 Chapter 37 of History of Philosophy This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. History of Philosophy by William Turner Third Period of Scholasticism Alexander of Hales to Occam 1200-1300 The second period in the history of scholastic philosophy was the period of storm and stress. The third is the period of relative perfection, the golden age of scholasticism. The twelfth century was a century of criticism and controversy. The thirteenth is a century of synthesis and construction. The great masters of scholastic thought in the thirteenth century take as lively an interest in the problem of universal as Rosla and Abelard did. They have all Abelard's relish for the use of dialectic without any of his frivolous love of display. They are not less appreciative of the value of piety and contemplation than the victorians were. They are as keenly aware to the advantages to be gained from the learning of the Greeks and Arabians as were the members of the school of Shatr. In a word, they neither despise nor neglect what their predecessors accomplished, but going beyond the limits which circumstances set to the speculations of their predecessors, they carry the scholastic idea and the scholastic method into new regions of inquiry and succeed in constructing the great scholastic systems of metaphysics and psychology. The schoolmen of the thirteenth century are not like their predecessors condemned to work in think in a milieu unfavorable to constructive speculation. The time is ripe for vast constructive attempts. From the Union of the Latin and German races, there has sprung up a new Europe dominated everywhere by Christian ideals. The new civilization has reached its complete development and the time has come for Christian thought to put forth its best efforts. There were three events which more than any others influenced the development of Christian thought at the beginning of the thirteenth century, the introduction of the works of Aristotle, the rise of the universities and the foundation of the Mendingen orders. Introduction of the works of Aristotle. Authorities. Et Jourdain. Recherche sur l'âge et l'origine des traductions latines d'Aristote. Deuxième édition. Paris, 1843. Monseigneur Talamo, l'Aristotélisme de la Scholastique, 1873. L'Honneux. De Vardia Aristoteles in Academia Parisiense Fortuna. Edition at Wittenberg in 1820. Brother Azarius, Aristotle and the Christian Church in Essays Philosophical, Chicago, 1896. The schoolmen of the 11th and 12th centuries were for the most part acquainted with Aristotle merely as a master of dialectic. Indeed, it was not until the time of John of Salisbury that even the organon was known to Christian philosophers in its entirety. It is true that some of the physical doctrines of Aristotle were known to the members of the School of Schacht. But it was only at the beginning of the thirteenth century that all the physical, metaphysical and ethical treatises of Aristotle were translated into Latin and became part of the library of the schoolmen. The first translations were made from the Arabic, probably through the medium of the Hebrew. The work of translating began in the 11th and 12th centuries by Constantine the African, Adelaide of Beth, and Hermann the Dalmatian, was systematized between the years of 1130 and 1150 by Raymond, Bishop of Toledo, who founded a College of Translators. To this college belonged John Evendieth, Johannes Hispanus, Dominicus Gundissalve, Alfred de Morley, Gerard of Cremona, 1114-1187, and at a later time, about 1230, Michael Scott and Hermann the German. The translations, as has been said, were often made through the medium of Hebrew. This is true of the translations of commentaries and possibly also of the translations of the text of Aristotle's works. Reina says of the commentaries of Averroes, quote, the printed editions of his works are a Latin translation of a Hebrew translation of a commentary made upon an Arabic translation of a Syriac translation of a Greek text, end quote. The translations made directly from the Greek are as a rule of later date than the translations from the Arabic. Before the year 1215 or 1220, none of Aristotle's works except the Organon were translated from the Greek. It was after the year 1240 that Robert Greathead, 1175-1253, translated Aristotle's Ethics, and Henry of Brabant and Thomas of Quentinpré translated some other portions of Aristotle's works. About 1260, William of Murbeca, at the request of Saint Thomas and at a peers of Urban IV, translated the complete works of Aristotle into Latin. This version, known as the translation Nova, imperfect as it was, held its place as the authoritative translation of Aristotle till the dawn of the era of the Renaissance, although it is evident that in Saint Thomas's time there were several other translations in use. In the light of the foregoing facts, the attitude of the Church towards the study of Aristotle's works is seen to be perfectly consistent. One in 1210, the Provincial Council of Paris, which condemned the doctrines of Amory and David of Dinan, prohibited the reading of Aristotle's works and the commentaries thereupon. Neck Libri Aristoteles de Naturale e Philosophia, Neck Comenta Legantor Parissis Publiche Velle Secreto, the prohibition was directed against the Arabian translations rendered into Latin and against the Arabian commentaries. One in 1215, Robert of Courson, the papal legate, drew up the statues for the guidance of the masters of the University of Paris and therein forbade the reading of the physical and metaphysical treatises. The regulation once more referred to the Arabian Aristotle. One in 1231, Gregory IX, directed that Libri Naturales be expurgated of errors. It was a sign that the true Aristotle was beginning to be distinguished from the false and indeed in 1254, we find the writings of Aristotle prescribed by the Faculty of Arts as textbooks for the masters, lectures in the University of Paris. The Aristotle that was twice condemned was professedly hostile to Christianity. To the controversies of former centuries, Aristotle had contributed merely the weapons of dialectical debate. But as soon as translations were made from the Arabic and Arabian commentaries were appended to them, Aristotle's works were made to yield material for a new rationalism and a new pantheism essentially hostile to Christian faith and to theism. When, however, translations were made from the Greek text, it became clear that the theticism and scholasticism were by no means hostile to each other. And from the time of Alexander of Hale's onward, Aristotle's philosophy was made the basis of a rational exposition of dogma. Aristotle became for the schoolmen what Plato had been for the Fathers, precursor Christi in naturalibus. Rise of the Universities Authorities For the history of the University of Paris with which we're chiefly concerned here, the authorities besides Duboulez, Historia Universitatis Parisiensis a very uncritical work are Denifle's Cartularium Universitatis Parisiensis 1889 to 1891 and the invention of the Universitatis des Mitte-Altes until 1485 Rashdale's University of Europe in the Middle Ages Volume I, Oxford 1895 Laurie's Lectures on Rise, etc. of Universities London 1886 a work not always reliable Ferrées la Faculté de Theologie de Paris Paris 1894 and articles in Catholic University Bulletin July, October 1895 The event which is now universally admitted as the starting point of the history of the University of Paris is the union of the masters and students of the schools and the islands into a corporation Universitas magistrorum et scolarium under the presidency of the Chancellor of the Cathedral This event took place about the end of the 12th century During the first decades of the 13th century the faculties were organized About the same time the nations were organized among the students and the masters of the Faculty of Arts and a struggle began between the rector of the nations and the Chancellor of the University Privileges bestowed both by the Popes and the French kings extended the influence and prestige of the University Paris became the quote-unquote city of books the center of the intellectual life of Christian Europe and the scene of the greatest triumphs of scholasticism It was at Paris all the great masters studied and taught And so intimately is the history of scholastic philosophy connected with the University of Paris that to understand the conditions in which scholasticism attained its highest development it is necessary to know something of the arrangements made for the study of philosophy at the University By statutes issued at various times during the 13th century it was provided that the professor should read that is, expound, the text of certain standard authors in philosophy and theology In a document published by Denifle and by him referred to the year 1252 we find the following works among those prescribed for the Faculty of Arts Logica vetus, the old Boetian text of a portion of the Organon, probably accompanied by Porphyry's Issagoge Logica nova, the new translation of the Organon Gilbert's Liber Sex Principiorum and Donatus's Barbarismus A few years later, 1255 we find the following works prescribed Aristotle's Physics, Metaphysics De anima, De animalebus De cielo et mondo, Meteorica The Minor Psychological Treatises and some Arabian or Jewish works such as the Liber de Causes and the Differencia Spiritus et anime The first degree for which the student of arts presented himself was that of bachelor The candidate for this degree, after a preliminary test called responsiones This regulation went into effect not later than 1275 presented himself for the Determinazio which was a public defense of a certain number of theses against opponents chosen from the audience At the end of the disputation, the defender summed up or quote-unquote determined his conclusions After determining, the bachelor resumed his studies for the Licentiate assuming also the task of quote-unquote cursorily explaining to junior students some portion of the Organon The test for the degree of Licentiate consisted in a Colazio or exposition of several texts after the manner of the masters The student was now a licensed teacher He did not however become Magister or Master of Arts until he had delivered