Friday, April 29, 2016

(LII) St. Thomas Aquinas


St. Thomas Aquinas was the favored philosopher of the Catholic Church, principally remembered for reconciling the philosophy of Aristotle with Christian doctrine. Born in northern Sicily, he was educated first at the University of Naples and later at Cologne, and lectured at Paris and Naples. Aquinas was canonized in 1323 by Pope John XII. While much of Aquinas' work was Aristotelian in derivation, he also extended and clarified many of Aristotle's ideas and made many original contributions to Aristotelian thought. Chief among Aquinas' many achievements are the 'Five Ways' or proofs of the existence of God, from his most well known work Summa Theologica and Summa contra Gentiles. The five ways have been historically held for centuries as the clearest and most succinct attempts to prove the existence of God by means of logical argumentation. 

In the first of the Five Ways, Aquinas says that the existence of God can be proved by considering the concept of change. We can clearly see that some things in the world are in the process of change and this change must be the result of something else, since a thing cannot change itself. But the cause of the change itself - since in the process of change - something must also be caused to change by something other that itself, and so on again. Clearly, there must be something which is the cause of all change, but which itself does not undergo change. As Aquinas says, 'if the hand does not move the sick, the stick ill not move anything else' The first mover, Aquinas concludes, is God. In the second Way, arguing in a similar manner to the first, Aquinas notes that causes always operate in a series, but there must be a first cause of the series or there could not be a series at all. Interestingly, both the first and second ways proceed on the assumption that a thing cannot cause itself. Yet this is precisely the conclusion, that there is a thing which does cause itself, namely God. Philosophers have criticized this form of argument as confusing and dogmatic, since the proposition that appears to be proven in the conclusion is the very same proposition denied in the argument. What is interesting about Thomas Aquinas' approach to these arguments, is that he treated these conclusions as an absolute certainty that could not be falsified. 

What we can already see from Aquinas, is that he was foremost and intellectual who sought to unify reason and faith into one grand system. Thomas Aquinas regularly was most inspired by deciding basic standards, causal components, and frameworks to organize his work through a way that logically made sense to both individuals who favored faith and reason similarly to Aquinas. These arguments for the existence of deities was additionally conveyed from indisputable axioms that are the correct interpretation of truth and knowledge in theology. As such, it is highly likely that Thomas Aquinas had L1, organizing his thoughts in such a way that reflected certitude and absolution in his philosophies that were universal and applied without exception. 

  In the third Way, it is noted that we observe that things in the world come to be and pass away. But clearly not everything can be like this, for then there would have been a time when nothing existed. Though if that were true, then nothing could have ever come into being, since something cannot come from nothing. Therefore, something must have always existed and this is what people have understood as God. The first, second and third Ways of Aquinas' arguments are often called variations of a more general argument, the Cosmological Argument. The central motivation that Thomas Aquinas had in creating the Cosmological Arguments was to remove any sense of ambiguity between the absolutes of faith and reason. Thomas Aquinas held these equivocal viewpoints with great esteem and considered them to be helpful for furthering the sense of eclectic and innovative thought into faithfulness towards Christianity. This gives evidence to the idea of I2, speculating with the theoretical approach to faith and reason, constructing a more complex system of thought to incorporate new systems of thought into Aquinas' reasoning.

St. Thomas Aquinas additionally particularly tended to fitting social conduct toward God. In this manner, he gave his thoughts a contemporary - some would say ageless - connection. Thomas trusted that the laws of the state were, truth be told, a characteristic result of human instinct, and were significant to social welfare. By complying with the social laws of the state, individuals could procure endless salvation of their souls in life following death, he indicated. Aquinas was known for being usually quiet and reserved with those who personally knew him, he devoted himself passionately towards fulfilling his life's work. He essentially created an extensive integration of ideas that had the intention of educating and convincing others on the truth of the Christian religion. This attitude of keeping primarily to himself thorough the course of his life, but still feeling deeply motivated to share his insights with the world fits E5 well.

From the Treatise of Law, he distinguished three sorts of laws: characteristic, positive and unceasing. As per his treatise, common law prompts man to act as per accomplishing his objectives and administers man's feeling of good and bad; positive law is the law of the state, or government, and ought to dependably be a sign of normal law; and unceasing law, on account of balanced creatures, relies on upon reason and is put without hesitation through unrestrained choice, which likewise moves in the direction of the achievement of man's profound objectives. With this work on the Treatise of Law and his works of using Aristotelian philosophy to bolster his conclusion. This behavior of having inflexible and perpetual perspectives that are not stringently assessed as far as their pertinence makes P7 very likely.

Coming back to Aquinas' fourth Way, he offers a version of the Ontological Argument originally written by St. Anselm. In Aquinas' version, some things are noted to exhibit varying degrees of a quality. A thing may be more or less hot, more or less good, more or less noble. Such varying degrees of quality are caused by something that contains the most or perfect amount of that quality. For just as the sun is the hottest thing, and thus the cause of all other things being hot, so there must be some fully 'good' thing which makes all others things good. That which is the most good is, of course, God. Finally, in the Fifth way, Aquinas relies on Aristotle's notion of 'telos' or purpose. All things aim towards some ultimate goal or end. But to be guided by a purpose or a goal implies some mind that directs or intends purpose. That director is, once again, God. Versions of Aquinas' cosmological arguments are still accepted by the Catholic Church today, though modern philosophers have almost unanimously rejected all five of Aquinas' Ways. These digressions on the metaphysical ideas that were heavily inspired by Aristotle support the idea that Thomas Aquinas had T8, applying himself towards the higher cause of unifying reason and faith to bring himself closer to interpreting the truths of reality.

The following of what has been mentioned about Thomas Aquinas clearly points towards L1, I2, E5P7 and T8. That is, the LII type of information metabolism.

1 comment:

  1. "Interestingly, both the first and second ways proceed on the assumption that a thing cannot cause itself. Yet this is precisely the conclusion, that there is a thing which does cause itself".

    No. The conclusion is that there is an uncaused causer (a.k.a unmoved mover).

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