The Theology of Thomas Aquinas

Chapter Seventeen: Philosophical Theology and Analytical Philosophy in Aquinas

  Seventeen Philosophical Theology and Analytical Philosophy in Aquinas   ’ “[There are] some who in their complete ignorance want to oppose the use of philosophy. This is especially true among the Dominicans, where no one stands up to contradict them. Like brute animals they blaspheme against things they do not understand.” —Albertus Magnus1 What is the relationship of philosophy to theology in the thought of Thomas Aquinas? A fruitful initial procedure is to examine in general the possible relations (or lack of relation) which could exist between them. First, one general view is that there is no relationship between philosophy and theology. This “no-relationship” view can be divided into three positions: either philosophy subsumes theology, leaving it no independent status, or theology subsumes philosophy in the same manner, or they coexist totally independently of each other with no connection. It is clear that Aquinas rejects the first and third position. The first has been historically defended by Averroës2 and Hegel3 and is probably the attitude of a great number of contemporary professional  philosophers. There is no rational space for a revealed religion; at best it constitutes a primitive and underdeveloped attempt to articulate what is better expressed in philosophy. Aquinas nowhere accepts this. The third position holds that philosophy and theology are totally different enterprises, which do not clash. One could, perhaps, think of this in terms of Kuhnian incommensurability or think of them as postmodern discourses without any overarching framework connecting them. For Aquinas such a view would not make sense. Both philosophy and theology address the fundamental nature of reality and in doing so address the same thing. That means that the relationship between these disciplines needs to be clarified; they cannot exist totally independently of each other (assuming , against the first position, that theology exists in its own right). However, the second position, that theology subsumes philosophy within itself, has been recently defended as a correct interpretation of Aquinas. He speaks on occasion of the miraculous transformation of the water of philosophy into the wine of theology .4 Therefore the question of the relationship of philosophy to theology in Aquinas, while apparently natural, is misleading since philosophy no longer exists as a distinct enterprise. I shall reject this reading of Aquinas (and in so doing reject the entire “no-relationship” view). If both disciplines exist, are not reducible to each other, and cannot ignore each other, what are the possible relations that might hold between them? Such relations can be examined in terms of their respective objects, methodologies, and epistemic status.The object of philosophy and of theology, as of all sciences, is reality. Under what aspect? Philosophy attempts a most general investigation of the most fundamental features of reality. Theology also claims to do this, insofar as God is regarded as the source and origin of all creation. However, the methods of theology differ from those of philosophy. Philosophy uses rationality, subjecting its principles and arguments to the tribunal of rational adjudication. Theology, while using rationality, also uses further material which does not derive from such a purely rationalistic approach. It accepts certain beliefs on the basis of revelation, from an authoritative teaching tradition claiming direct transmission from God. Many philosophers have doubts about such a move. Theologians , however, hold that such material is essential for a correct understanding of reality and because of its source is in fact epistemologically superior to anything deriving from unaided human reason. Furthermore, the claim is that these truths are not available to mere philosophical inquiry—and so theology allows access to a greater range of truths than philosophy. Nontheistic philosophers challenge this epistemic status, querying the reality of the purported extra truths, and so a kind of standoff occurs. In the face of this challenge, some theologians adopt a fideistic stance. Recent developments in philosophy have aided this. Certain internal Philosophical Theology and Analytical Philosophy in Aquinas  movements in philosophy have challenged the very notion of rationality. Under the general label of “anti-foundationalism” it is held that reason cannot perform the foundational task the Enlightenment project set up for it.Therefore philosophy is in no position to challenge theology’s use of revealed principles, since philosophy itself relies on a dogmatic faith in reason.5 Whatever the validity of such an approach, it seems clear that it is not that of Aquinas. He accepts that there is reasoning which is universally valid and which...