WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.379 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. You hand us the 00:00:02.379 --> 00:00:04.540 mountains of source material, the treatises, 00:00:04.599 --> 00:00:07.099 the articles, the dense scholarly notes, and 00:00:07.099 --> 00:00:10.759 in today's case, the actual massive sumas, and 00:00:10.759 --> 00:00:13.599 we go in deep to extract the essential, actionable, 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:16.500 and illuminating insights. Our mission today 00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:19.199 is focused on, well, perhaps the single greatest 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:21.859 intellectual synthesis in the history of Western 00:00:21.859 --> 00:00:24.670 thought. We are charting the astonishing course 00:00:24.670 --> 00:00:27.250 of Thomas Aquinas, the 13th century Dominican 00:00:27.250 --> 00:00:30.050 friar who looked at the seemingly incompatible 00:00:30.050 --> 00:00:32.329 worlds of pagan Greek philosophy and absolute 00:00:32.329 --> 00:00:35.229 Christian theology and decided they weren't enemies. 00:00:35.450 --> 00:00:37.429 But essential partners. Essential integrated 00:00:37.429 --> 00:00:39.409 partners, exactly. Okay, let's try to unpack 00:00:39.409 --> 00:00:42.420 this monumental figure. Thomas Aquinas, who lived 00:00:42.420 --> 00:00:45.979 from about 1225 to 1274. I mean, a lifespan of 00:00:45.979 --> 00:00:48.060 less than 50 years. And when we discuss him, 00:00:48.100 --> 00:00:49.299 we're not just talking about theology. We're 00:00:49.299 --> 00:00:51.520 talking about the foremost solastic thinker whose 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:53.820 ideas became the absolute bedrock for, well, 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:55.939 for so much of Western political thought, ethics, 00:00:56.039 --> 00:00:58.500 economics, metaphysics. The list goes on. That's 00:00:58.500 --> 00:01:00.479 the extraordinary reach of the man. His influence 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:03.380 is so profound and, you know, so far reaching 00:01:03.380 --> 00:01:06.599 that he accumulates these heavy descriptive titles. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:10.260 He is the Dr. Angelicus, the angelic doctor. 00:01:10.310 --> 00:01:13.109 Right. The doctor communis, the universal doctor, 00:01:13.250 --> 00:01:15.450 which indicates his relevance across all academic 00:01:15.450 --> 00:01:18.790 disciplines. And perhaps most fittingly for our 00:01:18.790 --> 00:01:21.750 conversation today, the doctor humanitatis, the 00:01:21.750 --> 00:01:24.730 doctor of humanity for his deep exploration of 00:01:24.730 --> 00:01:27.170 what it means to be human. Our deep dive into 00:01:27.170 --> 00:01:29.310 your sources, and this includes the unfinished 00:01:29.310 --> 00:01:32.349 masterpiece, Summa Theologiae, written between 00:01:32.349 --> 00:01:36.370 1265 and 1274, and his earlier work, Summa Contra 00:01:36.370 --> 00:01:38.609 Gentiles, is really meant to connect these grand 00:01:38.609 --> 00:01:41.609 titles back to the man himself and his revolutionary 00:01:41.609 --> 00:01:43.810 ideas. And here's the initial fact that I think 00:01:43.810 --> 00:01:45.609 has to ground this entire discussion, just to 00:01:45.609 --> 00:01:47.689 show the sheer force of his intellect and will. 00:01:47.930 --> 00:01:50.349 In the two decades before his death, this man 00:01:50.349 --> 00:01:53.709 wrote an estimated 8 million words. 8 million 00:01:53.709 --> 00:01:57.760 words in 20 years. That is an almost unimaginable 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:00.060 output. It is. Especially when you consider the 00:02:00.060 --> 00:02:02.280 conditions of medieval writing. He was constantly 00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:04.719 traveling, dictating to multiple scribes simultaneously. 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:07.680 It's just staggering. It creates a fascinating 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:10.379 contrast then when you realize that this incredibly 00:02:10.379 --> 00:02:13.719 prolific mind was once nicknamed the boss mutus. 00:02:13.860 --> 00:02:17.379 The dumb ox. I love that anecdote. Why? I mean, 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:19.360 why that nickname? Because when he was a student, 00:02:19.500 --> 00:02:23.139 Thomas was famously quiet, reserved, almost painfully 00:02:23.139 --> 00:02:26.419 shy. His peers. just mistook his silence for 00:02:26.419 --> 00:02:29.639 dullness, for slowness. It's so hard to reconcile 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:31.780 that image, you know, the quiet, potentially 00:02:31.780 --> 00:02:34.500 dull student with the man whose body of work 00:02:34.500 --> 00:02:37.199 still anchors entire fields of study today. How 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:40.139 did that quiet, noble -born kid even get started 00:02:40.139 --> 00:02:43.340 on this trajectory? We begin with a story of, 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:46.120 well, of privilege and a subsequent pretty dramatic 00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:49.020 rebellion. Thomas was born into the high aristocracy 00:02:49.020 --> 00:02:51.699 of the Kingdom of Sicily at a place called Roccasecca. 00:02:51.860 --> 00:02:54.439 His father, Landolf VI, was a powerful knight 00:02:54.439 --> 00:02:56.719 directly serving the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick 00:02:56.719 --> 00:02:59.259 II. This family had serious political weight. 00:02:59.419 --> 00:03:02.039 So he wasn't just wealthy. He was born right 00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:04.840 into that dynastic power structure that linked 00:03:04.840 --> 00:03:07.560 the church and the empire. That sets him up for 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:10.099 a very specific, predetermined career path, I 00:03:10.099 --> 00:03:12.419 imagine. Absolutely. The life plan was already 00:03:12.419 --> 00:03:14.659 charted, which was, you know, typical for younger 00:03:14.659 --> 00:03:16.699 noble sons who couldn't inherit the main... titles. 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:19.639 Thomas was expected to follow his uncle and assume 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:22.159 the high office of abbot of Monte Cassino. And 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:24.659 this wasn't just a quiet religious calling. This 00:03:24.659 --> 00:03:27.580 was a position of immense power. Oh, immense. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:31.139 It was a powerful, politically essential role 00:03:31.139 --> 00:03:33.460 managing one of the oldest and most important 00:03:33.460 --> 00:03:36.080 Benedictine monasteries in the West. It combined 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:38.379 significant political influence with immense 00:03:38.379 --> 00:03:41.900 wealth and ecclesiastical power. But his education... 00:03:42.609 --> 00:03:44.770 immediately put him on a different, more radical 00:03:44.770 --> 00:03:47.849 intellectual path. He was sent to Naples. Precisely. 00:03:47.849 --> 00:03:49.949 Naples was a hub of intellectual firmament at 00:03:49.949 --> 00:03:52.090 the time, specifically because Frederick II had 00:03:52.090 --> 00:03:54.849 established the Studium Generali there. And this 00:03:54.849 --> 00:03:57.069 is where Thomas encountered the intellectual 00:03:57.069 --> 00:03:59.990 dynamite of the 13th century, the newly translated 00:03:59.990 --> 00:04:03.090 complete works of Aristotle. Aristotle was essentially 00:04:03.090 --> 00:04:05.530 the forbidden fruit, wasn't he? Or at least the 00:04:05.530 --> 00:04:07.889 highly dangerous fruit. Dangerous is the right 00:04:07.889 --> 00:04:11.419 word. Aristotle's rigorous logic, his emphasis 00:04:11.419 --> 00:04:14.319 on empirical observation, and his arguments about 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:17.120 the eternity of the world were deeply, deeply 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:19.480 unsettling to traditional Christian thought. 