Let's forget about the present time for a minute, let's mentally transport ourselves to the Middle Ages, or more precisely, to the 13th century - the century when Thomas Aquinas lived, and try to reveal the socio-ideological prerequisites that determined the emergence of the philosophy called Thomism after his name.
The needs of trade require the ability to read and write, knowledge of arithmetic, geography and elements of astronomy. The urban bourgeoisie strives for the development of urban municipal schools, which could be used more widely by them, and not just by the clergy. Urban education later played a major role in the emergence of universities, which were organized mainly on its basis. Despite resistance from church authorities, universities and city schools increasingly became centers of intellectual life in Western Europe.
A philosophical expression of the awakening of this life and expansion scientific knowledge was an Aristotelianism adopted by the bourgeois strata, hitherto unknown - with the exception of logic - in Western countries. In Aristotle's philosophy, they tried to find, first of all, not so much theoretical knowledge as practical recommendations that could be used in economic and socio-political life. On the other hand, this philosophy was an impetus for scientists of that time, forced to admit that Augustinianism, which they were developing, no longer corresponded to the current intellectual situation. After all, Augustinism, based on Platonic traditions, was by its nature directed against natural scientific research.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the church reacted very actively to the spread of Aristotelian doctrine, using certain prohibitions and organizational restrictions against scientists and scientific centers where it began to spread. For example, already in 1209, the provincial synod of French bishops in Paris imposed a ban on the study of Aristotle's works. In 1215, a similar ban appeared, also extending to the University of Paris.
In order to revise and correct some of the then emerging spiritual movements directed against Christian orthodoxy, Gregory IX creates a special papal commission. This commission functioned from April 1231 to 1237. Despite seven years of activity, she did not live up to the hopes placed on her. The history of the commission convinced the Roman Curia that the secular clergy was not able to cope with the above task. In this situation, it was decided to entrust the adaptation of Aristotelianism to the needs of the church to scientists from the Dominican Order. And here Thomas Aquinas comes onto the scene, who was able to adapt Aristotelianism to the needs of theology.
Developed at the end of the 12th and 13th centuries in countries Western Europe The intellectual movement entailed a growing tendency to separate science from theology, reason from faith. As a result of long-term debates between individual thinkers and the church, several points of view have crystallized on how to solve the problem of the relationship between faith and reason:
1. Rationalist point of view. Its supporters demanded that the dogmas of faith be subjected to the assessment of reason as the highest criterion of truth or error.
2. The point of view of dual truth, put forward by defenders of the theory of two truths, theological and scientific.
3. Point of view of subject differentiation. Its proponents distinguished theology and science according to their subjects and goals.
4. The point of view of complete denial of the value of science.
In conditions when interest in science and philosophy was increasingly awakened, it was still impossible to maintain a complete denial of the value of rational knowledge; it was necessary to look for other, more subtle ways of resolving the issue of the relationship between theology and science. This was not an easy task, for it was a matter of developing a method that, without preaching a complete disregard for knowledge, would at the same time be able to subordinate rational thinking to the dogmas of revelation, i.e. maintain the primacy of faith over reason. This task is carried out by Thomas, relying on the Catholic interpretation of the Aristotelian concept of science.
Catholic historians of philosophy are almost universally convinced that Thomas Aquinas autonomized science, turning it into a field completely independent of theology. To show the groundlessness of these statements, let us recall the Aristotelian concept of science, interpreted by Thomas Aquinas from the angle of theology.
There are four concepts, which are at the same time stages of science: experience, art, knowledge, wisdom.
Experience (empeiria), as the first stage of science, is based on the storage in memory of individual individual facts and impulses obtained from material reality, which create “experimental” material. Although experience, or the totality of sensory data retained in memory, is the basis of all knowledge, it is insufficient, because it provides us with information only about individual facts and phenomena, which does not yet represent knowledge. The role of experience understood in this way is that it is the basis for further generalizations.
Consequently, one cannot stop there; it is necessary to rise to the next, higher level of knowledge, to tecnhé - art, or skill. It includes, first of all, every craft, every imitation. Tecnhé is the result of certain initial generalizations made on the basis of the presence and repetition of certain phenomena in similar situations.
The third stage of knowledge is based on tecnhé - epistemé, or true knowledge. Epistemé is impossible without the previous stage, i.e. tecnhé, and thus without empeiria. A person who has epistemé not only knows why things happen this way and not otherwise, but at the same time knows how to convey this to others, and therefore is able to teach.
The highest level of knowledge is sophia, i.e. wisdom or “first philosophy”. It generalizes the knowledge of the three previous stages and has as its subject reasons, the highest foundations of being, existence and activity. She studies the problems of movement, matter, substance, expediency, as well as their manifestation in individual things.
In Thomas's interpretation, Aristotelian sophia as the science of the fundamental principles of material existence loses its natural, secular character, having undergone complete theologization. Aquinas tears away, isolates her from her family tree, i.e. from empeiria, tecnhé, epistemé. In his interpretation, it turns into “wisdom (sapientia)” in itself, becomes the doctrine of the “first cause”, independent of any other knowledge. Its main idea is not the knowledge of reality and the laws that govern it, but the knowledge of absolute existence, the discovery of traces of God in it. Thomas practically identifies the Aristotelian concept of sophia with theology. As a result, the human desire for knowledge is transferred from earthly, objective reality to the supernatural, irrational world. Contemplation of God instead of knowledge of the main foundations of objective reality - this is the essence of Thomas’s interpretation of the Aristotelian concept of science in relation to the needs of the church.
Aquinas separates theology from science in the epistemological sense, i.e. believes that theology draws its truths not from philosophy, not from private disciplines, but exclusively from revelation.
But Thomas could not stop there, because it only emphasized the “superiority” of theology and its independence from other sciences, but it did not solve the most significant task for that time facing the Roman Curia, namely the need to subordinate the developing scientific movement to theology.
In accordance with these requirements, Thomas develops the following theoretical principles, which to this day determine the general line of the church on the issue of the relationship between theology and science.
1. Philosophy and special sciences perform propaedeutic, service functions in relation to theology. Theology, however, does not draw any provisions from philosophy and private disciplines - they are contained in revelation - but uses them for the purpose of better understanding and deeper explanation of the truths of revelation. Their use, according to Thomas, is not evidence of the lack of self-sufficiency or weakness of theology, but, on the contrary, follows from the wretchedness of the human mind. Rational knowledge in an indirect and secondary way facilitates the understanding of the known dogmas of faith, brings us closer to the knowledge of the “first cause” of the universe, i.e. God.
2. The truths of theology have their source in revelation, the truths of science have sensory experience and reason. Thomas argues that, from the point of view of the method of obtaining truth, knowledge can be divided into two types: knowledge discovered by the natural light of reason, such as arithmetic and geometry, and knowledge that draws its foundations from revelation.
3. There is an area of certain objects common to theology and science. Consequently, nothing prevents both the philosophical sciences and theology from dealing with the same problems, insofar as they are accessible to knowledge through the natural light of reason. This obviously does not exclude the possibility that the known truths of revelation can be proven naturally. These include, in particular, the truths about the immortality of the human soul, the existence of God, the creation of the world, etc.
Along with the realm of objects common to these two disciplines, there are certain truths that cannot be demonstrated by reason and therefore belong exclusively to the sphere of theology. Taking into account the experience of the medieval dispute about the relationship between faith and reason, Aquinas understood that it was better not to subject to the judgment of reason those truths of revelation that contradict the rules of human thinking. Among the truths that are inaccessible to reason, Thomas included the following dogmas of faith: the dogma of the resurrection, the history of the incarnation, the Holy Trinity, the creation of the world in time, the ability to answer the question of what God is, etc. Therefore, if in a given area the mind comes to directly opposite positions, then this is sufficient proof of the falsity of the latter.
4. The provisions of science cannot contradict the dogmas of faith. Thomas argues that rational truths cannot contradict the dogmas of faith, that reason must only confirm these dogmas. Thus, without denying the value of science, Aquinas limits its role to the interpretation of the dogmas of revelation, the proof of their correspondence to the data of rational knowledge. It is useful for the mind to be occupied with the dogmas of faith, but “so that it does not arrogantly imagine,” writes Thomas, “that it has understood or proven them.”
Thus, we can conclude that Thomas Aquinas did not at all separate science from theology, but, on the contrary, completely subordinated it to theology. If the goals of science are given a priori, if it cannot come to results that contradict the truths of revelation, if the criterion of true or false is the dogmas of faith, and if the object of science is ultimately transcendental and not material reality, then this sufficiently proves the non-autonomy of science , and her deep enslavement proves that she is entirely squeezed into the framework of Christian orthodoxy.
Before proceeding to present Aquinas's metaphysical theory of being, it is necessary to determine the nature and place of Thomism among the main philosophical trends. Is Thomism really realism? There can be only one answer to this question: the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, like his followers, is not realism, but objective idealism.
