ETHICAL PRINCIPLES OF SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY

I. Introduction

Most people look at Christianity only as an instrument for spiritual salvation. But little do they know,
Christianity has been an instrument for the longevity of human knowledge and culture. In the period
called the Dark Ages, following the collapse of the once glorious Greco-Roman civilization, the entire
western civilization entered a state of anarchy. As implied by the term “Dark Ages,” there was both a
bankruptcy in human knowledge and human spirituality. The brutish barbarians sacked into ruins
the proud Roman states and colonies, including their important cultural sites. As a result almost all
the works of the great Greek and Roman thinkers were lost and burned into ashes. The ignoble
vandals ravishingly put human civilization at the verge of annihilation.

A sudden spark of light was initiated by the Christian Carolingian Period. This period, spearheaded
by Charlemagne, aimed at reviving education and religion. The so-called Medieval universities were
instituted for the said purpose and from which began the series of revivals of the great philosophical
heritage of the Classical Period. The Patristic Age revived the Platonic philosophy with the aim of
supplementing the treasuries of truth in the Sacred Scriptures. This age believed that faith and
reason complement each other. There were great Patristic philosophers and theologians, such as St.
Augustine, St. Francis. Following this age is the Period of Scholasticism, which revived Aristotelian
philosophy with the same aim of supplementing faith with reason. Under this period were also great
thinkers like John Scotus, Boethius, St. Albertus Magnus, Alexander of Hales, St. Boneventure, Duns
Scotus, William of Ockham, and, the most illustrious of them all, St. Thomas Aquinas.

With its great contribution to the flourish of education and culture, Christianity paved the way for
the renaissance of human civilization.

Part of reviving the civilization is the revitalization and reconstruction of a complete system of ethical
principles. Moral order is essential to all individual and social state of affairs, without which progress
is impossible. We will discuss in this paper one of the most dominant philosophical schools that gave
a complete system of ethical principles for the then budding Christian community – the Scholastic
Philosophy. Thus, we will discuss what is meant by “scholasticism,” its influences and basic
doctrines, and its fundamental ethical principles. Inasmuch as it is the culmination of Scholastic
philosophy, the Thomistic ethical treatise will be the major source of our discussion.
II. What is Scholasticism?

Before going to the details of scholastic ethics, let us first discuss the general features of scholastic
philosophy.
The word “scholasticism” has its roots in the Latin word “schola” which means school. In Latin
medieval universities, the heads of the schools are called “magistris scholarum” (masters of the
schools) or simply “scholastici” (scholastics). These scholastici generally taught dialectic, which is a
philosophical method used to evaluate, analyze, and criticize a dominant philosophical doctrine to
come up with a new and more profound philosophical answer to the pervading questions. During the
Medieval times, the scholastici were recognized as the bearers of authentic philosophical and
theological views. Out of these dialectical teachings of the scholastici or scholastics came the
philosophical tradition known as Scholasticism.

Through their dialectic method, the scholastics tried to synthesize the antithetical realms of reason
and faith, science and religion, pagan philosophy and Christian theology. The Patristic philosophers
(which came before them) also tried to give a synthesis to these opposing realms but they lacked the
technicalities of the dialectic method as that used by the scholastics. While the Patristic philosophers
wrote in the mystical and poetic style of Platonic philosophy, the scholastics wrote in a more
empirical and prosy style of Aristotelian philosophy. These two schools however have the same goal,
i.e. to explain faith through reason and to supplement reason with faith. For them, the revealed
truths in the Bible and the truths found in pagan philosophies ultimately have the same source –
God. Contradiction between these two realms is therefore impossible.

Moreover, Scholasticism highlights two things: first, that there should be a clear delimitation of the
respective domains of philosophy and theology, and; second, that man should guide his faith with his
reason. Unlike the Patristic thinkers who did not give definite limits between philosophical truth and
Biblical (theological) truths, the scholastics, in particular St. Thomas, pointed out that philosophical
truths are known through human reason while theological truths are known through revelation,
thus, putting a clear distinction between the two realms of knowledge.

Reason should guide our faith. This philosophical view is usually associated with rationalism, i.e. the
view that reason reigns supreme in man. Scholastics believe that every human, regardless of his
beliefs, share in humanity through the possession and use of reason, without which man is not man.
Reason has the capability to arrive at indubitable truths, as that achieved by the Aristotelian wisdom.
As rationalists, the scholastics cannot just disregard the evident truths of pagan philosophy
(Aristotelian philosophy). So they assimilated Aristotle’s philosophy in defense of faith. Through this
view, scholastics provided faith with a rational foundation. Undoubtedly, this is one of their
crowning achievements. But just as they trusted human reason, they also believed in the primal
veracity of reveal truth. If God is Truth itself, then His revelations must necessarily be true. Thus a
unique blend is necessary for the scholastics.