00:04:20.060 --> 00:04:22.519 Adding to this were the sophisticated non -Christian 00:04:22.519 --> 00:04:25.000 commentaries on Aristotle by the Jewish philosopher 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:27.680 Maimonides and the Spanish Arabic philosopher 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:31.680 Averroes. Thomas was just immersed in this high 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:34.100 -octane intellectual environment, which fundamentally 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:37.100 shaped his ability to use reason as a tool. And 00:04:37.100 --> 00:04:39.279 then came the family crisis, the moment he rejected 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:42.180 everything they had planned for him. At 19, he 00:04:42.180 --> 00:04:44.180 chose to join the mendicant Dominican order. 00:04:44.430 --> 00:04:46.750 This was a shocking repudiation of his class 00:04:46.750 --> 00:04:49.850 and his family's ambitions. The Dominicans, along 00:04:49.850 --> 00:04:51.990 with the Franciscans, they represented a new 00:04:51.990 --> 00:04:54.569 radical movement committed to academic scholarship, 00:04:54.970 --> 00:04:57.589 preaching, and voluntary poverty. For a noble 00:04:57.589 --> 00:04:59.970 son to join an order that actively renounced 00:04:59.970 --> 00:05:02.610 wealth and power, it was an existential threat 00:05:02.610 --> 00:05:04.629 to the family name and their political strategy. 00:05:04.930 --> 00:05:07.129 And the family's reaction wasn't just disapproval. 00:05:07.170 --> 00:05:10.389 It was literal, physical intervention. They tried 00:05:10.389 --> 00:05:12.689 everything. The Dominicans, fearing interference, 00:05:13.129 --> 00:05:15.730 tried to move Thomas quietly to Rome and then 00:05:15.730 --> 00:05:19.170 on to Paris. But his father, Landolf, and especially 00:05:19.170 --> 00:05:22.550 his mother, Theodora, were frantic. They engineered 00:05:22.550 --> 00:05:24.709 a physical intervention. This is where the story 00:05:24.709 --> 00:05:27.389 truly becomes high medieval political drama. 00:05:27.649 --> 00:05:30.370 His own brothers intercepted and kidnapped him. 00:05:30.589 --> 00:05:32.769 They seized him near the town of Acquapendante 00:05:32.769 --> 00:05:35.029 while he was resting and drinking from a spring. 00:05:35.350 --> 00:05:38.730 They took him back to the family's castles, Montesangiovanni 00:05:38.730 --> 00:05:41.230 and Rucaseca, and held him captive for nearly 00:05:41.230 --> 00:05:43.689 a year. A full year. Almost a full year. And 00:05:43.689 --> 00:05:46.370 the sole purpose of this confinement was to break 00:05:46.370 --> 00:05:48.910 his will to make him publicly renounce the Dominican 00:05:48.910 --> 00:05:52.269 habit and return to the established, noble clerical 00:05:52.269 --> 00:05:53.990 path they had chosen for him. The need pressure 00:05:53.990 --> 00:05:56.350 must have been enormous. They tried intellectual 00:05:56.350 --> 00:05:59.589 persuasion, and when that failed, emotional blackmail. 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:02.540 And then they resorted to that famous anecdote, 00:06:02.740 --> 00:06:05.620 the ultimate test of his resolve, the test of 00:06:05.620 --> 00:06:08.360 chastity. It really speaks volumes about the 00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:11.120 desperation and, frankly, malice of his brothers. 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:14.519 To break his vow of perpetual celibacy and make 00:06:14.519 --> 00:06:17.500 his Dominican vocation impossible, his two older 00:06:17.500 --> 00:06:19.899 brothers hired a prostitute and introduced her 00:06:19.899 --> 00:06:23.079 into his locked room. So how did Thomas, this 00:06:23.079 --> 00:06:27.199 quiet, reserved scholar, respond to this extreme 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:51.209 psychological temptation? Wow. What happened 00:06:51.209 --> 00:06:53.889 next is so key to understanding the almost mystical, 00:06:54.009 --> 00:06:56.389 powerful nature Thomas attributed to his own 00:06:56.389 --> 00:07:00.519 vows. struggle, he fell into a deep mystical 00:07:00.519 --> 00:07:03.839 sleeve and ecstasy. And while he slept, two angels 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:06.139 appeared to him. They bound him with a celestial 00:07:06.139 --> 00:07:09.139 cincture, the girdle of chastity, a supernatural 00:07:09.139 --> 00:07:11.480 gift ensuring he would never again be troubled 00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:13.660 by the temptations of the flesh. A physical sign. 00:07:13.819 --> 00:07:17.240 A physical sign of divine approval. This girdle 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:19.220 was considered a relic of profound importance, 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:22.100 worn by Thomas for the rest of his life, and 00:07:22.100 --> 00:07:24.100 parts of it are still kept near Turin today. 00:07:24.649 --> 00:07:27.329 That story really emphasizes that why his mind 00:07:27.329 --> 00:07:30.389 was ruthlessly logical. His commitment was fundamentally 00:07:30.389 --> 00:07:34.069 driven by a powerful spiritual core. Eventually, 00:07:34.089 --> 00:07:36.170 the family had to give up, right? They realized 00:07:36.170 --> 00:07:39.250 he wouldn't break. By 1244, his mother, realizing 00:07:39.250 --> 00:07:41.850 the impossibility of the task and probably fearing 00:07:41.850 --> 00:07:44.870 the disgrace of an open defeat, arranged a discreet 00:07:44.870 --> 00:07:47.410 escape. She allowed him to be lowered in a basket 00:07:47.410 --> 00:07:49.889 from a window, making it look less like a surrender 00:07:49.889 --> 00:07:52.649 and more like an unauthorized escape. He was 00:07:52.649 --> 00:07:55.029 free. And on his way to the intellectual heart 00:07:55.029 --> 00:07:57.470 of the Dominican world, he ended up in Paris 00:07:57.470 --> 00:07:59.970 and then Cologne, where he met the formidable 00:07:59.970 --> 00:08:02.350 scholar who would define his career trajectory. 00:08:03.269 --> 00:08:05.889 Albertus Magnus. Albertus Magnus was the great 00:08:05.889 --> 00:08:08.910 scientific mind of the age, famous for his encyclopedic 00:08:08.910 --> 00:08:11.629 knowledge of Aristotle. Thomas became his student. 00:08:11.730 --> 00:08:14.269 And while Thomas was reserved and silent, Albertus 00:08:14.269 --> 00:08:16.730 recognized the profound intellect beneath the 00:08:16.730 --> 00:08:19.529 quiet exterior, even as other students mocked 00:08:19.529 --> 00:08:21.810 Thomas and gave him that nickname, Boss Mutus. 00:08:21.990 --> 00:08:25.110 The dumb ox. So the moniker wasn't just a label. 00:08:25.149 --> 00:08:27.189 It was a genuine misunderstanding of his death. 00:08:28.189 --> 00:08:30.410 But Albertus Magnus had the ultimate prophetic 00:08:30.410 --> 00:08:33.610 response, defending his quiet student in a way 00:08:33.610 --> 00:08:35.470 that just echoed through history. It's one of 00:08:35.470 --> 00:08:37.889 the greatest prophecies in intellectual history, 00:08:38.090 --> 00:08:40.690 Albertus famously declared. You call him the 00:08:40.690 --> 00:08:42.809 dumb ox, but I tell you, in his teaching, he 00:08:42.809 --> 00:08:45.070 will one day produce such a bellowing that it 00:08:45.070 --> 00:08:47.409 will be heard throughout the world. What an incredible 00:08:47.409 --> 00:08:50.009 validation. And that bellowing started almost 00:08:50.009 --> 00:08:53.690 immediately. By 1256, he was back in Paris for 00:08:53.690 --> 00:08:56.549 his first regency as a master in theology, defending 00:08:56.549 --> 00:08:59.029 the very mendicant orders that had caused his 00:08:59.029 --> 00:09:01.590 family crisis and writing foundational philosophical 00:09:01.590 --> 00:09:05.690 texts like Deontay et Essentia on being and essence. 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:08.200 The framework was now in place for the grand 00:09:08.200 --> 00:09:10.240 synthesis. When Thomas arrived on the scene, 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:12.460 the intellectual climate was characterized by, 00:09:12.500 --> 00:09:15.740 well, by tannic. Aristotle's works had been rediscovered, 00:09:15.740 --> 00:09:18.299 and his rational empirical system seemed to threaten 00:09:18.299 --> 00:09:20.620 the entire revealed structure of Christian doctrine. 