sf study guide
• Small Italian town called Equino--born in 1227. • Pack him off to a monastery at the age of 5. • Aquinas is huge! This huge guy. The dumb ox was his nickname. • On the other hand, despite his physical presence, he was brilliant. One of the things he could do was read a book and memorize every word. • Sit in a lecture hall, at the end of the lecture, he could repeat it verbatim. • ARISTOTLE ○ Yes, there are forms, but they only exist in instantiated. ○ Most of his works were lost after the classical age ○ They preserved texts on logic and the west had boethius to translate greek texts into Latin. ○ Muslim scholars read Aristotle. ○ Aristotle is the hot new thing § He talk about the world in emperical observation. § The medieval church was dominated by a particular view of reason. Augustine believed the reason is inherently flawed • The doctrine of double truth ○ Something may be true, theologically, but not philosophically. ○ Same vice versa ○ Thomas Aquinas actually manages to rehabillitate aristotle and he incorporates Aristotle in his theology. • Anselm ○ Aquinas is attacking this argument. Ontological (being, existence) argument. ○ Anselm say people accept ontological arguments. • Aquinas ○ We can use to the same method aristotle used to reason and prove the existence of God. ○ Cosmological arguments that God exists. • What's greater than God is the idea that God actually exists ○ Presented by Anselm ○ Aquinas doesn't accept this argument ○ It's only persuasive to people who think God exists. You can't just think God into existence. ○ Instead, Aquinas says we can figure out the existence of God from evidence and CAUSE AND EFFECT ○ Cause and effect from Aristotle § Says you can figure out the cosmos to prove God • Aristotle ○ According to the church (augustinians) they think reason is inherently flawed and unreliable and must be perfected by revelation ○ The