity of the individual. It turns out that it is not the body and not the soul that thinks, experiences, and sets goals on its own, but they in their fused unity. He expressed a subtle and deeply correct thought: since some people have especially finely constructed bodies, their souls have great power of understanding. Personality, according to Aquinas, is “the noblest thing” in all rational nature. Thomas adhered to the idea of ​​the immortality of the soul.

About knowledge. The fundamental principle of knowledge, according to Aquinas, is the real existence of the universal. In the debate about universals, Aquinas defended the position of moderate realism, i.e. the universal exists in three ways: “before things” (in the mind of God as ideas of future things, as eternal ideal prototypes of existence), “in things”, having received concrete implementation, and “after things” - in human thinking as a result of operations of abstraction and generalization. Man has two abilities of cognition - feeling and intellect. Cognition begins with sensory experience under the influence of external objects. But not the entire existence of an object is perceived, but only that in it that is likened to the subject. When entering the soul of the knower, the knowable loses its materiality and can only enter it as a “species”. The “look” of an object is its knowable image. A thing exists simultaneously outside of us in all its existence and inside us as an image. Thanks to the image, which represents an element of the being of a thing, which at the same time is similar to the soul, the object enters the soul, into the spiritual kingdom of thoughts. In this case, first, sensory images arise, and from them the intellect abstracts “intelligible images.” Aquinas defines truth as “the correspondence between the intellect and the thing.” Moreover, the concepts formed by the human intellect are true to the extent that they correspond to their concepts that preceded them in the intellect of God. Denying innate knowledge, Aquinas at the same time recognized that certain germs of knowledge pre-exist in us, namely: the first concepts, immediately cognizable by the active intellect through images abstracted from the sensory. He put forward the principle: you cannot affirm and deny something at the same time; All other norms of logical thinking are based on this principle.

About ethics. In his ethical views, Aquinas relied on the principle of human free will, on the doctrine of being as good and of God as absolute good and of evil as the deprivation of good. According to Aquinas, evil is only a less perfect good; it is allowed by God in order for all stages of perfection to be realized in the Universe. The most important idea in Aquinas's ethics is the concept that happiness is the ultimate goal of human endeavor. It lies in the most excellent human activity- in the activity of theoretical reason, in the knowledge of truth for the sake of truth itself and, therefore, first of all in the knowledge of absolute truth, that is, God. The basis of people’s virtuous behavior is the natural law rooted in their hearts, which requires the implementation of good and the avoidance of evil. According to Aquinas, without divine grace eternal bliss is unattainable.

About society and state . In his treatise “On the Government of Princes” Aquinas provides a synthesis of Aristotelian ethical ideas and analysis Christian teaching about the divine government of the Universe, as well as the theoretical principles of the Roman Church. Following Aristotle, he proceeds from the fact that man by nature is a social being. The main goal state power to promote the common good, to maintain peace and justice in society, to ensure that subjects lead a virtuous lifestyle and have the benefits necessary for this. He preferred the monarchical form of government, but believed that if the monarch turned out to be a tyrant, the people had the right to oppose the tyrant and tyranny as a principle of government.

Thomas Aquinas completed the building of Catholic theology. Since the 14th century. and to this day his teaching is recognized by the Catholic Church as the leading direction philosophical worldview(in 1323 Thomas Aquinas was canonized).

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Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest representatives of medieval scholasticism, was born in 1225 in Roccaseca, near Naples. His father was Count Aquinas Landulf, who was related to the French royal house. Thomas was brought up in the famous monastery of Monte Cassino. In 1243, against the will of his parents, he entered the Dominican Order. Foma's attempt to go to Paris to continue his education was initially unsuccessful. On the way, he was kidnapped by his brothers and held captive for some time in his own castle. But Foma managed to escape. He went to Cologne, where he became a student Albertus Magnus. Thomas completed his education in Paris and there, in 1248, he began teaching scholastic philosophy. In this field he enjoyed such success that he received the nicknames doctor universalis and doctor angelicus. In 1261, Pope Urban IV summoned Thomas back to Italy, and he transferred his teaching activities to Bologna, Pisa and Rome. He died in 1274, on the way to Lyon Cathedral, under circumstances that seemed dark to contemporaries. Dante and G. Villani said that Thomas was poisoned by order Charles of Anjou. In 1323 Thomas Aquinas was canonized.