what was called the Inchepzio or inaugural lecture and was actually installed Pirritazio If he continued to teach, he was called Magister Actu Regens If he departed from the University or took up other work he was called Magister Non-Regens It may be said that as a general rule the course of reading was one, for the bachelor's degree grammar, logic, and psychology two, for the Licentiate natural philosophy three, for the master's degree ethics and the completion of the course of natural philosophy The Mendicant Orders The University of Paris owed its origin to the Union of the Cathedral Schools which were in charge of the diocesan clergy Soon however, the two great orders the Dominicans and the Franciscans were founded and began to revive in their monasteries the best traditions of the Benedict and Cloister schools of former centuries On the occasion of the great dispersion of 1229, when, after having had recourse to a Cessazio or suspension of lectures the masters left the city as a protest against the infringement of their privileges the Dominicans obtained a license to establish a chair in the convent of St. James After the return of the secular masters in 1231 the Dominican master was allowed to continue his lectures In the same year the Dominicans secured another chair and the Franciscans obtained their first chair in the University Alexander of Hales being installed as the first Franciscan master In 1252 or 1253 under circumstances very similar to those of 1229 the great body of masters once more proclaimed a Cessazio any struggle between the quote-unquote regulars and the quote-unquote secular was precipitated by the refusal of the regular professors to leave their chairs to the statutes of the University The controversy was still raging in 1257 when Saint Thomas presented himself for his Psalm in Cessazio as master in theology William of Saint Amour was the champion of the secular while Saint Thomas and Saint Bonaventure advocated the cause of the regulars The outcome was that the Dominicans obtained a secure standing in the University and the fate of scholasticism was practically committed to the teachers who belonged to the Dominican and Franciscan orders In this way within the scholastic movement itself two distinct currents of thought soon began to be defined the Dominican tradition and the tradition of the Franciscan schools The Dominican orders are thus associated with the greatest triumph of philosophy in the 13th century as well as with the tendencies which in subsequent centuries led to the downfall of scholasticism Chapter 38 predecessors of Saint Thomas Among the predecessors of Saint Thomas in the 13th century were Simon of Tournai Alexander Neckam Alfred Serreschel William of Overn Alexander of Hales John de la Rochelle and Albert the Great Saint Bonaventure the contemporary and friend of Saint Thomas and Roger Bacon the adversary of both Saint Bonaventure and Saint Thomas are also included in this chapter Simon of Tournai Alexander Neckam and Alfred Serreschel began about the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th to expound the physical and physiological doctrines of Aristotle and the Arabians They taught and wrote before the introduction of the translations made from the Greek text of Aristotle and were attacked by the mystics as innovators and teachers of profane doctrine William of Overn Life William of Overn called also William of Paris was born at Aurillac towards the close of the 12th century About 1220 he was appointed to teach in the Episcopal School at Paris and in a few years he became one of the most celebrated of the theologians of the university In 1228 he became Bishop of Paris He died in 1249 Sources The principal works of William of Overn are a metaphysical treatise de universo and two psychological treatises de anima and de immortality de anime His collected works were published at Nuremberg at 1496 at Venice at 1591 and at Orléans at 1674 Monograph The Erkenntnis Leere des Wilhelm von Overn by Dr. Baumgartner Münster 1893 Doctrines William has for his aim to unite the newly introduced philosophy of Aristotle with the philosophy of St. Augustine and the other Platonists When however he finds that the doctrines of Arabian Aristotle clash with those of the Christian Platonists he adapts the traditional Augustinian teaching In his theory of knowledge he rejects on the one hand the Platonic doctrines of pre-existence and of innate ideas and on the other hand the Aristotelian doctrine of the active intellect teaching that although the soul obtains a knowledge of sensible things from the world of sense phenomena it is able nevertheless to form the species of things in itself and by itself that is without the aid of a power such as the active intellect distinct from itself Thus he says Roger Bacon therefore was wrong when after having listened to two lectures by William of Auvergne he has scribed to him the opinion In the universe William explicitly declares that the intellect leads to the the intellectual the intellectual the intellectual the intellectual the intellectual that the intellectifics enough into motus arabus andII Our knowledge of first principles is obtained, William of Auvergne teaching not from the contingent world but from God in whom we perceive them by means of a special illumination In his solution of the problem of universals, he seems to incline towards Platonic realism. The passage is, however, capable of being interpreted in the Aristotelian sense. Historical position. William of Overn represents the first stage in the transition from the scholasticism of the 12th to that of the 13th century. It was Alexander of Hales who, by the use of the scholastic method, constructed the first of the great systems of Aristotelian scholasticism. Alexander of Hales. Life. Alexander of Hales, doctor irrefragabilis, was born in Gloucestershire, England. In 1222, he joined the Order of St. Francis. In 1231, he was installed as the first Franciscan teacher of theology in the University of Paris. He died in 1245. Sources. The principle, if not the only work of Alexander of Hales, is the Summa Theologiae, which was completed by his pupils in 1252 and published at Nuremberg in 1482 and at Venice in 1575. Works to be consulted. Monsieur Picavé, Abelard et Alexandre de Hales, brochure. De Martin, la Scholastique et les traditions franciscennes. Paris, 1888. Doctrines. Method. Alexander of Hales was the first schoolman who wrote after the entire works of Aristotle had become known in the schools, and the prohibition that debards some of his predecessors from the study of Aristotle had been removed. His is not the first Summa, Robert of Mellon, and Stephen Langton having composed Summa in the 12th century. Alexander's is, however, the first Summa made after the introduction of Aristotle's works. In it, we find the Scholastic method fully developed. Instead of the array of antithetical opinions found in Abelard, Sik and Nun, we find the tripartite arrangement of each question corresponding to the arrangement afterwards made by Saint Thomas under the heads, Videtur Quadnon, Set Contra, and Respondetur At Primum, etc. Besides giving definite form to the Scholastic method, Alexander outlined the plan which Saint Thomas and the other great Summists were to follow. Metaphysics. Human reason can arrive at the knowledge of the existence of God, but not at the knowledge of His essence. We can know Quia est, but not Quid est. Alexander admits the validity of St. Anselm's ontological arguments, maintaining that the knowledge of God is natural to man. Cognizio dedeo in hábitu naturaliter nobis impresa est. He distinguishes, however, between Cognizio actualis and Cognizio potentialis. God is Actus purus. Everything else, all created being, is composed of matter and form. Even spiritual substances are composed of spiritual matter, Quia nec est subiectamotui nec contrarietati. This universal matter is different from the universal matter, which, according to Avicii Brawl, is the substratum of all finite existence, for Alexander rejects the pantheistic and neoplatonic elements of Avicii Brawl's philosophy. With regard to universals, Alexander teaches in the first place that they exist ante rem in the mind of God. The divine mind is, he thinks, the intelligible world of which Plato speaks. Mundum intelligibile nun cupavit plato ipsam razionim sem pternam Qua fece deus mundum. In the next place, he teaches that the universals are in re. This may be inferred from his doctrine that the active intellect abstracts the intelligible species from phantasms. Psychology Alexander's psychology, while it is peripatetic in its general trend, bears evidence of the influence of the Palestinian idea of the soul and its faculties. In the summa, our philosopher examines seven different definitions of the soul and decides that the soul, although it is the substantial form of the body, is itself composed of a spiritual matter. An admission which, as the later schoolmen conclusively show, is incompatible with the substantial unity of man. In his enumeration of the faculties of the soul, he follows the traditional Augustinian division of the powers of the mind into ratio, which has for object the external world, intellectus, which has for object created spiritual substances, and intelligentsia, which has for objects the raciones eterne and first principles. Our knowledge of the supersensible world by means of intellect and intelligence is dependent on a special divine illumination. Our knowledge of the external world is rendered possible by the active intellect, which abstracts intelligible species from the material intellect, phantasia. The possible intellect, the receptacle of these species, is the cognitive power of the mind considered as impotency to knowledge. Historical position. Alexander's philosophy exhibits, in a less degree than did the philosophy of William of Overn, the strife of two elements, the Augustinian and the Peripatetic. The irrefragable doctor made more extensive use of the writings of Aristotle than his predecessor had done. Still, he did not succeed in substituting the Aristotelian doctrines of metaphysics and psychology for the Augustinian doctrines which had become traditional in the schools. Alexander's most important contribution to