Philosophical movements can be divided into materialism and idealism, depending on whether matter or spirit is considered primary. Those who claim that matter is primary and thinking is secondary belong to the camp of materialists. Those who consider the spirit to be primary form an idealistic direction, within which two varieties can be distinguished: objective idealism, which believes that the reality around us exists independently of us, but is a product of an ideal principle (for example, a reflection of an idea in Plato or a generation of the absolute spirit in Hegel), and subjective, according to which the world, material bodies are a complex of our sensations. The philosophy of Thomas Aquinas says that the spirit is primary - God, and matter is his creation, and therefore belongs to the idealistic camp, but it also recognizes that the material world is not a complex of our sensations, dependent on the subject, but exists independently of us , and is thus an idealism of the objective type. Aquinas's philosophy also recognizes the existence of both souls and a whole hierarchy of pure spirits, or angels. That is, we can claim that Thomism has a spiritualistic character. However, it seems to me that Thomist philosophy can also be called realism in a strictly defined sense, namely as opposed to subjective idealism in its ontological interpretation, for Thomism recognizes the existence of the material world independently of the subject.
Thomas believed that only individual things, or substances, consisting of essence (essentia) and existence (existentia) really exist. He believes that the difference between essence and existence is not something only mental, depending on our acts of consciousness, but is something factual, really existing. From this premise, Aquinas argues that things have essence, but essence does not imply their existence. This happens because everything that exists in the world was created by God, and therefore depends on him. In God, as in a simple, uncompounded being, essence and existence are identical. Therefore, the essence of God implies his existence, while the essence of created things does not imply their existence. Man or animal exists through participation in the divine act of creation. Consequently, according to Thomas, the world of material things does not exist by virtue of its own nature, but is something completely random, dependent on the creator, or should not exist. In contrast to this world, God is an absolutely necessary being, and therefore must exist unconditionally, for this is contained in his nature.
Thomas borrows the categories of matter (materia) and form (forma) from Aristotelian metaphysics. He repeats that only individual things consisting of matter and form really exist, that matter represents the principium individuationis the basis of individualization, that matter, devoid of form, is passive, undifferentiated and cannot exist without it, that form is the active element constructing individual being, which, thanks to its form, acquires the ability to change.
However, form in Thomas's interpretation was a set of general essential features inherent in things of a certain type, and did not exist outside or before them. Aquinas distinguished three kinds of forms, or universals, in substances:
1. The universal contained in a thing as its essence (universale in re), defined by it in the same way as a direct universal (universale directum).
2. Universal abstracted from substance, i.e. existing in the human mind (post rem). In this form, it really (formaliter) exists only in the mind, and in things it has only its basis. Thomas calls this universal reflexive (reflexivum). Therefore the form, i.e. the general exists in a thing as an essence not yet abstracted, but in the mind - as extracted by the active mind (intellectus agens).
3. A universal independent of a thing in the divine mind (universale ante rem). Universals in the mind of the creator are unchanging, constant, eternal forms, or foundations, of things, or, in other words, exemplary specimens that are the model, the goal of creating out of nothing individual things belonging to a certain species.
According to Thomas, in the process of rational cognition the mind extracts from things nothing more than the divine idea that determines their objective existence.
Individual things as independent beings consist of possibility (potentia) and act (actus). Possibility or potential means possible being, while act means actual, absolutely existing being. That is, the categories of possibility and act are more general in nature than form and matter.
Matter as potential no longer exists from eternity, but turns out to be created by God out of nothing, and therefore from primary it becomes secondary, derivative. Possibility is inherent in it not by virtue of its nature, but is put into it by the creator and only thanks to him is it realized and transformed into reality. And therefore, any change in nature and in society, as a transition from possibility to act, has its ultimate source in the creative divine power. God is a kind of prime mover, since nothing in him is in a state of possibility, but he is all absolute act.
However, these arguments correspond to the position of Augustinianism, and Thomas does not dwell on them, but goes further: he introduces the concept of natural causes by which God rules the world. It follows that one cannot passively wait for God’s verdict, but must actively engage in earthly affairs within the limits of the goals pursued by Providence.
Thomas Aquinas divides the truths of revelation into two types: truths accessible to reason, and truths that go beyond its cognitive capabilities. Natural theology deals with the rational proof of the dogmas of faith. performing a propaedeutic function in relation to theology. The central problem of natural theology is the “proof” of the existence of God.
Thomas claims that the statement “God exists,” on the one hand, is obvious, on the other hand, not knowing what God is, we cannot accept his existence as something obvious. Therefore, and also to strengthen faith, it is necessary to substantiate the existence of the creator with the help of what is more obvious than himself, namely with the help of the results of his creation.
Aquinas says that there are two ways to prove the existence of a creator: through cause (propter quid) and through effect (quia). That is, in the first case we are talking about a priori proof (from cause to effect), and in the second - about a posteriori proof (from effect to cause). Accordingly, Thomas Aquinas formulates five “proof-ways” of God.
1. Proof from motion (kinetic), comes from the fact that things are in motion, and everything that moves is set in motion by something else, for motion is the transition of possibility into act. The one who actualizes potency is a form, a certain being in an act. Consequently, the concept of movement includes that which moves and that which moves. Therefore, if some being that sets something in motion were itself set in motion, then it would be something completely different, and this other thing in turn would be set in motion by a third, etc. However, the chain of motors cannot be infinite, and therefore we must reach the first cause of motion, which moves no one and which moves everything. Such a cause must be pure form, pure act, which is God.
It can be seen that the kinetic proof is based on two premises:
- Every being in motion must be set in motion through another being, which is its engine.
- The chain of engines cannot be endless. It can be seen that none of these premises are a consequence of the laws of physics or mechanics.
2. The proof from an efficient cause states that there is a definite causal order in the material world, originating from the first cause. those. God. Impossible. Thomas reasons that something should be its own productive cause, since it would exist before itself, and this is absurd. And since there is no infinite chain of efficient causes, it is necessary to posit some primary producing cause, namely God.
3. The proof from necessity and chance comes from the fact that in nature and society there are individual things that arise and are destroyed or can exist or not exist. In other words, these things are not something necessary, and, therefore, have a random nature. It is impossible to imagine that this kind of thing always exists, for what can exist sometimes does not really exist. As random phenomena, they require the presence of a necessary cause, the existence of which follows from its essence. This reason is God. Now we can claim that this proof is in conflict with the law of conservation of matter. Individual things as concrete forms of matter disappear, undergo transformation, but matter does not disappear anywhere.
4. The proof from the degree of perfection comes from the premise that things manifest different degrees of perfection in the form of being, goodness, and beauty. But one can speak about different degrees of perfection, according to Thomas, only in comparison with something most beautiful, something more beautiful than which does not exist, i.e. with God blessing.
5. The proof from the divine leadership of the world states that in the world of both rational and irrational beings, as well as in things and phenomena, the expediency of activity and behavior is observed. Aquinas believes that this does not happen by chance and that someone must purposefully lead the world: “Consequently, there is a rational being who sets a goal for everything that happens in nature, and we call him God.” It seems to me that Thomas here reduces regularity to expediency, without taking into account the possibility of the existence of objective laws governing nature.
Thomas Aquinas in his writings very often noted the great role of empiricism and sensory knowledge. This is also strongly emphasized by modern Thomists, who follow the philosophical foundations of their teacher. Almost all of Aquinas’s works often use the concepts of “experience”, “sensory knowledge”, “sensibilia”, etc. Thomas repeatedly emphasizes that “all natural knowledge comes from the senses,” that the subject of knowledge is reality outside the senses, independent of the subject or human consciousness.
Although Thomas Aquinas operates with the same ideas as the empiricists, the content of these ideas is essentially opposite.
Let us consider some of the concepts used by Thomas Aquinas: the concepts of material and formal object. A material object is simply a concrete being, any sensible thing independent of consciousness and observed or perceived through the senses. A formal object is a certain element, some aspect of a knowable thing. That is, a material object is a broader concept than a formal object. In the process of cognition, the intellect in a certain respect is identified with an object, or with a form, but not material, but spiritual. Consequently, the essence of knowledge, according to Thomas, is that the knower becomes known (cognoscens fit cognitum). This is because the mind is incorporeal and cannot be affected by sensory things. Rational knowledge is always general, and therefore separate, individual things cannot be its object. “Intellectus est universalium et non singularium,” writes Thomas. This formulation contains a very significant methodological indication that facilitates understanding of the object of Thomist epistemology. If in individual things matter is individual, then something intangible must be common. In the course of cognition, the subject, in a certain sense, becomes similar to the object, its spiritual, ideal form. From here we can conclude that the object of knowledge is not matter, but some immaterial reality. According to Aquinas, knowledge is based on the ability to perceive spiritual cognitive forms from individual things and is the ability to participate in the immaterial divine existence. And therefore, immaterial reality is traces of God in natural objects, this is their dependence on the creator.
Thomas begins his analysis of the process of cognition by explaining the division, hierarchy and functions of the sensory organs. He dichotomously divides them into external (senses exteriores) and internal feelings (senses interiores).
In the hierarchy of the five external senses, the lowest position is occupied by touch, because it is the most material, i.e. most of all connected with the body. However, being the lowest, it plays a major role, since not only a person’s temperament depends on it, but also the proper functioning of both sensory and mental cognitive organs. In addition to touch, Thomas classifies the lower senses as taste, which is higher than it, and smell, which is more perfect than the latter. Among the external senses, the highest are hearing and vision, which are considered the most cognizing senses (maxime cognoscivi) and providing the greatest services to the mind.