Thomas Aquinas. Artist Carlo Crivelli, 15th century

One of the best experts on Aristotle, Thomas had a huge influence on the development of medieval thought, although he was not an innovator and did not introduce new ideas into scholasticism. The significance of Thomas Aquinas is in the extraordinary gift of systematization, in subordination to logical order the smallest details. Here are his basic and main ideas. There are two sources of knowledge: revelation and reason. We must believe what is given by revelation, even if we do not understand it. Revelation is a divine source of knowledge that flows along the mainstream of Holy Scripture and church tradition. Reason is the lowest source of natural truth, which flows into us through various systems pagan philosophy, mainly through Aristotle. Revelation and reason are separate sources of knowledge of truth, and in physical matters reference to the will of God is inappropriate (asylum ignorantiae). But the truth cognized with the help of each of them does not contradict the other, for in the final analysis they ascend to the one absolute truth, to God. This is how a synthesis is built between philosophy and theology, the harmony of faith and reason is the main position of scholasticism.

In the dispute between nominalists and realists that worried the scholastics at that time, Thomas Aquinas, following the example of his teacher Albertus Magnus, took the position of moderate realism. He does not recognize the existence of “common essences”, “universals”, which dissociates himself from extreme realism. But these universals, according to the teaching of Thomas, still exist as thoughts of God, embodied in individual things, from where they can be isolated by reason. Thus, universals receive a threefold existence: 1) ante rem, as the thoughts of God; 2) in re, as common in things; 3) post rem, as concepts of reason. Accordingly, Thomas Aquinas sees the principle of individuation in matter, which gives rise to differences between one thing and another, although both embody the same common essence.

Thomas’s main work, “Summa theologiae,” is an attempt at an encyclopedic system in which answers to all questions of religious and scientific worldview. For catholic church Thomas's views are considered irrefutably authoritative. No one was a more consistent defender of papal infallibility and a more determined enemy of human arbitrariness in the field of religion than he. In religion no one dares to think or speak freely, and the church must hand over heretics to secular power, which “severes them from the world through death.” The theological teaching of Thomas, rational and strict, not warmed by love for humanity, represents the official doctrine of Catholicism, which had the most ardent proselytes among the Dominicans ( Thomists) and still retains its significance in Roman Christianity, especially since 1880, when Pope Leo XIII introduced compulsory study Thomas Aquinas in all Catholic schools.

But it is not for nothing that Thomas’s works have the character of comprehensive encyclopedias. It touches on all the main issues raised by contemporary reality. In political matters, he stands at the level of feudal views. All power, in his opinion, comes from God, but in practice there are exceptions: illegal and bad power is not from the Almighty. Therefore, not every authority should be obeyed. Obedience is unacceptable when power demands either something contrary to God’s command or something beyond its control: for example, in the internal movements of the soul one must obey only God. Therefore, Thomas justifies indignation against unjust power (“in defense of the common good”) and even allows the murder of the tyrant. Of the forms of government, the best is monarchy, consistent with virtue, and then aristocracy, also consistent with virtue. The combination of these two forms (a virtuous monarch, and below him several virtuous nobles) gives the most perfect government. In furtherance of these views, Thomas proposed to his sovereign, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, to introduce something like a bicameral system in his southern Italian kingdom.

Thomas Aquinas surrounded by angels. Artist Guercino, 1662

Thomas Aquinas deviates somewhat from feudal ideas in matters of, so to speak, trade policy. The remark in the essay “De regimine principum” states that trade and merchants are necessary in the state. Of course, Thomas notes, it would be better if each state produced everything it needed, but since this is rarely possible, merchants, “even foreign ones,” have to be tolerated. It turned out to be difficult for Thomas to outline the boundaries of the free activity of merchants. Already in the Summa Theologica, he had to reckon with two established ideas in theology: about a fair price and about the prohibition of giving money on interest. In any given place, there is one fair price for each item, and therefore prices should not be allowed to fluctuate and depend on supply and demand. It is the moral duty of both buyer and seller to stay as close to a fair price as possible. In addition, for each subject there is also certain quality, and the merchant is obliged to warn the buyer about defects in the goods. Trade is generally legal only when the profit from it goes to support the merchant’s family, to charity, or when, making a profit, the merchant supplies the country with goods that are necessary but not available on the market. It is certainly unacceptable to trade based on pure speculation, when a merchant makes money by taking advantage of market fluctuations. Only the merchant's labor justifies his profit.

