Great Minds - Aquinas' Summa Theologica: The Thomist Synthesis and its Political and Social Content
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Thomas Aquinas synthesized classical Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology through sophisticated logical and metaphysical frameworks, creating an intellectually coherent medieval worldview that prevented intellectual rupture between faith and reason while inadvertently establishing natural law doctrine as a foundation for individual conscience and civil disobedience.
- Aquinas incorporated Aristotelian logic, syllogistic reasoning, and empirical concern for concrete particulars into Christianity, replacing the purely Platonic Augustinian tradition with a more systematic approach
- His doctrine of moderate realism on universals and his theory of natural law (derived from Cicero) provided intellectual bridges between Greek rationalism and Christian revelation
- Natural law theory, meant to support hierarchical feudal order, paradoxically became the philosophical foundation for conscientious objection, civil disobedience, and the Nuremberg trials
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Aquinas incorporates the Ciceronian idea of natural law from De Republica: natural law is a moral and normative law accessible through the light of human reason independent of any revelation or knowledge gained from Scripture or God's revealing of himself, and is a Stoic idea representing a cosmopolitan set of normative rules accessible to all human beings as rational animals.
“another thing that aquinas borrows from the classical tradition and this is also very important is the ciceronian idea of natural law in des republica cicero talks about natural law as being a moral law a normative law accessible through the light of human reason independent of any revelation independent of any knowledge that is gained from scripture or from god's revealing of himself cicero thinks that this natural law which is clearly a stoic idea is a cosmopolitan set of normative rules accessible to all human beings as rational animals”
Prior to Aquinas, Christianity since the time of Augustine had been saturated in the Platonic tradition, with Plato being the most important and influential philosopher for Saint Augustine, and the primary influence on the connection between Christianity and Greece from Augustine through around 1100-1200 came from the limited number of available Platonic works.
“prior to aristotle or prior to aquinas the reason why this is so revolutionary or why this is such an innovation is that christianity since the time of augustine had been saturated in the platonic tradition clearly plato is the most important and influential philosopher for saint augustine and from the time of augustine and the fall of the roman empire through oh i don't know the year 1100 or 1200 anyway the primary influence the the main connection between christianity and greece is to be found in the very limited number of platonic works that are available”
Nominalism is the doctrine that general terms like 'dog' are not references to transcendent forms but rather are names or shorthand for contingent sets of things with shared attributes (four legs, eating meat, responding to calls), representing a characteristically empiricist and Wittgensteinian approach to language.
“the other extreme is developed over a period of generations because it takes a long time to work out but the other extreme in this problem of universals is called nominalism nominalism is the doctrine that all the dogs that we see the kali the german shepherd the irish setter that they all we all call we call them all dogs on account of the fact that dog is the name for a set of things and that it's actually just a shorthand way of referring to the set of all things that have four legs and eat meat and you know come when you call them in other words if you can imagine a contingent set of definition of attributes that we attribute to all the things we call dogs in others it's a very wittgensteinian kind of a move”
Connected with Aquinas's thinking in the Summa is an ontological doctrine called the Great Chain of Being, which holds that God has constructed the world in a perfectly and completely hierarchical way, with God at the top, then angels, then humans (with gradations among humans), then animals and plants, each level having a specific place ordained by divine will.
“connected with aquinas's thinking in the in the summer is an ontological doctrine called the great chain of being now this is very important for subsequent development of hierarchical political theory it's worth thinking about because it tells us a lot about the the theory of western politics great chain of being holds that god has constructed the world in a perfectly and completely hierarchical way he's on top being god and he's the unmoved mover and causes the universe the final cause of the world all that sort of thing and above below him are the various levels of angels incorporeal bodies that god has created he's given them rational souls and various kinds of qualities that make them superior to human beings but lesser than god below the angels we find human beings”
The tradition from Aquinas through James I of England represents the last classical formulation of Catholic absolutism and the connection of theology with politics, with the Great Chain of Being being one of its central arguments.
“this great chain of being is an extremely conservative right in some ways backward looking idea it is perhaps the last uh this and i perhaps uh charles james the first in england uh the tradition from aquinas right through james the first of catholic absolutism and of the connection of theology and politics i think has one of its classical formulations in this great chain of being argument”
In medieval scholasticism, the doctrine that general terms really refer to real entities (Platonic forms) that exist outside space and time is called 'realism,' which is different from modern realism and is associated with the early Augustinian tradition in Christianity, with Saint Anselm being its most profound exponent through his ontological argument.
“the platonic move the idea that there's a sort of form or that there's a true real universal all right somewhere outside of space and time that doctrine within scholasticism is called realism and by realism in the 13 in the scholastic we don't mean what we mean by realism today today realism involves representing the world as it actually appears to human beings back then realism is a doctrine which says that general terms really refer to some real entity capital r platonic real that is somehow outside of space and time this sort of position is generally associated with the early or earlier augustinian tradition in christianity and probably its most profound exponent is saint anselm”
The Summa Contra Gentiles is an exhortation (protreptic) toward Christianity directed at non-Christian believers, serving as a great apology for Christianity and medieval version of documents like Justin Martyr's apology, showing that Christianity is never in conflict with the operations of natural reason.