External senses that connect a person with the environment are influenced by material bodies, which imprint on them sensory images (species sensibiles) of individual objects.
According to Aquinas, cognition is the transition of possibility into act, a kind of identification of the knowing subject with the cognizable object. However, a knowable thing - a material object - can never be known in an exhaustive way. It follows that the cognizing object should not be identified with a thing as a material object, but only with a certain side of it, i.e. a formal object. In other words, this identification is not real, but purely potential. In order for this to happen, an imprint - an image, or image - must fall from a single thing into the feelings of the person who knows it. It is these images of material objects in the external senses that Thomas Aquinas calls sensory cognitive forms species sensibiles.
Thomas argues that all sensory knowledge is simply an identification in a certain relation of the subject with the thing being known, which occurs through the medium of form.
Like any organ of sensory cognition, the intellect has something adequate to itself, i.e. adapted to its capabilities, the object of knowledge, which is the essence of bodily things, or what is common and spiritual in them. From this understanding of the object of intellectual knowledge, Thomas concludes that intelligence cannot have a material, corporeal nature, but must be immaterial, spiritual.
“Each thing,” Thomas asserts, “is called true insofar as it approaches resemblance to God... Just as souls and other things are called true by nature, insofar as they have a resemblance to this higher nature, which, being its understood being , is truth itself, so that which is cognized by the soul is truth, since in it there is a similarity with the divine truth that God cognizes.” Thomistic truth is the correspondence of reason to reality, but not to the reality that naturally exists, but to the reality created by God. Thus, we are dealing here with truth in the ontological and logical sense. Logical truth is inherent in our judgments, while ontological truth is inherent in things.
In this way, the Thomistic criterion of truth is also subordinated to theological purposes and serves to prove man’s dependence, his imperfection in comparison with the creator.
The criterion of human knowledge lies not in the knowing subject, not in his practical and social activity, but in innate truths, and ultimately in divine wisdom. “Divine truth is the measure of all truth. Since God is the first mind and the first object of understanding, every rational truth must be measured by his truth.” Let's consider the concept of man in the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. Thomas proceeds from the fact that man, like the universe, in relation to which he is like a small world, a microcosm, so to speak, also needs his own “engine”. This is the human soul. It not only performs the function of the engine of the body, but is also its form, the act that “actualizes man.”
Thus, in the light of the doctrine of Thomas, man is represented as a psychophysical being, a combination of matter and form.
From the point of view of Thomist anthropology, the body is not the shackles of the soul; on the contrary, their union is good for the soul. God, having created the soul and breathed it into the human embryo, as it were, adapts it to the body that should form the basis of its individuality and immortality. In the hierarchy of types of earthly existence, it is the most perfect form, independent, capable of existing without matter, but it is lower than pure spirits. Thus, man found himself placed in the middle - between the animal world and the angels.
The traditional theme of Christian philosophy is the defense of the perfection of God and what he created from the evil existing in the world. Thomas defines evil not as a positive phenomenon that exists in itself, but as ordinary non-existence, the inferiority of good. Aquinas derives the concept of evil from the concept of good, based on the premise that one opposite is known through the other. By good he means “that which everyone desires.” Thomas Aquinas repeats, following Augustine, the statement that “good is the subject of evil.” However, here the question arises: “If in metaphysical reasoning we must get to the root cause, then it turns out that all evil comes from God, as the highest being and good?” But such a conclusion is obviously unacceptable for Christian philosophy, and Aquinas shows that God does not create evil intentionally, but only by accident. Two more theses of the Thomist theodicy: evil is necessary for the harmony of the world; God is the creator of evil as punishment, not as guilt.
Thomas defends free will and tries to prove that the characteristic feature of man is freedom. In my practical activities human personality guided by judgments arising from the intellect, thanks to which it can make choices. That is, he proclaims the primacy of intellect over will. But Aquinas admits that sometimes the will can perform the function of a productive cause in relation to the intellect, prompting it to knowledge. Free will, rooted in the intellect, allows a person to act in accordance with moral virtues, since he has the ability to choose between bad and good. But free will only exists when it is supported by God. Thus, the creator, and not the person, causes the desire to act this way and not otherwise.
Thomas claims that man is an animal sociale et politicum, and believes that the state is necessary in the life of society and is a being that is genetically earlier than the citizens who organize it. Living in a social community is natural for people. However, every community performs certain functions and sets certain goals, the implementation of which cannot do without a hegemon. Therefore, there is a need for someone to lead society and lead it to the goal. The state is precisely such a leader. Aquinas, comparing this latter with a helmsman, and the human community with a ship, writes: “In the same way, a ship, driven by different winds, would sail in the most different directions and would never come to the desired port if it were not guided by the will of the helmsman.” Moreover, the essence of the state is to lead the community of people towards the goal outlined by it - a goal that corresponds to the aspirations of the church.
The philosophy of Thomas Aquinas did not immediately gain universal recognition among various scholastic movements. Only from the 14th century did Thomism become an official philosophy catholic church. But the rapid flowering of human thought during the Renaissance pushed the philosophy of Thomism into theological seminaries and order schools.
This philosophy emerged from behind the walls of monasteries only in late XIX century. The immediate impetus for its revival was the encyclical “Aeterni Patris” published in 1879 by Pope Leo XIII, which recommended the philosophy of Thomas as the doctrine that best suits the needs of the social situation and best expresses the spirit of Catholicism. But the main reasons for the revival of Thomism were certainly the rapid development of capitalism, the strengthening of labor movements, the development of historical materialism and the emergence of unorthodox movements within the church itself (for example, modernism). At the direction of Leo XIII, translations of the works of Thomas Aquinas into modern languages. On the initiative of the Pope, the Academy of St. Thomas, in Louvain - the Higher Philosophical Institute, which became the international center of neo-Thomism.
Neo-Thomism becomes the theological form of modern objective idealism. Objective-idealistic philosophy recognizes the external world independent of the subject. Neo-Thomism claims to be a “third way” in philosophy, superior to idealism and materialism. From the point of view of neo-Thomism, to be objectively real does not mean to be material at all; to exist objectively means something more than to exist sensually. It is the real-immaterial being that is, according to neo-Thomists, primary. Matter, being real, but devoid of the character of substance (i.e., independent existence), is covered by immaterial existence.
As that which is common to material and immaterial objects, being constitutes the unity of the world. Behind specific material and immaterial objects lies “pure being”, the spiritual basis of everything is God. He is the being of all things (since each exists solely through his being), but not in the sense of existence, but as the cause of their particular existence. Existence is the embodiment of essence into reality, and all essences are initially contained in the divine mind as a reflection of its nature. The question of the relationship between God and the created existence of things is quite difficult for neo-Thomism. After all, to recognize their common nature is to admit “blasphemy”; if we assert that their nature is different, then on the basis of knowledge about the objective world it is impossible to conclude anything about the existence of God, to prove his existence. Neo-Thomists see the solution to this problem in the existence of an “analogy” between God and the world of concrete objects.
A significant place in neo-Thomism is occupied by the interpretation of modern natural science theories. Since the beginning of the 20th century, neo-Thomism has moved towards the recognition of evolutionary theory, subject to its teleologization. Identifying the concept of “information” with the form of things, on the one hand, and with the message, the action of a goal, on the other, modern teleologists argue that science itself, it turns out, returns to Aristotle and Aquinas, having discovered that the organization, the structure of things is information. Reasoning about universal regulatory cycles, feedback in the very foundation of matter is defined as “cybernetic proof of the existence of God.” Neo-scholastics see in “syntropic processes” associated with a decrease in entropy, the reverse flow of time during the decay of elementary particles and in the morphogenesis of organisms as a manifestation of divine purpose in nature.
Doubt about the knowability of the world, from the point of view of neo-Thomism, is unacceptable; it undermines the foundations of philosophy and knowledge. We understand not only phenomena, but also reality as such. However, the object of knowledge is not the material thing itself, but its immaterial form. In the process of sensation, external things come into contact with the soul and become actual objects of knowledge, but as devoid of matter. The activity of thinking is a manifestation of the “divine light” penetrating the human mind. Thinking naturally transmits this light to the images of “sensory objects,” now illuminating with its “active light” the general and essential.
The characteristic of truth turns into a mutual correspondence of intellect and things, which can form truths of two types: ontological - the correspondence of a thing to thoughts, and logical - the correspondence of human thought to things, approximate, partial knowledge about the truth of existence. In the theological spirit, the issue of absolute and relative truths is resolved as the relationship between the divine and human minds. Neo-Thomism metaphysically breaks and contrasts the absolute and the relative.
Philosophy is a bridge that, according to neo-Thomists, should connect the sciences with theology. If theology descends from heaven to earth, then philosophy rises from the earthly to the divine, and in the end will come to the same conclusions as theology.
The followers of Thomas divide philosophy into metaphysics (ontology) and philosophy of nature. The object of the first is pure being. This part of philosophy does not depend on the sciences, but must use them as its tools. Philosophy of nature is an intermediate science between metaphysics and natural science, studying what is inherent in matter as such, its universal characteristics, while natural sciences study the final, relative properties of material bodies. The immediate subject of analysis in the philosophy of nature is a system of categories that reflect the general aspects of reality. Philosophical and natural scientific concepts must be clearly separated.
