Abelard and Aquinas Essay - 713 Words

Peter Abelard was a renowned dialectician from 1079 to 1142. He subjected theological doctrines to logical analysis. In other words, he used rational argument to discover truth. Saint Thomas Aquinas, was a believer in the power of reason, giving St. Augustines theory an alternate approach. He taught in Paris and Italy during the years 1225 to 1274. Both of these new age thinkers changed the way Catholic followers viewed the natural world. Peter Abelard was one of the new thinkers that applied scholasticism to his theological aspects. According to the excerpt Scholastic thinkers assumed that some teachings of Christianity, which thy accepted as true by faith, could also be demonstrated to be true by reason (238). Peter†¦show more content†¦His greatest work was Summa Theologica. In this work he attempted to merge faith with reason, and the works of Aristotle with the scriptures. Historically, he is seen as an alternate approach to St. Augustines view of the city of man versus the city of God. Augustine and Aquinas shared the belief that the original sin was Adam and Eves venture through the garden of good and evil. On page 239, Aquinas held that both faith and reason came from God, they were not in opposition to each other; properly understood, they supported each other.. He did not want people to shun the idea of reason, he wanted the world to see that it was not evil. Combining Christianity with Aristotelian knowledge, he shed light upon the difficulty to distinguish common ground between the natural world and the supernatural world. The excerpt is divided into two different sections, Whether, Besides the Philosophical Sciences, Any Further Doctrine Is Required? and Whether God Exists?. In the second section he proves five ways God exists by using Aristotles technique in philosophy, they are motion, nature of efficient cause, possibility and necessity, the graduation to be found in things, and the governance of the world. The way he words his logic is extremely confusing. For example, Now it is not possible that the same thing should be at one in actuality and potentiality in the same respect, but only in different respects. For what is actually hot cannotShow MoreRelatedThe Main Controversies of Medieval Thought in the 12th and 13th Centuries1050 Words   |  5 Pagesthat the two truths of faith and reason were irreconcilable. Maimonides was at the same time an orthodox Jew and a firm adherent to Aristotelian philosophy. He was therefore in the same position as his Christian counterparts, particularly Thomas Aquinas, and faced the problem of combining the two. The result of his meditations on the issue is expressed in his Guide of the Perplexed, which appeared in approximately 1190. Maimonides stated that since God was responsible for the existence of both faithRead MoreMontaigne and Augustine1359 Words   |  6 Pagesorder to begin to find peace and wholeness with God. Thus it matters greatly as to whom we side with for that decision is truly a reflection of how we see the human state to be; inherently good or inherently evil. Through the eyes of Thomas Aquinas and Rene Descartes, we shall take in the landscape of Medieval and Renaissance philosophy in a micro/macro cosmic relationship that is, how their philosophies mirrored the thoughts and feelings of the given period. On one hand, an aspect of medievalRead More Christinaity In Middle Ages Essay1143 Words   |  5 PagesThis led to a greater desire for knowledge, and the beginning of Scholasticism, which was the theory of conforming classical philosophy and Christian faith. Peter Abelard was a forerunner of conceptual discovery by studying and organizing philosophies that would answer the questions of Scholasticism. In addition to Abelard, St. Thomas Aquinas created the Summa Theologica where he confirmed the foundations of faith. People embraced these theories because they allowed people to investigate their faithRead More Middle Ages Essay712 Words   |  3 Pagesschools gave towns lawyers, judges and capable local officials. Other schools like the University of Paris taught scholars literature and theology. The breed of Renaissance thinking was most likely developed in such places. Scholars like Peter Abelard and Thomas Aquinas led an interest in the study of classical Greek and Roman philoso phy. This interest, along with challenged perspectives of the time eventually led to modern science. Guilds, as afore-mentioned, were monopolistic practices over certain tradesRead MoreEssay on Discussion of the Existence of God767 Words   |  4 Pagesreligion reasons. On the other hand, other people do not believe in God existence and they have based their proven by many theories and scientific points. Many people have tried to prove Gods existence with rational argument. Like Aquinas, Abelard, Pascal, Anselm and Paley are a few that have attempted this. These approaches are of limited helpfulness, for though we can approach God with our reason and detect him in nature. More importantly, these logical proofs for Gods existence Read MoreTypes Of Christian Ethics By H.richard Niebuhr1677 Words   |  7 Pagesregarded as republications of the law of reason or nature† (22). In that way, the Christian values learned from Jesus are accommodated to the values of moral reason. Historical exemplars of this attitude include the Clement of Alexandria , Peter Abelard , the eighteenth-century rationalists (i.e., John Locke ),and liberal theologians (i.e., Fredrich Schleiermacher) and cultural Protestant theologians of the 18th and 19th centuries (i.e., Albrecht Ritschl). (2.3)-(2.5): The Median Types (ppRead MoreIs Proof Needed in Order for God to Exist2258 Words   |  10 Pagesthis may be enough evidence for most people to some all this evidence would be worthless, because the person has already concluded that ghost or spirits do not exist. Of course many have tried to prove Gods existence with rational arguments. Aquinas, Abelard, Anselm, Pascal, and Paley are a few that have attempted this. These approaches are of limited helpfulness, for though we can approach God with our reason and detect Him in nature, he cannot be fully grasped in this way. More importantly, theseRead Morehistory of philosophy5031 Words   |  21 Pagesstarting from effects and reasoning up to their causes. This took the form of the  cosmological argument, conventionally attributed to  St. Thomas Aquinas. The argument roughly is that everything that exists has a cause. But since there could not be an infinite chain of causes back into the past, there must have been an uncaused first cause. This is God. Aquinas also adapted this argument to prove the goodness of God. Everything has some goodness, and the cause of each thing is better than the thing causedRead MoreBranches of Philosophy8343 Words   |  34 Pagesits relation to various polit ical systems[8]. In this period the crucial features of the philosophical method were established: a critical approach to received or established views, and the appeal to reason and argumentation. [pic] [pic] St. Thomas Aquinas [edit] Medieval philosophy (c. A.D. 500–c. 1350) Main article: Medieval philosophy Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Western Europe and the Middle East during what is now known as the medieval era or the Middle Ages, roughly extending fromRead MorePhilosophy and Christian Theology8519 Words   |  35 Pagesof the Christian faith. Thus, the legitimacy of philosophy was derived from the legitimacy of the underlying faith commitments. Into the High Middle Ages, Augustine s views were widely defended. It was during this time however that St. Thomas Aquinas described another model for the relationship between philosophy and theology. According to the Thomistic model, philosophy and theology are distinct enterprises. The primary difference between the two is their intellectual starting points. Philosophy