Summary:
An analysis of the three most influential ideas of Thomas Aquinas' philosophical system -- God, ethics, and Christ -- as Aquinas laid out in his work Summa Theologica.
The most influential thinker of the medieval period, Thomas Aquinas' philosophy combined Aristotelianism and elements of Neo-Platonism within a context of Christian thought. Out of all the writings Aquinas' published, the Summa Theologica incorporates his philosophical system the best. In Thomas Aquinas' most infamous piece of work, Summa Theologica, he formed three major ideas: God, ethics, and Christ, to best illustrate his philosophical system.
The first part of Aquinas' most illustrious work deals with God, who is the starting point, he causes everything and was not caused by anything else. In the most highly recognized question in Part I of the Summa Theologica, Aquinas proved the existence of God in five different ways. He uses Aristotle's beliefs and the basic structure of logic to prove that God is the beginning point, he is the one that caused and created everything else in existence. He is the first mover, the "first cause in the chain of causes, an absolutely necessary being, an absolutely perfect being, and a rational designer" (Crystal). Aquinas defined the spiritual being of God as thinking and willing. According to Aquinas, God's knowledge is perfect because he knows himself and all things that are created. In a sense, Aquinas' is proving that "God governs the world as the universal first cause" (Crystal).
Part II of Aquinas' work shows his second major idea in his philosophical system, ethics. Part II of the Summa basically shows that "in his efforts to achieve happiness, man is moving toward God" (Adler and Wolff). In this part Thomas developed his system of ethics, derived from Aristotle. Man struggles in a chain of acts and will to reach God. Aquinas believed man has the freedom to choose the good or evil act with knowledge of the end result. Human acts are commendable because they promote the purpose of God and his honor. By repeating a good action man attains a moral habit or a quality, which "enables him to do the good gladly and easily" (Crystal). Thomas believed that this is only true in the moral and intellectual virtues, a belief he accepted from Aristotle. The other virtue, theological, is imparted by God to man as a "disposition" (Crystal). For an act to become evil, Aquinas said it must deviate from reason and the divine moral law. Aquinas believed God is not the cause of sin. Instead, God draws all things on himself. Aquinas believed the Devil is not the prime cause of sin, but he works as in agent to invite a person to sin. This part of the Summa Theologica was broken into two parts because of its depth, but the third part of Aquinas philosophical system was also just as important as the first two in his beliefs.
The third major idea of Aquinas deals with Christ. Christ is the pathway for people to reach God. Aquinas wrote that God could "forgive sins without satisfaction; but because his justice and mercy could be best revealed through satisfaction he chose this way." Christ's suffering was seen as an offering to God, and showed the act had the character of merit. Therefore, according to Aquinas, God "merited" salvation for men. Christ was the bridge for people to attain God. Christ, as the head of humanity, affects "the forgiveness of their sins, their reconciliation with God, their immunity from punishment, deliverance from the devil, and the opening of heaven's gate" (Crystal). Aquinas strongly promoted the following of Christ to achieve the Lord.
God, ethics, and Christ were the three most influential ideas in Aquinas' philosophical system according to his most recognized piece of work, Summa Theologica.
Aquinas, Thomas. "The Summa Theologica Volume I." Great Books of The
Western World. Ed. Robert M. Hutchins. Chicago: Encyclopedia
Britannica, Inc., 1984. .
Aquinas, Thomas. "The Summa Theologica Volume II." Great Books of The
Western World. Ed. Robert M. Hutchins. Chicago: Encyclopedia
Britannica, Inc., 1952. .
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