In conclusion, I would like to note that at present, neo-Thomism continues to develop, including certain provisions of existentialism, phenomenology, philosophical anthropology and other trends of modern idealism.
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4. “Modern idealistic epistemology. Critical Essays.”
5. M. G. Makarov “Development of concepts and subject matter of philosophy in the history of its teachings.”
6. Jozef Borgosh “Thomas Aquinas.”
7. Sokolov V.V. “Medieval philosophy.”
The philosophical and theological direction in scholasticism, which later became the official doctrine of the Catholic Church. The main ideas of T. are set forth in the Summa Theologica and the Summa against the Pagans, as well as in commentaries on the Bible, works Aristotle and "Sentences" of Peter of Lombardy. The system of theory includes metaphysics, the theory of knowledge, ethics, anthropology, and the theory of the state. Metaphysics consists of the doctrine of being as such and natural theology, the basis of which is the five proofs of the existence of God. Following Aristotle, Thomas believed God to be the first cause and final goal of all things, pure form and pure actuality, and the essence and being of God are identical. On the contrary, in creation, according to T., they do not coincide, for creation is an essence, a divine idea that has received being. Matter is passive, it is pure potency and only perceives changing forms of existence. Form is what actualizes this potency, what makes every thing have its own form and genus, it is also the target cause of the emergence of things. The diversity of all things of the same kind occurs because matter in the process of creation receives signification, a sign of individuality. Existing things in T., as in Aristotle, are divided into substances and accidents. Accidents (time, space, quantity, quality, etc.) are the definitions of substances that only really exist in them.
On the question of the relationship between faith and knowledge, T. adhered to the position of their complete non-identity and belonging to different orders of being, although not mutually exclusive, for the true cannot contradict the true. Nevertheless, T. insists on the priority of faith, believing that if the mind comes to conclusions that contradict Revelation, then this is the result of incorrect judgments. In the debate about universals, T. took the position of moderate realism, believing the existence of the universal to be real. The Universal exists in three different dimensions: as ideas of all things in the mind of God, as ideas embodied in things, and as ideas - the result of abstraction in human thinking. God, like everything that exists in T., is absolute good, man is endowed with free will, but the origin of evil was understood as the deprivation of good, as imperfect good allowed by God for the sake of realizing all degrees of perfection. Man appears as a combination of the soul and the body animated by it. The soul is immaterial and is a substance, but it receives its completion only together with the body, thus, in T. the extremes of Manichaeism, which despised the body and considered it the prison of the soul (violation of the dogma of the God-man), and the monopsychism of Siger of Brabant, who taught the existence of a single impersonal souls in the entire thinking universe (violation of the dogma about the ultimate destinies of the world). After death, only two potentialities can be realized in the soul - will and thinking; all others require the participation of the body. Intellect in T. is also included in the bodily-mental organization and, therefore, is not substantial, but only the potency of substance; His essence is only in God. Nevertheless, T. affirms the primacy of intellect over will, but stipulates that love for God in spiritual life is still more important than knowledge of God. IN modern philosophy T.'s ideas were revived and rethought in philosophy E. Gilson, J. Maritain, J. Bochenski and others.
Dictionary of philosophical terms. Scientific edition of Professor V.G. Kuznetsova. M., INFRA-M, 2007, p. 593-594.
Literature:
Copleston F.4. History of medieval philosophy. M., 1997;
Copleston F. Aquinas. L., 1957;
Maritain J. Le Docteur Angelique. P., 1930.
2. Jacques Maritain.
Jacques Maritain, French Catholic philosopher, was born in Paris on November 18, 1882. His grandfather Jules Favre was one of the founders of the Third Republic.
Finding himself in bourgeois Protestant circles, Jacques studied at the Sorbonne, where he met Raisa Umantseva, whom he married in 1904 (see Maritain, Raisa Umantseva). Despairing of the materialism that dominated the French university at the turn of the century, Maritain was inspired by Henri Bergson's philosophy of spirit and the apocalyptic visions of Léon Bloy. In 1906 they were received into the Catholic Church. After scientific training in Germany, Maritain taught philosophy at the Catholic Institute in Paris and later in Toronto and Chicago. He first visited the USA and Canada and then settled in the USA, where he lived for many years. Its influence was probably greater in the US than in Europe. From 1945 to 1948 he was the French ambassador to the Vatican.
Attitude towards Thomism. Maritain's contact with the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas was the most significant event in the emergence of full-blooded Catholic life at the time of his conversion. He described his personal discovery of Thomistic thinking as an epiphany of the intellect (Confession of Faith, 1941). “Woe to me if I do not become a Thomist,” he exclaimed in a burst of enthusiasm. These words were interpreted as a sign of the reactionary traditionalism of Maritain, but he firmly rejected every type of neo-scholasticism and neo-Thomism, as if they smacked of a neo-Gothic revival, and instead advocated "open Thomism", conservative and progressive and capable of assimilating the features of modern philosophy and science. In Moral Philosophy (1960) he even expressed his readiness to call his philosophy "ontosophy" if such a name would give it a clearer expression. But never rejected the belief that in Aquinas's thinking one should look for the principles of realistic and existential metaphysics and the foundations of political and ethical philosophy that pay tribute to the dignity of man and his relationship with God. Jacques Maritain constantly drew attention to the fact that at all the basics of modern culture ( in art, poetry, science, philosophy and even in spiritual life) there is a process of awareness, a growth of understanding. He considered this desire for complete independence and authenticity characteristic feature modern period of time. At the same time, he mourned the loss of the sense of being and love in modern life. Although Maritain was a sincere critic of modern culture (eg in Anti-Modernity, 1922), he largely appreciated its positive contributions. The future task of Christian philosophy, as he understood it, was to realize its mission, resources, methodology and ability to restore a philosophy of being and a socio-political philosophy that is open to the gospel message of love. His own philosophical efforts were part of a general initiative to restore the thinking of St. Thomas, to bring Thomism from an exclusively scholastic tradition to the general cultural sphere and to establish a dialogue between believing and non-believing philosophers.
Works and thinking. In his numerous books and studies, Maritain developed and deepened the classical teachings of Thomistic philosophy, made significant contributions of his own, and opened up a vast area for further study. The topics that interested him relate mainly to metaphysics to theoretical philosophy, moral and socio-political philosophy, philosophy of education, philosophy of history and culture and philosophy of art and poetry; but he also wrote about the relationship between philosophy and science and between philosophy and religious and mystical experience. In Degrees of Knowledge, one of his greatest works, he studied a wide range of problems to show the organic diversity and essential compatibility of the different spheres of knowledge which the mind traverses in the search for its being. In his writings on theoretical philosophy and, in particular, in the "Preface to Metaphysics" and in "Existence and the Existing", the emphasis is on the existential
the nature of the realistic philosophy of existence; in his opinion, knowledge and
love is absorbed into existence.
Among Maritain's main works in the field of Thomistic literature on ethics and socio-political philosophy we find "True Humanism", "Man and the State" and "Moral Philosophy". The first two works express his position on Christian social philosophy. Starting from the concrete position of man in the face of his destiny, Maritain envisages a new form of civilization that will be characterized by an integral humanism, theocentric and opposed to the anthropocentric, that will strive towards an ideal and true brotherhood with respect for human dignity and human rights. In this and other works ("Liberty and the Modern World", "Christianity and Democracy", "Human Rights and Natural Law"), Maritain calls for heroic humanism to achieve the goals of the new Christianity.In "Man and the State" he redefines the basic political concepts (e.g. body, politics, state, people, sovereignty) and eloquently defends a democratic status for all people.In Moral Philosophy, which should be read in conjunction with Nine Lessons in Moral Philosophy, Maritain turns to the great moral philosophers of the past, assesses the problems , which they considered fundamental to ethics.Although he has insistently squealed the concept of Christian moral philosophy elsewhere, for example, in Science and Wisdom, he argues that the Thomists are faced with the task of developing a true philosophical ethics.
The leitmotif of freedom runs through Maritain's entire political philosophy. He says that humanity is striving to win freedom. In the same way, the main purpose of education is to achieve inner freedom. Such freedom is one of fulfillment and expansion and is similar to that enjoyed by those united with God in the vision of beatitude. For Maritain, the achievement of the highest freedom or the highest contemplation are only two aspects of that quest (“Profession of Faith”).
This search for wisdom and freedom is the goal of philosophy and, as is clear from his wife's memoirs, of his own personal life. There are many ways a person approaches God, says Maritain - there are wanderings on earth or paths to his heart. In Approaches to God, Maritain insists on the need for modern man to rethink the five ways of St. Thomas and discover new approaches based on poetry and other concrete experiences. In the field of art and poetry, which he pondered and wrote about all his life, Maritain composed an undisputed masterpiece, Creative Intuition in Art and Poetry, where he seeks to shed light on the “mysterious nature of poetry” and on the process of creativity based on "spiritual unconsciousness.
Another notable book of his concerning art and poetry is Art and Scholasticism.
