DANTE AND AQUINAS

Sept. 4/6, 2006

1. Having discussed the rise of universities and the problem posed by the introduction of the Aristotelian corpus into the university system, we turn now to the literary production of Thomas Aquinas, with particular reference to his masterpiece, the Summa theologiae.

2. A glance at the chronology of Thomas in the Penguin book, p. xxxv.

3. Legere, disputare, praedicare.

The writings of Thomas can be conveniently grouped under these infinitives which express the tasks of the master of theology in the univeristy.

a. legere, lecturing, reading and commenting on authoritative works

the apprenticeship of the fledgling theologian required him to master, first, the Sentences of Peter Lombard, and, second, Scripture. Thus we find among Thomas’s works an exposition in four books of the Sentences, which without too much of a stretch we can regard as his doctroal disseration. And of ocurse we find, early and late, commentaries on books of Scripture, both of the Old and New Testaments.

Also, commentaries on Boethius, the Book of Causes, Pseudo-Dionysius

b. disputare

quaestiones disputatae and quaestiones quodlibitales

the dialectical nature of medieval teaching

expositio textus and then, often, independent disucssion of the questions raised

the literary form that develops out of the disputed questions...q, a, difficulties to proposed answer, response, dealing with the difficulties...this will provide the structure of the basic unit of the ST, the article

c. praedicare

we have some sermons of Thomas as well\

4. The three infinitives do not exhaust the writings of Thomas; not everything of his grew simply out of his magisterial tasks

*original works

philosophical: de ente, de principiis naturae, etc.

Theological: summa contra gentiles, compendium theologiae, ST

*polemical works

defense of the mendicants

de aeternitate mundi, de unitate intellectus

*these polemical works suggest the motivation for the commentaries on Aristotle, 12 in number, not all finished

5. The errors of Aristotle

eternity of world

personal immortality

providence

Two polemical opsucula address the first two...that on the eternity of the world is the most subtle

*that there is a contradiction between claiming the world is eternal and claiming it is not, is clear...one must be truth, the other false

*the truth of the non-eternity of the world is based on faith, Scripture

*thus for the believer, the falsity of the claim that the world is eternal follows logical

*could its falsity be shown directly?

Bonaventure thought that the eternity of the world involved an incoherence...Thomas doesnt think so...indeed, he holds that, on a purely philosphical or natural basis, the question of the world’s eternity is undecidable

the upshot is that Aristotle did not commit a philosophical error in opting for the eternity of the world

*Thomas will however show that the arguments Aristotle offers are inconclusive

*all this indicates a receptive attitude toward Aristotle, but one that must be distinguished from the schizophrenia of the Latin Averroist

*the Franciscan attack on Thomas

condmendations of 1272 and 1277

SUMMA THEOLOGIAE

1. The addressee of the ST

*the very first question makes clear that the beginning in theology has already studied philosophy

see too selection 4

*Fr Leonard Boyle’s Gilson lecture

*aimed at Dominicans?

*even if true, this does not preclude its being aimed as well at students at such places as U of Paris

2. The two theologies

*such knowledge as we can attain of God by our natural powers (theology) is

the aim of philosophizing (cf. Selection 28)

*revelation and the principles of sacra doctrina

3. See the analysis of ST on the website