philosophy is his development of the scholastic method and his application of it to the discussion of theological problems. To him is also due the credit of outlining the plan followed in all the great Summe. And although his synthesis of philosophical doctrine is lacking in unity and completeness, it cannot be denied that his influence on the Summits of the next generation was very great. He was held in high esteem by Albert and St. Thomas. As Gerson says, John de La Rochelle, 1200 to 1245, was a disciple of Alexander under whom he qualified for his license as teacher at Paris. He wrote a treatise, De Anima, in which he defends the Augustinian doctrine of the identity of the soul with its faculties, about which Alexander seems to hesitate and accentuates the physiological aspect of psychological problems. In the latter point, he shows the influence of the Arabian physicists. When in 1245 he retired from the duties of teacher, he was succeeded by John of Parma, who in turn was succeeded by St. Bonaventure. St. Bonaventure, Life St. Bonaventure, John Fidanza, surnamed Dr. Seraphicus, was the most illustrious among the disciples of Alexander of Hales. He was born at Bagnorea, near Viterbo, in the year 1221. In 1238 he entered the Order of St. Francis. He was sent to Paris where, as he himself tells us, he had for master Alexander of Hales. In 1248 he received his licentiate, and although in 1253 he undertook the duties of teacher of theology in the Franciscan convent, it was not until 1257 that he made his solemn in Chepzio, having for fellow candidate St. Thomas of Aquinn. The two saints were employed by their respective orders to defend the mendicants against William of Saint-Amour, and from the moment of their first acquaintance at Paris until their death, which occurred in the same year 1274, they maintained a friendship in which they seemed to rise above the spirit of rivalry existing even at that time between the two great orders. St. Bonaventure was made general of the Franciscans in 1257 and was raised to the dignity of Cardinal by Gregory Tenth. He died during the Council of Lyon, 1274. Sources St. Bonaventure's works were published in Rome, 1586 to 1596, Mainz, 1609, and Lyon, 1668. They have been republished by the Franciscans of Quaracchi, near Florence. The last volume of this excellent edition appeared in 1902. The most important of St. Bonaventure's works are his Commentaria in Quator Libro Sentenciarum, De Reduczione Artium Atiologi, Itinerario Mentis Ateum, Brevi Locquium, and a number of treatises on aesthetic theology, such as the Soli Locquium, De Regimine Anime, etc. As secondary sources we have De La Vera Filosofia, etc. Del Serafico Dottor San Bonaventura By P. Marcellino d'Accevezza Genova, 1874 And Dileire di Heiligen Bonaventura, etc. By Krause Peterborn, 1888 Doctrines St. Bonaventure's philosophy is, like that of his two predecessors in the Franciscan Chair of Theology, a combination of Augustinian with peripatetic elements. Instead, however, of drawing from the psychology of St. Augustine, the Seraphic Doctor draws rather from the mysticism of the Christian Plato, at the same time retaining in his account of the relation of form to matter some of the anti-Aristatelian tenets, which had even in his day become part of the traditional teaching of the Franciscans. He is careful, like his great contemporary St. Thomas, to distinguish between theology, which has for object supernatural truth and philosophy, which has for object truth of the natural order. He is inclined, however, to attach more importance than St. Thomas does to the emotional and volitional elements in philosophy and to the affective or the ascetic or mystic aspect of theology. Still, it is possible to set aside for a moment the mystic and emotional elements of his system of thought so as to enumerate the points of teaching in which he differs from St. Thomas and to treat under separate titles his mysticism and his alleged ontologism. Metaphysics All finite being is composed of act and potency. St. Beneventure, identifying form with act and matter with potency, teaches the doctrine advocated by Alexandre of Hales that there is no form without matter. This is one of the distinctively Franciscan doctrines. The plurality of forms is another. Besides the substantial form, which completes the being of a substance, there are subordinate forms, which are principles of ulterior perfection. With regard to the principle of individuation, that by which the individuals of the same species are differentiated from one another, St. Beneventure decides that the individual hock alequid is individualized both by the matter and by the form. St. Beneventure also addresses the principle of individuation by saying that the individual is hock alequid. As for hock, the principle has the matter. As for alequid, it has the form. The individualization in the creature is a double principle. The doctrine of raziones seminales is another characteristic doctrine of the Franciscan school. St. Thomas accounts for the production of created substances by postulating the potency of the matter acted upon and the casualty or efficiency of the agent which acts. Besides these, St. Beneventure postulates on the part of the matter principles created with the matter and cooperating with the agent in the production of the effect. Such principles he identifies with the raziones seminales of which St. Augustine speaks. Psychology In his psychology, St. Beneventure enumerates memory, intelligence and will as faculties of the soul and distinguishes them from the essence of the soul. Quoni am egregiuntur ab anima, non sunt omnino idem peresensiem. His theory of knowledge is best studied in connection with his mystical teachings. Mysticism The mystical elements of St. Beneventure's system of thought are developed in his itinerario mentis addeum and his de reduzione arteum at theologiam. He quotes with approval the teachings of St. Bernard and of the Victorines and in later times he himself became the favorite author of the orthodox mystics. All knowledge he teaches takes place by means of illumination. Now there are four kinds of illumination. Primum Lumen exterius Silicet lumen artis mecaniche. Secondum Lumen inferius Silicet lumen cognizioni sensitive. Terzium Lumen interius Silicet lumen cognizioni filosofiche. Et quartum Lumen superius Silicet lumen grazie et sacre scripture. The lumen interius, the light of philosophical knowledge starting from a knowledge of the sensible world and of first principles which are natural gifts enables us to rise to a knowledge of God. But it is only by the lumen superius, the light of divine grace and holy writ that we can arrive at a knowledge of salutary truth that is of the truth which is unto salvation. In the Breville Aquium, St. Beneventure adopts the teaching of Hugh of St. Victor who distinguishes the eye of the flesh by which we perceive the external world, the eye of reason, by which we attain a knowledge of ourselves and the eye of contemplation, by which we rise to a knowledge of things above us. In the external world, we find a trace, vestigium of God. In ourselves and especially in the threefold activity of the soul, memory, reason, and will, we find an image, Imago of God. By means of contemplation of higher things, we rise to a knowledge of God in His nature and threefold personality. Or rather, we are lifted up from this ecstatic knowledge. For while it is possible without the aid of divine grace to know God as His shadowed forth in nature and imaged in our own souls, it is impossible without the aid of divine grace to acquire any knowledge which is unto salvation or to rise from the contemplation of higher things to a knowledge of the divine nature and the divine personalities. In the highest grade of contemplative knowledge, the soul is united with God in mental and mystic acts. For while it is possible without the aid of divine grace, it is possible without the aid of divine grace to acquire any knowledge which is unto salvation. For while it is possible without the aid of divine grace, it is possible without the aid of divine grace. the soul is united with God in mental and mystic ecstasy, excessus mentalis et mysticus, which is described in the last chapter of the itinerarium as a state in which the soul leaves all sense and intellect and is lost as it were in God. kysi autem kweras kvomoda hek fient, interro ga grazium, non doctrinum, desiderium, non intellectum, gemetum oracionis, non studium leccionis, sponsum non magistrum, deum non hominem, caliginem non-claritate, non-luchem, sed ignem inflamantem et indaeum transferentem." Is St. Bonaventure an Antologist? Antologism maintains, one, that God, the first in order of being, is the first in order of knowledge, primum ontologicum est primum logicum, two, that consequently our knowledge of God is intuitive, not abstractive, three, that in the light of the idea of God, all our other ideas are acquired. Now, on the one hand, St. Bonaventure teaches that we rise from a knowledge of creatures to a knowledge of God, Deus, qui est artefacts et causa creature per ipsam conoscitur. Conoscire autem deum per creaturas, hoque est proprie viaturum. Thus it is evident that St. Bonaventure does not maintain the priority of our knowledge of God with reference to our knowledge of created things, nor does he maintain that our knowledge of God is intuitive. Moreover, his theory of cognition does not agree with the doctrine that we see all things in God, for while he maintains that some species intelligibles are infused, he maintains at the same time that other species are acquired by the abstractive power of the active intellect, and that the mind was at the beginning a tabula rasa. On the other hand, many of the teachings of St. Bonaventure are capable of an ontologistic interpretation. He teaches, for example, that our knowledge of God and of the soul is independent of all sense knowledge. He also teaches that the first object of our knowledge is God. The context, however, shows that these two passages do not prove St. Bonaventure to be an ontologist. He himself explains that the doctrine contained in the first passage agrees with the Aristotelian principle, and he gives the key to the second passage when he explains the difference between the