00:09:20.940 --> 00:09:24.259 The church faced a choice, reject Aristotle or 00:09:24.259 --> 00:09:27.240 find a way to incorporate him. And Thomas, instead 00:09:27.240 --> 00:09:29.720 of rejecting the pagan philosopher, decided to 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:32.100 take him on as a partner, creating a unified 00:09:32.100 --> 00:09:34.889 intellectual system. That's the grand synthesis. 00:09:35.210 --> 00:09:37.190 His solution was nothing short of revolutionary. 00:09:37.529 --> 00:09:39.789 It wasn't just that reason and faith could coexist. 00:09:40.190 --> 00:09:42.690 It was that they are both gifts from the same 00:09:42.690 --> 00:09:46.330 source, God. And therefore, they cannot fundamentally 00:09:46.330 --> 00:09:49.549 contradict each other. Thomas solved this by 00:09:49.549 --> 00:09:51.909 defining theology, what he termed the sacred 00:09:51.909 --> 00:09:54.980 doctrine. As a science. And when he says science, 00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:57.360 we should be clear, he means a disciplined, systematic 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:00.580 field of study, not modern laboratory science. 00:10:00.860 --> 00:10:03.399 Exactly. Theology is a science because it operates 00:10:03.399 --> 00:10:06.080 with certainty, processing the data, which comes 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:07.759 from written scripture and church tradition, 00:10:07.980 --> 00:10:11.000 using the rigorous tools of reason and Aristotelian 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:14.039 logic. He insisted that true theology must start 00:10:14.039 --> 00:10:16.740 with revelation, but it must use reason to draw 00:10:16.740 --> 00:10:18.799 out the consequences and implications of that 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:21.299 revelation. This philosophy leads us to his core 00:10:21.299 --> 00:10:23.509 axiom. which is really the key to understanding 00:10:23.509 --> 00:10:29.090 all of Thomism. Grace does not destroy nature, 00:10:29.230 --> 00:10:32.590 but perfects it. This is the intellectual fulcrum 00:10:32.590 --> 00:10:35.370 of his entire system. It means that the natural 00:10:35.370 --> 00:10:38.830 world, human reason, human inclinations, everything 00:10:38.830 --> 00:10:41.830 that philosophy and science study is fundamentally 00:10:41.830 --> 00:10:45.730 good and designed by God. Grace, the gift of 00:10:45.730 --> 00:10:48.289 divine life, doesn't negate or wipe away that 00:10:48.289 --> 00:10:50.990 nature. It elevates it. It elevates, perfects, 00:10:50.990 --> 00:10:53.149 and directs that nature toward its highest possible 00:10:53.149 --> 00:10:56.250 goal, which is communion with God. So if God 00:10:56.250 --> 00:10:58.769 is the source of all truth, then the rational 00:10:58.769 --> 00:11:01.230 truths we discover through studying nature can't 00:11:01.230 --> 00:11:03.669 possibly conflict with the revealed truths we 00:11:03.669 --> 00:11:06.309 receive through faith. Any apparent contradiction 00:11:06.309 --> 00:11:08.009 just means we haven't reasoned well enough or 00:11:08.009 --> 00:11:10.289 maybe we've misunderstood the revelation. That's 00:11:10.289 --> 00:11:13.070 the system, the dual light. Thomas established 00:11:13.070 --> 00:11:15.950 two ways of knowing God. There is the light of 00:11:15.950 --> 00:11:18.250 natural reason, which is available to all humans, 00:11:18.450 --> 00:11:20.429 allowing them to study the world and draw logical 00:11:20.429 --> 00:11:22.690 conclusions. Then there is the light of faith, 00:11:22.850 --> 00:11:25.549 which is supernatural revelation necessary for 00:11:25.549 --> 00:11:27.830 specific doctrines. Let's clarify that distinction 00:11:27.830 --> 00:11:30.509 between natural and supernatural revelation because 00:11:30.509 --> 00:11:33.169 it's absolutely crucial to his epistemology. 00:11:33.769 --> 00:11:35.950 what we can know and how we can know it. Sure. 00:11:36.110 --> 00:11:38.730 Natural revelation involves truths that can be 00:11:38.730 --> 00:11:41.429 demonstrated or known purely through human reason 00:11:41.429 --> 00:11:43.789 and experience. For example, demonstrating that 00:11:43.789 --> 00:11:46.409 God exists or understanding fundamental moral 00:11:46.409 --> 00:11:49.129 truths like the golden rule. These are universally 00:11:49.129 --> 00:11:51.629 accessible. But then you have the supernatural 00:11:51.629 --> 00:11:55.350 revelation. This covers specific Christian doctrines, 00:11:55.370 --> 00:11:57.309 the Trinity, the incarnation, the resurrection, 00:11:57.529 --> 00:12:00.610 the virtue of charity, which are completely beyond 00:12:00.610 --> 00:12:03.250 the capacity of human reason to discover or fully 00:12:03.250 --> 00:12:05.990 prove. They require the special aid of scripture 00:12:05.990 --> 00:12:08.230 and the teaching authority of the church. You 00:12:08.230 --> 00:12:10.509 can't observe the Trinity in a natural experiment. 00:12:10.830 --> 00:12:13.690 But he didn't just demand blind acceptance of 00:12:13.690 --> 00:12:15.830 these supernatural truths. He argued they were 00:12:15.830 --> 00:12:18.159 fitting. What does he mean by doctrines being 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:20.340 fitting? It's a very subtle point that shows 00:12:20.340 --> 00:12:23.679 his commitment to reason. He argued that even 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:25.860 though we cannot fully demonstrate or prove the 00:12:25.860 --> 00:12:27.860 Trinity or the Incarnation beyond all doubt, 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:31.039 they are intellectually acceptable because given 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:33.440 what we know of God's goodness in nature, we 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:36.220 would logically expect them to be true. He showed 00:12:36.220 --> 00:12:37.820 that these doctrines were the most reasonable 00:12:37.820 --> 00:12:40.460 way for an omnipotent and loving God to interact 00:12:40.460 --> 00:12:42.559 with the world. Which makes the leap of faith 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:45.179 intellectually justifiable, even if it remains 00:12:45.179 --> 00:12:47.720 a leap. Precisely. This synthesis also forced 00:12:47.720 --> 00:12:51.059 Aquinas to redefine the very nature of God. Older 00:12:51.059 --> 00:12:53.340 traditional theology often relied on what's called 00:12:53.340 --> 00:12:58.019 via negative theology, defining God by what he 00:12:58.019 --> 00:13:01.460 is not. Not limited, not changeable. not composed 00:13:01.460 --> 00:13:04.340 of parts, Thomas moved past this. He had to. 00:13:04.379 --> 00:13:06.840 He wanted to articulate what God is fundamentally 00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:09.139 rather than just what he lacks. This is where 00:13:09.139 --> 00:13:11.259 he achieves his single greatest metaphysical 00:13:11.259 --> 00:13:13.100 breakthrough, moving from essentialist theology 00:13:13.100 --> 00:13:15.700 to existential theology. Okay, this is a truly 00:13:15.700 --> 00:13:18.179 dense concept, so let's slow down. How did he 00:13:18.179 --> 00:13:21.100 move from essence to existence? He took the philosophical 00:13:21.100 --> 00:13:24.620 concept of essence, what something is, and bridged 00:13:24.620 --> 00:13:27.059 it with the concept of existence, the fact that 00:13:27.059 --> 00:13:29.950 something is. For every created thing in the 00:13:29.950 --> 00:13:32.250 world, its essence, being human, being a tree, 00:13:32.389 --> 00:13:34.970 is distinct from its existence. The fact that 00:13:34.970 --> 00:13:37.149 this specific human or tree is currently real. 00:13:37.809 --> 00:13:39.950 Created things receive their existence from an 00:13:39.950 --> 00:13:43.049 external source. But God is different. For God 00:13:43.049 --> 00:13:45.590 alone, there is no distinction. Thomas concluded, 00:13:45.769 --> 00:13:47.889 based on the biblical statement, I am who I am 00:13:47.889 --> 00:13:50.230 from Exodus, that the very essence of God is 00:13:50.230 --> 00:13:53.360 to exist. He is existence itself. And that leads 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:55.639 to that powerful summarizing phrase, I am the 00:13:55.639 --> 00:13:59.139 pure act of being or ipse actus ascendi subsistence. 00:13:59.259 --> 00:14:01.580 That's it. God is not merely a being who exists. 