“we have the summa contra gentiles and the supercontra gentiles gentiles or gentiles in latin it just means nations so what it is it's it's uh it's an exhortation a protreptic towards christianity directed towards non-christian believers so in other words it's one of the great apologies for christianity or in this particular case catholicism and it is intended as a sort of justification of christianity in some respects you might want to say that it's the medieval version of the apology of uh justin martyr”
In 1277, Aquinas's doctrines were at least to some extent condemned by the Church hierarchy committed to the Augustinian Platonic interpretation of Christianity because it was thought that Aristotle was a pagan and an immoral undermining influence, demonstrating the controversy surrounding Aristotelian integration.
“it would have been very easy and in fact in 1277 um his doctrines were at least to some extent condemned because it was thought by the hierarchy of the church which was committed to this augustinian platonic interpretation of christianity that aristotle was a pagan and an un morally undermining influence”
William of Ockham is the great exponent of nominalism and will have tremendous influence on the development of empiricism, with figures like Hobbes and Hume finding his approach to language and universals appealing, and Hume can be understood as a secularized version of Ockham's nominalism.
“the great exponent of this kind of a of a way of resolving the problem of general names and turning them into just a shorthand for names of sets of things is william of ockham right and william of ockham is going to have tremendous influence on the development of things like empiricism later on hobbes really likes william of arkham think about what his theory of language is like hume will really like william of occam in other words you can think of hume as being the secularized version of that”
The Summa Contra Gentiles assumes that its readers have knowledge of Arabic philosophy and the Arabic versions of Aristotle, indicating that the Islamic tradition was the main bearer of classical philosophy to the Middle Ages, which tells us something important about the intellectual climate of the age.
“the summit country gentiles which is a kind of controversial work and incidentally it's worth noting that the summit country gentiles assumes that the person reading the person to whom that book is addressed it assumes that they have some knowledge of arabic philosophy which is to say that they know the arabic versions of aristotle because the islamic tradition is the main bearer of classical philosophy to the middle ages so the fact that it's assuming that tells you something about the intellectual climate of the age which is very much worth your note”
Aquinas positions himself between the extremes of realism and nominalism through a doctrine called 'moderate realism': while he rejects the existence of self-subsisting Platonic forms separate from individual things, and rejects the nominalist position that universals are merely empty set-names, he proposes that general properties (like dogness) exist immanently within individual specimens (within each dog).
“between this the skill and characters of realism and nominalism we have the great figure of thomas aquinas and what thomas does is not exactly resolve the problem because i'm not convinced that there is any real satisfactory resolution to this logical conundrum but what thomas does is say i'm going to try and smooth the waters i'm going to adopt a position called moderate realism and of course virtue is a mean between two vices those of you that have read the nicomachean ethics so you know this is a typically aristotelian thing to do split the difference and if you can't split the difference in a satisfactory way then invent some new category or invent some new distinction”
Aquinas offers the Five Ways as indisputable logical proofs accessible purely to natural reason independent of faith and Scripture, establishing that philosophy has a limited but autonomous domain while theology is a supplement to philosophy, and philosophy is the handmaiden of theology.
“he offered aquinas offers these five arguments as indisputable logical proof accessible purely to natural reason independent of faith in scripture and he says now we solve the problem in more than one way of whether god exists so philosophy can tell you that god exists after that of course he's willing to wave the white flag he doesn't have that sort of platonic or logical hubris which says logic uberalis philosophy uberalis for aquinas philosophy has a limited but autonomous domain the domain of natural reason but there are truths there are sacred truths that are not accessible through natural reason that can only be gotten through scripture and as a consequence of that the theology is a supplement to theo to philosophy and philosophy is the handmaiden of theology”
In the Summa Contra Gentiles, Aquinas argues that Christianity is minimally never in conflict with natural reason, establishing a relationship where faith and reason are like Venn diagrams with partial overlap: some truths accessible to reason are also affirmed by theology, some theological truths cannot be accessed through reason alone but are not contradicted by reason.
“what he does in a very intellectual way is to show that christianity is if not completely necessitated by the operations of natural reason is minimally never in conflict with the operations of natural reason so no naturally reasonable pagan can have can with justice say that i cannot accept this because it conflicts with what the light of reason guides me toward faith and reason are not identical they do not overlap perfectly they are like venn diagrams that have a partial overlap some of the things that reason can tell you all right will also be affirmed by the knowledge that we get from theology some of the things that theology tells you will be confirmed by the knowledge we get from natural reason philosophy”
Aquinas distinguishes four kinds of law: (1) Eternal law—God's providence and design for the universe; (2) Natural law—normative rules accessible through reason alone, derived from human nature and available to all rational beings; (3) Human law—the positive black letter law of any given society; (4) Divine law—law derived directly from Scripture and revelation.
“he distinguishes four kinds of law uh the first kind is eternal law and that's just the idea of god's providence in other words if you believe in god it's hard to think that god is so abstracted from the world unless you're an epicurean that he doesn't have some sort of providence for the universe and make it go if there isn't some sort of design or idea or telos behind it and he says just to believe in god involves some sort of affirmation of eternal law the second kind of law is natural law and natural law will be is one of these derivations from cicero natural law is the is that those normative rules which are accessible simply through the use of natural reason for example a proposition of natural law would be that it is evil to kill your parents and you find that you don't have to go to scripture to find that out anyone who just investigates the nature of the human condition will be able to derive that normative rule so natural law will be the subset of god's moral rules that are accessible without scripture in addition to natural law we'll also have human law which will be the practical black letter law of any given society that's what the greeks called nomos and the final kind of law will be divine law and that's the law that we get directly from revelation”
In Aquinas's view, philosophy can demonstrate that God exists through ontological proofs and other arguments, but philosophy cannot show that God exists as a Trinity—that truth is accessible only through Scripture and theology, establishing two different domains with two different sources of knowledge.