Grade. The philosophy of Jacques Maritain is marked by a deep religious impulse and sometimes reaches theological and even contemplative heights. As Yves Simon has pointed out, his call characterizes him as a Christian philosopher who studies philosophical problems as they are intelligently related to faith and theology. Maritain is hardly inspired by the expression “Christian philosophy,” but he accepts this concept, for it indicates a philosophy existing in a climate of explicit faith. Nevertheless (and this element Maritain himself emphasized in his most recent works) his work is philosophical, and not theological; it pursues a philosopheme goal through a strictly philosophical method.
His work is to attest to the autonomy of philosophy to explore the mystery of created existence. At the same time, he says, philosophy cannot be isolated from concrete life and faith. It achieves its goal only in total unity with every source of light and experience in human mind. Only Christian philosophy, perceiving and striving for such an ideal, is capable of “redeeming time and redeeming every human search for truth.” Some philosophers, incl. and in the scholastic tradition they do not share Maritain’s distinctive point of view and sharply disagree with him on some issues. Controversies and disputes arose primarily on the following topics: the distinction between personality and individuality in relation to the common good, the three degrees of abstraction, the empiriological and ontological distinction within the first degree of abstraction (see Philosophy and Science), adequately studied moral philosophy and the concept itself Christian philosophy. Other topics on which Maritain made valuable contributions are: authority and freedom in a pluralistic society, the nature and exercise of free will in man and angels, the survival of man, the existential intuition of subjectivity, the intuitive being of love, and the analogy of being and its perfection, which Maritain believes a principle operating in a variety of spheres of reality and thinking. He himself hoped that he had made some contribution to a deeper understanding of the mystery of evil ("God and the Permissibility of Evil").
An attempt to assess the permanent place of a living philosopher in philosophy is unacceptable and unacceptable. IN early stage During his career, Maritain established a program for a “Christian philosophy of the future.” He made valuable contributions to the implementation of much of this program. His lessons are very valuable not only for those who accept the Thomistic philosophy of Maritain and not only for professional philosophers, but also for those to whom his writings were addressed: for artists, learned artists and even ordinary people who wanted to deepen their understanding of what truly important things. Some authorities have called Maritain the greatest Catholic philosopher since St. Thomas. There is no doubt that, at the very least, he will be recognized as one of the most important philosophical figures of the 20th century.
Bibliography. Main works.
The Philosophy of Bergson, Paris, -1914. In English. Bergson's Philosophy and Thomism, New York, 1956. From Bergson to Thomas Aquinas: Essays on Metaphysics and Ethics / Trans. from fr. V. P. Gaidamak. - M.: Institute of Philosophy, Theology and History of St. Thomas, 2006. - (Bibliotheca Ignatiana). ISBN 5-94242-015-7
Art and scholasticism. Paris, 1920
Art and Scholasticism and the Limits of Poetics, New York, 1930.
To distinguish to unite, or degrees of knowledge, Paris, 1932. To distinguish to unite, or degrees of knowledge, trans. G.B.Phelan, New York, 1959
On Christian Philosophy, Paris, 1933. Essay on Christian Philosophy; lane 3.Flannery, New York, 1965
About temporary regime and freedom. Paris, 1963
Freedom in modern world, trans. R. 0. Sullivan, New York, 1935.
Seven Lessons on Being and the First Principles of the Contemplative Mind Paris, 1934
Preface to Metaphysics: 7 Lessons on Being, New York, 1939.
On the Philosophy of Nature: An Essay on the Criticism of Boundaries and Their Object, Paris, 1935. Philosophy of Nature trans. I.K.Berna, New York, 1951
Science and Wisdom, Paris, 1935. Science and Wisdom, trans. B. Wella, New York, 1940. Knowledge and wisdom Trans. from fr. L. M. Stepacheva. — M.: Scientific world, 1999
Integral Humanism, Paris, 1936. True Humanism, trans. M. R. Adamson, ed. New York, 1938
Redemption of Time, trans. H. D. Binssa, New York, 1941
A short treatise on existence and the existing, Paris, 1947. Existence and the existing, trans. L. Galantieri and G. B. Filana, New York, 1948
The Individual and the Common Good, Paris, 1947. The Individual and the Common Weal, New York, 1947.
Reason and Reasons, Paris, 1947, The Scale of Reason, New York, 1952.
Man and the State, Chicago, 1951. Man and the State, trans. R. and F. David, Paris, 1953. Man and State. - M., Idea-Press, 2000. ISBN 5-7333-0033-7
Creative Intuition in Art and Poetry, Series 35, New York, 1953. Creative Intuition in Art and Poetry. - M.: ROSSPEN, 2004. - (Book of Light). ISBN 5-8243-0413-0
Moral Philosophy, Paris, 1960. Moral Philosophy: A Historical and Critical Survey of the Great System, trans. M. Suter et al., New York, 1964.
God and the Permissibility of Evil, Paris, 1963. God and the Permissibility of Evil, trans. J. Evans, Milwaukee, 1965
About human knowledge / Preface to the publication by A. V. Appolonov // Questions of Philosophy. - 1995. - No. 5. - P. 106-117.
Secondary sources.
D. and I. Gallagher, The Achievements of Jacques and Raissa Maritain: A Bibliography 1906-1961, Garden City, N.Y., 1962. Available ca. 1600 titles of books by the Maritains and about the Maritains in many languages, incl. 75 books and brochures, several hundred articles and essays by J. Maritain and R. Maritain. We were friends;
Adventure in Grace, trans. J. Kernan, ImaJ Books New York, 1961, first published separately in 1942 and 1945.
Social and political philosophy of J. Maritain: selected places, ed. J. Evans and L. Ward, New York, 1955
Bars, Maritain in our time, Paris, 1969 Croteau,
Maritain's Thomistic Foundations of Personalism, Ottawa, 1905.
K. Fecher, The Philosophy of E. Maritain, Westminster, 196Z.
J. Evans, ed., Maritain: The Man and His Achievements, New York, 1963.
Shishkov, K. A. Modern neo-Thomism: history and politics in the philosophy of J. Maritain: Lecture notes. — Tver: Tver. state University, 1999.
Dolgov, K. M. Social meaning of the aesthetic concept of Jacques Maritain // Questions of philosophy. - 1963. - No. 11. - P. 132-142.
Gubman, B. L. The problem of the unity of knowledge in the neo-Thomism of J. Maritain // Questions of Philosophy. - 1980. - No. 3. - P. 141-146.
3. Etienne Gilson.
Etienne Henri Gilson b. in Paris on June 13, 1884. He attended the Minor Seminary of Notre-Dame-le-Champs and the Lyceum of Henry IV (1895-1902). After a year military service, when he began to read R. Descartes, he studied philosophy at the Sorbonne under the guidance of Victor Delbo (1862-1916) and Lucien Levi- Bruhl(1857-1939) and at the Collège de France under the leadership of A. Bergson, received a diploma in philosophy in 1906.
Teaching activities, from 1907 to 1913 Gilson taught philosophy at lyceums in Bourg-en-Brosse, Rochefort, Tours, Saint-Quentin and Angers. In 1913 he received a doctorate in literature from the University of Paris and taught at the University of Lille. He was captured near Verdun in 1916 and received the Military Cross. In 1919 he taught at the University of Strasbourg. In 1921 he was appointed professor of medieval philosophy at the Sorbonne. In the same year he became director of the study of medieval philosophy at the Ecole Practique (higher studies) in Paris. In 1922 he took part in a relief mission to Russia. In 1926 he made his first trip to America and lectured at Harvard University and the University of Virginia. In 1929 he co-founded the Institute of Medieval Studies in Toronto, Canada and from that year directed research at the institute. In 1932 he was appointed professor of the history of medieval philosophy at the College de France. He was elected a member of the French Academy in 1947 and in the same year was appointed Councilor of the French Republic. After retiring from the Collège de France in 1951, he became a professor at the Institute in Toronto. Since 1959, he settled permanently in France, and taught in Toronto for part of the year.