intelectus apprehendens, which may understand the effect without understanding the cause, and the intelectus resolvents, which, if it fully, quote-unquote, resolves the effect, must include in a knowledge of the effect a knowledge of the cause, and in the knowledge of any creature the knowledge of God. Besides, when in a treatise which is professedly mystic, the Seraphic Doctor speaks of God as the first object of knowledge, he may be understood to mean that a knowledge of God is the beginning of that knowledge which is unto salvation. Historical position. St. Bonaventure is the type of the orthodox mystic. He reproduces the principles of the victory in school without any of the exaggerations which characterize the later representatives of that school. He does not oppose the study of philosophy or the use of dialectic. To the amo ut intelligem of the mystics, he adds the intelligo ut credem, and the credo ut intelligem of the dialecticians. He became, as has been said, the favorite author of the mystics of later times. Gershon, for instance, writes, Sikuratur ame, qui s interceteros doctores plus fidiatur idonius, respondeo sine prejudizio cuo dominus bonaventura, cuoniam in docendo solidus est et securus pius justus et devutus. Roger Bacon. Life. Roger Bacon, Dr. Mirabilis, although belonging to the Franciscan order is not a representative of Franciscan tradition. Still, he reproduces some of the Franciscan doctrines, and for this reason he may be associated with Alexandre of Hales and St. Bonaventure. He was born near Ilchester in Gloucestershire in the year 1214. He studied at Oxford, where he had for masters Edmund Rich, Robert Great Head, and Richard Fitsiker, or Fischerker, from whom he imbibed a love for linguistic, mathematical, and physical sciences. About the year 1245 he repaired to Paris Moresue Gentis, as Brooker says, there to complete his studies. He listened not very respectfully as his writings show to Alexandre of Hales and possibly to Albert the Great. Returning to Oxford, he joined the Franciscan order and became one of the most famous masters at that university. His career, however, was as brief as it was brilliant. He was exiled by the authority of his superiors for what reason we are not told, and lived from 1257 to 1267 in what was virtually a prison belonging to his order in Paris. In 1267 he was liberated by order of Clement IV and returned to Oxford. In 1278 he was again imprisoned on the charge of insubordination and on account of his violent attacks on the religious orders and the highest clergy. He was liberated in 1292, but so little notice did the master once so famous now attract that not even the date of his death is recorded. Sources Bacon's principal works are Opus Mayus, Opus Minus, an epitome of the Opus Mayus, and Opus Terzium. Besides these he left a compendium philosophie. The Opus Mayus was published by Jeb in 1733 and by Bridges Oxford, 1897. In 1859 Brewer published the remaining works of Bacon, London, 1859. An excellent study of the life of Bacon is found in the work of Mr. Charles Roger Bacon, Paris, 1861. Consult also article by Narbey in Revue de question historique, January 1894, and pot haste, Weigweise, page 130. Doctrines Reform of Scientific Method Roger Bacon is rightly regarded as the precursor of his namesake, Francis Bacon, for he was the first to attempt to reform science by advocating the use of observation and experiments. He advocated also the study of mathematics and of languages. But although his efforts were supported by papal authority as long as Clement IV lived, Bacon never attained even a momentary success. The age was not yet tired of metaphysical speculation and besides, the intemperate zeal which Roger Bacon expanded on the cause of scientific reform was of itself sufficient to bring about the failure of his efforts. He rightly insisted on the use of observation in the investigation of nature. He was, however, not only wrong but imprudent when without distinguishing between science and science he condemned all use of deductive reasoning, even going so far as to say that mathematical proof does not convince unless it is confirmed by experience. Cine esperiencia nihil suficienter shiri potest. Moreover, Roger was somewhat boastful. In his Opus Mayus addressed to Clement IV he said that he had invented a system of universal grammar by means of which anyone might learn Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Arabic within a few days in fra paucissimas dias. So enthusiastic was he for the study of language that in the same work he advanced the extraordinary opinion that all Christians should read the scriptures in the original Hebrew and Greek. These exaggerations had their natural effect. Bacon was regarded as a fanatic. He not only failed to influence the thought of his age but even placed in the way of scientific reform obstacles which were not removed until the end of the scholastic era. Philosophy When Roger Bacon declared that he would burn all the books of Aristotle if he possessed them, he is to be understood as speaking of the translations of Aristotle which he justly condemned as inaccurate. He held Aristotle in the greatest reverence and next to Aristotle he esteemed Avicenna. Indeed, he drew much of his philosophical and scientific doctrine from Arabian sources. He agreed with his Franciscan predecessors as to the plurality of forms and the existence of raciones seminales in matter. In his account of the active intellect, however, he goes over to the camp of the Arabian transcendentalists and not only maintains that the active intellect is separate but explicitly identifies it with God, a doctrine which, as we have seen, he falsely attributed to William of Overn. Ethic, intellectus agents, secondum maiores filosofos, non est pars anime, sed est substancia intellectiva alia et separata peresensium ap intellectu possibili. Still, Roger was convinced that in maintaining this doctrine he was not departing from the doctrine of the schools. He believed that he was merely interpreting Saint Augustine's teaching concerning the raciones eterne. The Arabian doctrine that human life and human action depend on the heavenly bodies, a doctrine which formed the theoretical basis of magic during the Middle Ages, is part of the philosophy of Bacon. Scientific doctrines. These belong to the history of the physical sciences rather than to the history of philosophy. Bacon seems to have had some knowledge of the reflection and refraction of light, and in more than one passage in his Opus Maius, he implies that he was acquainted with the use of the telescope. Phygia thinks it probable that our philosopher used a combination of a concave mirror and a lens, and that by means of this combination he observed the heavenly bodies. In a work entitled which is ascribed to Bacon by Phygia in others, we find interesting anticipations of modern inventions such as locomotives, In the Opus Maius, page 318, the Milky Way is described as composed of many stars, and many congregated stars. Roger Bacon resembled Abelard in his complete lack of respect for authority and scientific prestige. He spoke disparagingly of the irrefragable doctor, Alexandra Fales, saying that his summa was He characterized the great Albert as ignorant and presumptuous and expressed contempt for the linguistic attainments of St. Thomas. He attacked the mendicant orders, the bishops, and the papal court. In this way he brought discredit on the cause which he was otherwise so well fitted to defend. He was certainly the greatest scientific light of the 13th century. Had he possessed as much prudence as scientific insight, he probably would have succeeded in his reforms and conferred inestimable benefit on scholastic philosophy. Albert, who was less of an innovator than Bacon, contributed far more than Bacon did to the advancement of science in the 13th century. Blessed Albert the Great, represents the beginning of the Dominican tradition in philosophy. He was of the noble family of Bolstadt and was born at Lawingen in Swabia in 1193. About the year 1212 he went to Padua where for ten years he devoted himself to the study of the liberal arts including philosophy. In 1223 he entered the Order of St. Dominic. After completing his theological studies at Bologna he taught first at Cologne in other German cities and later at Paris where he seems to have eclipsed all his contemporaries. He taught at the convent of St. James from which after three years 1245 to 1248 he was transferred to Cologne and it was to Cologne that he returned once more when after three years 1260 to 1262 spent in Radesbon as bishop of that sea he resigned the mitre to devote himself exclusively to study. He died in 1280 leaving a reputation for extraordinary learning and almost superhuman knowledge of the secrets of natural science. Vir in omniscience adeodivinus says a contemporary ut nostri temporis stupor et miraculum con grue vocari possit. Sources Albert's works comprising 21 folio volumes in the Lyon edition of 1651 reprinted Paris 1890 contain one commentaries on Aristotle's logical physical metaphysical and ethical treatises in these the text and the exposition of the text are not separated as they are in St. Thomas's commentaries two philosophical works the Causes et Proceso Universitatis and the Unitati Intellectus Contra Averroem three theological works commentaries on scripture commentaries on sentences summa de creaturis summa teologica and aesthetic treatises such as the Paradisus Anime monograph z-guards Albert de Grosse translated in a bridged form by Dixon London 1876 doctrines the philosophy of Albert the Great is mainly identical in spirit and content with that of his illustrious disciple St. Thomas there are however some points of difference as for example in the doctrine of the existence of Razione Seminales and the permanence of the forms of elements in a mixture both of which are maintained by Albert but rejected by St. Thomas it may be said without detracting from the credit due to Albert as one of the greatest exponents of scholasticism in its final form that it was his pupil who first imparted to scholasticism its most compact systematic developments logic is divided into two parts the study of incomplexa or uncombined elements of thought and the study of