“for example in the view of aquinas it is possible for philosophy to demonstrate that god exists he believes that there are ontological proofs of god's existence but he doesn't believe that philosophy can show that although that god exists and is a trinity if you want to believe that god is a trinity then you have to go to scripture that can only be gotten from theology sorry so there's an imperfect overlap between the two”
Albert the Great gave Aquinas access to Aristotle and a wide body of Christian learning, and was particularly interested in Islamic and Jewish learning, especially Islamic and Jewish Aristotelianism, making Aquinas familiar with thinkers like Maimonides and his Guide for the Perplexed.
“albert the great was very interested in islamic and jewish learning particularly islamic and jewish aristotelianism so they are familiar with maimonides and his guide to perplexed which is an attempt to get to navigate and to get through the intellectual minefield that is presented to the religious believer by greek rationalism”
Aristotle's works were being recovered primarily from Arabic sources that had preserved the classical learning tradition, then translated into Latin or retranslated back to something approximating the original Greek, and brought into universities where Aquinas played the most important role in reading, interpreting, and using Aristotle to develop a new intellectually rigorous and sophisticated Christianity.
“aristotle or is the most important figure for aquinas in some ways people have said that aquinas is a in the process of baptizing aristotle and while that's an overstatement there's a certain degree of truth in that aristotle is before the first time being recovered from primarily arabic sources that have held on to the tradition of classical learning these arabic sources are being translated into latin or or being re-translated back into something like the original greek and from there it is being brought into the universities aquinas is most important in reading aristotle interpreting aristotle and using aristotle for the purposes of developing and articulating a new and intellectually rigorous intellectually sophisticated christianity”
Aquinas borrows from Aristotle a tendency toward system-building and encyclopedism, evident in his great works (Summa Theologiae, Summa Contra Gentiles) which constitute vast intellectual edifices spanning volumes covering every conceivable problem in morals, politics, theology, physics, and ethics with encyclopedic scope.
“in addition to that aquinas borrows a tendency from aristotle towards system building towards a sort of encyclopedism those of you who are familiar with aquinas's great works the sumai the semiconductor summit contra gentiles and the theologica can find that it is one of the most extraordinary and vast intellectual edifices you can imagine it goes on seemingly for miles volume after volume question after question covering every conceivable problem in morals and politics and theology and physics and ethics”
Aquinas shifts away from the Augustinian and Platonic tradition into an Aristotelian tradition characterized by: (1) greater concern with concrete things rather than abstract forms, and (2) use of syllogistic logic as the medium through which scholastic thinkers make arguments and articulate views, following Aristotle as one of the greatest logicians who developed the theory of the syllogism.
“what aquinas is going to do is shift away from that augustinian and platonic tradition into a tradition that's aristotelian aristotelian in the sense first of all that it's concerned more than the augustinian tradition with concrete things second of all aquinas is going to be concerned with syllogistic logic logic and the syllogism are key ideas in scholastic thinking the syllogism is the medium through which the scholastic thinker makes his arguments and articulates his views so it has a characteristic form which is of course dear to the heart of aristotle one of the great logicians that ever lived and certainly the one who worked out the theory of the syllogism”
In the Great Chain of Being, the king occupies a position at the top of human hierarchy and rules by the grace of God and divine ordination, with legitimacy depending on consistency with natural law and divine ordinance, a framework that leads to the divine right of kings and a defense of Catholic absolutism.
“at the top of everything we get the king the lawful monarch and the reason why governments are legitimate or illegitimate in aquino societies is because they are consistent with natural law and consistent with divine ordnance so if a ruler is a legitimate ruler he rules by the grace of god by the dispensation of god and you can see how this will later on in its career be turned into the divine right of kings and a defense of catholic absolutism”
Following Aristotle, Aquinas prefers a mixed polity that is primarily monarchical because he thinks that is the most satisfactory way of arranging society, but the king governs only through the grace of God and his laws are valid only if consistent with God's laws (revealed will or natural law).
“aquinas prefers following aristotle because in many ways what we're doing is taking aristotle's politics and connecting with augustine city of god here well what we're going to do is uh aquinas is going to say he prefers a mixed polity the same kind of an of a polity that aristotle approves of in the politics and he preferred to be monarchical because he thinks that's the most satisfactory way of arranging a society but of course the king governs only through the grace of god and his ordinances or laws his positive laws will be judged by whether they are consistent with god's laws no practical black letter law is in fact valid if it is inconsistent with god's law”
While Aquinas does not limit his conception of law to natural law and adds divine law and eternal law (because he is a committed Christian), he incorporates the Stoic natural law idea as a substratum of his theory of law, using the Stoic intellectual tradition to enable the incorporation of classical tradition into Christian thought.
“while aquinas will not limit his conception of law to natural law he'll add to it things like divine law and eternal law because he's a committed christian what he will do is incorporate this idea as a sort of substratum of his theory of law and this will allow him to use the stoic intellectual tradition to good purpose in other words it's another way of aquinas incorporating the classical tradition”
What is particularly interesting about scholasticism as a unified and separate tendency is its emphasis on logic, with the Stoic logical tradition and the Aristotelian syllogism being extremely important, and logic being the foundation of all other sciences that makes all of human reason and natural knowledge possible.
