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 THOMISM

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THOMISM

said a thousand times, and yet, it would seem, not often enough, that we by no means include the doc- trine of St. Thomas in our condemnation." An ac- count of these attacks and defences will be found in the following works: Echard, "Script, ord. pra;d.", I, 279 (Paris, 1719); De Rubeis, "Diss, crit.", Diss. XXV, xxvi, I, p. cclxviii; Leonine edit. Works of St. Thomas; Denifle, "Chart, univ. Paiis" (Paris, 1S90-91), I, 543, 558, 566; II, 6, 280; Duplessis d'Argentre, "CoUectio judiciorum de novis errori- bus" (3 vols., Paris, 1733-36), I, 175 sqq.; Du Bou- lay, "Hist. univ. Par.", IV, 205, 436, 618, 622, 627; Jourdain, "La phil. de s. Thomas d'Aquin" (Paris, 1858), II, i; Douais, "Es.sai sur I'organization des Etudes dans I'ordre des ff. prechcurs" (Paris and Toulouse, 1884), 87 sqq.; Mortier, "Hist, des mattres gen. de I'ordre des fT. prech.", II, 115-142, 571; "Acta cap. gen. ord. pr;ed. ", ed. Reichert (9 vols., Rome, 1893-1904, II; Turner, "Hist, of Phil." (Bos- ton, 1903), xx.\ix.

B. Progress of Thomism. — The general chapter of the Dominican Order, held at Carcassonne in 1342, declared that the doctrine of St. Thomas had been received as sound and solid throughout the world (Douais, op. eit., 106). His works were consulted from the time they became known, and by the middle of the fourteenth century his "Summa theologica" had supplanted the "Libri quatuor sententiarum" of Peter Lombard as the text -book of theology in the Dominican schools. With the growth of the order and the widening of its influence Thomism spread throughout the world; St. Thomas became the great master in the universities and in the studia of the re- ligiousorders(seeEncyc.".'EtcrniPatris"ofLcoXIII). The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries saw Thomism in a triumphal march which led to the crowning of St. Thomas as the Prince of Theologians, when his "Summa" was laid beside the Sacred Scriptures at the Council of Trent, and St. Pius V, in 1.567, pro- claimed him a Doctor of the Universal Church. The publication of the "Plana" edition of his works, in 1570, and the multipucation of editions of the "Opera omnia" and of the "Summa" during the seventeenth century and part of the eighteenth show that Tho- mism flourished during that period. In fact it was dur- ing that period that some of the great commentators (for example, Suarez, Sylvius, and BiUuart) adapted his works to the needs of the times.

C. Decline of Seholnsticism and of Thomism. — Ciradually, however, during the .seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there came .a decline in the study of the works of the great Scholastics. Scholars be- lieved that there was need of a new .system of studies, and, instead of building upon and around Scholasti- cism, they drifted away from it. The chief causes which brought about the change were Protestantism, Humanism, the study of nature, and the French Revolution. Positive theology was considered more nece.s.sary in discussions with the Protestants than Scholastic definitions and divisions. Elegance of dic- tion was sought by the Humanists in the Greek and Latin Classics, rather than in the works of the Scholas- tics, many of whom were far from being masters of style. The discoveries of Copernicus (d. 1.543), Kep- ler (d. 1631), Galilei (d. 1642), and Newton (d. 1727) were not favourably received by the Scholastics. The experimental sciences were in honour; the Scholastics, including St. Thomas, were neglected (cf. Turner, op. cit., 43.3). Finally, the French Revolution disor- ganized all ecclesia-stical studies, dealing to Thomism a blow from which it did not fully recover until the last quarter of the nineteenth century. At the time when Billuart fd. 17.57) published his "Summa Sancti Thoma; hodiemis academiarum moribus ac- comodata" Thomism still held an important pl.aoe in all theological discussion. The tremendous upheaval which disturbed Europe from 1798 to 1815 affected the

Church as well as the State. The University of Lou- vain, which had been largely Thomistic, was compelled to close its doors, and other important institutions of learning were either closed or seriously hampered in their work. The Dominican Order, which naturally had supplied the most ardent Thomists, was crushed in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium. The province of Holland was almost destroyed, whilst the provinces of Austria and Italy were left to struggle for their very existence. The University of Manila (1645) continued to teach the doctrines of St. Thomas and in due time gave to the world Cardinal Zephy- rinus Gonzdlez, O.P., who contributed in no small de- gree to the revival of Thomism under Leo XIII.

D. Dislinclive Doctrines of Thomism in General. — (1) In Philosophy, (a) The angels and human souls are without matter, but every material composite be- ing {compositwn) has two parts, prime matter and substantial form. In a composite being which has substantial unity and is not merely an aggregate of distinct units, there can be but one substantial form. The substantial form of man is his soul (aninw. ra- iionali-s) to the exclusion of any other soul and of any other substantial form. The principle of individua- tion, for material composites, is matter with its dimen- sions: without this there can be no merely numerical multiphcation: distinction in the form makes specific distinction: hence there cannot be two angels of the same species, (b) The essences of things do not de- pend on the free will of God, but on His intellect, and ultimately on His essence, which is immutable. The natural law, being derived from the eternal law, de- pends on the mind of God, ultimately on the essence of God; hence it is intrinsically imnuitable. Some actions are forbidden by God because they are bad: they are not bad simply because He forbids them [see Zigiiara, "Sum. phil." (3 vols., Paris, 1889), ccx, xi, 11, M. 23, 24, 25]. (c) The will moves the intellect quoad exerciliiim, i. e. in its actual operation: the in- tellect moves the will quoad specificationein, i. e. by presenting objects to it: ?iil volilum nisi jTrercognHum.. The beginning of all our acts is the apprehension and desire of good in general (bonum in corimnmi). We desire happiness (bonum in communi) naturally and necessarily, not by a free dehberate act. Particular goods (bona parlicularia) we choose freely; and the will is a blind faculty, always following the last prac- tical judgment of the intellect (Zigiiara, 51). (d) The senses and the intellect arc passive, i. e. recipient, faculties; they do not create, but receive (i. e. per- ceive) their objects (St. Thomas, I, Q. Ixxviii, a. 3; Q. Ixxix, a. 2; Zigiiara, 26, 27). If this principle is borne in mind there is no reason for Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason". On the other hand those faculties are not like wax, or the sensitive plate used by photog- raphers, in the sense that they are inert and receive impressions unconsciously. The will controls the ex- ercise of the faculties, and the process of acquiring knowledge is a vital process: the moving cau.se is always within the living agent, (e) The Peripatetic axiom: "Nihil est in intellcctu quod non prius in sensu" (Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses), is admitted; but St. Thomas modifies it by saying: first, that, once the sense objects have been perceived, the intellect ascends to the knowledge of higher things, even of C!od; and, secondly, that the soul knows its own existence by itself (i. e. by its own act), although it knows its own nature only by re- flection on its acts. Knowledge begins by sense per- ception, but the range of the intellect is far beyond that of the senses. In the soul as soon as it begins to act are foimd the first jirinciples (prima principin) of all knowledge, n<it in the form of an objective illu- mination, but in the form of a subjective inclination to admit them on account of their evidence. As soon as they are proposed we see that they are true; there is no more reason for doubting them than there is for