Page 47 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

1824 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

Thomas Aquinas
on Happiness

and Community
promulgating the position that the truths of philosophy
Felicity and happiness are the ultimate end of
and the truths of religion are equally true, but separate
human life, as was said above. Hence law must
and distinct, because philosophical knowledge derives
especially look to the ordering of happiness.
from rational analysis of human experience alone,
Again, since every part is ordered to its whole as
whereas theological knowledge derives exclusively from
the imperfect to the perfect, and one man is a
divine revelation. The bishop of Paris, Stephen Tempier,
part of the perfect community, it is necessary that
condemned the position of the Averroists in 1270. Con-
law properly look to the order to the common
servative critics associated Thomas with the Averroists
happiness. Hence the Philosopher [Aristotle]...
because of his devotion to Aristotle, and he had to
makes mention of happiness and political com-
expend much energy in his final years to carefully distin-
munity. For he says in Ethics 5 that we call those
guish his position from theirs.
things legally just that are creative and conser-
In 1272 the Dominicans sent Thomas to Naples to set
vative of happiness and its particulars by polit-
up a new studium generale, but at this point his health
ical co-operation; for the city is the perfect
began to weaken. He died at the Cistercian monastery of
community, as is said in Politics 1.
Fossanova while on his way from Naples to Lyons to
Source: Thomas Aquinas. (1998). Summa theologiae, I-II.90, Art. 2. In R. McIn-
erny (Trans.), Selected Writings (p. 614). London: Penguin Books & New York: attend a church council summoned by the pope.
Penguin Putnam.
The principal writings of Thomas Aquinas include the
Disputed Questions (1256–1272); the Summa contra
gentiles (1259–1265), which provides a detailed defense
of his reputation but soon found himself embroiled in a of the philosophical validity of the Christian faith; and
major controversy over the proper relationship of phi- the Summa theologiae (begun in 1268 but unfinished at
losophy and theology. Thomas’s death), which comprehensively synthesizes
Thomas’s first major book, a commentary on Lom- Thomas’s rational investigation and logical demonstra-
bard’s Sentences, contains more than two thousand ref- tion of Catholic doctrine.When Tempier condemned the
erences to the works of Aristotle.Already in his early days Averroists a second time in 1277, he explicitly included
as a teacher he had defined his intellectual project: to condemnations of several teachings from these works.
establish the proper relationship between philosophy However, Thomas had many posthumous supporters,
and theology. In this pursuit he made use of not only the including Albert the Great and the Italian poet Dante,
works of Christian theologians and ancient Greek and who assigned him a privileged place in paradise. Pope
Roman thinkers, but also the works of Muslim and Jew- John XXII had Thomas canonized in 1323. During the
ish philosophers such as Ibn Sina (980–1037), Ibn sixteenth century Thomas’s Summa theologiae replaced
Rushd (1126–1198), and Ibn Gabirol (1021–1058). Peter Lombard’s Sentences as the standard textbook in
Thomas argued that both philosophy and faith are nec- the theology curriculum of European universities, where
essary to a true pursuit of theology because logical argu- his work remained influential well into the 1600s.
mentation leads to a more precise and complete Thomism has enjoyed a revival since the late nineteenth
knowledge of religious belief. Thomas further held that, century, thanks in part to a papal bull (decree) of 1879
even without faith in Christian revelation, the human encouraging study of Thomas’s work, and his brilliant
mind can use rational analysis of observations made and rigorous application of Aristotelian arguments
through the five senses to attain an incomplete but still retains considerable interest for twenty-first-century
extensive understanding of the being of God and the philosophers.
nature of the rational laws governing the created universe.
Scott C.Wells
While Thomas was in Italy, a group of scholars in Paris
called the “Averroists” (followers of Ibn Rushd) were See also Catholicism, Roman