“what is interesting in particular about scholasticism i mean to look at it as one unified and kind of separate tendency is their emphasis on logic and of course this is where the classical tradition will be very important the tradition of stoic logic and of course the aristotelian syllogism will be extremely important and aquinas himself naturally enough is going to be very much um concerned with the structure of thought logic will be the the foundation of all the other sciences that makes all of human reason and the project of natural knowledge possible”
Albert the Great, Aquinas's most important teacher (later Saint Albert the Great and a Doctor of the Church), was one of the first thinkers to try to incorporate Aristotle into Christianity, but his interpretation of Aristotle was relatively superficial and he was unable to formulate the big synthesis that Aquinas achieved.
“in addition to these classical authors aquinas is also in great debt to his teacher or to his most important teacher albert the great and this and of course now is saint albert the great one of the doctors of the church but albert coming in the generation ahead of aquinas was one of the first thinkers to try and corporate incorporate aristotle into christianity but his interpretation of aristotle is relatively superficial in other words while albert was able to incorporate some of these ideas he wasn't able to put together the big synthesis that aquinas was able to formulate”
The problem of universals (how general terms like 'dog' or 'paper' apply to multiple individual instances) has been debated within scholastic logic and Platonic idealism, with medieval philosophers adopting either realism (that universals really exist as forms outside space and time) or nominalism (that universals are just names for sets of things with shared properties).
“within the tradition of scholastic logic and within the tradition of platonic idealism which is so important in the development of early christianity there is always the problem of the forms or as it's rephrased in within the logic of scholasticism the problem of universals”
Aquinas's first way of demonstrating God's existence is the prime mover argument: observing that things move and things only move when something moves them, he infers that there must be a first mover that causes the initial motion in a chain of causes—an unmoved mover that does not itself move but is what everybody means by God.
“the first proof is the prime mover proof we notice when we look around the world that things move but things only move when something moves them so the question is what does the first move what creates the first motion if you think of the world as being a series of moving dominoes not of course composed of dominoes but they're relations they're of cause and effect like dominoes well who or what pushes the first domino and whatever it is that pushes the first domino that crosses the first motion that has to be motionless unmoved it's the unmoved mover and that unmoved mover as aquinas will point out is what everybody means by god”
Aquinas's third way is the argument from contingency: observing that all things in the physical world are contingent (they come into being and pass out of being), he infers by the principle of non-vacuous contrast that if contingent beings exist, there must be a necessary being that does not depend on anything else—which is what all agree is God.
“the third way will be the idea of possible and necessary beings now this is a sort of cartesian move when you read the discourse on method you'll find that descartes employs this when he uses the principle of non-vacuous contrast but what aquinas says here is that look we notice that all the things in the world are not in the physical world the world of space and time are not necessary they are possible which means that they come into being and they go out of being they don't essentially remain they don't have being with a capital b but if we have the idea in our head of things being possible but not necessary of participating in becoming well by the principle of non-vacuous contrast if you want that to mean anything since the whole world is composed of contingent and possible beings there must by implication be a non-contingent essential necessary being”
Aquinas's fourth way is the argument from degrees of perfection: observing that things have different degrees of goodness and perfection (some math is better than others, some pie is better than others), he infers that this gradation toward a limit implies a final perfection or maximum goodness that must be God.
“the fourth proof is a departure from that it's the proof of the ideas of perfection what aquinas says there is that the idea of perfection at all some uh some math homework is better than others some pie is better than others some cars are better than others they have all these qualities things have qualities and one of the qualities is goodness and some things are better than others the idea of degrees of perfection and this is an augustinian platonic idea implies a final perfection in other words if we have a kind of mathematical limit well we know what the limit is even if we here in space and time never achieve that limit that limit that ultimate perfection will be god”
Aquinas is not merely the canonical interpreter of Aristotle but a great synthetic mind comparable to Aristotle himself in the sense that he brings together disparate elements of a varied intellectual tradition and forms them into one coherent whole, making him very eclectic with complete and thorough mastery of the entire intellectual tradition leading up to him.
“he is not merely uh the canonical interpreter interpreter of aristotle he is in fact a great synthetic mind in many respects cars uh analogous to aristotle himself in the sense that he brings together disparate elements of a very of a varied intellectual tradition and forms them into one coherent whole so aquinas is a very eclectic borrower he is very self-conscious in what he takes and he has a complete and thorough mastery of the entire intellectual tradition that leads up to him”
From a Platonic perspective on universals, the idea that multiple instances of individual dogs (collies, setters, bulldogs) participate in a form of 'dogness' that exists outside space and time allows one to connect logic (how we class things together) with ontology (how things actually are), creating an isomorphism between grammar/language and reality itself.
“plato would have us believe for example that they all participate in the form of dogness right and there's some form of the dog somewhere that allows us to attribute dogness to each of these instantiations from an idealist perspective this is a very this is a very attractive kind of a move because it allows you to connect logic the way in which we gl we class together kinds of things with ontology right and there should be some sort of isomorphism between our logic and our grammar the way we talk about things and the things themselves”
Aquinas's fifth way is the argument from design (teleology): observing that natural things operate toward ends and display order and purpose (the telos of nature), he infers that this purposiveness requires an intelligent designer—God—who directs these natural processes toward their ends.
“and the final argument that he makes is the telos of nature and the telos of humanity and what he means by that is essentially the argument from design which has been a very important element in a philosophical theology theology long before aquinas and of course later on in its in the in the history of philosophical theology this argument from design will be hammered by david hume”
Saint Anselm developed the ontological argument asserting that God is 'that which nothing greater can be conceived,' and attempts to show that the very idea of God is unavoidable and logically necessary, representing a self-contained idealist form of thinking that bootstraps from thought itself to positive theology in a characteristically Platonic manner.
