D&A: AQUINAS Flashcards
What Platonic views did Aquinas follow?
There was the possibility of the soul surviving the death of the body and being capable of the ‘beatific vision’.
How did Aquinas follow Aristotle?
He taught that the soul was a ‘life principle’ and also the ‘form’ of living things.
What type of souls do animals and plants have according to Aquinas?
Animals - ‘sensitive souls’.
Plants - ‘vegetative souls’.
What special kind of soul do humans have? What does this enable?
A ‘rational soul’ which enables life after death as a possibility.
What did Aquinas reason about happiness?
We have plenty of times when we are happy, though it is never prefect happiness as we know that it is only temporary.
What quote from Paul in 1 Corinthians did Aquinas use?
“Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
What might Protestant understandings of heaven encounter, in relation to the beatific vision?
If the beatific vision is eternally timeless, then there is no need to wonder what people in heaven are doing all the time as there would be no more ‘endless days’.
What is the issue with the beatific vision?
If the soul is timeless in the presence of God, it is difficult to understand how this could be ‘the same person’ as the one who had the physical body on earth.