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:05.159 He is existence. He is the ultimate self -subsistent 00:14:05.159 --> 00:14:08.200 act of existing. This singular insight transformed 00:14:08.200 --> 00:14:10.720 Western metaphysics. If God is pure existence, 00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:13.200 he is automatically the source of all existence 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:15.580 for everything else. It makes him perfectly simple, 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:17.980 perfect, infinite, immutable, and one because 00:14:17.980 --> 00:14:21.320 his essence is identical to his existence. It's 00:14:21.320 --> 00:14:23.570 the most philosophical. rigorous definition of 00:14:23.570 --> 00:14:25.289 the divine nature developed up to that point. 00:14:25.409 --> 00:14:27.990 It's the ultimate conceptual underpinning for 00:14:27.990 --> 00:14:30.950 his system and it logically brings us to the 00:14:30.950 --> 00:14:33.710 proofs of that existence accessible through the 00:14:33.710 --> 00:14:36.450 very reason he championed. Right. Since Thomas 00:14:36.450 --> 00:14:39.529 asserted that God's essence is to exist, God's 00:14:39.529 --> 00:14:42.889 existence is self -evident in itself. But, as 00:14:42.889 --> 00:14:45.990 we discussed, it is not self -evident to us because 00:14:45.990 --> 00:14:48.370 we are confined to knowing him through his effects, 00:14:48.610 --> 00:14:51.350 through the created world. So we need reason, 00:14:51.470 --> 00:14:54.149 natural law, to build a rational ladder up to 00:14:54.149 --> 00:14:56.340 the existence of God. That's the famous quink 00:14:56.340 --> 00:14:59.360 VA, the five ways. Exactly. These arguments start 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:02.139 with observed facts in the natural world and 00:15:02.139 --> 00:15:04.679 through a process of rigorous Aristotelian logic, 00:15:04.779 --> 00:15:07.659 demonstrate the necessity of a first cause, which 00:15:07.659 --> 00:15:10.360 Thomas then identifies as God. It's crucial to 00:15:10.360 --> 00:15:12.240 understand these are not proofs of the Christian 00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:14.480 God, but proofs of a metaphysically necessary 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:17.120 ultimate being. Let's take the first two, which 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:19.519 are very rooted in Aristotle's physics, dealing 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:22.559 with dependency. The argument from motion. Okay. 00:15:22.909 --> 00:15:26.230 We observe motion. We see things change. Something 00:15:26.230 --> 00:15:28.450 is hot because it was heated by something else 00:15:28.450 --> 00:15:31.429 that was already hot. Nothing can move or change 00:15:31.429 --> 00:15:34.370 itself simultaneously in the same respect. Therefore, 00:15:34.570 --> 00:15:36.809 everything that is moved is moved by something 00:15:36.809 --> 00:15:40.750 else. Thomas then asks, can this chain of movers 00:15:40.750 --> 00:15:43.610 go back infinitely? And for him, an infinite 00:15:43.610 --> 00:15:46.649 chain is metaphysically impossible. Why? Why 00:15:46.649 --> 00:15:48.830 can't we just have endless motion? Because the 00:15:48.830 --> 00:15:51.529 chain of motion is simultaneous. The mover... 00:15:51.870 --> 00:15:54.909 a has to be moving the b right now for b to be 00:15:54.909 --> 00:15:57.850 moving c right now if there were no first mover 00:15:57.850 --> 00:16:00.210 if the chain went back infinitely then there 00:16:00.210 --> 00:16:02.029 would be no initiation point and consequently 00:16:02.029 --> 00:16:04.769 there would be no motion now the entire sequence 00:16:04.769 --> 00:16:06.870 depends on something that starts the motion without 00:16:06.870 --> 00:16:09.490 being moved itself the unmoved mover the unmoved 00:16:09.490 --> 00:16:11.450 mover and the second argument the argument from 00:16:11.450 --> 00:16:14.210 causation follows the exact same logical necessity 00:16:14.210 --> 00:16:16.389 right it's the same logic but applied to efficient 00:16:16.389 --> 00:16:19.480 causes the causes of existence itself We observe 00:16:19.480 --> 00:16:23.700 a chain of causes. A causes B, B causes C. Nothing 00:16:23.700 --> 00:16:26.419 can be the efficient cause of itself. If we had 00:16:26.419 --> 00:16:28.940 an infinite regress of causes, there would be 00:16:28.940 --> 00:16:31.879 no first cause, and thus there would be no intermediate 00:16:31.879 --> 00:16:34.059 or ultimate effects, because the whole chain 00:16:34.059 --> 00:16:36.279 depends on the initial cause to start the sequence. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:39.659 There must be a first cause uncaused by anything 00:16:39.659 --> 00:16:42.399 prior. The third argument moves from physics 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:45.019 to metaphysics. The argument from necessity. 00:16:45.580 --> 00:16:48.340 This deals with contingency. Right. We look at 00:16:48.340 --> 00:16:50.940 the world and see contingent beings, things that 00:16:50.940 --> 00:16:53.179 exist but didn't have to exist and will eventually 00:16:53.179 --> 00:16:55.980 pass out of existence. Everything we observe 00:16:55.980 --> 00:16:59.340 is temporal and unnecessary. Thomas reasons that 00:16:59.340 --> 00:17:01.659 if everything were contingent, then at some point 00:17:01.659 --> 00:17:03.679 in infinite time, nothing would have existed. 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:06.019 And if nothing existed at one point, then nothing 00:17:06.019 --> 00:17:08.079 could exist now because nothing can come from 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:09.920 nothing. But we clearly exist now, so there has 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:12.119 to be something that isn't contingent. Precisely. 00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:14.460 Therefore, something must exist necessarily, 00:17:14.660 --> 00:17:17.349 and this necessary being cannot derive... its 00:17:17.349 --> 00:17:19.390 necessity from anything else, it must be the 00:17:19.390 --> 00:17:22.190 cause of necessity in others, that necessary 00:17:22.190 --> 00:17:24.930 being we call God. The fourth argument, the argument 00:17:24.930 --> 00:17:27.710 from gradation, is based on our constant experience 00:17:27.710 --> 00:17:30.730 of relative quality. When we say something is 00:17:30.730 --> 00:17:33.410 better or more perfect we are making a comparative 00:17:33.410 --> 00:17:36.009 judgment. Thomas argues that for there to be 00:17:36.009 --> 00:17:38.529 degrees of quality, more or less good, true, 00:17:38.809 --> 00:17:42.130 noble, or hot, there must be a supreme, ultimate 00:17:42.130 --> 00:17:45.089 standard, a maximum, that serves as the cause 00:17:45.089 --> 00:17:47.430 of all those qualities and everything else. So 00:17:47.430 --> 00:17:49.670 the existence of goodness implies the existence 00:17:49.670 --> 00:17:52.930 of a maximum good, which is God. Yes. It's a 00:17:52.930 --> 00:17:55.529 metaphysical standard for all perfection. And 00:17:55.529 --> 00:17:57.849 finally, the fifth way, the argument from order, 00:17:57.990 --> 00:18:01.089 deals with teleology, the observed purposefulness 00:18:01.089 --> 00:18:03.609 of nature. Like, why does a seed grow into a 00:18:03.609 --> 00:18:06.509 tree? Why do planets move in predictable patterns? 00:18:06.769 --> 00:18:09.190 We observe that unaware, non -intelligent natural 00:18:09.190 --> 00:18:12.309 things consistently act for a goal or an end, 00:18:12.369 --> 00:18:14.809 which they achieve the best way possible. Since 00:18:14.809 --> 00:18:16.470 they lack awareness, they cannot be directing 00:18:16.470 --> 00:18:18.670 themselves. They must be guided by some intelligence. 00:18:19.109 --> 00:18:21.289 An arrow moves toward a target because it is 00:18:21.289 --> 00:18:23.349 guided by the conscious intent of the archer. 