Thomistic Philosophy

Week 4, Tuesday

Nota Bene: We are pushing the paper and its outline back as we are behind in going over our reading. The outline will be due next Tuesday and the Paper will need to be emailed to me by the end of Tuesday during Break week. 

Dear Families,

On Friday, we went through the 2nd through 5th ways that St. Thomas gives to demonstrate the existence of God. The 1st way, which we went over during the class prior, is based on the existence of motion, the 2nd way is based on the need for a 1st efficient cause, the 3rd way is based on possibility, the fact that all created beings are “possible to be or not to be”, the 4th way is based on the gradation of perfections to be found in the world, and the 5th way is based upon the intelligibility we find in the world even among things which do not possess intelligence. Important concepts and terms from this “question” are:

Efficient Cause

Impossibility of infinite regress

Possibility vs. Necessity

Reductio ad absurdum

Necessary because of another vs. Necessary of itself

Need for Maximum in a gradation

Maximum as cause of all in that genus

Luck vs design

Today in class, we went through the first articles of Questions 3 which starts to explore the manner of God’s existence. The question started by noting that we are unable to “know”, that is to have positive knowledge of God because His essence is beyond our comprehension. Instead we know what God is not, this is called the Via Negativa. Even when we say things that seem positive such as “God is simple” we are really following the via negativa. We are composed beings and so we don’t really understand what to be “simple” means—for us it is “just not composed”, “the opposite of this.” Even when we talk about God using analogous terms—“God is wise”—we don’t have an absolute knowledge of Him. We cannot comprehend how “wise” applies to God, it is something like our being “wise”, but infinitely greater! Terms and concepts to remember are:

Preamble to articles of Faith

Three types of terms: Univocal, Equivocal, and analogous

Bodies: have to be put in motion, have potential, are not the noblest sort of being. Ergo God is not a body.

Animation means that something has life, a soul

Form—the actuality of an essence, interior structure

Matter/Prime Matter—pure potency, principle of individuation

Essence—that which something is

Perfection of composed beings owed to form, not matter

1st agent-1st efficient cause

Essence in God vs created beings

Genus vs Species

Accident vs Substance

Homework for Friday is to read pages 86-90 and to complete the handout. 

Week 3, Tuesday

Dear Families,

Last week, we finished going through St. Thomas' first "Question" which serves as an introduction to Sacred Doctrine. Important terms that the students should remember from this question are:

Practical Science vs Speculative Science

Wisdom

First Principle

Metaphor

Literal sense vs. Spiritual sense

Three divisions of Spiritual sense: allegorical, moral, anagogical

On Friday, we went through the 1st two articles of the second "question" which respectively argued that the existence of God is not self-evident to us, though it is in and of itself, and that it is possible to demonstrate God's existence. These articles out of the way, today,  we went line by line through Thomas' first way for demonstrating God's existence which is based on the existence of motion. Terms to remember are:

A Priori

A Posteriori

Act vs. Potency

Motion vs. Moved

Mover vs. Moved

Law of Contradiction  

Homework for Friday is to reread pages 60-70 and to complete your handout.

God Bless,

Miss Russell

Week 1

Dear Families,

It was a delight to have your students in class this week! I am looking forward to a wonderful year with them.

On Tuesday, we went over the syllabus and class expectations before moving onto an intro to St. Thomas and the Summa. We discussed Peter Kreeft's list of reasons for why St. Thomas is vital in today's world. 

Friday, we began to go through St. Thomas' first "Question" which deals with the purpose and scope of Sacred Doctrine. We are already behind on this so we will have to finish up on Tuesday! :) 

Homework for Tuesday is to read pgs. 53-65 and to complete this worksheet.

God Bless,

Miss Russell