“and some is the one who made the ontological argument god is that which nothing greater that god is that entity with with uh beyond which nothing greater can be conceived right and tries to make the the argument that the idea of god itself is unavoidable and necessary and cannot logically be denied that sort of a self-contained idealist thinking about theology trying to bootstrap yourself right from thinking itself right into a positive theology is a typically platonic christian idea”
Aquinas presents the Five Ways as demonstrations of God's existence accessible to natural reason independent of theology or Scripture, with these arguments impressing many philosophers including Kant and most idealist philosophers, though empiricist philosophy has been unimpressed with them.
“he gives the famous five ways five ways of demonstrating the existence of god and almost everyone has commented on this uh kant found this a very interesting exercise uh most of the idealist philosophers have been impressed with this or and the empiric philosophy has been magic magnificently unimpressed with this and the five ways which he demonstrates the existence of god he believes are accessible to natural reason independent of theology or scripture”
Aquinas's second way is the argument from efficient cause: observing that everything in the physical world proceeds from an efficient cause, he infers that there must be a first efficient cause (which is God) that initiates the chain of causation without itself being caused.
“the next argument he makes is connected to that it's the idea of efficient cause we notice that everything in the physical world proceeds from an efficient cause what's the first efficient cause the first efficient cause will be god so the from the argument from efficient cause will be his second way of proving that god exists”
Averroes is an important Islamic interpreter of Aristotle who attempted to reconcile Islam (one of the religions of the book) with the Greek classical tradition, representing a parallel intellectual project to Aquinas's synthesis of Christianity and Aristotelianism.
“another powerful influence is avaros avaroses is an islamic interpreter of aristotle that is trying to u that is trying to reconcile islam one of the religions of the book with the greek classical tradition”
Thomas Aquinas was the greatest figure in the development of medieval philosophy of Christianity called scholasticism, and his philosophy (Thomism) successfully synthesized Greco-Roman and Christian traditions by incorporating classical pagan learning into Christian theology established after the fall of the Roman Empire.
“thomas aquinas was the greatest figure in the development of the medieval philosophy of christianity called scholasticism and his philosophy which is described as tomism is a synthesis of the greco-roman and christian traditions which is remarkably successful in incorporating new classical pagan learning into the traditions of christianity”
Aquinas borrows from the Platonic tradition the question-and-answer format used in Plato's dialogues, but in a frozen, petrified, and fossilized form: rather than living human beings engaging in open-ended playful pursuit of truth, Aquinas presents disembodied questioning followed by a series of answers concluding in an unplatonic or unsocratic final answer that represents the real truth.
“if you've ever looked at the sumai there or in other works of aristotle or even other scholastics you will find that they are often in a question and answer form question number one does god exist or is he unified or plural uh question number two and then he'll give five or six possible answers and in the process process of giving these answers he will refute what are called straw men he will set up bad alternative answers and eliminate those answers and then at the end of his process of question and answer or what what it see at least is in the form of question and answer we will come to the true answer at the bottom of that”
Natural law theory, derived from Cicero through Aquinas, becomes the foundation for civil disobedience: when positive law (human-made law) conflicts with natural law or God's revealed law, citizens can justifiably refuse obedience by appealing to a universal moral standard accessible to reason that supersedes positive law.
“natural law theory is alive and well all right let's just think about this as we conclude just taking some stabs at that um you could say that aquinas baptizes cicero at the same time that he baptizes aristotle and this idea of natural law is the foundation for example for things like conscientious objection in time of war i mean what do you say the government tells you that you have to go down to the draft board and you say no i'm not going to do that and when you go before the judge the judge asks you why you're not at the draft board and you say because the draft law is wrong and when he asks you well how did you find that out all you can say is i think it violates god's universal ordinances for how people should behave i mean what else can we gesture at think of all the of all the traditions of civil disobedience the command of gandhi and martin luther king why is it we're breaking the law because god told us not to or because god told us to we're not supposed to follow this kind of law”
Natural law doctrine appears as a contemporary practical necessity and problem: the Nuremberg trials prosecuted Nazi officials without any positive law within the statutes of the prosecuting nations applying to them, yet the trials assumed some law must exist—this can only be understood as appeal to natural law as a universal standard of human behavior that supersedes positive law.
“think for example just as a i mean the most glaring example think of the nuremberg trials at the end of the second world war we put the nazis on trial and we found some of them guilty as in some cases some of them innocent of various kinds of crimes now there's only one difficulty here and stalin pointed this difficulty out none of our laws none of the laws of russia or the united states or england or france apply it to german citizens while they're in germany or any place else for that matter so what law are we trying them by in other words when you put them on when you bring into a court what's the point of having a court in a trial if there's no law and if there is a law will somebody tell me where it's written down what law are we talking about well the implication that i i mean i can't draw any other implication that it violates natural law our general consensus about what counts as good or acceptable human behavior atrocities are bad whether there's a law on your statutes that says it's bad or not”
Aquinas brings together all parts of two separate intellectual traditions—classical Greek-Roman philosophy and Christian theology—finding a harmonious and felicitous way of braiding these traditions together, though the fundamental difficulty lies in trying to square the circle because faith and reason ultimately don't mesh very nicely.
