Thomism

When it comes to the existence of God, there are many arguments. Some say that God does not exist while others try to explain how the universe was created. Saint Thomas Aquinas gives a cosmological view on whether God exists. In his article, Whether God Exists, he provides five arguments to support his view. The first article talks about motion. Just like the Myth of the Cave the prisoners used their senses to survive on a daily basis. Your senses prove that things are in motion. This shows the difference between potential and actual motion. One wants to know how something can move on its own. For example, a ball rolling down a hill. How does anything move on its own without something causing it to move? Is God moving it? Can God also be motion? The answer is such “anything should be both moved and mover, or should it move itself” (Saint Thomas Aquinas, 1911). The second argument is efficient causes. Nothing exists before it is itself; something was created originally. Where there is a cause, there is an effect. But if the efficient cause does not exist, there will be no results. The first efficient cause would be the name of God. If the cause goes into the past to infinity, nothing would exist in the world at this time. If the first cause does not happen, there would be on sequels to any event. The third argument is possibility and necessity. There will always be two types of objects. We have to look at everything like a contingent being; unable to exist without a…

There have been many arguments made over the years that are designed to show proof for God’s existence or a lack thereof. Thirteenth century philosopher St Thomas Aquinas is one of those people who formed their own argument supporting God’s existence. The Five Ways, as he called them, were designed to in five different ways prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there is in fact a God who subsists all around the world. The “Argument from Possibility and Necessity”, the third of Aquinas’ ways is…

because of random chance, as opposed to something creating it with a specific design or purpose in mind. For intelligent design, God created the universe and everything in it, and God intervenes in nature frequently and indefinitely. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is a fundamental conflict between science and religion. This is due to the contradiction between the divine truth and the scientific truth. Intelligent design says that it is not compatible with science because if the divine…

During her summer holiday in 1921 Stein read St. Teresa of Àvila’s biography. This reading prompted her to convert to Catholicism on January 1, 1922. Although she was eager to seek entry to the religious life she was dissuaded by her spiritual advisors, who instead encouraged her to take a teaching position at a Dominican nuns’ school. Here she translated St. Thomas of Aquainas' works, studied Roman Catholic philosophy, and tried to bridge her preexisting beliefs with Thomism: the…

Perennialism Perennialism is a psychology whose main basics is to in simulate western civilization fundamentals as present day teaching mechanisms. As an idea, perennialism’s objective is to create a system of unchanging information (Educational Philosophies Definition and Comparison Chart pg. 1). Education is based on the essential understanding of recurring to the past and to reason and faith. Mostly neo-Thomism has been most apparent in perennialism, but idealism and realism have also been…

Aptly titled, Carpenter aims to explain Thomas Aquinas’ philosophical approach to God in her article “The Philosophical Approach to God in Thomism”. She demonstrates how Aquinas defines the relationship between the human being and God. Her article also showcases the relation between God and the concepts of perfection and truth, with the latter two being factors to justify his existence. Despite being a dated scholarly article, Carpenter provides a knowledgeable insight into Thomas Aquinas method…

his summa theologic. Unlike Machiavelli who offers only partial ideas limited by cynicism, Aquinas shows how humans are linked to creation and what it means for such creatures to co-exist in a temporally finite reality. Through virtue humans create a path that leads to the attainment of happiness in the totality of human life, and by totality we expand human existence to a horizon that spans to the eternal hereafter. Thomas Aquinas is the father of Thomism and the foremost classical proponent…

Essentialism Essentialism sees the primary function of the school as the preservation and transmission of the basic elements of human culture. It emphasizes (1) a return to systematic subjects, (2) learning as the mastery of basic skills and knowledge, (3) the teacher as a mature representative of the culture and someone who is competent in both subject matter and instruction, (4) education as preparation for work and citizenship, and (5) the preservation of the school's academic function. Above…

themselves, are the best resource to educate students about the Catholic faith. Ultimately, schools are a resource to help students find their vocation in life by learning about a variety of subject matter, and how it all ties back to Christ. Students should be educated on how and why they should desire Heaven. A curriculum that is centered on Catholic values and tradition would be ideal, and Constructivist approaches could be tied in nicely to teach this curriculum. However, this is not…

Perennialism Perennialism asserts certain principles that are foundational to its educational objectives. Among them are the following: (1) permanence is of a greater reality than change; (2) the universe is orderly and patterned; (3) the basic features of human nature reappear in each generation regardless of time or place; (4) human nature is universal in its essential characteristics; (5) like human nature, the basic goals of education are universal and timeless; (6) the human being's…