III. The Existence of God

One of the bedrocks of our faith is the belief in the existence of God. Through reason, one can prove
that God indeed exists. In this vantage point, reason definitely aids faith.
Adapting Aristotle’s philosophical ideas, St. Thomas proved the existence of God in his
famous Quinque Viae (Five ways).

Aristotle posited that the principle of causality forms one of the foundational building blocks of
human knowledge. Like other principles of thinking (e.g. principle of identity and principle of
contradiction), the principle of causality admits of no proofs and is considered to one of the ultimate
presuppositions for knowing. To question its objective certainty (as Kant did) is to open the door for
subjectivism and universal skepticism. Meaning to say, the denial of the principle of causality may
also mean a declaration that the whole process of human reasoning could be fallacious.

The principle simply states that every effect necessarily has a sufficient reason or cause for its
existence. The emergence of global warming, for example, is an effect, which has the overly excessive
carbon dioxide combustion as its necessary cause. Every thing, event, and occurrence follows the
same fashion. According to Aristotle, one cannot go one to infinity because or else there should have
not been any beginning. Thus the principle of causality admits the existence of a self-sufficient cause
or ground of being to which all physical and mental phenomena ultimately refer. This one ultimate
source of all movements is the supreme first mover, which in itself does not move. It is the
unchanging being whose presence the world responds to. It is the unchanging and unmoving “good”
towards which every being tends and ends. This “Prime Mover,” “First Cause,” “Necessary Being,”
“Perfect Good,” and “Final Cause and Good of all things” is, for Aristotle, God.

Aquinas acknowledged the validity of these arguments and adapted them in his Quinque Viae.
Nevertheless, Aquinas saw their inadequacy in explaining the Christian notion of God. The
Aristotelian God is an impersonal God, which is contrary to the Personal God revealed in the
Scriptures. As a consequence, Thomas developed his “argument from design” with a more Christian
touch. He says that the order in the universe is not simply initiated by an impersonal God from afar
but it is something continually guided by a loving God. God is now seen as a Loving Father who takes
care for his children or as a Shepherd tending his flock.

IV. The History of Creation

The different scholastic accounts are more than just a random list of philosophical and theological
discussions. Faithful to the aim of (Aristotelian) philosophy, the scholastics attempted to give an
orderly and truly universal, rational view of the universe. All of their accounts are meant to explain
the history of the cosmos and provide an outline for the meaning of life itself. St. Thomas’ Summa
Theologica for instance is a sweeping attempt to explain what reality itself is. It is a proposal for the
grand scheme of things.

Founded on purely Christian ideals, the scholastics proposed a history that revolves around the
relationship of God and man, and how man’s reconciliation with God is made possible through
Christ, the Perfect Man. With these ideals, they came up with a cyclic history that begins and also
ends with God. But although their ideals are Christian, they use pagan concepts (Aristotelian) in
explaining the intricate details of the existence of God and man. God’s existence, as was seen above,
is explained through Aristotelian philosophy. And man’s ultimate end is also based on the
Aristotelian teleological philosophy of happiness.

Adopting St. Thomas’ treatise in Summa Theologica, we can diagram the history of creation as
follows:

  

When we say that everything begins with the existence of God, it does not mean that at a point in
time, God suddenly came into being and from there everything also came into being. Rather, God’s
essence is to exist so that He does not have a beginning or an end. He is outside the limiting
dimensions of space and time or, as the philosophers state, He is eternal. Now from His existence
comes the existence of the material world. This emanation of reality from the Divine is what we call
creation.

Scholastic discussions in ethics are situated in this grandiose scheme. For this reason, our own
discussions will be patterned after this diagram. It is also important to note that because of its strictly
theistic nature, scholastic ethics or morality cannot be separated with religion. Unlike the modern
ethical treatises, scholastic ethics firmly believes that the moral order is ultimately founded in the
Divine Ordination of things.
V. Man as an Image of God
The proofs of the existence of God are not intended for metaphysical or cosmological uses only. They
have direct application to human ethics. In Thomistic ethics, man could only be understood under
the context of being an “Image of God.” In Summa Theologica, St. Thomas wrote:
“Man is made to God’s image, and since this implies, so Damacene tells
us, that he is intelligent and free to judge and master of himself, so then,
now that we have agreed that God is the exemplar cause of things and
that they issue from his power through his will, we go on to look at this
image, that is to say, at man as the source of actions which are his own
and fal under his responsibility and control.”[1]
God is not only the efficient cause of man (the agent that caused man’s existence) but also his
exemplar cause (the agent towards which man’s essence conforms and participates). Man’s very
ontological constitution and mode of living a meaningful life, by way of intelligence, freedom, and
mastery over himself, are all rooted in his being an image of God. Thus, for the scholastics (St.
Thomas in particular), an ethical life can only be a life in conformity with the life of God.