00:18:23.549 --> 00:18:25.970 Therefore, the ordered natural world implies 00:18:25.970 --> 00:18:28.650 guidance by an aware intelligence, which we call 00:18:28.650 --> 00:18:31.390 God. These five arguments create the rational 00:18:31.390 --> 00:18:34.799 foundation for his theology. But once God's existence 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:37.539 is demonstrated, Thomas still relied heavily 00:18:37.539 --> 00:18:40.400 on the via negativa to define what God is like, 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:42.759 even though he had introduced that concept of 00:18:42.759 --> 00:18:45.900 God as pure existence. He used negation to intellectually 00:18:45.900 --> 00:18:49.119 safeguard the divine nature against, well, anthropomorphic 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:52.119 mistakes. If God is the pure act of being, the 00:18:52.119 --> 00:18:54.579 source of all existence, he must possess specific 00:18:54.579 --> 00:18:57.059 qualities that distinguish him from all created 00:18:57.059 --> 00:18:59.579 things. Your sources elaborate on five of these 00:18:59.579 --> 00:19:02.579 essential divine qualities. First, God is simple. 00:19:15.360 --> 00:19:21.720 Fourth, and this is profoundly important, God 00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:29.990 is immutable. Since God is already pure act, 00:19:30.250 --> 00:19:32.890 he has no potentiality to fulfill and therefore 00:19:32.890 --> 00:19:36.150 cannot change in his essence or character. Finally, 00:19:36.349 --> 00:19:39.569 God is one, without diversification within himself. 00:19:40.009 --> 00:19:42.450 These rigorous negations protect the uniqueness 00:19:42.450 --> 00:19:45.250 of the first cause. Moving from the nature of 00:19:45.250 --> 00:19:47.869 God to the physical world, Thomas had to address 00:19:47.869 --> 00:19:50.309 creation, which was philosophically explosive 00:19:50.309 --> 00:19:52.630 because of Aristotle's idea that the world was 00:19:52.630 --> 00:19:55.089 eternal. Thomas asserted the metaphysical necessity 00:19:55.089 --> 00:19:57.890 of creation. Every existent being must be created 00:19:57.890 --> 00:20:00.329 by God and God creates ex nihilo from nothing. 00:20:00.829 --> 00:20:03.509 This is a purely philosophical point proven by 00:20:03.509 --> 00:20:06.089 his metaphysics of participation. All contingent 00:20:06.089 --> 00:20:08.509 things must participate in the being of the necessary 00:20:08.509 --> 00:20:10.549 being. But then he addresses the temporal question. 00:20:10.750 --> 00:20:13.029 Did the world begin or has it always existed? 00:20:13.210 --> 00:20:16.150 And here Thomas made an absolutely crucial distinction. 00:20:16.750 --> 00:20:19.130 While the fact of creation is philosophically 00:20:19.130 --> 00:20:21.630 demonstrable, the belief that the world is not 00:20:21.630 --> 00:20:23.809 eternal, that it started at a specific point 00:20:23.809 --> 00:20:27.410 in time, is known only by faith. Natural reason, 00:20:27.690 --> 00:20:30.549 Thomas argued, cannot prove that the world wasn't 00:20:30.549 --> 00:20:33.630 eternal. You cannot logically demonstrate that 00:20:33.630 --> 00:20:35.789 God couldn't have created the world in an eternal 00:20:35.789 --> 00:20:38.490 state. This sounds like a moment where he deliberately 00:20:38.490 --> 00:20:41.970 steps back and says, reason has reached its limit. 00:20:42.029 --> 00:20:44.910 Now faith must step in. It is precisely that 00:20:44.910 --> 00:20:46.750 moment. It sets the boundary for the dual light 00:20:46.750 --> 00:20:49.529 system. Reason takes you to the point of a necessary, 00:20:49.809 --> 00:20:52.650 uncaused creator. Faith reveals the timeline 00:20:52.650 --> 00:20:54.809 of that creation. And finally, we have to look 00:20:54.809 --> 00:20:57.170 at his views on early life and nature, particularly 00:20:57.170 --> 00:20:59.859 his alignment with Aristotle. on spontaneous 00:20:59.859 --> 00:21:02.339 generation. Thomas was a man of his time and 00:21:02.339 --> 00:21:04.180 relied on the best natural science available, 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:07.079 which was Aristotle's. He posited that life could 00:21:07.079 --> 00:21:10.019 indeed form from non -living material or from 00:21:10.019 --> 00:21:13.140 the corruption of less perfect things. Give us 00:21:13.140 --> 00:21:15.259 an example of how he applied this. He argued 00:21:15.259 --> 00:21:17.799 that from the corruption of, say, decaying matter, 00:21:18.059 --> 00:21:20.220 certain types of animals could be generated. 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:23.900 This fit his overall philosophy. God gave nature 00:21:23.900 --> 00:21:26.519 its principles, and those principles, even without 00:21:26.519 --> 00:21:28.619 direct divine intervention in every instance, 00:21:28.819 --> 00:21:31.279 could produce life from non -living material. 00:21:31.720 --> 00:21:34.640 He didn't see this as incompatible with the first 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:37.339 formation of things during creation week. This 00:21:37.339 --> 00:21:40.079 means he also had to account for biological anomalies, 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:43.240 like the monstrous species discussed by Empedocles, 00:21:43.380 --> 00:21:46.839 the half -ox, half -man progeny. Yes. If nature 00:21:46.839 --> 00:21:49.279 is orderly and directed by intelligence, how 00:21:49.279 --> 00:22:11.539 do you account for freaks of nature? Aquinas 00:22:11.539 --> 00:22:13.779 wasn't just building abstract metaphysics. His 00:22:13.779 --> 00:22:16.119 philosophy had immediate practical consequences 00:22:16.119 --> 00:22:19.609 for law, morality, and governance, which is why 00:22:19.609 --> 00:22:22.230 he's the Dr. Communist. Let's start with the 00:22:22.230 --> 00:22:25.670 cornerstone of his ethics, natural law. Thomas 00:22:25.670 --> 00:22:28.109 constructed an ethical system rooted in self 00:22:28.109 --> 00:22:30.750 -evident principles, parallel to how logic starts 00:22:30.750 --> 00:22:34.130 with non -contradiction. Moral action, or practical 00:22:34.130 --> 00:22:36.589 reason, starts with the first principle of action, 00:22:36.730 --> 00:22:39.630 the Bonham precept. The universal and simple 00:22:39.630 --> 00:22:42.779 truth. Good is to be done and pursued and evil 00:22:42.779 --> 00:22:45.420 avoided. That precept is the starting point. 00:22:45.660 --> 00:22:47.839 Reason then applies this precept by observing 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:50.779 what we, as humans, are naturally inclined toward. 00:22:50.980 --> 00:22:53.599 These inclinations reveal the universal, self 00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:56.539 -evident moral truths we call natural law. And 00:22:56.539 --> 00:22:58.359 what are those inclinations, the three categories 00:22:58.359 --> 00:23:00.759 of goods that natural law prescribes? There's 00:23:00.759 --> 00:23:03.200 a hierarchy. First, the substantial goods, which 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:06.140 we share with all substances. The desire for 00:23:06.140 --> 00:23:09.019 self -preservation, to live. This is the foundation 00:23:09.019 --> 00:23:11.180 of self -defense and the prohibition of murder. 00:23:11.819 --> 00:23:14.940 Second, the goods common to animals and humans, 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:17.900 the desire for procreation and the education 00:23:17.900 --> 00:23:21.220 of offspring. This forms his natural basis for 00:23:21.220 --> 00:23:23.299 marriage and family structures. And the third, 00:23:23.420 --> 00:23:25.539 the highest category, the goods characteristic 00:23:25.539 --> 00:23:28.730 of rational beings. This is unique to humanity 00:23:28.730 --> 00:23:31.730 and includes two crucial natural inclinations, 00:23:31.789 --> 00:23:35.009 living in community and, most importantly, pursuing 00:23:35.009 --> 00:23:38.329 the truth about God. This inclination forms the 00:23:38.329 --> 00:23:41.430 basis for legal society, education, and religious 00:23:41.430 --> 00:23:43.710 freedom. So if we look at those three categories, 00:23:43.930 --> 00:23:46.029 natural law is essentially the foundation for 00:23:46.029 --> 00:23:48.529 societal rules that promote life, family, and 00:23:48.529 --> 00:23:50.910 rational discovery. And these principles inform 00:23:50.910 --> 00:23:53.599 his famous fourfold law. Right. The fourfold 00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:55.619 structure clarifies the origin and authority 00:23:55.619 --> 00:23:58.779 of law. At the very top is the eternal law, which 00:23:58.779 --> 00:24:01.000 is God's unchangeable decree governing all of 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:03.819 creation. The natural law is human participation 