Thomas Aquinas
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
| Revision as of 14:44, 15 November 2020 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Revision as of 14:46, 15 November 2020 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) Next diff → |
||
| Line 3: | Line 3: | ||
| "[[Thomas Aquinas]] is convinced that the highest good, the ''[[summum bonum]]'' of the ancient philosophers, cannot be attained by reason alone. The ''[[visio beatifica]]'', the mystical vision of God remains the absolute goal — and this goal always depends upon a free gift of divine grace . But man himself must begin the work and prepare for this event. The divine right does not abrogate the human right which originates in reason. "Grace does not destroy nature; it perfects nature ([[Gratia naturam non tollit, sad perficit]])"." --''[[The Myth of the State]]'' (1946) by Ernst Cassirer | "[[Thomas Aquinas]] is convinced that the highest good, the ''[[summum bonum]]'' of the ancient philosophers, cannot be attained by reason alone. The ''[[visio beatifica]]'', the mystical vision of God remains the absolute goal — and this goal always depends upon a free gift of divine grace . But man himself must begin the work and prepare for this event. The divine right does not abrogate the human right which originates in reason. "Grace does not destroy nature; it perfects nature ([[Gratia naturam non tollit, sad perficit]])"." --''[[The Myth of the State]]'' (1946) by Ernst Cassirer | ||
| <hr> | <hr> | ||
| - | The one thing we can- not do with the Summa of St. Thomas is to meet its arguments on their own ground. We can neither as- ii | + | "The one thing we cannot do with the ''[[Summa]]'' of St. Thomas is to meet its arguments on their own ground. We can neither assent to them nor refute them. It does not even occur to us to make the effort, since we instinctively feel that in the climate of opinion which sustains such arguments we could only gasp for breath. Its conclusions seem to us neither true nor false, but only irrelevant; and they seem irrelevant because the world pattern into which they are so dexterously woven is no longer capable of eliciting from us either an emotional or an aesthetic response."--''[[The New Heavenly City]]'' (1932) by Becker |
| - | The Heavenly City | + | |
| - | sent to them nor refute them. It does not even occur | + | |
| - | to us to make the effort, since we instinctively feel that in the climate of opinion which sustains such | + | |
| - | arguments we could only gasp for breath. Its conclusions seem to us neither true nor false, but only ir- relevant; and they seem irrelevant because the world | + | |
| - | pattern into which they are so dexterously woven is no longer capable of eliciting from us either an emotional or an aesthetic response. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| |} | |} | ||
| {{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
Revision as of 14:46, 15 November 2020
|
"Thomas Aquinas is convinced that the highest good, the summum bonum of the ancient philosophers, cannot be attained by reason alone. The visio beatifica, the mystical vision of God remains the absolute goal — and this goal always depends upon a free gift of divine grace . But man himself must begin the work and prepare for this event. The divine right does not abrogate the human right which originates in reason. "Grace does not destroy nature; it perfects nature (Gratia naturam non tollit, sad perficit)"." --The Myth of the State (1946) by Ernst Cassirer "The one thing we cannot do with the Summa of St. Thomas is to meet its arguments on their own ground. We can neither assent to them nor refute them. It does not even occur to us to make the effort, since we instinctively feel that in the climate of opinion which sustains such arguments we could only gasp for breath. Its conclusions seem to us neither true nor false, but only irrelevant; and they seem irrelevant because the world pattern into which they are so dexterously woven is no longer capable of eliciting from us either an emotional or an aesthetic response."--The New Heavenly City (1932) by Becker |
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Saint Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest, a philosopher and theologian in the scholastic tradition. The works for which he is best-known are the Summa Theologica and the Summa Contra Gentiles. He is famously depicted in a painting by Carlo Crivelli. The influence of Aquinas can be found in the works of the Italian semiotician Umberto Eco, who wrote The Aesthetics of Thomas Aquinas in 1956.
Modern influence
Many modern ethicists both within and outside the Catholic Church (notably Philippa Foot and Alasdair MacIntyre) have recently commented on the possible use of Aquinas's virtue ethics as a way of avoiding utilitarianism or Kantian "sense of duty" (called deontology). Through the work of twentieth century philosophers such as Elizabeth Anscombe (especially in her book Intention), Aquinas's principle of double effect specifically and his theory of intentional activity generally have been influential.
It is remarkable that Aquinas's aesthetic theories, especially the concept of claritas, deeply influenced the literary practice of modernist writer James Joyce, who used to extol Aquinas as being second only to Aristotle among Western philosophers. The influence of Aquinas's aesthetics also can be found in the works of the Italian semiotician Umberto Eco, who wrote The Aesthetics of Thomas Aquinas in 1956.
The Eastern Orthodox Church has had a complex relationship with Aquinas' work. For a long time, Aquinas and scholastic or schoolbook theology was a standard part of the education of Orthodox seminarians. His philosophy found a strong advocate in the person of at least one Patriarch of Constantinople, Gennadius Scholarius. However, in the twentieth century, there was a reaction against this "Latin captivity" of the Orthodox theology (Georges Florovsky), and Orthodox writers have emphasized the otherness of Scholasticism.