Christian philosophy. Gilson came to medieval philosophy and Thomism, in particular, through the study of Cartesianism. Studying the vocabulary and ideas borrowed from Descartes' scholasticism, he discovered in the medieval teachers an unexpected wealth of philosophy, knowledge of which is essential to the understanding of modern philosophy. Having made this discovery, Gilson devoted most of his life to the study of medieval philosophy. His voluminous writings cover the entire philosophy of the Middle Ages, and he presented objectively and sympathetically the ideas of its leading thinkers, from St. Augustine to Duns Scotus. He also wrote extensively on medieval humanism as well as modern philosophy. In his Gifford Lectures of 1930-31, entitled “The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy,” Gilson showed that in the Middle Ages, under the influence of Christianity, new philosophical ideas arose that passed into modern philosophy. Therefore, he called the philosophy of the Middle Ages “Christian philosophy,” defining this term as follows: this is any philosophy that, while normally distinguishing between two orders (the order of faith and reason), still considers the Christian Revelation an indispensable addition to reason. Gilson rejects the concept of a general philosophical synthesis, or scholasticism, in the Middle Ages. In his opinion, there were several scholastic syntheses in the 13th century, and each of them was very original and often contradicted the others. The doctrinal syntheses of such teachers as St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus and William of Ockham were initially not philosophical, but theological. They philosophized as theologians and in the context of their theologies. Kilson is a philosophical historian seeking truth through the history of philosophy. His historical research led him to the truth of Thomism. In Thomism he would discover a metaphysics of existence, which understands God as the very act of being ("ipsum essay"), and creation as beings whose center is the act of existence ("essay"). He firmly refused to modernize Thomism, treating its rational content as philosophy independent of theology, or expounding it according to philosophical order. He also distinguished between the Thomism of Thomas and the Thomism of his followers, such as Thomas de Vio Cajetan, who sometimes distorted the teachings of Aquinas. He also resisted all attempts to synthesize Thomism with philosophies contrary to its spirit (for example, Cartesianism or Kantianism). In his opinion, Thomistic realism is irreconcilable with the methodological doubts of Descartes and the criticism of I. Kant. Seeking to understand Thomism in its medieval context, Gilson called for a revival of its creative spirit. He advocated a living Thomism which, in the light of the Thomistic metaphysics of being, would interpret, criticize and organize the vast data accumulated since the Middle Ages (The Spirit of Thomism", 86). Gilson's outstanding contribution to living Thomism includes his philosophical analysis of the fine arts. ( see also Christian philosophy; Existential metaphysics; Scholasticism and Natural theology).
Bibliography. Proceedings. A complete bibliography of Gilson's works is contained in the collection in honor of E. Gilson, French Academy, Toronto, 1959, 15 vol. 58. His main works:
Freedom in Descartes and Theology, Paris, 1913.
Thomism, Strasbourg, 1919, 6th ed. Paris 1965
The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, New York, 1956
Philosophy in the Middle Ages, 2 vols., Paris, 1922, 2nd ed. 1 volume, 1944
Philosophy of St. Bonaventure, Paris 1924, 2nd ed., 1942, English. lane New York, 1938
Introduction to the Study of St. Augustine, Paris, 1929, 2nd ed. 1943, English. The Christian Philosophy of St. Augustine, trans. L. M. E. Lynch, New York, 1960
Study of the role of medieval thinking in the formation of the Cartesian system, Paris, 1930.
The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy, trans. A.H.K. Downes, New York, 1940
Methodical realism Paris, 1935,
Christianity and Philosophy, trans. R. MacDonald, New York, 1939
The Unity of Philosophical Experience, New York, 1937.
Heloise and Abelard, trans. D.K.Shuka, Chicago, 1951
Reason and Revelation in the Middle Ages, New York, 1938
Dante and Philosophy, Paris, 1939 English. lane D. Moore, New York; 1949
Thomistic realism and critique of knowledge, Paris, 1939
God and Philosophy, New Haven, 1941
Being and Existence, 2nd ed., Paris, 1964.
Genesis and Some Philosophers, 2nd ed. Toronto, 1952
School of Muses, Paris 1951 English. Choir of Muses, trans. M. Ward, London, 1953
John Duns Scotus, Paris, 1932
Metamorphoses of the City of God, Duweid 1952
Philosophy and Theology, Paris, 1960 English, trans. New York 1962
Modern Philosophy from Descartes to Kant, New York, 1963.
Kilson: Arts: Matter and Forms, Paris, 1964
The Spirit of Thomism, New York, 1964
Literature.
K. J. Edie, The Philosophy of Etienne Gilson, Doctoral diss., unpubl., Institut Supérieur de Philosophique, Louvain, 1988.
Maritain et al., Etienne Gilson: Philosophy of Christianity, Paris, 1949.
A.K. Pedkis, Keelson and Thomism, Thought 21, 1946, 435-454.
Reading Keelson, ed. A. C. Pages, New York, 1957, 7-20.
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1) Thomism- - the dominant movement in Catholicism. philosophy. It was the basis") by Thomas Aquinas, from whose name it received its name (from the Latin Thomas - Thomas). Catholicism used the ideas of T. in the fight against the science of modern times. Reformation and bourgeois. revolutions led to a crisis in Catholicism. ideology in general and to the decline of T. In Tue. floor. 19th century The revival of T. begins in the form of neo-scholasticism and neo-Thomism.
2) Thomism- - founded in the 13th century. a tradition that developed under the sign of the name of St. Thomas Aquinas and has retained its significance to this day. Its features: 1) the coexistence of two orders of being - natural and supernatural (grace-filled), the knowledge of which is open to the highest human abilities - reason and faith; 2) there is only one truth and it is from God, therefore there are no contradictions between them; 3) in the knowledge of God: the mind is able, by analogy, to comprehend the existence of God, but not His essence; he offers a number of arguments in favor of the existence of God (see: FIVE WAYS TO GOD); 4) in the theory of knowledge: moderate realism and criticism of nominalism; 5) in metaphysics: the centrality of natural theology; the distinction between essence and existence and the primacy of the latter over the former, which goes beyond the Aristotelian metaphysics of matter and form generally accepted by Thomas; 6) man is a personal unity of body and soul, the soul is the substantial form of the body, created by God each time anew in the womb, does not die with the death of a person and has hope for the bodily Resurrection and restoration of personality in the life of the next century; 7) human reason enlightens the will, which acts independently and must master the passions; 8) knowledge of the bodily world is possible thanks to the natural light of the mind; 9) in ethics, human actions are assessed using four principles: “eternal law” - God’s plan (plan) for all creation, “natural law” - that part of the “eternal law” that is open to the human mind, “human law” - part “ natural law" applicable to public affairs and relations between people, and "divine law" as God's revelation in Holy Scripture and in the Church; 10) this order corresponds to the distinction between natural and “theological” virtues; 11) in social doctrine: the common good is the goal of the state, as well as social organizations, groups and private initiatives; 13) spiritual calling and salvation should not be sacrificed to political interests; hence the independence of spiritual power and life in the Church from secular political structures, social ideals and goals. 14) In the old Thomism, the primacy of the spiritual power of the Pope over all secular authorities was accepted, but now we are talking about the social teaching of the Church as a subject of dialogue and possible cooperation with the extra-church world. Supporters of neo-Thomism insist that Thomism in many cases was not faithful to Thomas: It “ceased to be a search for truth and its contemplation and became only a set of rules claiming to be the truth” (S. Swierzawski).
3) Thomism- a direction in the theology and philosophy of Catholicism, founded by Thomas (Latin-Thomas) Aquinas, who defended the principle of harmony of reason and faith, proving the ability of reason to substantiate the existence of God and refute philosophical arguments against Christian dogmas. From the 14th century became dominant among Catholics philosophical teachings. On its basis, neo-Thomism developed.