With regard to credit, “he who lends money transfers the ownership of the money to the one to whom he gives; therefore, the one to whom money is lent holds it at his own risk and is obliged to return it intact, and the lender has no right to demand more.” “Receiving interest on money borrowed is in itself an injustice, because in this case something that does not exist is sold, and through this, obviously, inequality is established that is contrary to justice.”

Property, from the point of view of Thomas Aquinas, is not a natural right, but it does not contradict it. Slavery is quite normal, because it is useful for both the slave and the master.

Thomas Aquinas (idealist philosopher).

His work is the official encyclopedia of medieval philosophy. He dealt with issues of law, morality, government and economic issues. The teaching of Thomas is the only true philosophy. His philosophy is a grand attempt to adapt Aristotle to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Thomas tried to justify Christian faith. He distinguished between the fields of philosophy and theology. He considered the subject of philosophy to be the truths of reason, and the subject of theology - the truths of revelation. Since the ultimate object of truth is God, there can be no opposition between revelation and acting reason. However, not all revealed truths are accessible to rational proof. Theological truths are super-reasonable, but not counter-reasonable. Philosophy is in the service of theology. Religious truth cannot be proven from philosophy.

Nature is a share to the heavenly kingdom. In nature, everything is determined by divine wisdom.

The supreme goal is God. Others are different from the substantial form. God is a pure form, devoid of matter, the final cause of the world, but the world is not eternal. The soul is a substantial form; it transforms primary matter into human body. Intelligence cannot be separated from the soul. The soul is immortal. The ultimate goal of man is bliss (in the knowledge of God). Bliss is achievable only in the afterlife.

On the question of nature-universality, Thomas took the position of moderate realism. They exist as ideal prototypes of objects in the divine mind. Universals are found in things, because the universal exists objectively only because it is inherent in things.

Universals of images in human head and they arise as concepts and are abstracted.

Thomas rejects the ontological proof of the existence of God; it can be proven a posteriori.

Five proofs of the existence of God:

There must be a first mover (God).

The chain of causes cannot be endless; there must be a first cause - God.

All things in the world are accidental, the accidental depends on the necessary, that is, there must exist an absolutely necessary being - God.

Things exhibit different degrees of perfection, i.e. there must be an absolutely perfect being - God.

The expediency of nature cannot be explained by natural causes; it is necessary to accept the extra-natural mind that ordered the world - God.

Aquinas's treatment of Aristotelian philosophy followed the line of emasculating its material ideas and strengthening its idealist elements (the doctrine of the immovable world prime mover, etc.). Significant influence on the philosophy of F.A. The teachings of Neoplatonism also had an impact. In the debate about universals, he took the position of “moderate realism”, recognizing universals of three types: before individual things (in the divine mind), in the things themselves (as the general in the individual) and after things (in the human mind that knows them). The basic principle of F.A.’s philosophy is the harmony of faith and reason; he believed that reason is capable of rationally proving the existence of God and rejecting objections to the truths of faith. Everything that exists fits into F.A. into the hierarchical order created by God. Teachings of F.A. about the hierarchy of being reflected the church organization of the feudal era. Since 1879, the scholastic system of F.A. officially declared “the only true philosophy of Catholicism.” The main works of F.A.: “Summa against the pagans” (1261-1264), “Summa theology” (1265-1273).

Theocentrism - (Greek theos - God), such an understanding of the world in which God is the source and cause of all things. He is the center of the universe, its active and creative beginning. The principle of theocentrism also extends to knowledge, where theology is placed at the highest level in the system of knowledge; Below it is philosophy, which is in the service of theology; even lower are various private and applied sciences.

Scholasticism - is a type of philosophizing in which, by means of the human mind, they try to substantiate ideas and formulas taken on faith.

Scholasticism in the Middle Ages passed through the following stages of its development: 1) early form(XI-XII centuries); 2) mature form(XII-XIII centuries); 3) late scholasticism.(XIII-XIV centuries).

In medieval philosophy there was an acute dispute between spirit and matter, which led to a dispute between realists and nominalists. The dispute was about the nature of universals, that is, about the nature of general concepts, whether general concepts are secondary, that is, a product of the activity of thinking, or whether they represent the primary, real, exist independently.

