When reading the epistemology of Aquinas, one will eventually be presented with the problem of whether or not the human soul in the present state of life can understand immaterial substances in themselves. This is an important concept in Aquinas" epistemology because if the human soul in its present state on earth can know the immaterial, then there are important consequences to this conclusion that contradict much of what Aquinas has previously stated. Consideration will be given to the roles of the active and passive intellects and if and how angels are to be known by the intellect as they are in themselves. First, it is necessary to define some important terms Aquinas uses that will be of particular concern in this analysis.
It is first essential to clarify some key terms used by Aquinas in his explanation. To begin with, the term soul is defined as the first intrinsic principle of life in a living body. The human soul specifically is the first principle of all human, rational life. Next, the term matter is defined as the principle in a thing's being by which it can be determined by form. In Thomistic and Aristotelian philosophy matter is specified as not having the ability to be observed or be even of itself actual. It is a metaphysical principle or aspect rather than an actual thing. Lastly, substance is identified as a being that exists actually in itself rather than in another. Therefore, an immaterial substance is a being existing actually in itself while being completely devoid of matter.
Aquinas begins his argument by presenting five objections to his eventual claim on the problem at hand. In the first objection it seems as though the human soul in the present state of life can understand immaterial substances in themselves by Augustine's assertion that as the mind itself acquires the knowledge of corporeal things, that is those things pertaining to the body as distinct from the soul, by means of the corporeal senses, so it gains from itself the knowledge of incorporeal things, or those things immaterial, or without body.
On the Metaphysical side, we have the ladder of reality (extending from images of sensible things to the actual sensible things themselves) and on the Epistemology side we have a ladder of knowledge (extending from imagination to perception to reason to understanding). ... Thomas Aquinas. ...
They are logic, metaphysics, epistemology and axiology. ... The term epistemology means knowledge and which is the branch of philosophy that studies nature, source validity and limits of knowledge. There are four questions that concern epistemology. ... In dealing with The Natural Law theory the most influential Natural Law theorist was Saint Thomas Aquinas. ...
They are logic, metaphysics, epistemology and axiology. ... The term epistemology means knowledge and which is the branch of philosophy that studies nature, source validity and limits of knowledge. There are four questions that concern epistemology. ... In dealing with The Natural Law theory the most influential Natural Law theorist was Saint Thomas Aquinas. ...
(www.aynrand.org) It is noteworthy that in order to describe and understand the essence of any philosophy, Objectivism included, extensive reflection is due to be given to the following issues: 1) Metaphysics - which becomes the study of Objective Reality in Rand's system of philosophical thought; 2) Epistemology - the theory of perception which in Objectivism is founded upon Reason; 3) Ethics - which is based on Self-interest as well as a Value Theory; 4) Politics - leading to an unprecedented praise of Capitalism or, to be more precise, of the laissez-faire type of Capitalism ...
Moreover, he wrote on epistemology (the study of the nature of knowledge), physics, biology, meteorology, dynamics, mathematics, psychology, rhetoric, dialect, aesthetics and politics (23). ... Thomas Aquinas, and Thomas Jefferson, author of the U.S. ...
CHRISTIAN ETHICS IN A POSTMODERN WORLD The Rise of Postmodernity Since Federico de Onis's use of the term postmodernismo' to describe the Spanish and Latin-American poetry of 1905-1914 which had reacted against the excess' of modernism in 1934, (Rose 1991: 171) "Postmodernism- became very popular. It has been used in the fields of art (Christo-Bakargiev 1987), architecture (Pevsner 1967), liturature (Hassan 1971), video, economics, films (James 1991), ideology (Larrain 1994: 90-118), theology (Tilley at al 1995), and philosophy (Griffin et al 1993). In trying to under...
