Thomas Aquinas

Racial friction in the south during the 1950’s and 1960’s was becoming increasingly worse. On April 12, 1963 eight clergymen from Alabama wrote a statement that was published in a newspaper titled “A Call For Unity”. These clergymen criticized Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., saying that his demonstrations were “unwise and untimely.” Urging their black citizens to withdraw their support from the demonstrations being led by Dr. King, an “outsider”, so they said. To solve the problems of racial…

can be seen in his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” when he says, “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws”. Taking ideas from St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther King Jr. states that the segregation laws in place were not actually laws because they allowed White Americans…

With influence from Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas is said to be one of the most influential thinkers of medieval scholasticism. A man who was once a simple theologian, became the founder of many teachings within the Catholic church. Starting as the youngest son of a family within lower nobility, St. Thomas Aquinas will end his life as an ordained teacher of theology and will have developed ideas of God. Most of his philosophical ideas and teachings come from his search for the existence and true…

tyrants, the ones that make you love other things more than God and the ones that oppose the divine laws. These laws should never be followed because according to the Acts the Apostles said that we have to obey God instead of men. In this document Aquinas gives three objections concerning these laws. The first objection he makes is that that human law never stays in a man’s mind because a person with a weaker power can’t enforce power on a higher one and that also…

actual existence of God. Saint Thomas Aquinas was one such philosopher, and created 5 intriguing arguments for the existence of God. Each argument is compelling and interesting; however, it is only the first four that are known as the cosmological arguments. Although the fifth argument, the teleological argument, is worth reading, we will be giving the four cosmological arguments our attention. In this essay, not only will we will discuss the arguments from motion,…

many arguments presented to the existence of God. The following are simply three examples that speak to the reality of an all-powerful being. The three arguments that are being covered are as follows: Thomas Aquinas’ Five Ways, Anselm’s ontological argument, and the teleological argument. Aquinas’ argument covers a variety of arguments including the cosmological arguments, perfect argument, and the end argument. Anselm’s argument covers ontology which includes the conception of God. The final…

Aquinas was born in approximately 1225, in Italy (Stangroom 24). His main beliefs included proof of God and the relationship of science and religion, both of which are supported in Life of Pi. In his book, James Stangroom tells how Aquinas believed that “Nothing, though, is a cause of itself; rather, causes are causes of other things, their distinct effects.” (Stangroom…

Thomas Aquinas was an extremely influential philosopher in the 11th century, and one of the many theories he was known for was the “five ways”. The first way, which I will be endorsing, is a practical observation regarding all motions in the world. An unmoved mover exists in all of our lives, any motion that takes place in the universe has an external force acting on it, everything has the potentiality and actuality to change; however, as you continue to back track to what caused originally…

Aquinas’ Cosmological argument, which is proving whether or not God exists through observations in the sensible realm, does not prove the existence of a God for many reasons. I will attempt to show at least two. Both stem from Aquinas not knowing more of the world, Or being unable to apply that knowledge. Aquinas believed that you could prove things through observing with the senses. In other words he followed the discipline of philosophy as perceived by Aristotle. His line of thinking…

Aquinas writes “Summas Theologae” (often referred to as just “Summa”). In his writing he quotes multiple readings from the bible to help come to the final decision on whether war is right or wrong. In his opening point Aquinas quotes, “All who draw the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26.52). This draws his conclusion of “Every kind of war, then, is unlawful” (Encounters in World History, p. 110). Aquinas’ does have the right idea because the scripture…