00:24:03.819 --> 00:24:06.599 in that eternal law derived by our reason. Then 00:24:06.599 --> 00:24:08.359 we have the specific guidance of divine law. 00:24:08.579 --> 00:24:10.359 Revealed in scripture, the Ten Commandments, 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:13.299 the gospel teachings. This is necessary because 00:24:13.299 --> 00:24:15.859 human reason is fallible and it needs explicit 00:24:15.859 --> 00:24:18.640 guidance to direct us toward our ultimate supernatural 00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:21.680 end, which is God himself. And finally, the most 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:24.619 practical level. human law. This is positive 00:24:24.619 --> 00:24:27.839 law. The specific statutes, codes, and regulations 00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:30.799 devised by human reason to govern a particular 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:34.660 society. Crucially, human law must always be 00:24:34.660 --> 00:24:37.279 derived from and align with the general self 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:40.400 -evident principles of natural law. A human law 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:43.460 that contradicts natural law is, in Thomas' system, 00:24:43.660 --> 00:24:46.279 a corruption of law. It's not really law at all. 00:24:46.440 --> 00:24:48.839 This framework leads us directly into his virtue 00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:51.799 ethics. He defined two types. the cardinal and 00:24:51.799 --> 00:24:54.660 the theological. The cardinal virtues, prudence, 00:24:54.660 --> 00:24:56.799 temperance, justice, and fortitude are natural. 00:24:57.000 --> 00:24:59.039 They are discoverable by reason and are essential 00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:01.000 for leading a good life on earth, regardless 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:03.099 of religious belief. But the theological virtues 00:25:03.099 --> 00:25:06.039 are supernatural. Faith, hope, and charity. These 00:25:06.039 --> 00:25:08.779 are infused by God, aimed at God, and transcend 00:25:08.779 --> 00:25:11.519 human reason. And here is the deepest insight 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:14.259 into his ethics, the difference between an imperfect 00:25:14.259 --> 00:25:17.480 and a perfect virtue. What makes a virtue perfect? 00:25:17.779 --> 00:25:21.279 Charity. Thomas argued that any virtue, prudence, 00:25:21.299 --> 00:25:24.200 fortitude, or justice is made perfect when it 00:25:24.200 --> 00:25:26.500 is animated and completed by charity, which is 00:25:26.500 --> 00:25:29.339 the love of God. A nonbeliever can be courageous 00:25:29.339 --> 00:25:32.599 and temperate, achieving imperfect virtue. But 00:25:32.599 --> 00:25:34.839 a Christian who displays courage with the intention 00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:36.799 of pleasing God and loving their neighbor is 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:39.579 exercising a perfect virtue. Charity transforms 00:25:39.579 --> 00:25:42.119 the intention and elevates the act toward the 00:25:42.119 --> 00:25:44.799 ultimate end. Conversely, that ultimate end is 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:48.089 forfeited by sin. how did he define sin sin is 00:25:48.089 --> 00:25:52.329 defined simply as a word deed or desire contrary 00:25:52.329 --> 00:25:55.670 to the eternal law it is essentially a failure 00:25:55.670 --> 00:25:58.410 to act rationally a failure to adhere to the 00:25:58.410 --> 00:26:00.990 order established by god it involves a choice 00:26:00.990 --> 00:26:03.009 that deviates from the ultimate end of human 00:26:03.009 --> 00:26:06.130 life moving into political and legal order thomas 00:26:06.130 --> 00:26:08.670 was known for favoring monarchy but with huge 00:26:08.670 --> 00:26:11.259 reservations about the nature of power He believed 00:26:11.259 --> 00:26:13.359 that a unified authority was the most efficient 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:15.259 and harmonious structure for the common good. 00:26:15.380 --> 00:26:17.359 So theoretically, monarchy was the best form 00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:19.779 of government. However, he immediately qualified 00:26:19.779 --> 00:26:22.180 this by stating that a monarchy is only best 00:26:22.180 --> 00:26:24.740 when the ruler is exceptionally virtuous. And 00:26:24.740 --> 00:26:28.200 the danger. The danger is enormous. If a monarch 00:26:28.200 --> 00:26:31.019 is not virtuous, monarchy degenerates into the 00:26:31.019 --> 00:26:34.740 worst form of government. Tyranny. Because power 00:26:34.740 --> 00:26:37.839 is so centralized, a tyrannical monarch can inflict 00:26:37.839 --> 00:26:40.160 the most damage and injustice on the common good. 00:26:40.359 --> 00:26:43.000 He insisted that political powers must be structured 00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:45.380 to be curbed and that the common good, not the 00:26:45.380 --> 00:26:48.180 ruler's self -interest, must be the guiding principle. 00:26:48.460 --> 00:26:50.619 This tension between the common good and individual 00:26:50.619 --> 00:26:53.140 life brings us to one of the most difficult parts 00:26:53.140 --> 00:26:56.160 of his legal philosophy, the judicial death penalty. 00:26:56.640 --> 00:26:58.640 Thomas allowed for the death penalty based on 00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:00.720 a rigorous application of the common good argument. 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:04.000 He reasoned that society, the whole, is greater 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:19.619 than the individual, the part. This is a purely 00:27:19.619 --> 00:27:22.599 utilitarian common good justification, separate 00:27:22.599 --> 00:27:25.200 from any theological vengeance. Exactly. He was 00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:27.900 very clear. The death penalty is only permissible 00:27:27.900 --> 00:27:30.319 if administered by the proper authority, the 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:32.779 state, and solely for the preservation of the 00:27:32.779 --> 00:27:35.579 common good. He explicitly stated that killing 00:27:35.579 --> 00:27:38.500 stemming from anger or vengeance or any action 00:27:38.500 --> 00:27:41.099 that harms the good remains entirely illicit. 00:27:41.259 --> 00:27:44.500 His criteria for a just war are equally influential, 00:27:44.799 --> 00:27:46.910 building on Augustine's framework. The criteria 00:27:46.910 --> 00:27:48.809 are still taught in military and international 00:27:48.809 --> 00:27:52.069 policy today. First, a just war must have a just 00:27:52.069 --> 00:27:55.069 cause, not land acquisition or wealth, but the 00:27:55.069 --> 00:27:57.509 avenging of injuries or the restoration of justice. 00:27:57.990 --> 00:28:00.710 Second, it must be waged by a proper authority, 00:28:00.930 --> 00:28:03.509 meaning the sovereign state, not private individuals. 00:28:03.890 --> 00:28:06.829 And third, and most critical, the intention must 00:28:06.829 --> 00:28:09.359 be right. Peace must be the ultimate motive, 00:28:09.500 --> 00:28:11.779 even in the midst of violence. Let's shift to 00:28:11.779 --> 00:28:13.819 economics and justice, which is where we see 00:28:13.819 --> 00:28:15.579 his moral framework applied to the marketplace. 