“what aquinas is doing is bringing together all parts of two separate intellectual traditions and force and not quite forcing them but finding a harmonious a felicitous way of braiding these things together and the difficulty here lies in the fact that he's trying to square the circle faith and reason ultimately don't mesh very nicely and i must confess to a certain suspicion of those systems in which it all the gears are made to mesh precisely one always has an idea that something is either being overlooked or tendentiously misread or perhaps unintentionally misread”
Aquinas successfully 'pulls the fangs of the monster' by making Aristotelian learning appear to be intellectually friendly or at least somewhat consistent with Christianity through sometimes ingenious and sometimes disingenuous readings of Aristotle, thereby preventing a sharp discontinuity and creating a merging of intellectual traditions that looks easy and effortless but is exceedingly difficult to accomplish.
“the reason why we don't see an explosive result when we mix these two volatile traditions together the tradition of athens and nutrition of jerusalem is because aristotle finds a way of pulling the fangs of the monster he prevents aristotelian learning from being interpreted or at least is to some extent successful in having aristotelian learning um viewed as being consistent with faith and consistent with revealed religion”
The connection of sacred and secular that is found in the Middle Ages is characteristic of most highly developed pre-industrial cultures, and there are many interesting and rewarding comparative historical observations to be made from studying this phenomenon.
“this connection of the sacred and the secular that we find in the middle ages is characteristic of most of the highly developed pre-industrial cultures and there are many interesting and rewarding kind of comparative historical observations to make there”
The reintroduction of classical learning into Western Europe from the 13th century onward should be understood as a process rather than an event, and one of the things that makes this process seamless and smooth during the Middle Ages is the great genius of Thomas Aquinas in synthesizing diverse intellectual traditions.
“rather than being a process the reintroduction of classical learning is or rather than being an event the reintroduction of classical learning is a process and one of the things that makes this process seamless and smooth during the middle ages is the great genius of thomas aquinas right that's what's remarkable about this guy”
The danger in eliminating natural law theory is complete obligation to obey the state, leading to the Kantian-Hegelian German tradition of idealistic domination by the state, which carries dangers as great as or greater than the anarchic tendency toward judging and rejecting positive law.
“what you get when you give up on the ability to judge positive civic law on the basis of some kind of universal moral obligation accessible to all rational people what you get is a complete obligation to obey the state then right what you get is that kantian hegelian german tradition of idealistic domination by the state and there is at least as much danger there as there is in this kind of anarchic tendency towards judging and rejecting the law of your own society”
Many people have reservations about natural law theory, finding it implausible that normative rules can be derived simply through the exercise of natural reason, but the difficulty is that if one rejects natural law with Stalin, one must admit politics is purely a matter of power and either dispense with trials altogether or accept that some law beyond positive statutes must apply.
“well here we're faced with kind of a moral dilemma many people have reservations about this idea of natural law they think that the idea that we can derive normative rules simply by the exercise of natural reason they find that implausible hard to believe the difficulty is is that you if you if like stalin you find that hard to believe what do you want to do break down and admit that they were right that politics is only a question of power and just shoot them without a trial if you go through a trial you're wedded to the idea that there's some sort of law that applies and it can't be some positive black letter law within the code of germany”
Natural law arguments are likely to persist in Western jurisprudence and will not be dispensed with, and interestingly they serve as a bulwark of freedom for the individual and freedom of individual conscience—a role that is quite non-scholastic or un-scholastic, showing that Aquinas's doctrine has had an unexpectedly liberating career in the history of Western philosophy.
“i think that natural law arguments are here to stay they are not likely to disappear anytime soon and they serve oddly enough because i don't think aquinas intended them this way as a sort of bulwark of freedom of the individual and freedom of individual conscience which i think is very non-scholastic or conscious scholastic it turns out that this doctrine which is incorporated into aquinas's theory of law has a tremendously complex and unexpectedly liberating career in the subsequent history of western philosophy”
A great error in medieval studies is to concentrate almost exclusively on Christian and Catholic thought while ignoring the intellectual traditions coming from outside the West, particularly the tradition of Islam which is very powerful in medieval Spain (if one views Spain as outside the West).
“we have a tendency especially when we study the middle ages to concentrate almost exclusively on christian and catholic thought and i think that is a great error right we lose with the the things that are that come from outside the west if you want to view spain as being outside the west right because the the intellectual tradition of islam is very powerful there”
Aquinas's approach to resolving the nominalism-realism dispute through moderate realism instantiates his broader philosophical posture toward all previous intellectual traditions: rather than being a destroyer of intellectual systems or a purely creative original thinker, he harmonizes different parts of the orchestra through synthesizing opposite positions into a third position that takes what he understands to be best from each.
“synthesize them in some ways reminds me of hegel too right synthesizing two opposite positions into some third position which takes what he understands to be best from the others so aquinas's approach to nominalism and realism by itself is interesting but it's just a footnote to his philosophy the reason i bring it up is because it instantiates the kind of posture that aquinas has towards all previous intellectual traditions he's not an intellectual destroyer like nietzsche he's not intellectually creative like i don't know like plato in fact he's systematic and encyclopedic and he makes everybody happy he harmonizes all the different parts of the orchestra”
The Great Chain of Being is an extremely conservative and backward-looking idea that legitimizes static feudal society by claiming God placed each person at a particular slot in the hierarchy for a reason; if the king is wicked, God will handle it rather than the subject rebelling, as rebelling would violate one's assigned function.
