St. Thomas Aquinas
Humans & The Intellect
It is impossible for the human mind to understand anything without developing mental images (phantasms
Phantasms, whether produced intentionally or unintentionally are our way of experiencing and learning things.
There are no Platonic forms, there is only the nature of God
Knowledge of individuals is prior to the knowledge of universals
The human is a union of soul and body
The soul can develop its own beliefs and knowledge through sense experience
Intellect is embedded in an immaterial soul
Religion
Believed that happiness could only be achieved through self knowledge and the awareness of God
Believed that reason was given to humans to seek out God.
Thought the world was intelligible and orderly because God created it
God is a perfect being without flaw, and undying presence
God's essence IS his existence
Was a 13th century Dominican Monk and worked within a very strict Christian framework
Believes that God exists and is omnipresent as well as all knowing (Summa Theologica)
5 ways to prove that God exists: Motion, Cause, Contingency, Perfection, Order
Knowledge& Reason
Knowledge is a kind of being, a modification
There are two types of knowledge: intellectual and sense knowledge
Sense knowledge can be broken down into sense memory, sense consciousness, instinct and imagination.
Intellectual knowledge can be broken down into abstract (ideals, opinions) and general (commonly accepted facts)
Believed in inductive reasoning to find universals, or general conclusions.
Summa Theologica
Was Aquinas' most comprehensive work and presented all of this viewpoints.
Believed that although knowledge begins with sense experience and perception, it can grow beyond the sensory world when reason is applied to it.
Empiricism
Laid the groundwork for the empiricist movement with views that were radical for the times
Was influenced by the teachings of Aristotle
Agreed with Aristotle’s Theory of Four Causes (Material, Formal, Efficient, Final)
Rejected Plato’s idea that forms exist separately from the physical world
Existence over essence (materialism)
All knowledge is a posteriori