VI. Virtue and Happiness

In the Summa Theologica, St. Thomas highlighted how the human intellect guides the will
towards the “Good,” who is God Himself. Since God is the Good towards which man craves to be
with, human practical reason dictates that man should follow the example of His being, which is
perfection. Thus man seeks the best way of living. Using Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, the
scholastics saw the different virtues as a rational way towards the Good. Although the scholastics
agree with Aristotle that the good towards which every man intends is Happiness, they added that
this Happiness is no other else than God Himself (thus going beyond nature itself).

Man is said to lie in between divinity and brutishness. This is because man has, in his nature,
rationality and animality. Inasmuch as rationality (which is purely present in the Divine) has
superiority over animality (which is present in brutes), reason must reign supreme in man. Since it is
only the intellect that knows what is truly good from what is only apparent, it must guide instinctual
passions and appetites toward what is truly good. And one of the principles of practical reason is to
always act in moderation. This is the basic presupposition of a virtue; it always stands in the middle.

Before going to the different virtues, it is important to discuss the different powers or
faculties in man. Man cannot be otherwise but composed of body and soul. Like the animals, the
body of man is governed by the laws of nature. On the other hand, the soul (according to Thomistic
psychology) is considered as the principle of life without which the body ceases to exist. Meaning to
say, the soul governs the acts and movements of the body. Like Aristotle, the scholastics identify two
powers in the soul: the appetitive or irrational power and rational power. By means of the rational
powers, we know the truth about things. The rational faculty has two parts – the practical and the
contemplative. The practical part determines the proper act and ends of man. It is firmly connected
to the appetitive powers of the soul inasmuch as it guides human desires and passions. This firm
connection between practical reason and the appetitive faculty, together with the contemplative
activity of the rational faculty, differentiates us from the animals. Following Aristotelian ethics, the
scholastics taught that the right habitual use of practical reason creates moral virtues; and the
habitual practice of contemplation, of course functioning in accordance with its proper excellence, is
the highest form of intellectual virtue. Through these virtues one can achieve eudaimonia or
happiness.
Contemplative part, on the other, has for its object the higher things beyond itself. It is
through the contemplative activities of the soul that man shares with the perfection of higher beings.
Thus, the theoretical or contemplative part seems more favorable than practical because it is closer
to the Divine. In here man transcends himself and becomes like a god.

While for Aristotle true happiness is achieved by living a virtuous life, the scholastics believe
that true happiness is achieved only through the beatific vision. Happiness does not end in living a
moral life or achieving human excellence on earth, but rather it comes into completion in one’s union
with God. The happiness in living a moral life is just a means towards the happiness in the after life.

Moreover, Scholastics also added to Aristotelian virtues such notions as Duty, Sin, Sovereign
Lawgiver and Judge, Reward and Punishment in a life to come. As seen by the scholastics, the
Aristotelian road to happiness (virtue) is also a path of duty. For Aristotle, if a man does not want to
be rationally happy, he is said to be a fool and thus falls short of living an excellent life. For the
scholastics, one the other, if a man will not take the road of rational happiness then he is a
lawbreaker. He breaks the law which is discovered and formulated by reason, but imprinted in his
nature by the Supreme Designer and Divine Legislator of the universe – God.
VI. Final Words

Christianity has been a very important tool for the conservation and development of human
culture and education. It has perpetuated the important philosophical teachings of the Greeks by
adapting and using them to explain Christian beliefs. It has also instituted places that have served for
centuries as repositories of knowledge. Medieval universities did not only serve as a storage for
philosophical works, but they also produced one of the best philosophical schools ever created by
man – Scholasticism. And one of the best philosophers produced by scholasticism was St. Thomas
Aquinas

As a philosopher of history, St. Thomas viewed history as a cyclic process that starts and ends
with God. St. Thomas presented this view again through Aristotelian philosophy but substantiated it
with the revealed truths of the Bible.

That man is made into the image and likeness of God grounds the Thomistic philosophy of
man and ethics. Man cannot, according to St. Thomas, live ethically unless he conforms and patterns
himself to the life of God.

If there’s one thing you need to remember about Scholastic (Thomistic) Ethics, it is its
reverence for man’s faculty of reason. Although he was a devote Catholic, St. Thomas did not
condemn Aristotle, a pagan, because he found truth in Aristotle’s words. Reason binds all men
together. Regardless of the heterogeneity of its source, reason has one final destination – truth. All
rational beings who exercise their reason to its fullest will arrive at this common destination. St.
Thomas affirms the correctness of Aristotelian philosophy, but he also affirms the veracity of the
revealed truths in the Bible. So he ingenuously constructed a philosophy that beautifully tied the two
together without any contradiction.