Nominalism represented the beginnings of a materialist trend. The doctrine of nominalists about the objective existence of objects and natural phenomena led to the undermining of church dogma about the primacy of the spiritual and the secondary nature of the material, to the weakening of the authority of the church and Holy Scripture.

Realists showed that general concepts in relation to individual things of nature are primary and exist really, in themselves. They attributed to general concepts an independent existence, independent of individual things and people. Objects of nature, in their opinion, represent only forms of manifestation of general concepts.

The medieval debate about the nature of universals significantly influenced further development logic and epistemology, especially on the teachings of such major philosophers of modern times as Hobbes and Locke, Spinoza, Berkeley and Hume. Medieval philosophy made a significant contribution to the further development of epistemology, to form the foundations of natural science and philosophical knowledge.

Ideas and views of Thomas Aquinas

Saint Thomas Aquinas is known for his philosophical works, which became the basis of Catholic teaching. Some of his main works are two extensive treatises in the summa genre, covering a wide range of topics - “Summa Theology” and “Summa against the Pagans”. He structured all his writings in the form of questions and answers, which always represented the opinions of the objectors, and tried to show what was true in each approach. Thomas Aquinas managed to combine the ideas of St. Augustine and the philosophy of Aristotle. Without resorting to the teachings of the Church, the philosopher, based on the arguments of reason and logic, derived evidence of the existence of God.

Belt of Thomas Aquinas

There is a legend that one day, during a meal in the monastery, Thomas Aquinas heard a voice saying to him: “Here in the monastery everyone is fed, but in Italy my flock is starving.” Thomas decided that it was time for him to leave the monastery. Thomas's family opposed his decision to be Dominican. His brothers even resorted to meanness in order to deprive Thomas of chastity. The saint began to pray, and he had a vision. The angel girded him with a belt as a symbol of the eternal chastity that God had granted him. The belt is kept to this day in the convent of Scieri in Piedmont. According to legend, the Lord asked Saint Thomas at the end of his life what reward he would like to receive for his labors. Thomas replied: “Only You, Lord!”

5 Proofs for the Existence of God by Thomas Aquinas

1. Proof through movement means that everything that moves has ever been set in motion by something else, which in turn was set in motion by a third. It is God who turns out to be the root cause of all movement.

2. Proof through efficient cause- this proof is similar to the first. Since nothing can produce itself, there is something that is the first cause of everything - this is God.

3. Proof through necessity- every thing has the possibility of both its potential and real existence. If we assume that all things are in potency, then nothing would come into being. There must be something that contributed to the transfer of a thing from a potential to an actual state. This something is God.

4. Proof from degrees of being- people talk about different degrees of perfection of an object only through comparisons with the most perfect. This means that there is the most beautiful, the most noble, the best - this is God.

5. Proof through the target reason. In the world of rational and irrational beings, the purposefulness of activity is observed, which means that there is a rational being who sets a goal for everything that is in the world - we call this being God.

As Thomas Aquinas said

Loving someone is the same as wishing that person well.

We must truly love others for their own good, not for ours.

Knowledge is such a valuable thing that there is no shame in obtaining it from any source.

What you don’t want to have tomorrow, discard today, and what you want to have tomorrow, acquire today.

Our duty is to hate the sin of the sinner, but to love the sinner himself because he is a person capable of good.

A happy person needs friends not in order to benefit from them, for he himself succeeds, and not in order to admire them, for he possesses the perfect delights of a virtuous life, but, in fact, in order to do good deeds for these friends.

Evidence for the Existence of God

Thomas Aquinas divides the truths of revelation into two types: truths accessible to reason, and truths that go beyond its cognitive capabilities. The central problem of natural theology is the "proof" of the existence of God.

Aquinas argues that there are two ways to prove the existence of a creator: through cause and through effect. Translating this scholastic terminology into modern language, we can say that in the first case we are talking about a priori proof, that is, from cause to effect, in the second - about a posteriori, that is, from effect to cause. Aquinas formulates five “proofs-ways” of the existence of God.