4) Thomism- - the main direction in scholasticism, the teaching of the T. school, which from the 13th century to the present day is an interpretation of the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas, taking into account temporal changes in the socio-cultural and scientific plane. Immediately after the death of Thomas, the processing of his works and the reconciliation of existing contradictions began (especially between the Summa Theologiae and commentaries on the Sentences of Peter of Lombardy). Understanding of the legacy of the “angelic doctor” initially occurred primarily within the framework of Augustinianism and was the cause of many theological disputes and criticism of Thomist rationalism from Augustinianism, which was oriented toward cataphatic theology. From 1278, T. became the official teaching of the Dominican Order (in contrast to the early Franciscan Order, which was based on Augustinianism). The first citation of the works of Thomas dates back to 1280 (the first book of “Sentences” by R. Knapwell), at approximately the same time Jacob of Viterb and Johann of Erfurt were analyzing and proving some fragments from the works of Aquinas, and in 1314, at one of the trials, the words of Thomas are cited in as an authority. Thomas himself was canonized in 1323. However, the theologian’s works are not only commented on, but also corrected. The most famous edition belongs to V. de la Mars. A collection of Thomas's early theses is presented in various Dominican editions ("Correctorium corruptorii"). In the fight against the views of John Duns Scott, even opponents of the Thomistic method, for example Henry of Ghent and Godfrey of Fontei, refer to the Summa. Theology was particularly developed in the works of Herveus Notalis, Thomas Satten, Bernard of Clairmont, John of Paris, and others. Due to the free interpretation of the works of the early monists, Theology reaches its apogee in the works of I. Tinctor (the author of the first commentary on the Summa Theologiae) and I. Capreolus, - in the real cultural functioning of the latter, the Princeps thomistarum practically replaces the works of Aquinas. But, starting with Caitan (his name is associated with the birth of the school of T. as such, he is also the judge of Luther), there is a return to Thomas. F. de Victoria uses the Summa Theologica instead of the Sentences as teaching aid in theology, for which he writes his commentary. After the Council of Trent (1545-1563), which marked the beginning of the second period in the development of Thomas, D. Bonez systematized all works related to the work of Thomas. Thanks to Bonez, it became possible to introduce the course “Summa Theologica” in 1596 at the University of Leuven. This subject has been studied for 7 years since 1617. T. became widespread thanks to the educational activities of missionary orders, especially the Jesuits, who used the method of Thomas in the fight against Protestantism and Islam in territories disputed between confessions. A significant event in the history of Turkey was the First Vatican Council of 1870, where the Dogmatic Constitution of the Catholic Faith was adopted. The third period of Thomism (see Neo-Thomism) began in 1879 and continues to this day. Within the framework of the Catholic Church, T. is considered not as an independent teaching, but only a method of rational interpretation of the teachings of the Church, which in its roots goes back to Augustine, Peter of Lombardy, and Albert the Great. The doctrine of T. is not so much a teaching about the dogmas of faith, but rather a teaching about ways to comprehend this teaching through reason. Thus, T. is called upon to overcome the nihilism of Tertullianism and Augustinianism in relation to intellectualism. Since being is hierarchical, knowledge also has degrees - reason and faith, the distance between which was finally removed in T. by not distinguishing their objects (they both talk about God, the world, man), attributing to them different levels of adequacy, completeness and “savingness for souls." T. proceeds from the fact that grace enlightens the whole person, therefore, his mind, and not just his moral sense, is subject to a blessed change, thanks to which Christian philosophy is possible, which is a synthesis of the metaphysical ideas of antiquity, rethought in the light of faith, which does not eliminate, but the mind "leads". Along with this basic presumption, T. is based on the following philosophical and theoretical premises: 1) the distinction between existence and essence, which leads to the position of moderate realism, where the universal nature of concepts came from the abstract ability of the intellect (i.e., universals that do not exist in reality , have a real basis); distinction between logically existing and really existing; the opposition of essence and existence (existence), which coincide only in God, thanks to which the distinction between things is possible; since nothing in its essence coincides with its being, then everything in the world only strives to be; the world, the existence of which is not identical with essence in view of the fact that not a single part of it possesses this quality, does not exist in itself, but depends on God, who has existence “from eternity”; Jehovah is the name of God, i.e. only He truly exists, and the world only participates in His existence, therefore, in the act of existence of the world, the unfolding of His essence occurs, which represents the existential potency of the world; 2) “all that exists is one,” one, which is revealed to different degrees at different levels of existence; all the following are true, but not because everything that exists can be known, but because everything is the result of the thinking of God (i.e., unlike the teachings of Aristotle, in T. truth is the subject of metaphysics, where ontological, divine truth follows distinguished from logical, human), the degree of truth of existence depends on the level of possessed being; “all that exists is good” (for it was created by a good God) and strives for perfection, God, since it depends on His being; 3) transcendence of God and man in the apophatic sense, where everything created is in accordance with God and exists as much as it is likened to God, thanks to which the world acquires its unity; 4) a person has a rational nature, therefore to understand means to be a person. If reason knew only God, then it would not desire anything else, but, within the boundaries of earthly experience, man encounters good and evil in things and actions (which are lower than God), which postulates the right of free choice, in which reason is the cause of freedom, suggesting the possibility of sin. T. played a decisive role in the history of philosophical-theological thought and Christian culture in general. All subsequent movements within Christian theology either directly continue the development of Thomistic ideas, adding new ones to them, or indirectly depend on them, polemicizing and challenging them (see also Thomas Aquinas, Scholasticism, Neo-Thomism). S.L. Lepin, A.V. Vasin
5) Thomism- - philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and his followers, the Thomists. Thomism is divided into old (partly before, partly after the Reformation) and new - neo-Thomism, which has existed since the end of the 19th century. and occupying a large place in modern philosophy. Thomism is a combination of the philosophy of Aristotle and Christ. (Catholic) worldview. Its representatives preach the subordination of the will to the mind, a certain free will and the deep idea of the presence of steps in the structure of the world and the knowability of God only by the results of his actions in the visible world.
6) Thomism- (Latin Thomas - Thomas) - the leading direction in Catholic philosophy, founded by Thomas Aquinas. T. received the greatest recognition in various schools of the Dominican Order. Against T. in the Middle Ages. The followers of Duns Scotus, grouped around the Franciscan order, spoke out. The most famous successor of T. in the Renaissance is Italian. Dominican Thomas de Vio (Caetanus). The early bourgeois revolutions, the Reformation, and the resulting loss of the Catholic Church's former dominance gave impetus to a certain renewal of the Spanish language. Jesuit F. Suarez. The last revival of T. began in the mid-19th century. (neo-Thomism) - A. Stöckl (Germany), M. de Wulf (France), D. Mercier (Belgium), W. Newman (England), T. Liberatore (Italy), etc. Main. modern trend T. - theological interpretation of modern natural science, attempts to “synthesize” the system of Thomas Aquinas with philosophical ideas Kant, Hegel and such apparitions. philosophers like Husserl, Heidegger and others.
Thomism
The dominant movement in Catholicism. philosophy. It was the basis") by Thomas Aquinas, from whose name it received its name (from the Latin Thomas - Thomas). Catholicism used the ideas of T. in the fight against the science of modern times. Reformation and bourgeois. revolutions led to a crisis in Catholicism. ideology in general and to the decline of T. In Tue. floor. 19th century The revival of T. begins in the form of neo-scholasticism and neo-Thomism.
Founded in the 13th century. a tradition that developed under the sign of the name of St. Thomas Aquinas and has retained its significance to this day. Its features: 1) the coexistence of two orders of being - natural and supernatural (grace-filled), the knowledge of which is open to the highest human abilities - reason and faith; 2) there is only one truth and it is from God, therefore there are no contradictions between them; 3) in the knowledge of God: the mind is able, by analogy, to comprehend the existence of God, but not His essence; he offers a number of arguments in favor of the existence of God (see: FIVE WAYS TO GOD); 4) in the theory of knowledge: moderate realism and criticism of nominalism; 5) in metaphysics: the centrality of natural theology; the distinction between essence and existence and the primacy of the latter over the former, which goes beyond the Aristotelian metaphysics of matter and form generally accepted by Thomas; 6) man is a personal unity of body and soul, the soul is the substantial form of the body, created by God each time anew in the womb, does not die with the death of a person and has hope for the bodily Resurrection and restoration of personality in the life of the next century; 7) human reason enlightens the will, which acts independently and must master the passions; 8) knowledge of the bodily world is possible thanks to the natural light of the mind; 9) in ethics, human actions are assessed using four principles: “eternal law” - God’s plan (plan) for all creation, “natural law” - that part of the “eternal law” that is open to the human mind, “human law” - part “ natural law" applicable to public affairs and relations between people, and "divine law" as God's revelation in Holy Scripture and in the Church; 10) this order corresponds to the distinction between natural and “theological” virtues; 11) in social doctrine: the common good is the goal of the state, as well as social organizations, groups and private initiatives; 13) spiritual calling and salvation should not be sacrificed to political interests; hence the independence of spiritual authority and life in the Church from secular political structures, social ideals and goals. 14) In the old Thomism, the primacy of the spiritual power of the Pope over all secular authorities was accepted, but now we are talking about the social teaching of the Church as a subject of dialogue and possible cooperation with the extra-church world. Supporters of neo-Thomism insist that Thomism in many cases was not faithful to Thomas: It “ceased to be a search for truth and its contemplation and became only a set of rules claiming to be the truth” (S. Swierzawski).
direction in the theology and philosophy of Catholicism, founded by Thomas (Latin-Thomas) Aquinas, who defended the principle of harmony of reason and faith, proving the ability of reason to substantiate the existence of God and refute philosophical arguments against Christian dogmas. From the 14th century became dominant among Catholic philosophies. On its basis, neo-Thomism developed.