00:28:15.880 --> 00:28:18.859 His concept of the just price is famous. This 00:28:18.859 --> 00:28:21.359 was central to transactional justice in the medieval 00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:24.619 world. Thomas was concerned that economic transactions 00:28:24.619 --> 00:28:27.200 remain fair and promote the common good, not 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:30.740 just private gain. The just price, in his view, 00:28:30.900 --> 00:28:34.000 had to reflect two factors, the goods' objective 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:36.440 quality and its subjective usefulness to man, 00:28:36.599 --> 00:28:39.380 meaning its cost of production, the labor involved, 00:28:39.579 --> 00:28:42.500 and the risk. So if a baker puts in enormous 00:28:42.500 --> 00:28:45.759 labor and risk to bake bread, that factors into 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:48.869 the just price. Yes. But he was crystal clear 00:28:48.869 --> 00:28:51.890 in condemning exploitation. He condemned sellers 00:28:51.890 --> 00:28:54.829 who raised prices simply because the buyer was 00:28:54.829 --> 00:28:57.549 in a moment of pressing need. For instance, jacking 00:28:57.549 --> 00:29:00.049 up the price of grain during a famine. That is 00:29:00.049 --> 00:29:02.410 taking advantage of necessity, which violates 00:29:02.410 --> 00:29:04.690 justice. His condemnation of usury is equally 00:29:04.690 --> 00:29:06.450 well known, though it sounds very restrictive 00:29:06.450 --> 00:29:09.029 to us today. Thomas condemned charging interest 00:29:09.029 --> 00:29:12.730 on loans, calling it unjust in itself. His reasoning, 00:29:12.829 --> 00:29:15.210 again, was metaphysical based on his understanding 00:29:15.210 --> 00:29:17.769 of the nature of money. Money, in his time, was 00:29:17.769 --> 00:29:20.289 generally seen as a consumable good like food 00:29:20.289 --> 00:29:23.109 or wine. It is consumed in its use. If you lend 00:29:23.109 --> 00:29:25.109 wine, you expect to get the same amount of wine 00:29:25.109 --> 00:29:28.000 back, not more. Exactly. If you charge interest 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:31.140 or usury, the lender is selling the use of the 00:29:31.140 --> 00:29:33.559 money separate from the money itself, which Thomas 00:29:33.559 --> 00:29:35.859 argues amounts to selling what does not exist 00:29:35.859 --> 00:29:38.119 or charging twice for the same thing. You are 00:29:38.119 --> 00:29:39.859 charging for the money and then charging for 00:29:39.859 --> 00:29:42.059 the time the borrower uses the money. This all 00:29:42.059 --> 00:29:44.339 ties back to his concepts of social and legal 00:29:44.339 --> 00:29:47.839 justice. He defined legal justice or what we 00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:50.460 might call social justice as the individual's 00:29:50.460 --> 00:29:52.740 contribution to the common good following laws, 00:29:53.019 --> 00:29:56.160 paying taxes, serving the community. This is 00:29:56.160 --> 00:29:58.440 distinct from distributive justice, which is 00:29:58.440 --> 00:30:00.839 how the common good wealth, honors, resources, 00:30:01.039 --> 00:30:03.480 flows proportionally from the community to the 00:30:03.480 --> 00:30:05.759 individual based on their merit or contribution. 00:30:06.279 --> 00:30:09.119 Both must be properly ordered for a harmonious 00:30:09.119 --> 00:30:11.680 society. Finally, let's turn to his understanding 00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:13.839 of the nature of the human being and the afterlife, 00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:16.940 relying heavily on the Aristotelian concept of 00:30:16.940 --> 00:30:19.720 hylomorphism. Hylomorphism posits that every 00:30:19.720 --> 00:30:22.619 material substance is a composite of matter and 00:30:22.619 --> 00:30:25.079 form. Thomas applied this directly to humans. 00:30:25.460 --> 00:30:28.980 We are a single material substance, a composite 00:30:28.980 --> 00:30:30.920 where the immaterial soul is the form of the 00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:33.900 body. The soul is what organizes the body and 00:30:33.900 --> 00:30:36.299 makes it specifically human, a rational animal. 00:30:36.759 --> 00:30:39.319 We are not spirits inhabiting meat suits. We 00:30:39.319 --> 00:30:42.259 are fundamentally one integrated substance. But 00:30:42.259 --> 00:30:44.559 if we are a single substance, how can the soul 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:47.460 possibly survive the body's death? This seems 00:30:47.460 --> 00:30:50.460 to contradict the very unity he champions. This 00:30:50.460 --> 00:30:53.119 requires his nuanced concept of the dualism of 00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:55.519 existence. Because the human soul is the principle 00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:58.400 of rationality, an operation like thinking or 00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:00.440 willing that does not require a material organ, 00:31:00.740 --> 00:31:03.619 the soul is therefore immaterial and incorruptible. 00:31:03.740 --> 00:31:06.660 It can exist separately after death. However, 00:31:06.900 --> 00:31:09.140 and this is crucial, Thomas insisted that this 00:31:09.140 --> 00:31:11.140 separated state is unnatural and incomplete. 00:31:11.720 --> 00:31:14.059 Incomplete because perfected human nature requires 00:31:14.059 --> 00:31:16.640 the body. Precisely. The soul is designed to 00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:19.039 be the form of the body. It cannot achieve its 00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:21.400 ultimate perfected state without it. This leads 00:31:21.400 --> 00:31:23.440 directly to his emphatic belief in the resurrection. 00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:26.200 So the ultimate rewards and punishments of the 00:31:26.200 --> 00:31:29.200 afterlife, therefore, must involve souls reunited 00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:32.660 in resurrected bodies. Yes. The divine justice 00:31:32.660 --> 00:31:35.319 and compensation promised in the afterlife are 00:31:35.319 --> 00:31:38.740 not only spiritual, but corporeal. This ensures 00:31:38.740 --> 00:31:41.779 that the entire human being, body and soul, which 00:31:41.779 --> 00:31:44.180 suffered or acted virtuously on earth, receives 00:31:44.180 --> 00:31:47.259 justice and compensation. The final human condition 00:31:47.259 --> 00:31:50.920 is not angelic. It is a body and soul composite. 00:31:51.630 --> 00:31:53.950 And we must, as promised, address that deeply 00:31:53.950 --> 00:31:55.789 controversial point about the happiness of the 00:31:55.789 --> 00:31:57.789 elect. Thomas argued that the elect in heaven 00:31:57.789 --> 00:32:00.289 will witness the suffering of the damned. His 00:32:00.289 --> 00:32:03.369 justification was purely intellectual. This witnessing, 00:32:03.609 --> 00:32:06.750 he reasoned, allows the elect to more fully appreciate 00:32:06.750 --> 00:32:09.589 God's perfect justice and, by contrast, increases 00:32:09.589 --> 00:32:12.549 their own joy in their salvation. This specific 00:32:12.549 --> 00:32:15.250 argument has, understandably, been a major focus 00:32:15.250 --> 00:32:17.029 of modern criticism regarding the application 00:32:17.029 --> 00:32:20.299 of cold logic to spiritual mercy. Thomas's application 00:32:20.299 --> 00:32:22.900 of rigorous logic to faith yielded a systematic 00:32:22.900 --> 00:32:25.079 structure. But when those structures were applied 00:32:25.079 --> 00:32:27.400 to real world issues like religious dissent, 00:32:27.460 --> 00:32:30.079 they led to conclusions that we today find deeply 00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:32.579 unsettling. Let's confront his most challenging 00:32:32.579 --> 00:32:35.160 views, beginning with his position on heretics. 00:32:35.420 --> 00:32:38.599 His logic here is, well, it's brutal, derived 00:32:38.599 --> 00:32:41.400 purely from his common good framework. He compared 00:32:41.400 --> 00:32:43.420 corruption of faith to corruption of currency. 00:32:43.740 --> 00:32:47.130 Yes. He argued that Corrupting the faith, the 00:32:47.130 --> 00:32:49.990 source of life for the soul, is a much graver 00:32:49.990 --> 00:32:52.670 matter than to forge money, which was a capital 00:32:52.670 --> 00:32:55.250 crime in the medieval era. Based on the common 00:32:55.250 --> 00:32:58.690 good, heretics deserve death. But his methodology 00:32:58.690 --> 00:33:02.210 required specific steps for the church. He stipulated 00:33:02.210 --> 00:33:04.329 that the church must always offer mercy first. 00:33:04.529 --> 00:33:07.190 The church must give the first and second admonition. 00:33:07.210 --> 00:33:09.410 It must attempt to bring the heretic back to 00:33:09.410 --> 00:33:11.910 the faith. If the heretic remains stubbornly 00:33:11.910 --> 00:33:14.809 unrepentant, Thomas argued the church, no longer 00:33:14.809 --> 00:33:17.109 hoping for his conversion, looks to the salvation 00:33:17.109 --> 00:33:19.349 or others. And what happens then? The church 00:33:19.349 --> 00:33:21.650 excommunicates him and then delivers him to the 00:33:21.650 --> 00:33:23.950 secular tribunal to be exterminated by death. 