complexa that is of judgment and inference in the second tract of the book de predicabilibus Albert takes up the study of the problem of universals and answers each of porphyry's questions according to the principle of moderate realism which since the beginning of the 13th century had become the common doctrine of the schools metaphysics or philosophia prima treats of being and its most universal properties under this head is included also the problem of the existence of God the proof on which Albert places greatest reliance is not the ontological but the cosmological arguments cosmology Albert teaches that God created the world ex nihilo according to exemplars specius et raciones omnium creaturorum existing eternally in the divine mind the world is not the best possible world psychology the soul is an immaterial principle the form of the body ex anima et corpore fit unum naturaliter et substancialiter the intellect is a faculty of the soul independent indeed of the body non affixa organo yet receiving from the organism the material of thought it is not the intellect that is fatigued but the organism motus fantasmatum et discursus spiritus which ministers to it Albert composed a treatise in refutation of the Arabian doctrine that the intellect is one for all men scientific doctrines it was as a student of nature that Albert showed the universality of his genius he was an authority in his day on physics, geography, astronomy, mineralogy, botany, alchemy, zoology, physiology and phrenology his contributions to natural science are quite as important as his contributions to philosophy indeed his chief merit as a philosopher lies in the fact that he did more than any of his predecessors to establish in philosophy the spirit of scientific investigation it is true that he borrowed many of his scientific doctrines from Aristotle nevertheless he did not hesitate to criticize Aristotle and to reprove those who regarded Aristotle as infallible si autum credit ipsum arrestotlem essi hominem tung prokul dubio erare potuit sikut et nos he borrowed also from the Arabian and Jewish commentators of Aristotle but he hints that personal observation led him to hold various physical doctrines which he did not feel justified in mentioning in his commentaries fisica enim tantum suscepimus dicenda plus secundum peripateticorum sentenciam prosequentes ea coe intendimus quam ex nostra sciencia dicda peripateticorum pro utmelius potui exposui he says at the end of his book de anima lebus nec alequis ineo potes de prehendere quid ego ipsi scienciam in filosofia naturali Albert's original contributions to natural science cannot be mentioned here except in a general way he was the first to use the term affinity to designate the cause of the combination of elements he rejected the current theory that baser metals may be changed into gold by means of the philosopher's stone still he maintained the possibility of transmuting one metal into another for all metals are naturally produced by the earth from a combination of sulfur and mercury, Argentum vivum they differed therefore by an accidental not by a substantial form Albert's observations and experiments in botany, zoology and physical geography are mentioned in terms of the highest praise by Humboldt historical position Albert is without doubt the greatest of the Christian expounders of Aristotle who appeared before the time of Saint Thomas we have seen that he is not a slavish follower of Aristotle he takes cognizance of the work done by the Jews and Arabians he acknowledges the debt that Christian philosophy owes to Plato and the Platonists and in the region of physical science he advances by the exercise of personal observation beyond the doctrine of Platonists and peripatetics great however as was Albert's erudition for he seems to have been exceptionally well read in the literature of physical science his knowledge of the succession of systems of thought was singularly inaccurate he speaks for example of Plato as deriving certain doctrines from the Epicureans Albert's chief merit lies in the success with which he expounded Aristotle's physical doctrines and in the impulse which his own researchers in physical science gave to the investigation of nature he was lacking in the power of synthesizing the scattered elements of knowledge into a compact system of thought in this respect he was excelled by his illustrious pupil Saint Thomas whose future glory he foretold and whose renown as a teacher outshone his own throwing greater lustre on the church and on the order of Saint Dominic to which both Albert and Saint Thomas belonged End of Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Part 1 of History of Philosophy This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Florence History of Philosophy by William Turner Chapter 38 Saint Thomas of Aquinn Life Saint Thomas so named the angelic doctor belonged to the noble family Vaquino which was related to the imperial family and to the royal houses of Aragon, Sicily and France His father was Count Vaquino, Belcastro and Roccoseca In the fortress at Roccoseca Saint was born in the year 1224 or 1225 When five years old he was sent to the monastery of Monte Cassino where his uncle Sinbald ruled as Abbott There in the midst of the struggles between the papacy and the empire struggles in which the Abbott as feudal lord of a large province was obliged to take sides the monks continued to teach and to cultivate learning and there according to tradition the young Thomas began to occupy his mind with the question quid estheus He studied grammar, poetry, rhetoric, logic and perhaps the elements of philosophy In 1236 Sinbald died and shortly after that event the community of Monte Cassino was broken up for a time and Saint Thomas returned his father's castle After a brief sojourn at home Saint Thomas was sent to the University of Naples The change from Monte Cassino to the university was an important crisis in the life of our saint The university was at that time dominated by the influence of Frederick II an influence which was hostile to religion or at least to the papacy and to the mendicant orders The city, if we are to believe contemporary chroniclers was a veritable hotbed of irreligion and licentiousness Saint Thomas, uninfluenced by these surroundings continued to devote himself to his studies having for masters Martinus in grammar and Petrus Hibernus in natural science In Quorum Scollis says toco Tam Lucalenti Coipit Essie Igeni Ed Perspicakis Intelligantia Ut Altius et Profundius Ed Clarus Alius Auditor Repetiret Quorum Arsuis Doctoribus Adiviset In 1243 Thomas entered the Order of Saint Dominic His mother Theodora having looked forward to another career for her son through every obstacle in the way of his entering the Order of Breachers She carried her opposition so far as to imprison him in the fortress of San Giovanni Toward the end of the second year of his imprisonment Thomas made his escape and the opposition on the part of his relatives having ceased he was allowed to proceed to Paris in the company of John of Germany He does not seem to have tarried at Paris for any length of time but have gone at once to Cologne where Albert was teaching This was in 1244 or 1245 Albert perceived at once the extraordinary talents of his pupil and when Thomas' fellow students failing to detect the intellectual greatness hidden under an extreme modesty of manner so named him The Dumb Ox Albert foretold the future renown of his pupil Nosvocamus istum bovin mutum sedipsi ad hoc talam darbit in doctrine mugitum quadintoto mundos un arbit Tocco describes the student Thomas as follows Quipit mirimodo taciturnas essa insolentio in studio acidus in Artione de Votas interius colligens in memoria quad postmodum effundaret in doctrine soon after his arrival at Cologne Thomas was sent to Paris in company with Albert there they remained until 1248 when in 1248 Albert was recalled to Cologne it was decided that his illustrious pupil should once more accompany him and continue to study under his direction in 1251 or 1252 by order of the general of the Dominicans Thomas repaired to Paris where he undertook the task of expanding the books of sentences in 1256 this is the most probable date St. Thomas received the degree of master and was placed at the head of the school at St. James as Reagan's primarius it is probable however that on account of the conflict between the mendicants and the secular the solemn inceptio did not take place until 1257 mention has already been made of the part which St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas took in the controversy arising out of this dispute and in the efforts of the mendicants to secure a favorable decision from Rome while fulfilling his task as bachelor or assistant professor St. Thomas composed his commentaries on the books of sentences after his promotion to the duties of master of sacred science he continued to teach and write taking up special points treated in elementary fashion by the bachelor who taught under his direction and devoting himself to the thorough discussion of each doctrine in all its bearings his famous a teacher rapidly spread throughout Europe and in obedience to the commands of his superiors he taught successively at Rome, Bologna, Viterbo, Perugia and Naples in his lectures as well as in his writings St. Thomas was actuated by two fold purpose he strove first to defend the truth against the attacks of its enemies and secondly to build up a system of theology and philosophy the Sumer Contra Gentiles and the Sumer Theologica are proof of his ability both as an apologist and as a constructive thinker the former work began at Paris about the year 1257 and completed sometime between the years 1261 and 1264 was undertaken at the request of St. Raymond of Penafort for the purpose of defending Catholic truth against the Arabian pantheists and their followers the latter work was began at Bologna about the year 1271 it is St. Thomas's greatest work his last and most important contribution to Christian theology and philosophy for though the work is entitled Sumer Theologica and is in fact a summary of Catholic theology it is also a summary of philosophy it begins with the question of the existence of God treats of the attributes of God traces the process