Aquinas: We Need Balance In Society
Hey friends,
This is the second of two bonus thinkers that I am going to be publishing on Substack this week. They won’t be emailed, so they will live on the blog/website feature. Enjoy!
St Thomas Aquinas is one of the most influential theologians and philosophers of all time. You deserve to know about Thomas Aquinas — not because of any Christian theology that he did — but because of his attitude to different types of knowledge.
Aquinas thought that we needed to balance the different sources of knowledge in our society.
We can’t just rely on the Bible for everything
While Aquinas was studying at the University of Naples he was amazed at the insight and freedom of Aristotle’s philosophy. Aquinas desperately wanted to value this insight and incorporate the influence into his work. The only problem was that Aristotle had no access to a Bible and therefore could not have contributed anything of any value. Aquinas was one of the first to push against the view that the Bible was the be-all and end-all of human knowledge.
We should take a holistic view of human knowledge
Aquinas decided that he should distinguish between two types of ‘law’. Natural Law and Eternal law. Eternal law was found in the Bible. It included knowledge about, for example, the resurrection of Jesus. Aquinas thought that anyone could realise God’s intentions through Natural Law. That’s the insight that science gives. This was more revolutionary than it may seem. Before Aquinas, it was thought that all human knowledge was in the Bible. Anything else was unnecessary.
Aquinas thought that they were both important
He suggested that we shouldn’t become fixated on objective science or subjective human experience because we need them both. In a time where there was a huge significance on the religious and the Bible, this was important. Aquinas is arguing that we should consider the insights of science alongside our moral or religious lives as well.
Aquinas interests me because of his views on the balance of knowledge. While the superiority of a religious text is no longer a problem, we have swung back in the opposite direction. We value science as our holy grail at the unfortunate expense of the subjective and moral nature of being human. Maybe we should have more art, poetry and philosophy in a mainstream and accessible position. It might give a better balance to society.
I hope you enjoyed this bonus thinker. If you want to read a longer piece about him then you can find it here. Sign up if you want the profiles of thinkers in your inbox once a week.
