Thomas Aquinas & Scholasticism Flashcards
what was special about scholasticism
takes the insights of others (philosophy, history, science, other religions, etc) and injects into own thought
what was the purpose of scholasticim
an attempt of understanding the whole person (cura personalis)
what is the background of scholasticism
headquartered at catherdral (aka center of town) which controlled education and commerce, therefore creating a group of student scholars
what is the scholastic method
1) logically deductive -> giving arguments
2) dialectical -> insights from other ppl/traditions
3) Disputational -> counterarguments to own arguments (makes it stronger)
what is the purpose of the scholastic method
efficiency & teaching others
What is the background of Thomas Aquinas
- joined Dominicans (life of poverty, chastity, obedience, preaching)
- mentor = Albertus Magnus -> looked @ Aristotle
What is Thomas’ Aquinas’ Natural Theology (chart)
SUBJECT METHOD
PHILOSOPHY hum exp hum reas
THEOLOGY god revelation
NAT. THEO. god hum reas
how does one know about God, through natural theology
human reason
what is aquinas’ epistemology
connection between sensations and intellections
what is sensation made up of and what does it lead to
external & internal senses -> phantasm
what are the external senses
1) sight
2) hearing
3) smell
4) taste
5) touch
what is essentially an external sense
using one of the senses to collect data about that object
what do all the 5 external senses create
coordinating sense
what are the 4 internal senses
1) coordinating sense
2) imagination
3) memory
4) evaluative sense (animal)//cogitative power (human)
what is coordinating sense
uniting all data from senses and putting it into 1 sensible, whole thing
what is imagination
“making an impression” on mind
what is memory
recall things we sense back to the source
what is evaluative sense/cogitative power
analyze/reacting whether something is good or bad, thinking it through, and adapting the thought
what do the 4 internal senses create
phantasm
what is a phantasm
a sensible whole thing (material)
what does the phantasm act as
the bridge between sensation and intellection
what does phantasm lead to
intellect-mind
what does intellect-mind lead to
active
what is active
the mind focusing on the form of something
what does active lead to
idea-phantasm minus matter (formal)
what does idea lead to
passive - intellect understanding what the thing is “potential”
how does phantasm and idea lead into eachother
idea -> using prior knowledge to reach -> phantasm
phantasm -> when sensing something, goes intellect to try to find -> idea
what does idea further allow for
1) understanding/apprehension
2) judgement
3) reasoning
what does understanding/apprehension mean
CONCEPTS
knowing what something is
what does judgement mean
PROPOSITIONS uniting ideas (eg. coffee is bitter)
what does reasoning mean
ARGUMENTS
where do the universals lie, according to aquinas
1) in things
2) in mind
3) in mind of God
why do universals lie in mind of God
if universals are permanent, unchanging -> must exist elsewhere in divine mind
what are the 2 types of ends for thomas aquinas
natural end and supernatural end
what is the natural end
happiness
what is the purpose of the natural end
end of human life
what is the supernatural end
God
what is the purpose of the supernatural end
beyond life
what is the definition of law
ordinance of reason, for the common good, made by one in charge, promulgated
what is the formal cause in law
ordinance of reason
what is the final cause of law
for the common good
what is the efficient cause of law
made by one in charge
what is the material cause of law
promulgated
what is the purpose of law
having to do with reason in terms of society in order to benefit the community so that they can reach happiness
what are the 4 laws
1) eternal law
2) natural law
3) human law
4) divine law
what is eternal law
a governing order in the universe that is eternal, unchanging
what is natural law
humans participating in eternal law
what does the natural law tell us
accept your participation and be rational
what can we know about human nature and learn (eg. education)
what is the difference between eternal law and natural law
- eternal law applies to all life in that all governing laws (eg. tree grows, acorns fall off of trees)
- natural law only applies to humans in that it is our purpose and governing law to get education, to live life
what is human law
laws created by humans
why do we need human law
in order to apply to particular instances, examples; other two laws are too broad
what should human law do though
should derive from natural law; no perverision
what is perversion
when human law doesn’t follow natural law
what is divine law
rules followed by a faith community
what should divine law do
be rational, aimed @ a goal
what are the five ways
- motion
- causation
- possibilty/neccesity
- perfection
- intelligence
how does potency and act explain motion
notion can have the same potency and act at the same time
what is motion then
how things come into existence
how does motion explain movers
parent = cause
child = effect
both always have act. and potency
are there infinite # of movers
no bc
INFINITE
every mover before would have both pot and act
FINITE
there’s first mover that only had actuality
what is five ways type of argument
a posteriori -> grabbing experience to causation
how does thomas view language
idea -> word -> object
what types of words are there
univocal, equivocal, analogical
what is univocal
same word, same meaning
what is equivocal
same word, dif meaning
what is analogical
same word, same/dif meaning