of things from God and the return of man to God through Christ by means of the sacraments which Christ instituted it treats therefore of the creation and government of the universe of the origin and nature of man of human destiny of virtues, vices and laws of all the great problems of speculative and practical philosophy it is the key to the thought of St. Thomas it contains the views of his more mature years and whenever discrepancies occur between the doctrines of the Sumer and the views expressed in his earlier works the Sumer is always to be taken as the embodiment of the mind of St. Thomas during his career as professor St. Thomas composed also the questiones disputata and the quadriberta when a problem arising out of the interpretation of Aristotle or of the Lombard was so complicated that its discussion would occupy too much space in the scholastic commentary or was so difficult as to puzzle the bachelor whose duty it was to expand the text of Aristotle or of the Lombard it was made the subject of a special treatise by the master and such treatises were called questiones disputata the quadriberta were answers to questions put to the master by pupils or by outsiders when therefore we find the following among the questions answered by St. Thomas did St. Peter sin mortally when he denied Christ does a crusader who is returning from the Holy Land die a better death than one who is going thither do the damned rejoice at the sufferings of their enemies we should admire the gentle forbearance with which he strove to remove the difficulties that lay in the way of minds less gifted than his after the completion of the first and second parts of the Sumer Theologica St. Thomas took up his abode at the convent of his order in Naples and there devoted himself to the completion of the third part at the end of a year and a half having reached the 90th question he felt that he could proceed no farther with the work and when his faithful friend Reginald urged him to continue he answered in all simplicity known possum in obedience however to the command of Gregory X he set out for Leon at the beginning of the year 1274 in order to attend the council that was being held in that city he fell sick on the way and when the Cistercian monks of Fossa Nuova near Myenza invited him to their cloister he accepted their invitation there he spent the last days of his life among the sons of St. Benedict whose brethren at Monte Cassino had watched over his early education and there on March the 7th he died while expounding the Canticle of Canticles character contemporary biographers and the witnesses whose depositions are to be found in the acts of canonization bear testimony to the exalted sanctity of the angelic doctor the large lingua the laudation and the prayers which he composed for the office of the Blessed Sacrament testify to his great piety every page of his philosophical and theological works reveals the author's single-minded devotion to truth his courtesy towards his opponents and his extraordinary grasp of the great principles of scholastic philosophy and theology Tocco describes him as Magnus in Capore ed recti staturei cry rectitudini animi respondet animum nullo sensualis passio pertibabat nullius re priambat affectio temporalis nec nullius honoris inflarbet ambitio mirimodo contemplatibus et colestibus deditus sources the principal editions of the works of St. Thomas are the following the Roman edition of 1570 known as the edition of Pius V the Venetian edition of 1592 the Paris edition of 1660 the Parma edition of 1852 and the Leo IX edition begun by the Dominicans at Rome in 1882 by order of Leo XIII the works of St. Thomas may be grouped as follows 1. commentaries on the works of Aristotle 2. commentaries on the books of sentences 3. exegetical works i.e. commentaries on the scriptures and collections of the opinions or patristic exponents of the text Cantina aurea 4. commentaries on the pseudo-dionysian treatise de divinis nominibus and on the Boethian treatises de hebdon maribus and de trinitate 5. summa contra gentilis summa theologica questiones disputata oposcula and quadriberta on the question of the genuineness of the works ascribed to St. Thomas of the Dissertatio Critica by De Rubius which is prefixed to the Leo IX and other editions philosophy of St. Thomas in treating of the philosophical system of St. Thomas it will be found convenient to consider 1. St. Thomas's notion of science doctrine of the interrelation of sciences doctrine of universals theory of knowledge 2. logic 3. anthropology 4. cosmology 5. metaphysics including natural theology and 6. moral and political doctrines 1. notion of science etc a. science is a knowledge of things through their causes scientific knowledge differs from knowledge in general in this that it gives the cause or wherefore of a phenomenon or event it is therefore defined as a knowledge of principles for when we define science as a knowledge through causes we mean primarily those intrinsic causes or principles which constitute the unalterable natures of things and underlie their external shifting sense perceived qualities and since it is on the unalterable nature of things that laws are based science may be defined as the knowledge of laws it is concerned with what is changeable and contingent insofar as the changeable and contingent contains the necessary and universal which is the true object of scientific knowledge b. faith and reason intimately associated with the notion of science is the notion of truth truth is defined as that Iquateo re et intellectus now God is the source of all truth he communicates it to us directly by revelation and indirectly by giving us the power by which we acquire it science acquired in the former manner would be divine while the science which we ourselves derive from experience and reason is human theology is partly divine and partly human it is divine in its origin for it starts with revealed truths as principles and it is human in the course of its development for it proceeds from premise to conclusion by the aid of reason the distinction between divine science and human science is not a distinction of material objects that is, of the truths with which each is concerned but rather a distinction of formal objects that is, of the point of view from which the same truths are studied in each science the difference between theology and philosophy does not consist in the fact that theology treats of God for philosophy also treats of God and divine truths the distinction consists rather in this that theology views truth in the light of divine revelation while philosophy views truth in the light of human reason this is the first and broadest distinction between theology and philosophy there are truths which belong exclusively to theology there are truths which belong properly to philosophy and there are truths which are common to both sciences the truths which belong exclusively to theology are the mysteries of faith such as the incarnation and the trinity which the human mind can neither demonstrate nor comprehend these we know on the authority of God who revealed them the truths which belong exclusively to philosophy are natural truths of the lower order that is, truths which have no bearing on man's destiny or on his relations with God the truths which belong to both sciences are natural truths of the higher order such as the existence of God these, on account of the important relation which they bear to supernatural truth, are called the preambular fedi-i they come within the scope and power of natural reason and are therefore natural nevertheless, they are proposed for our belief for though a knowledge of them is possible to all men and point of fact attained only by a few our porcus et perlungum tempus etcum admixgione multorum erorum considering on the one hand the vital importance of these truths and on the other hand the difficulty of attaining a knowledge of them it seems natural and fitting that God in his goodness should propose them for our belief now, whether we consider the truths which belong exclusively to theology or those which are common to theology and philosophy we realise that the science which studies both classes of truths in the light of revelation and the science which studies the latter class of truths in the light of reason are distinct sciences but while it is certain that theology and philosophy are distinct it is no less certain that they are in complete harmony with one another et equi ets revelatione divina per fedem tenenta non possant naturali cogletione etse contraria this principle which may be said to be implied in every system of Christian speculation is explicitly proved by the following consideration God is the author of all knowledge natural as well as revealed it is therefore he who teaches us not only when by means of the revelation which he has vouchsafed to grant us we attain the knowledge of truth in the supernatural order but also when by the natural powers which also are his gift we discover truth in the natural order now it is impossible that God should contradict himself it is therefore impossible that there should exist a contradiction between natural truth and truth of the supernatural order but this is not all not only does faith not contradict reason it strengthens and supplements reason faith introduces us into a new world of truth into a world where everything is novel and strange but where nevertheless an intelligent ruler reigns where consequently we find that everything obeys the inexorable laws of thought which rule the natural world for a mystery is not a contradiction thus is the horizon of noble truth enlarged by revelation and faith becomes the complement of reason Saint Thomas was fully convinced of the limitations of human thought he did not it is true draw the limits of thought so closely as Mansel and Spencer have done he possessed more confidence than they in the power of the human mind to attain truth still he recognized the principle that the human mind however high it may so must some time or other reach a level beyond which it cannot rise and at which all natural knowledge ends he differed however from the agnostic and the differences radical in this that well beyond the region of knowledge the modern philosopher places the region