Episode 48: Jennifer Frey discusses the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Hello and welcome to Elucidations, a philosophy podcast recorded at the University of Chicago. I'm Matt Teichman.
And I'm Mark Hopwood.
With us today is Jennifer Frey, Harper Schmidt Fellow and Collegiate Assistant Professor of the Humanities at the University of Chicago. And she is here to discuss the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. Jennifer Frey, welcome.
Thank you for having me.
I think the obvious question to begin with here is who was Thomas Aquinas?
Sure, I think it's important to keep distinct our contemporary understanding of Aquinas and so far as we have one and who Aquinas was in his time. We tend to think of Aquinas as the quintessential Catholic theologian, the man whose work was set alongside the Bible at the Council of Trent. that sort of most important Reformation Council which really defined Catholic doctrine until Vatican too. And that was not the way that his own contemporaries understood him. I mean, it's very important to keep in mind that Some of Aquinas was condemned by the Archbishop of Paris. Aquinas taught at the University of Paris, and so Aquinas would be very surprised to learn of his own legacy. Aquinas was a medieval philosopher.
He was born in the middle of the thirteenth century in what is now Italy. He was born into a noble family. His family did not want him to be a philosopher, a theologian. They wanted him to be a lawyer, something that would pertain to his class status. But Aquinas decides he wants to become a Dominican, a member of the order of preachers. This was not a popular decision and his mother actually locked him in the attic for quite some time until he came to his senses. But he didn't. And so eventually his family allows him to go to Paris to study with another great medieval philosopher, Albertus Magnus, Albert the Great. And Aquinas goes on to become, you know, Albert's greatest student. He was not an unimportant theologian for his time.
I mean, there were great debates between him and Bonaventure, and you know, the the Dominicans had a sort of very different conception. of man and especially his relation to his passions than the Franciscans did. So there was a general kind of Dominican Franciscan debate which Aquinas was a part of. But he wasn't, you know, the kind of renowned name that he is now. He kind of lived a quiet university life. As a Dominican.
That's really interesting. So we we tend to think of Aquinas as much more part of the establishment than he was in his own time. I mean I guess one question that I would imagine a lot of people might have is Well what's the relevance of someone like Aquinas for us now?
Who was Thomas Aquinas and what was his historical context?
So I mean it's interesting to know that he was not as well accepted in his own time, but nevertheless, He's medieval, as you've said, he's a Catholic theologian. You know, if we're people in the twenty first century, not all of us are Catholics, why is Aquinas someone that we should still be paying attention to? Why should we still be excited about his work?
Right, that's a good question. And I think basically anyone working on Aquinas needs to have a response. Luckily I think the response is pretty easy, so We should read Aquinas, I think, for three basic reasons. The first being that his method of philosophy is exemplary. So if you just look at the Questio format in which he was writing, it seems to me to be the perfect way to do philosophy. So you have a question in general. say it's a question on the simplicity of God and then you divide that question into articles. Say there are eight articles that identify various aspects of this question. And Aquinas approaches each article first by stating objections. So he starts off by making a case for the view opposite of the one that he's actually going to give.
And he'll usually lay out about four or five of these and then he'll say, you know, on the contrary
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:41
2
Who was Thomas Aquinas and what was his historical context?
3:41–7:35
3
Why is Aquinas relevant to contemporary philosophy and ethics?
7:35–11:08
4
What are the three main reasons to read Aquinas today?
11:08–15:42
5
How does Aquinas’ “question‑article‑objection‑response” method work?
15:42–19:49
6
What does it mean to call Aquinas a teleological thinker?
19:49–23:58
7
How does Aquinas apply natural teleology to human ethics and ends?
23:58–28:08
8
What is Aquinas’ view of practical reasoning and prudence?
28:08–31:12
Speakers
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