1. Motion Proof, now called the kinetic proof, proceeds from the fact that things are in motion, and everything that moves is set in motion by something else, for motion is the union of matter with form. If some being that sets something in motion were itself set in motion, then this would be accomplished by something else, and this other thing in turn would be set in motion by a third, and so on. However, the chain of engines cannot be infinite, because in this case there would be no first “motor”, and therefore the second and subsequent ones, and there would be no movement at all. Therefore, Thomas concludes, we must get to the first cause of motion, which moves no one and which moves everything. Such a cause must be pure form, pure act, which is God, who is beyond the world.

2. Proof from an efficient cause, says that in the material world there is a certain causal order, originating from the first cause, that is, God. Thomas believes that it is impossible for something to be its own efficient cause, since it would exist before itself, and this is absurd. If the absolutely first cause is not recognized in the chain of producing causes, then the middle and middle ones will not appear. last reasons, and, conversely, if in search of causes we go to infinity, we will not discover the first producing cause. “Consequently,” writes Aquinas in his “Theological Summa,” “it is necessary to posit some primary productive cause, which everyone calls God.”

3. Proof from necessity and chance proceeds from the fact that in nature and society there are individual things that arise and are destroyed or may or may not exist. In other words, these things are not something necessary, and, therefore, have a random nature. It is impossible, according to Thomas, for things of this kind to always exist, for what can exist at times does not really exist. It also follows that if any things can not exist, then they once did not exist in nature, and if so, then it is impossible for them to arise by themselves. “Therefore it is necessary to posit some necessary essence,” writes Thomas, “necessary in itself, not having external cause its necessity of all others; According to the general opinion, this is God."

4. Proof of perfection comes from the premise that things manifest various degrees of perfection in the form of being and nobility, goodness and beauty. According to Aquinas, we can talk about different degrees of perfection only in comparison with something that is most perfect. Therefore, there must be something that is truest and noblest, something that is best and highest, or something that has the highest degree of being. “From here it follows,” writes Thomas, “that there is a certain essence that is for all essences the cause of good and all perfection; and we call it God.”

5. Proof from the divine leadership of the world proceeds from the fact that in the world of both rational and irrational beings, as well as in things and phenomena, the expediency of activity and behavior is observed. Thomas believes that this does not happen by chance, and someone must purposefully lead the world. “Consequently, there is a rational being who posits a goal for everything that happens in nature, and we call him God,” wrote Aquinas.

The son of Landalf, Count of Aquinas, Saint Thomas Aquinas was born around 1225 in Italian city Roccasecca, in the Kingdom of Sicily. Thomas was the youngest of nine children in the family. Despite the fact that the boy's parents came from the line of Emperors Frederick I and Henry VI, the family belonged to the lower class of the nobility.

Before the birth of his son, the holy hermit predicted to the boy's mother that the child would enter the Order of Friars and Preachers and become a great scientist, achieving an incredible degree of holiness.

Following the traditions of that time, at the age of 5 the boy was sent to the Abbey of Monte Cassino, where he studied with the Benedictine monks.

Thomas will stay in the monastery for up to 13 years, and after that a change in the political climate in the country will force him to return to Naples.

Education

Thomas spends the next five years in the Benedictine monastery, completing elementary education. At this time, he diligently studied the works of Aristotle, which would later become the starting point of his own philosophical searches. It was in this monastery, which worked closely with the University of Naples, that Thomas developed an interest in monastic orders with progressive views, preaching a life of spiritual service.

Around 1239, Thomas studies at the University of Naples. In 1243 he secretly entered the Dominican order, and in 1244 he took monastic vows. Having learned about this, the family kidnaps him from the monastery and holds him prisoner for a whole year. However, Thomas does not give up his views and, freed in 1245, returns to the Dominican shelter.

From 1245 to 1252, Thomas Aquinas continued to study with the Dominicans in Naples, Paris and Cologne. Justifying the prophecy of the holy hermit, he becomes an exemplary student, although, ironically, his modesty often leads to misconceptions about him as a narrow-minded person.

Theology and philosophy

Having completed his studies, Thomas Aquinas devotes his life to wanderings, philosophical works, teaching, public speaking and preaching.

The main subject of medieval thought is the dilemma of reconciling theology (faith) and philosophy (reason). Thinkers cannot in any way integrate the knowledge gained through divine revelations, with the information that is obtained naturally, using reason and feelings. According to Averroes' "theory of double truth", the two types of knowledge are completely contradictory to each other. Thomas Aquinas's revolutionary views are that "both kinds of knowledge ultimately come from God" and are therefore compatible with each other. And they are not only compatible, but also complementary: Thomas argues that revelation can guide reason and protect it from error, while reason can purify and free faith from mysticism. Thomas Aquinas goes further, discussing the role of faith and reason, both in comprehending and in proving the existence of God. He also defends with all his might the image of God as an omnipotent being.