of Nessians Saint Thomas taught that where science ends faith begins and that faith is a kind of knowledge faith is the ascent to truth on account of the authority of God ascent it autumn intellectus aliqui duplicitair unamodo queer ad hoc movitair adipso objecto quad es per seipsum cognitum sucut partet imprimus principis quorum est intellectus vel per aleid cognitum sucut partet inclusionibus quorum est schientia alimodo intellectus ascentit aliqui nonqueo sufficiente movitair ab objecto proprio sed per quamdom electionem voluntari declinens in unum partem et si quidem hoc citcum dubitatione et formidine alterius partis erit opinion si atom citcum checcitudine absque talae formidine erit fides faith therefore insofar as it depends on the will is meritorious while insofar as it is a firm ascent and excludes doubt it adds to our knowledge knowledge co-extensive with reality is divided into the realm of science and the realm of faith and these realms are continuous moreover all faith is radically reasonable for belief rests on the authority of God and reason tells us that God can neither deceive nor be deceived di kendem quod e quai subsunt fediae duplicatae considerari possunt unumodo in specchiali et sic non possunt esse simul visa et creditor alimodo in generale skilliket subcumuni racione credibilis et sic sunt visa ab aio qui credit non enem crediret nisi vidiret aia esse credenda from the foregoing principles it follows that science can aid faith one by furnishing the motives of credibility and by establishing the preambles of faith two by supplying analogies which enable us to represent to ourselves truths of the supernatural order three by solving the objections which the opponents of faith urge against supernatural truth Saint Thomas subscribed to the twofold principle of scholasticism credu ut intelligam intelligo ut credam Saint Thomas' doctrine concerning the relations between revelation and reason may be summed up in the propositions one the domain of faith is distinct from the domain of reason two the former is the continuation of the latter here we find expressed the thought which agitated the minds of the school men during the first two periods of scholasticism the thought namely that revelation is reasonable and that reason is divine this thought which was held in solution in every system of scholasticism from the extreme mysticism of Erogena to the extreme rationalism of Abelard both of whom though for different reasons identified theology with philosophy is now at last crystallized and the Protestant as well as the Catholic Apologist of Christianity will today acknowledge that nowhere can there be found a better statement of the relation between revelation and reason that in the principles formulated by Saint Thomas the doctrine of Saint Thomas on this point is of interest not merely to the Apologist but also to the philosopher for every effort of philosophical construction is an effort at establishing continuity the Greeks while they distinguished mind and matter taught that there exists no antagonism between them and it was in a similar spirit of constructive synthesis that Saint Thomas while clearly distinguishing the province of theology from that of philosophy established once for all the continuity of the supernatural with the natural of revelation with reason it is this aspect of the question that gives it its importance in the history of philosophy C. Division of Sciences Saint Thomas devised the sciences in accordance with Aristotle's scheme of classification into physical, mathematical and metaphysical all sciences abstraction that is separation or analysis of the complex totality of phenomena the physical, mathematical and metaphysical sciences represent ascending grades of abstraction D. Doctrine of Universals all sciences concerned with the abstract and therefore with the universal of singular things insofar as they are singular there is no science but the universal though abstract is real Saint Thomas regards the nominalist denial of the reality of universals as a denial of the reality of all science he does not however agree with the Platonic realists who teach that the universal exists outside the mind as a universal in the same way as it exists in the mind the universal existed anti-rem in the mind of God as exemplar cause it exists post-rem in the human mind as an ideal image extracted from concrete things and it exists in re as the essence or quiddity of things but the universal in re is not formally universal the mind reflecting that the universal quiddity is predictable of many invest this quiddity with the formal aspect of universality what is commune multus known as a liquid praeter multa nisi solaratione cum digita universale abstractum duo intelligente skillicate ipsa natura re et abstractio su universalitas ipsa igita natura re qui accredit vel intelligi vel abstracti vel intentio universalitatis non es nisi insigularibus sed hoc ipsum quod est intelligi vel abstracti vel intentio universalitas est in intellectu liquid natura generis et specchiai num quam sed nisi in his individuis intelligit timen intellectus naturum specchiai et generis non intelligendo principio individuantia ed hoc est intelligere universalia universalia secundum quod sunt universalia non sud nisi in anima ipsa autum naturae quibus accredit intentio universalitatis sunt in rebus the sciences, therefore, are real because the universal is real the sciences, however, differ in many respects the same method is not to be employed in different sciences neither is the same certitude to be sought in each ad hominem beni disciplinatum id est beni instructum pertinet ut tantum che cattudinis quarat in une quacque materia quantum natura re patitur theology rests on the authority of revelation in the other sciences the principal means of arriving at truth is the use of our own reason and the employment of induction or deduction according to the nature of the science authority holds a very unimportant place studium sapientiae non est ad hoc quod schieter quid hominese censorint sed qualitè se habiat veritas rerum saint thomas maintains that in matters scientific the argument from authority is the weakest of all arguments and thus condemns those who would solve the problems of philosophy by an appeal to the works of Aristotle or of some other master c. theory of knowledge saint thomas's theory of knowledge is conditioned by his psychological doctrines it is possible however to describe his epistemological doctrines in general terms without entering for the present into an account of his psychological system all knowledge begins with sense knowledge the senses, the intellectual faculties and the authority of others are the sources of our knowledge and in normal conditions they are reliable sources with respect to the senses saint thomas following Aristotle distinguishes four classes of objects the sensibilé per se the sensibilé per acudence the sensibilé propium and the sensibilé commune the sensibilé propia our color, taste, sound etc and the sensibilé commune our size, motion, shape etc the former exist potentially in the object independently of the sense actually have a taste for example does not exist except when it is perceived but while saint thomas makes this concession to idealism he maintains in opposition to the fundamental tenet of the idealists that what we first perceive is not the mental process which takes place within us but the physical counterpart of that process which exists in the world outside he is an advocate, a presentative or immediate as opposed to representative or immediate perception he teaches that the senses are in immediate contact with the object as far as consciousness is concerned although as we shall see he holds that between the senses and the object there are certain media of communication speckier sensibilés which do not appear in direct consciousness quid am possuerant quod senses known set it nisi passione sui organi said high capinio manifeste apparet falsa speckier secondario estid quod intelligitre id quod intelligitre primo est raze he explains the illusions of sense by referring them to one or other of the following causes 1. the sense organ is not in its normal condition 2. it is a question of a sensibilé per acudence not of a sensibilé per se with regard to the sensibilé communion st. thomas does not realise the important part played by interpretation in processes which are apparently cases of intuitive perception he admits however the fact that interpretation plays a part in these processes nachera sensibilé qualitatum cognoscore known est sensus said intellectus intellectual knowledge is derived from sense knowledge the intellect by its immaterial energy separates or puts aside all the material conditions of the sense image leaving the immutable universal element which represents itself on the mind as an immaterial idea the process is one of abstraction or separation if then sense knowledge is a source of truth intellectual knowledge is also a source of truth for the mind adds nothing to the sense image it merely brings to light the intellectual element therein contained but though it is customary to speak of the truth of the senses and of the truth of the act by which the intellect abstracts universal ideas yet truth full fledged so to say is not found except in judgement and reasoning now we form a judgement by virtue of an innate power of the mind by what may be called a natural sensitiveness to the light of evidence and propositions as they present themselves to us are evident either immediately or through the medium of other and more evident propositions in this way by the power of judgement we arrive at a knowledge of first principles and at a knowledge of conclusions which, when organised, is properly called science but what is knowledge? St Thomas describes it as a vital process in which the subject is rendered like the object by a process of information omnis cognitio fit per assimilatione cognoscentis et cognitii he likens it to the process by which the seal impresses its form on the wax the object, whether it be composed of matter and form or be pure form is what is by virtue of the form now when the object becomes known it impresses its form on the mind causing the mind not to be the object but to know the