“it is one of the tributes to the static qualities of feudal society that the way in which it legitimizes itself is with this great chain of being idea god made the king a king and that's why he should tell you what to do and if you're a serf the reason why you should do what you're told is because god made you a serve for a particular reason he put you at particularly that slot in the great chain of being and he doesn't want you to be a rock otherwise you would be a rock and he doesn't want you to be the king so you shouldn't rock the political boat if the king is wicked well god will take care of that it is not your place to do to judge that you perform your function stay within your sphere and things will work out just fine”
One might say the 13th century had a mini or premature early version of the Renaissance—a re-infusion of classical pagan learning back into tradition—which was not a discrete event in the mid-15th century Italy but rather a gradual process happening in the centuries after the Crusades as information about the classical tradition slowly seeped back into the Western tradition.
“one might be tempted to say that in the 13th century we had a mini or premature early version of the renaissance in other words if you remember what the renaissance is it's a re-infusion of classical pagan learning greco-roman learning back into the western tradition may i suggest that this is not an event that happens in the mid-15th century in italy but rather it's a gradual process that happens in the centuries after the after the crusades in which this information about the classical tradition gradually seeps back into the western tradition”
Avaroism and the reintroduction of Aristotle into high cultural discourse meant that Christianity was going to have to confront it whether liked or not, making the problem of faith and reason integration a necessary task for Christian intellectuals.
“avaroism and the reintroduction of aristotle into a high cultural discourse means that somehow christianity is going to have to confront it like it or not all right”
Aquinas's contributions to legal theory through his doctrine of natural law constitute enormous contributions to freedom and individual conscience that would justify his status as great contributor to legal theory even apart from his other achievements in theology, ontology, and metaphysics.
“for this alone aquinas would have been the great contributors to legal theory but in addition to this contribution to legal theory what he does in the summa is encyclopedically inquire into theology and ontology and metaphysics and ethics and brings them together in a synthesis which is profound if not original and influential if not entirely accessible to us”
In the mid-13th century when Aquinas was working, new texts particularly texts of Aristotle were being reincorporated and rediscovered in the Western tradition, with Aristotle being the most important philosophical figure for Aquinas's intellectual project.
“in the mid 13th century when aquinas is working new texts particularly texts of aristotle are being reincorporated and rediscovered in the western tradition and aristotle or is the most important figure for aquinas in some ways”
After the modern scientific revolution, when intellectual life became secular and split away from the sacred, creating separate domains of profane and sacred knowledge, Western Europe became something unique with no parallel in world history.
“after the modern scientific revolution after the rise of modern science when intellect when intellectual life becomes secular when it splits away from the sacred when we have a domain of say of profane knowledge and a separate domain of sacred knowledge then western europe becomes something unique it's suey generous right there's nothing like it in the whole history of the world”
During the 13th century, around the time of Aquinas and perhaps even before, the great monotheisms of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity were all reacting to the gradual rediscovery and re-infusion of Aristotle and classical tradition back into the religions of the book, with highly intellectual figures like Maimonides, Averroes, and Aquinas engaged in fundamentally the same project of creating intellectually respectable versions of monotheism.
“during the 13th century around the time of aquinas and perhaps even a little bit before the great monotheisms islam judaism and christianity are all reacting to the gradual rediscovery the gradual re-infusion of aristotle and that element in the classical tradition back into the religions of the book and highly intellectual jews like maimonides highly intellectual arabs or muslims like avaros are engaged in fundamentally the same project as aquinas and the other great doctors of the church they are trying to create an intellectually respectable version of monotheism which will not lose the attention and which will not uh diminish in intellectual stature compared with this new with this new classical learning”
During the Middle Ages and Dark Ages, such intellectual life as Europe had was dominated by the Church, which had a monopoly on literacy, books, and high culture and learning, making medieval Western Europe resemble other high religious traditions like Hinduism and Confucianism more than it would later after the modern scientific revolution.
“in the middle ages during the dark ages as well such intellectual life as europe had was dominated by the church the church had a monopoly on literacy for the most part had a monopoly on books how to monopoly on high culture and high learning and for that reason during the middle ages um western europe had more similarities with other high religious traditions for things like things like hinduism and confucianism than it would later on after the modern scientific revolution”
The 15th century was unable to achieve the kind of smooth integration of classical learning and Christian theology that Aquinas accomplished in the 13th century, resulting in the Renaissance as a distinct cultural phenomenon rather than a seamless continuation of medieval intellectual development.
“the 15th century was unable to do it and that's why we have the thing called the renaissance that's why it turns into a separate area but in fact it's not that in the fort in 14th century italy all of a sudden these texts are coming in and then we have tremendous political and moral and social cataclysms as a result”
Aquinas, like Aristotle, is by temperament a splitter of differences, and his characteristic method is to invent a new and handy distinction or to reconcile apparently warring parties or disputes between people who he thinks ought to be getting along.
“like aristotle aquinas is by temperament a splitter of differences he's i mean it would be wrong to call him an intellectual compromiser rather i would say he's the kind of guy who invents a new and handy distinction to reconcile apparently warring parties or apparent disputes between people that he thinks ought to be getting along”
The reason why the 13th century is not noted as a time of tremendous intellectual ferment, unlike the 15th-century Renaissance, is that the orthodox theology and by implication the orthodox political system and social structure (feudalism) connected with it is not endangered by the early infusion of classical learning, so no explosive result occurs when the tradition of Athens and tradition of Jerusalem mix.