Thomas, one of a kind, speaks of the connection between proper social behavior and God. He believes that government laws are essentially a natural product of human nature and are therefore an integral part of social welfare. By strictly following the laws, a person can earn the eternal salvation of his soul after death.

Works

Thomas Aquinas, a very prolific writer, penned about 60 works, from short notes to huge volumes. Manuscripts of his works were distributed to libraries throughout Europe. His philosophical and theological works cover a wide range of topics, including commentaries on biblical texts and discussions on the natural philosophy of Aristotle.

Soon after the death of Thomas Aquinas, his works gained wide recognition and received warm support among representatives of the Dominican Order. His “Summa Teologica” (“Sum of Theology”), displacing “Sentences in Four Books” by Peter of Lombardy, became the main textbook on theology in universities, seminaries and schools of that time. The influence of the works of Thomas Aquinas on the formation of philosophical thought is so great that the number of commentaries written on them to date is at least 600 works.

Last years and death

In June 1272, he accepted an offer to go to Naples to teach Dominican monks in the monastery adjacent to the university. He still writes a lot, but the significance in his works is becoming less and less.

During the celebration of St. Nicholas in 1273, Thomas Aquinas has a vision that takes him away from his work.

In January 1274, Thomas Aquinas went on a pilgrimage to France, to attend services in honor of the Second Council of Lyon. However, along the way he was struck down by an illness, and he stopped at the Cistercian monastery of Fossanova in Italy, where he died on March 7, 1274. In 1323, Thomas Aquinas was canonized by Pope John XXII.

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The average rating this biography received. Show rating Thomas Aquinas is an Italian philosopher, a follower of Aristotle. He was a teacher, a minister of the Dominican Order, and an influential religious figure of his time. The essence of the thinker’s teaching is the unification of Christianity and philosophical views

Aristotle. The philosophy of Thomas Aquinas affirms the primacy of God and his participation in all earthly processes.

Approximate years of life of Thomas Aquinas: from 1225 to 1274. He was born in the Roccasecca castle, located near Naples. Thomas's father was a feudal baron, and gave his son the title of abbot of the Benedictine monastery. But the future philosopher chose to engage in science. Foma ran away from home and joined monastic order. During the order's trip to Paris, the brothers kidnapped Thomas and imprisoned him in a fortress. After 2 years, the young man managed to escape and officially took a vow, becoming a member of the order and a student of Albertus Magnus. He studied at the University of Paris and Cologne, became a teacher of theology and began writing his first philosophical works.

Thomas was later called to Rome, where he taught theology and served as an adviser on theological issues to the Pope. After spending 10 years in Rome, the philosopher returned to Paris to take part in popularizing the teachings of Aristotle in accordance with Greek texts. Before this, a translation made with Arabic. Thomas believed that eastern interpretation distorted the essence of the teaching. The philosopher sharply criticized the translation and sought a complete ban on its distribution. Soon, he was again called to Italy, where he taught and wrote treatises until his death.

The main works of Thomas Aquinas are the Summa Theologica and the Summa Philosophia. The philosopher is also known for his reviews of treatises by Aristotle and Boethius. He wrote 12 church books and the Book of Parables.

Fundamentals of philosophical teaching

Thomas distinguished between the concepts of “philosophy” and “theology”. Philosophy studies issues accessible to reason and affects only those areas of knowledge that relate to human existence. But the possibilities of philosophy are limited; man can only know God through theology.

Thomas formed his idea of ​​the stages of truth on the basis of the teachings of Aristotle. Ancient Greek philosopher I thought there were 4 of them:

  • experience;
  • art;
  • knowledge;
  • wisdom.

Thomas placed wisdom above other levels. Wisdom is based on the revelations of God and is the only way of Divine knowledge.

According to Thomas, there are 3 types of wisdom:

  • grace;
  • theological - allows you to believe in God and Divine Unity;
  • metaphysical - comprehends the essence of being using reasonable conclusions.

