Curriculum
for University
faculties of Theology, Law, Medicine
Seven liberal arts: pre-university studies
Trivium:
grammar (Latin)
rhetoric (persuasive speaking)
dialectics (science of argument, includes
logic (science of reasoning)
Quadrivium: arithmetic, music, astronomy, geometry
1260
translation of Aristotle’s Politics into Latin
from Arabic,
not directly from Greek
Scholastic
project: reconciliation of faith (Scripture)
and reason (Aristotle)
Argumentation as central to scholastic
approach
public debates, degree candidates defend thesis
truth determined by reasoned debate, but within the
limits of orthodox doctrine
anti-heretical motive: persuade heretics to convert
Syllogistic
reasoning: once premises are accepted,
conclusion follows logically.
Major
premise: All men are rational.
Minor premise: Socrates is a man.
Conclusion: Socrates is rational.
Thomas Aquinas, O.P.
Summa Theologica 13th C.
encyclopedic “summary” of all theological issues
Part I: On God
Part II: On Creation (including man)
Part III: Redemption (after fall of Adam)
Basic organization of Summa
= quaestio (question)
example: “Whether God exists?
structure of the quaestio
Objections: “It seems that God does not exist...”
“On the contrary”: correct answer comes from faith,
citation of authority, either from Scripture ("I am who am.")
early Christian writers (such as Augustine)
or Aristotle (on nature & philosophy)
Answer: “I answer that...” Aquinas brings reason
to bear on proving the truths of Scripture;
offers various proofs for God’s existence,
variations on idea of “First Cause” (chain of causality)
Response to objections: goes back to answer the
initial objections one by one.
Scholastic proof: rational,
logical, authoritative
synthesis of Christian faith & classical reason
formal definition of truth to combat heresy
Ontology: science of being
Metaphysics: philosophical study of nature of things
traditionally includes ontology, cosmology
Great Chain of Being:
hierarchy of being from God to matter
God as pure being
Angels as pure spirit (“intellectual substances”)
moral nature may be good (angels)
or bad (fallen angels or demons)
Man as combination of body & soul, matter & spirit
Animals
Plants
Rocks
Thomas Aquinas on the powers of demons:
“From where do the works of magicians derive efficacy (power)?”
Divination: fortune telling = intellectual response
so source must be an “intellectual substance” (angel)
but since magic used for illicit purposes, it must be
“not good accordingly to virtue,” i.e. bad angel or demon
Can devils work miracles?
not true miracles like those of God
but they can do things that look like miracles to men
Diabolical Pact as source of all
magical effects
explicit pact: calling directly on demon for assistance
implicit pact: any magical procedure is implicitly diabolical
because all magical effects come from Devil
Diabolical “aerial body”:
devil is spirit, but can assume an “aerial body”
which looks like a body to a human being; in this manner he can
have sex with humans, varying his sex to suit theirs; as a
Succubus (female body) has sex with men & collects their sperm; as
Incubus (male body) has sex with women;
uses
male sperm to impregnate them