object moreover, in the act of knowledge subject and object become one in the ideal order an expression which means merely that the object becomes known by us and we become knowing the object beyond these somewhat general expressions St Thomas does not attempt to describe the nature of knowledge realising perhaps the impossibility of describing knowledge in terms more elementary than the term knowledge itself two, logic in logic St Thomas did not make any notable addition to the doctrine of Aristotle the Aposculum entitled similar totus logikai which was ascribed to St Thomas is the work of some disciple of the saint perhaps of Hervé of Nedelec died 1323 it is a compendium of the treatises which formed the body of Aristotelian logical doctrine three, anthropology the central doctrine in St Thomas's teaching concerning man is that of the substantial union of soul and body body and soul are co-principals of the substantial unit which is man they are united as matter and form complete substantial nature belongs neither to the soul alone nor to the body alone but to the compound of both it is the compound which is and acts it is by virtue of the soul that man is a rational being a substance, a being it is by virtue of the soul that the body has whatever it possesses but just as the body requires the soul in order to be what it is and to move and live the soul requires the body for its natural being and operation it is true that the soul is superior to matter that in the highest operations of the mind it is intrinsically independent of the body that it is capable of surviving the body but it is nonetheless true that there is no operation of the soul however high in which the body has not its share and that after its separation from the body the soul is as it were in a natural state until it is reunited with the body after the body's resurrection the soul is defined as premium principium vitae in his quai apod nos vivant and life is defined as self-originating motion iliud enim propriae dicimus quad encypso habit principium motus vel operationis cugis cum quai thus although the eye, the heart etc. are principles of vital functions they are not the radical principles of those functions for if these as bodies were the first principles of life all bodies would be endowed with life the soul is therefore the radical principle of all vital functions since life is the power of self-motion or as we should say the power of adaptation living beings are arranged in the scale of ascending perfection according to the degree in which they possess the power of self-motion in this way saint thomas is led to distinguish plant life animal life and intellectual life and to this distinction corresponds the distinction of vegetative soul sensitive soul and rational soul all life is a triumph of form over matter of activity over inertia of initiative force over indeterminateness and the greater the triumph the higher the form of life the soul then and by soul is meant not merely mind but the principle of all vital activity is united substantially with the body the union is no mere accidental union as Plato taught for consciousness tells us that it is the same substance which thinks and speaks and moves and eats neither are there forms intermediate between soul and body as the neoplatonists taught for although there is no quantitative contact between soul and body there is the contact of immediate action and reaction contactors, virtuities as the facts of consciousness prove thus does saint thomas taking his stand on the empirical principles of consciousness simplify the problems of epistemology by regarding man as the blending of what in modern epistemology would be called self and not self and by refusing to look upon subject and object as separated by that chasm which every epistemologist since the days of deca was driven in vain to span the soul is one in extended immaterial its immateriality is proved by the fact that in its intellectual operations it rises above all material conditions it is present in every part of the body although it does not exercise all its functions in each part of the body it is present totalitate but not totalitate vertuities but though the soul is one it has several faculties or immediate principles of action in the Summa Theologica the necessity of admitting the existence of faculties of the soul is proved by metaphysical reasons in de spiritualibus creatores the same conclusion is reached from considerations of a psychological nature the faculties of the soul are 1. locomotive 2. vegetative or nutritive 3. cognitive sensitive 4. cognitive intellectual and 5. appetitive which includes sensitive appetite and rational appetite or will this division is expressly attributed to Aristotle all the faculties of the soul are vital and their operations are imminent some however are wholly dependent on states of the organism while others are immaterial that is independent of bodily states or more generally of all the conditions of matter to this class belong the intellectual faculties St Thomas it is true admits that as Aristotle taught there is nothing in the intellect which did not come through the senses nevertheless he maintains and in this he is true to Aristotelian principles that there is an essential distinction between sense and intellect the intellect is incorporeal a. because we can know incorporeal things nihil agit nisi secundum swam speciam a. quod former est pruncipia magendi in unicoque si icita intellectus sit corpus accio aegis ordinum corporeum non exidit non icita intelligent nisi corporea horc autum partet ese falsum intelligimus enem multa quai non sunt corporea intellectus icita known est corpus b. because of our power reflection nullius corporeus accio reflected her supra agentum intellectus autum supra seipsum agendo reflected intelligit autum seipsum non solum secundum partem sed secundum totum non est icita corpus c. because of the universality and necessity which the idea possesses propio operatio hominis in quantum hugismodi est intelligere pehanc enem difet abrutis intelligere autum est universalium et incorporeum in quantum hugismodi the intellect although immaterial and therefore intrinsically independent of the body depends on the body extrinsically and as it were accidentally for the soul being the weakest and most imperfect of spiritual substances being in fact substantially incomplete without the body cannot exercise its intellectual functions without the corporeation of the bodily senses having no innate ideas it must obtain the matter of thought from the world outside the senses are therefore the channels of communication between the soul and the objects of knowledge this extrinsic or accidental dependence of intellect upon sense explains the phenomenon of mental fatigue severo in intelligendo fatiguita corpus hug est pear acudens in quantum intellectus indiget operatio nem virium sensitivarum pear quice e fantasmata priparento intellect therefore while it transcends the world of sense is accompanied in all its operations by bodily states to which the operations of the intellect are correlated st. thomas is as careful to avoid the ultra-spiritualism of those who deny all interaction or correlation between the acts of the intellect and the organism as he is to avoid the materialism of those who make the acts of the intellect depend intrinsically on material conditions his doctrine on this point while it in no way compromises the spiritual and immaterial nature of the principle of pure thought its full scope to empirical psychology and to psychological investigation from the distinction between intellect and sense st. thomas infers the conclusion that the soul is immaterial it is a principle of scholastic philosophy that action is, so to speak, a measure of existence a gary, secretary, essay the effect cannot be greater than the sum of its causes if therefore the intellect in the processes of pure thought transcends all material conditions it follows that the soul which is the radical principle of such processes is itself immaterial sigigater ex operatione animi humani modus essay ipsius cognosci protest in quantum enim habit operatione materialia transcendentum essay sum es supra corpus elevatum known dependents ab eio the immortality of the soul follows from its immateriality the proofs of immortality although differently enunciated in different portions of the writing of st. thomas may be said to converge on one line of argument the soul is immaterial therefore it is naturally incorruptible for instance in the questio disputata de anima st. thomas argues that a compound is subject to corruption per sei by the loss of the form which gives it being while a form, although incorruptible per sei may be corruptible per akidens that is to say it is liable to destruction if it is merely that by which the compound is and if it has no being independently of the compound now the soul is a form and therefore it is not corruptible per sei it is a form independent of the body as to its highest operations and therefore it is independent of the body as to its being consequently it is not corruptible per akidens therefore neither per sei nor per akidens is the soul subject to corruption towards the end of the article in which the foregoing argument is enunciated st. thomas shows that all who denied the natural immortality of the soul did so either one because they held that the soul is a material substance or two because they held that the soul is intrinsically dependent on matter even in its intellectual operations or three because they held that the principle of intellectual knowledge is not a faculty of the individual soul but something separate intellectus separatus which is immortal while the individual soul is corruptible the argument is repeated in contra gentiles 2.55 in 2.79 of the same work the form of the argument is slightly changed the soul is perfected by knowledge and virtue now all knowledge and all virtue are conditioned by a certain degree of separation from matter every idea that we acquire every act of virtue that we perform lifts us above the material conditions of life and adds to the perfection of the soul death therefore which is a complete separation of the soul from matter perfects rather than destroys the soul End of chapter 38 part 1