With the help of reason, a person can realize the existence of God. But the questions of the appearance of God, the resurrection, and the Trinity remain inaccessible to her.

Types of being

The life of a person or any other creature confirms the fact of his existence. The opportunity to live is more important true essence, since only God provides such an opportunity. Every substance depends on divine desire, and the world is the totality of all substances.

Existence can be of 2 types:

  • independent;
  • dependent.

True being is God. All other beings depend on him and obey the hierarchy. The more complex the nature of a being, the higher its position and the greater the freedom of action.

Combination of form and matter

Matter is a substrate that has no form. The appearance of a form creates an object and endows it with physical qualities. The unity of matter and form is the essence. Spiritual beings have complex essences. They dont have physical bodies, they exist without the participation of matter. Man is created from form and matter, but he also has an essence that God has endowed him with.

Since matter is uniform, all creatures created from it could be the same shape and become indistinguishable. But, according to God's will, form does not determine the being. The individualization of an object is formed by its personal qualities.

Ideas about the soul

The unity of soul and body creates the individuality of a person. The soul has a divine nature. It was created by God to give man the opportunity to achieve bliss by joining his Creator after the end of earthly life. The soul is an immortal independent substance. It is intangible and inaccessible to the human eye. The soul becomes complete only at the moment of unity with the body. A person cannot exist without a soul; it is his life force. All other living beings do not have a soul.

Man is an intermediate link between angels and animals. He is the only one of all corporeal beings who has the will and desire for knowledge. After bodily life, he will have to answer to the Creator for all his actions. A person cannot get close to angels - they never had a bodily form, in their essence they are flawless and cannot commit actions that contradict divine plans.

Man is free to choose between good and sin. The higher his intelligence, the more actively he strives for good. Such a person suppresses animal aspirations that denigrate his soul. With every action he moves closer to God. Inner aspirations are reflected in appearance. The more attractive an individual is, the closer he is to the divine essence.

Types of knowledge

In the concept of Thomas Aquinas there were 2 types of intelligence:

  • passive - needed for the accumulation of sensory images, does not take part in the thinking process;
  • active - separated from sensory perception, forms concepts.

To know the truth, you need to have high spirituality. A person must tirelessly develop his soul, endow it with new experiences.

There are 3 types of knowledge:

  1. reason - gives a person the ability to form reasoning, compare them and draw conclusions;
  2. intelligence - allows you to understand the world by forming images and studying them;
  3. mind is the totality of all spiritual components of a person.

Knowledge is the main calling reasonable person. It elevates him above other living beings, ennobles him and brings him closer to God.

Ethics

Thomas believed that God is absolute good. A person striving for good is guided by the commandments and does not allow evil into his soul. But God does not force a person to be guided only by good intentions. It gives people free will: the ability to choose between good and evil.

A person who knows his essence strives for good. Believes in God and the primacy of his plan. Such an individual is full of hope and love. His aspirations are always prudent. He is peaceful, humble, but at the same time brave.

Political Views

Thomas shared Aristotle's opinion about political system. Society needs management. The ruler must maintain peace and be guided in his decisions by the desire for the common good.

Monarchy is the optimal form of government. A single ruler represents the divine will; he takes into account the interests of individual groups of subjects and respects their rights. The monarch must submit to church authority, since the ministers of the church are servants of God and proclaim His will.

Tyranny as a form of power is unacceptable. It contradicts the highest plan and contributes to the emergence of idolatry. The people have the right to overthrow such a government and ask the Church to choose a new monarch.

Evidence for the Existence of God

Answering the question about the existence of God, Thomas provides 5 evidence of His direct influence on the world around us.

Movement

All natural processes are the result of movement. The fruits will not ripen until the flowers appear on the tree. Each movement is subordinate to the previous one, and cannot begin until it ends. The first movement was the appearance of God.

Producing cause

Each action occurs as a result of the previous one. A person cannot know what the original cause of an action was. It is acceptable to assume that God became her.

Necessity

Some things exist temporarily, are destroyed and appear again. But some things need to exist constantly. They create the possibility for the appearance and life of other creatures.

Degrees of being

All things and all living beings can be divided into several stages, in accordance with their aspirations and level of development. This means that there must be something perfect, occupying the top level of the hierarchy.

Every action has a purpose. This is only possible if the individual is guided by someone from above. From this it follows that a higher mind exists.