“the reason why we don't as a rule note the 13th century as being a time of tremendous intellectual ferment is because the orthodox theology and by implication the orthodox political system and the orthodox uh social structure you know feudalism that's connected with it is not endangered at least by this early infusion of western learning of classical learning because of that fact we don't notice it it isn't the same kind of explosive event”
During the High Middle Ages when profane and sacred knowledge were seen as consistent and not in conflict with each other, Western Europe combined intellectual organization and orientation with the administration of government and the legitimation of political life, a function very much like that performed by Confucianism in China or Hinduism in India.
“during the high middle ages when profane and sacred knowledge were seen as being consistent and if not perfectly overlapping at least not in conflict with each other what we have is a combination of intellectual organization and orientation combined with the administration of government and the legitimation of the political life of western europe which is very much like the function performed by confucianism in china or hinduism in india”
The speaker confesses to a suspicion that when reading Aquinas something is being overlooked and the synthesis works a little too well, suggesting possible unintentional or tendentious misreading in the attempt to make faith and reason cohere perfectly.
“but when sir i've always come away with the feeling when i read aquinas that something is being overlooked and that in fact this is a little too pad and in fact it works a little too well but to give credit where credit is due”
Within scholasticism, Aquinas would not receive high marks for creativity but as a synthetic intellect he is without peer among medieval philosophers, with Aristotle himself being probably the only comparable figure in intellectual history.
“i don't think we would give him high marks for creativity but as a synthetic intellect there's just they're very very few that are in the same league aristotle himself i think is probably comparable”
Aquinas's achievement is more synthetic than creative—he is not an inventive thinker who comes up with a completely new conception of the world, but rather much more like a scholastic thinker who spends great time absorbing and synthesizing a complex and not completely coherent intellectual tradition into something that makes intellectual sense.
“aquinas's achievement is more synthetic than creative he is not a he's not the sort of inventive thinker that will come up with a completely new conception of the world he is much more like literally a scholastic thinker that spends a great time absorbing and synthesizing a complex and not completely coherent intellectual tradition into something that makes intellectual sense at least insofar as he's able to round off the sharp edges”
Aquinas's moderate realism does not entirely satisfy convinced nominalists or convinced realists: nominalists view it as a pseudo-solution that smuggles in unwarranted metaphysical assumptions, while realists see it as giving too much ground to nominalists, yet a fair-minded person recognizes it as a reasonable attempt to synthesize both positions given that the problem lacks an obvious solution.
“this doesn't entirely resolve the problem convince nominalists are not going to buy this solution they're going to say it's a pseudo solution and convince realists are going to say well look you're giving in too much to the nominalists what's great about aquinas is that he doesn't entirely satisfy anybody but that a fair-minded person coming to it says well that's a reasonable way of trying to solve this problem since it doesn't have any there's no obvious way out anyway to try and give credit to both sides”
Aquinas was an Italian Dominican priest who spent most of his career teaching at the University of Paris, and while the Catholic Church attempted to dominate the political and social life of Western Europe with uneven success, intellectually the Church dominated Western European culture particularly during the Middle Ages.
“aquinas was a priest he was an italian dominican who spent most of his career teaching at the university of paris and while it was a general tendency in the catholic church to try and dominate the political and the social life of western europe it was uneven in this success in doing so it had political advances and political failures but intellectually the church did dominate the culture of western europe particularly during the middle ages”
The Summa Theologiae is the greatest achievement of Aquinas and remains the canonical philosophical and theological book of Catholicism, though it is vast and daunting, making it difficult to approach the complete work.
“the summa theologiae is the greatest achievement of aquinas and it is still the canonical philosophical slash theological book of catholicism and he does a couple of important things there now to try and and introduce you to aquinas summer is like taking you to the great barrier reef i mean this is a vacation it's not you can't make this your life so i can't take you through the whole book page by page question by question”
Aquinas's Summa Theologiae represents a profound if not original synthesis of theology, ontology, metaphysics, and ethics that is influential if not entirely accessible to contemporary readers, making him worthy of study despite the formidable and intimidating nature of his works.
“in addition to this contribution to legal theory what he does in the summa is encyclopedically inquire into theology and ontology and metaphysics and ethics and brings them together in a synthesis which is profound if not original and influential if not entirely accessible to us so aquinas while it is formidable and intimidating is worth your perusal it is worth a little bit of reading on your time”
While Aquinas is profoundly learned and knows the entire accessible classical tradition of the mid-13th century (including most of Plato, Cicero, and other classical philosophers), most of Plato was unavailable to him, but he had access to texts like Cicero which were very important for his understanding of natural law and classical tradition elements.
“aquinas's borrowings from the classical tradition are not to be understood as merely baptizing aristotle he is a very profoundly learned figure aquinas knows the entire classical tradition or at least such elements of the classical tradition as were accessible and for which there were texts in the mid-13th century for example most of plato he doesn't have access to but he does have access to things like cicero which is going to be very important for his understanding of natural law”
Scholasticism has a reputation for being dry logic-chopping, tedious and unpleasant intellectual activity, and while occasionally one sees a grand insight or fine intellectual point buried in the works, there is a great deal of truth to the reputation that it is an embalmed form of knowledge-pursuit characterized as dry and lifeless.
“scholasticism on the whole is generally accused of being a dry logic chopping rather tedious and unpleasant intellectual activity and i can confirm for you i can confirm for you that that is true that it is dry and logic choppy and it is extremely dull i mean occasionally you see a really grand insight and there is occasionally a fine intellectual point buried beneath this this mountain of words but its reputation for being a kind of embalmed form of the pursuit of knowledge as a sort of dry and lifeless tendency there is alas a great deal of truth in that”