St.

Thomas Aquinas
Saint Thomas Aquinas was a Catholic Priest in the Dominican Order
and one of the most important Medieval philosophers and
theologians. He was immensely influenced by scholasticism and
Aristotle and known for his synthesis of the two aforementioned
traditions. Although he wrote many works of philosophy and theology
throughout his life, his most influential work is the Summa
Theologica which consists of three parts.
The first part is on God. In it, he gives five proofs for God's existence
as well as an explication of His attributes. He argues for the actuality
and incorporeality of God as the unmoved mover and describes how
God moves through His thinking and willing.
The second part is on Ethics. Thomas argues for a variation of the
Aristotelian Virtue Ethics. However, unlike Aristotle, he argues for a
connection between the virtuous man and God by explaining how the
virtuous act is one towards the blessedness of the Beatific Vision
(beata visio).
The last part of the Summa is on Christ and was unfinished when Thomas died. In it, he shows how
Christ not only offers salvation, but represents and protects humanity on Earth and in Heaven. This part
also briefly discusses the sacraments and eschatology. The Summa remains the most influential of
Thomass works and is mostly what will be discussed in this overview of his philosophy

Writings of St. Aquinas:

The writings of Thomas may be classified as: (1) exegetical, homiletical, and liturgical; (2) dogmatic,
apologetic, and ethical; and (3) philosophical. Among the genuine works of the first class were:
Commentaries on Job (1261-65); on Psalms, according to some a reportatum, or report of speeches
furnished by his companion Raynaldus; on Isaiah; the Catena aurea, which is a running commentary
on the four Gospels, constructed on numerous citations from the Fathers; probably a Commentary on
Canticles, and on Jeremiah; and wholly or partly reportata, on John, on Matthew, and on the epistles
of Paul; including, according to one authority, Hebrews i.-x. Thomas prepared for Urban IV: Officium
de corpore Christi (1264); and the following works may be either genuine or reportata: Expositio
angelicce salutationis; Tractatus de decem praeceptis; Orationis dominico expositio; Sermones pro
dominicis diebus et pro sanctorum solemnitatibus; Sermones de angelis, and Sermones de
quadragesima. Of his sermons only manipulated copies are extant. In the second division were: In
quatitor sententiarum libros, of his first Paris sojourn; Questiones disputatce, written at Paris and
Rome; Questiones quodlibetales duodecini; Summa catholicce fidei contra gentiles (1261-C,4);
andthe Summa theologica. To the dogmatic works belong also certain commentaries, as follows:
Expositio in librum beati Dionysii de divinis nominibits; Expositiones primoe et secundce; In Boethii
libros de hebdomadibus; and Proeclare quoestiones super librum Boethii de trinitate. A large number
ofopuscitla also belonged to this group. Of philosophical writings there are cataloged thirteen
commentaries on Aristotle, besides numerous philosophical opuscula of which fourteen are classed
as genuine.

St. Augustin
St. Augustine is a fourth century philosopher whose groundbreaking
philosophy infused Christian doctrine with Neoplatonism. He is famous
for being an inimitable Catholic theologian and for his agnostic
contributions to Western philosophy. He argues that skeptics have no
basis for claiming to know that there is no knowledge. In a proof for
existence similar to one later made famous by Ren Descartes,
Augustine says, [Even] If I am mistaken, I am. He is the first Western
philosopher to promote what has come to be called "the argument by
analogy" against solipsism: there are bodies external to mine that
behave as I behave and that appear to be nourished as mine is
nourished; so, by analogy, I am justified in believing that these bodies
have a similar mental life to mine. Augustine believes reason to be a
uniquely human cognitive capacity that comprehends deductive truths
and logical necessity. Additionally, Augustine adopts a subjective view of
time and says that time is nothing in reality but exists only in the human
minds apprehension of reality. He believes that time is not infinite
because God created it.
Augustine tries to reconcile his beliefs about freewill, especially the belief that humans are morally
responsible for their actions, with his belief that ones life is predestined. Though initially optimistic about
the ability of humans to behave morally, at the end he is pessimistic, and thinks that original sin makes
human moral behavior nearly impossible: if it were not for the rare appearance of an accidental and
undeserved Grace of God, humans could not be moral. Augustines theological discussion of freewill is
relevant to a non-religious discussion regardless of the religious-specific language he uses; one can
switch Augustines omnipotent being and original sin explanation of predestination for the present day
biology explanation of predestination; the latter tendency is apparent in modern slogans such as
biology is destiny.
Miscellaneous Works:
Those written after 395 and named in the Retractationes, may be classified under three headsexegetical works; minor dogmatic, polemical, and practical treatises; and a separate class
containing four more extensive works of special importance. The earliest of the minor treatises is
De catechizandis rudibus (about 400), interesting for its connection with the history of catechetical
instruction and for many other reasons. A brief enumeration of the others will suffice; they are: De
opera monachorum (about 400); De bono conjugali and De sancta virginitate (about 401), both
directed against Jovinian's depreciation of virginity; De deviation damonum (between 406 and
411); De fide et operibus (413), a completion of the argument in the De spiritu et litera, useful for
a study of the difference between the Augustinian and the Lutheran doctrines of grace; De cura
pro mortuis, interesting as showing his attitude toward superstition within the Church; and a few
others of less interest. We come now to the four works which have deserved placing in a special
category. One is the De doctrina christiana (begun about 397, finished 426), important as giving
his theory of scriptural interpretation and homiletics; another is the Enchiridion de fide, spe, et
caritate (about 421), noteworthy as an attempt at a systematic collocation of his thoughts. There
remain the two doctrinal masterpieces, the De trinitate (probably begun about 400 and finished
about 416) and the De civitate Dei (begun about 413, finished about 426). The last-named,
beginning with an apologetic purpose, takes on later the form of a history of the City of God from
its beginnings.