The main direction in scholasticism, the teaching of the T. school, which from the 13th century to the present day is an interpretation of the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas, taking into account temporal changes in the socio-cultural and scientific plane. Immediately after the death of Thomas, the processing of his works and the reconciliation of existing contradictions began (especially between the Summa Theologiae and commentaries on the Sentences of Peter of Lombardy). Understanding of the legacy of the “angelic doctor” initially occurred primarily within the framework of Augustinianism and was the cause of many theological disputes and criticism of Thomist rationalism from Augustinianism, which was oriented toward cataphatic theology. From 1278, T. became the official teaching of the Dominican Order (in contrast to the early Franciscan Order, which was based on Augustinianism). The first citation of the works of Thomas dates back to 1280 (the first book of “Sentences” by R. Knapwell), at approximately the same time Jacob of Viterb and Johann of Erfurt were analyzing and proving some fragments from the works of Aquinas, and in 1314, at one of the trials, the words of Thomas are cited in as an authority. Thomas himself was canonized in 1323. However, the theologian’s works are not only commented on, but also corrected. The most famous edition belongs to V. de la Mars. A collection of Thomas's early theses is presented in various Dominican editions ("Correctorium corruptorii"). In the fight against the views of John Duns Scott, even opponents of the Thomistic method, for example Henry of Ghent and Godfrey of Fontei, refer to the Summa. Theology was particularly developed in the works of Herveus Notalis, Thomas Satten, Bernard of Clairmont, John of Paris, and others. Due to the free interpretation of the works of the early monists, Theology reaches its apogee in the works of I. Tinctor (the author of the first commentary on the Summa Theologiae) and I. Capreolus, - in the real cultural functioning of the latter, the Princeps thomistarum practically replaces the works of Aquinas. But, starting with Caitan (his name is associated with the birth of the school of T. as such, he is also the judge of Luther), there is a return to Thomas. F. de Victoria uses the Summa Theologica instead of the Sentences as a textbook on theology, for which he writes his own commentary. After the Council of Trent (1545-1563), which marked the beginning of the second period in the development of Thomas, D. Bonez systematized all works related to the work of Thomas. Thanks to Bonez, it became possible to introduce the course “Summa Theologica” in 1596 at the University of Leuven. This subject has been studied for 7 years since 1617. T. became widespread thanks to the educational activities of missionary orders, especially the Jesuits, who used the method of Thomas in the fight against Protestantism and Islam in territories disputed between confessions. A significant event in the history of Turkey was the First Vatican Council of 1870, where the Dogmatic Constitution of the Catholic Faith was adopted. The third period of Thomism (see Neo-Thomism) began in 1879 and continues to this day. Within the framework of the Catholic Church, T. is considered not as an independent teaching, but only a method of rational interpretation of the teachings of the Church, which in its roots goes back to Augustine, Peter of Lombardy, and Albert the Great. The doctrine of T. is not so much a teaching about the dogmas of faith, but rather a teaching about ways to comprehend this teaching through reason. Thus, T. is called upon to overcome the nihilism of Tertullianism and Augustinianism in relation to intellectualism. Since being is hierarchical, knowledge also has degrees - reason and faith, the distance between which was finally removed in T. by not distinguishing their objects (they both talk about God, the world, man), attributing to them different levels of adequacy, completeness and “savingness for souls." T. proceeds from the fact that grace enlightens the whole person, therefore, his mind, and not just his moral sense, is subject to a blessed change, thanks to which Christian philosophy is possible, which is a synthesis of the metaphysical ideas of antiquity, rethought in the light of faith, which does not eliminate, but the mind "leads". Along with this basic presumption, T. is based on the following philosophical and theoretical premises: 1) the distinction between existence and essence, which leads to the position of moderate realism, where the universal nature of concepts came from the abstract ability of the intellect (i.e., universals that do not exist in reality , have a real basis); distinction between logically existing and really existing; the opposition of essence and existence (existence), which coincide only in God, thanks to which the distinction between things is possible; since nothing in its essence coincides with its being, then everything in the world only strives to be; the world, the existence of which is not identical with essence in view of the fact that not a single part of it possesses this quality, does not exist in itself, but depends on God, who has existence “from eternity”; Jehovah is the name of God, i.e. only He truly exists, and the world only participates in His existence, therefore, in the act of existence of the world, the unfolding of His essence occurs, which represents the existential potency of the world; 2) “all that exists is one,” one, which is revealed to different degrees at different levels of existence; all the following are true, but not because everything that exists can be known, but because everything is the result of God’s thinking (i.e. in contrast to the teachings of Aristotle, in T. truth is the subject of metaphysics, where ontological, divine truth should be distinguished from logical, human), the degree of truth of a thing depends on the level of being possessed; “all that exists is good” (for it was created by a good God) and strives for perfection, God, since it depends on His being; 3) transcendence of God and man in the apophatic sense, where everything created is in accordance with God and exists as much as it is likened to God, thanks to which the world acquires its unity; 4) a person has a rational nature, therefore to understand means to be a person. If reason knew only God, then it would not desire anything else, but, within the boundaries of earthly experience, man encounters good and evil in things and actions (which are lower than God), which postulates the right of free choice, in which reason is the cause of freedom, suggesting the possibility of sin. T. played a decisive role in the history of philosophical-theological thought and Christian culture in general. All subsequent movements within Christian theology either directly continue the development of Thomistic ideas, adding new ones to them, or indirectly depend on them, polemicizing and challenging them (see also Thomas Aquinas, Scholasticism, Neo-Thomism). S.L. Lepin, A.V. Vasin
The philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and his followers, the Thomists. Thomism is divided into old (partly before, partly after the Reformation) and new - neo-Thomism, which has existed since the end of the 19th century. and occupying a large place in modern philosophy. Thomism is a combination of the philosophy of Aristotle and Christ. (Catholic) worldview. Its representatives preach the subordination of the will to the mind, a certain free will and the deep idea of the presence of steps in the structure of the world and the knowability of God only by the results of his actions in the visible world.
(Latin Thomas - Thomas) - the leading direction in Catholic philosophy, founded by Thomas Aquinas. T. received the greatest recognition in various schools of the Dominican Order. Against T. in the Middle Ages. The followers of Duns Scotus, grouped around the Franciscan order, spoke out. The most famous successor of T. in the Renaissance is Italian. Dominican Thomas de Vio (Caetanus). The early bourgeois revolutions, the Reformation, and the resulting loss of the Catholic Church's former dominance gave impetus to a certain renewal of the Spanish language. Jesuit F. Suarez. The last revival of T. began in the mid-19th century. (neo-Thomism) - A. Stöckl (Germany), M. de Wulf (France), D. Mercier (Belgium), W. Newman (England), T. Liberatore (Italy), etc. Main. modern trend T. is a theological interpretation of modern natural science, attempts to “synthesize” the system of Thomas Aquinas with the philosophical ideas of Kant, Hegel and such scholars. philosophers like Husserl, Heidegger and others.
01. Policy on objects of impact can be....
1 open and closed
2 state and party
3 neutral and active
4 internal and external
02. The patterns of formation, functioning and changes in the political system of society are __________ political science research.
1 item
3 function
2 Plato
3 John of Salisbury
4 Thomas Aquinas
04. Of the listed government figures, he was not one of the ideologists of “government” liberalism...
1 P. Stolypin
2 S. Witte
3 M. Speransky
4 K. Pobedonostsev
05. The definition of “The nature of the relationship between power and the subordinate, which is expressed in the voluntary recognition of the value of power on the part of the subject” refers to the concept...
1 "politically active behavior"
2 “legality of power”
3 "political immoralism"
4 “legitimacy of political power”
06. Interaction between society and the state is ensured by the _________ subsystem of the political system.
1 ideological
2 normative
3 communicative
4 functional
07. The analytical function of politics associated with the formation, justification and promotion of goals of activity is called...
1 expediency
2 standardization
3 goal setting
4 innovation
08. A specific political situation in all the richness of its connections and relationships is the object of research...
1 theoretical political science
2 Political psychology
3 Political philosophies
4 applied political science
09. The founder of liberalism as an ideological and political direction is...
1 J. Locke
2 T. Hobbes
3 M. Luther
4 N. Machiavelli
10. Supporters of the futurological concept of a single world state are...
1 "globalists"
2 “national patriots”
3 “civilizationists” (representatives of civilizational concepts)
4 “hawks” (defenders of the power concept of power)
11. In political science, state sovereignty is understood as...
1 supremacy of power
2 the totality of the people’s rights to freedom of choice of government
3 form of government
4 implementation of the principle of separation of powers
12. Depending on their participation in the exercise of power, political parties are divided into...
1 legal and opposition
2 ruling and opposition
3 conservative and liberal
4 ruling and illegal
13. Political recruiting means...
1 division of society into a privileged minority and a passive majority
2 involving people in active political life
3 use of power to gain social privileges
4 election to elected authorities
14. Based on the nature of changes within the political process, ___________ processes are distinguished.
1 federal, regional and local
2 complex and simple
3 natural and sanctioned
4 revolutionary and evolutionary
15. Modern political development is characterized by...
1 pluralism of opportunities and uneven development
2 evolutionary and controllable processes
3 evolutionary nature of development and traditionalism
4 cyclicality in development
16. Polycentrism in international relations is manifested in ...
1 growing influence of different entities
2 bipolarities of the world
3 Disintegration of international relations
4 strengthening the power of superpowers
2 J. Sartari
3 S. Lipset
4 S. Huntington
18. Towards external threats national security include...
1 separatist aspirations of a number of constituent entities of the Russian Federation
2 criminalization of public relations
3 NATO expansion to the east
4 deep social stratification of society
19. Monitoring means...
1 technology for exchanging information between social groups
2 system of information collection, regular observation, assessment and forecast
3 diplomatic document outlining the essence of a practical problem
4 confrontation, confrontation
20. In the theory of civil society, law is considered from the position of supporters of the natural law tone of legal understanding, that is, as...
1 embodiment of God's power on earth
2 set of standards established by the state
3 measure and amount of freedom of people that the state establishes
4 “natural justice”, originating not from the state, but from the nature of things
21. The structure of political consciousness does not include political(s)…
1 participation
2 ideologies
3 values, customs, traditions
4 Attitudes and Beliefs
22. The essence of the concept of political technology is most accurately reflected by the definition:
1 methods of political analysis and forecasting
2 methods of struggle for power, its retention and increase in power resources
3 methods of making political decisions
4 methods for solving political problems, developing policies, implementing them, and carrying out practical political activities
23. “Club of Rome” is...
1 international religious peacekeeping organization
2nd Conference of Heads of State on Economic Issues
3 feminist association
4 organization dedicated to research on global issues
24. A method not related to applied methods in political science is ...
1 observation method
2nd method of expert assessment
3 structural-functional analysis
4 content analysis of documents
25. Models of political expertise do not include...
1 legal act
2 monitoring
3 scientific conclusion
4 analytical note
26. Modeling of the electoral process is used for...
1 start of the election cycle
2 Electoral forecasts
3 amendments to electoral legislation
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