Intellectual Background

 

St. Thomas Aquinas, philosophically, is best described as an advocate of Scholasticism and empirical observation. When he first began his training as a Dominican friar his mentor was Albertus Magnus, often honored as the quintessential thinker of the Middle Ages. Magnus' teachings were based on a revival of classical (primarily Aristotelian) philosophy which focused the attention of thinkers on natural philosophy and logic and moved away from Plato's rationalist ideals. Scholasticism emerged from Aristotelianism as a way to merge classical philosophy with Christian theology to address theological contradictions eventually evolving into a school of thought.

 

There are two methods of the Scholastic school of thought. One way is to start with a root question (i.e.: What is God?). A work from a well-known author who has addressed the particular subject is then assigned to the students. After copiously examining the work, students would then read other works that responded, criticized, or are just merely related to the original and examine them as well. After the sides for and against the original work are organized, a series of dialectics would begin to try and bring both ends to agreement. By equally examining all sides of the argument, student are able to deduce a common ground between the competing sides and erase the apparent contradiction.

 

Aquinas is best known for his style of Scholasticism called a "summa." Instead of starting with a question as the foundation, summas are books that comprise all possible questions that arise from a given root question and an examination of each one. Although incomplete, Aquinas' "Summa Theologica" is the most famous of these summas, which address significant Christian theological questions, with his thoughts on the existence of God being the most well known.

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Site Last Updated: 11/01/2005