00:33:24.230 --> 00:33:26.710 This distinction, the church delivering him to 00:33:26.710 --> 00:33:29.789 secular authority, was critical in medieval jurisprudence, 00:33:29.890 --> 00:33:32.089 maintaining that the church itself does not shed 00:33:32.089 --> 00:33:34.349 blood. But the result, as you noted, remains 00:33:34.349 --> 00:33:37.789 the same. Yet contrast this severity with his 00:33:37.789 --> 00:33:40.750 remarkably progressive stance against forced 00:33:40.750 --> 00:33:42.930 conversion. This is a powerful paradox in his 00:33:42.930 --> 00:33:45.710 thought. Thomas explicitly argued against the 00:33:45.710 --> 00:33:48.730 forced baptism of children of Jews and nonbelievers. 00:33:48.890 --> 00:33:51.529 What was the rationale against it? He cited two 00:33:51.529 --> 00:33:55.920 crucial reasons. First, the risk to faith. Children 00:33:55.920 --> 00:33:58.079 baptized before the age of reason, if raised 00:33:58.079 --> 00:34:00.599 by non -believing parents, could easily be persuaded 00:34:00.599 --> 00:34:03.380 to renounce their faith later, causing spiritual 00:34:03.380 --> 00:34:06.000 danger. Second, and more importantly for his 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:08.940 legal theory, it violated natural justice. He 00:34:08.940 --> 00:34:11.179 argued that a child before reaching the age of 00:34:11.179 --> 00:34:14.619 reason is enfolded in the care of its parents 00:34:14.619 --> 00:34:17.719 like a spiritual womb. Removing them against 00:34:17.719 --> 00:34:20.059 the parents' will would be contrary to natural 00:34:20.059 --> 00:34:23.059 justice. He was prioritizing natural law, which 00:34:23.059 --> 00:34:25.440 recognizes parental rights and reason, over an 00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:27.679 aggressive evangelistic imperative. It was a 00:34:27.679 --> 00:34:30.019 very strong philosophical boundary that restrained 00:34:30.019 --> 00:34:32.199 the zeal of the church. It's a testament to the 00:34:32.199 --> 00:34:34.400 fact that his application of reason wasn't always 00:34:34.400 --> 00:34:37.079 driven by institutional dogma, but by his own 00:34:37.079 --> 00:34:39.880 philosophical rigor. Now, regarding witchcraft 00:34:39.880 --> 00:34:42.519 and magic, Thomas himself is relatively grounded 00:34:42.519 --> 00:34:45.409 for his time. He didn't believe humans had autonomous 00:34:45.409 --> 00:34:48.150 magical power. Thomas believed that only God 00:34:48.150 --> 00:34:51.349 could truly perform supernatural miracles. Any 00:34:51.349 --> 00:34:54.309 alleged magical efficacy, he argued, must come 00:34:54.309 --> 00:34:56.969 from demons using natural means or creating powerful 00:34:56.969 --> 00:35:00.309 illusions. He was skeptical of autonomous magic. 00:35:00.550 --> 00:35:02.969 But his work was later misused, making his name 00:35:02.969 --> 00:35:06.010 unfairly associated with later persecution. This 00:35:06.010 --> 00:35:09.090 is a classic example of legacy divergence. The 00:35:09.090 --> 00:35:11.590 infamous 15th century manual for witch hunters, 00:35:11.869 --> 00:35:15.369 the Malleus Maleficarum, quotes Thomas extensively 00:35:15.369 --> 00:35:17.809 to refute older church doctrines that had denied 00:35:17.809 --> 00:35:20.250 the possibility of witchcraft altogether. By 00:35:20.250 --> 00:35:22.969 linking demonic action to natural effects, Thomas 00:35:22.969 --> 00:35:25.130 provided a theoretical framework that was later 00:35:25.130 --> 00:35:27.630 hijacked and exaggerated to justify the worst 00:35:27.630 --> 00:35:30.190 excesses of the witch hunts. Despite the incredible 00:35:30.190 --> 00:35:32.769 influence his work gained, it wasn't immediately 00:35:32.769 --> 00:35:35.239 accepted upon his death. He faced an immediate 00:35:35.239 --> 00:35:38.719 backlash. The condemnation of 1277 was a serious, 00:35:38.719 --> 00:35:41.099 dramatic challenge. Just three years after he 00:35:41.099 --> 00:35:44.000 died, the Bishop of Paris, Étienne Tampier, condemned 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:48.059 219 propositions, including 20 attributed to 00:35:48.059 --> 00:35:50.760 Thomas' teaching. The core accusation was that 00:35:50.760 --> 00:35:53.199 Thomas' excessive reliance on Aristotelian logic 00:35:53.199 --> 00:35:56.750 limited God's power. So his grand synthesis was 00:35:56.750 --> 00:35:59.750 temporarily viewed as too reliant on pagan reason, 00:35:59.869 --> 00:36:02.670 specifically propositions arguing for the necessity 00:36:02.670 --> 00:36:05.730 of natural law that seemed to limit God's absolute 00:36:05.730 --> 00:36:08.349 ability to do anything. That's right. His logic 00:36:08.349 --> 00:36:10.690 was seen as boxing in the divine omnipotence. 00:36:10.789 --> 00:36:13.289 It was a serious setback, temporarily halting 00:36:13.289 --> 00:36:16.349 the spread of Thomism. But history proved Albertus 00:36:16.349 --> 00:36:20.059 Magnus right. Within 50 years, on July 18, 1323, 00:36:20.320 --> 00:36:23.000 he was canonized. And the story of his canonization 00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:25.639 is almost as famous as his life. When the devil's 00:36:25.639 --> 00:36:27.800 advocate objected to the lack of miracles attributed 00:36:27.800 --> 00:36:30.219 to Thomas, a cardinal offered the famous reply, 00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:33.119 taught miraculous, quote, articulous. There are 00:36:33.119 --> 00:36:35.860 as many miracles as articles in his Summa. The 00:36:35.860 --> 00:36:37.980 very structure and comprehensive nature of his 00:36:37.980 --> 00:36:40.400 intellectual output was itself a miracle worthy 00:36:40.400 --> 00:36:42.860 of sainthood. His status was cemented over the 00:36:42.860 --> 00:36:46.369 centuries. In 1567, he was proclaimed a doctor 00:36:46.369 --> 00:36:50.030 of the church. Most significantly, in 1879, Pope 00:36:50.030 --> 00:36:52.769 Leo III declared his theology the core doctrine, 00:36:52.989 --> 00:36:55.949 making Thomism the mandatory foundation for all 00:36:55.949 --> 00:36:58.489 Catholic clergy studies. His influence goes beyond 00:36:58.489 --> 00:37:01.199 the church, too. His virtue ethics are experiencing 00:37:01.199 --> 00:37:03.920 a huge revival among secular moral philosophers, 00:37:04.119 --> 00:37:07.199 and even literary giants like James Joyce cited 00:37:07.199 --> 00:37:10.219 Aquinas' concept of claritous radiance or integrity 00:37:10.219 --> 00:37:13.340 as a major influence on his aesthetics. Yet the 00:37:13.340 --> 00:37:16.139 defining moment of Thomas' own life, the thematic 00:37:16.139 --> 00:37:18.739 climax of his career, remains the silence of 00:37:18.739 --> 00:37:22.449 the straw. December 6, 1273. He experienced a 00:37:22.449 --> 00:37:24.989 profound mystical ecstasy while celebrating Mass 00:37:24.989 --> 00:37:27.869 far longer and more intense than usual when his 00:37:27.869 --> 00:37:30.130 friend and secretary, Reginald of Piperno, urged 00:37:30.130 --> 00:37:32.329 him to return to work on the incomplete Summa 00:37:32.329 --> 00:37:34.889 Theologiae. Thomas refused. His words are immortal. 00:37:35.289 --> 00:37:37.250 Reginald, I cannot because all that I have written 00:37:37.250 --> 00:37:41.309 seems like straw to me. He had devoted two decades 00:37:41.309 --> 00:37:44.630 to creating millions of words of perfect rational 00:37:44.630 --> 00:37:47.849 synthesis. And in one overwhelming mystical experience, 00:37:48.130 --> 00:37:51.420 he declared it all worthless straw. He never 00:37:51.420 --> 00:37:53.639 wrote another word and died a few months later. 00:37:53.820 --> 00:37:56.179 He died traveling to the Second Council of Lyon 00:37:56.179 --> 00:38:00.280 in 1274, collapsing on the road. His final public 00:38:00.280 --> 00:38:03.239 prayer was an act of profound humility, submitting 00:38:03.239 --> 00:38:05.300 everything he had written to the judgment of 00:38:05.300 --> 00:38:08.119 the church. It was the rational mind encountering 00:38:08.119 --> 00:38:11.219 the ultimate, ineffable mister and choosing silence 00:38:11.219 --> 00:38:14.340 over incomplete articulation. We have to address 00:38:14.340 --> 00:38:16.360 the most famous modern critique of his work, 00:38:16.440 --> 00:38:18.760 which challenges the very nature of his synthesis. 00:38:19.530 --> 00:38:22.269 The views of philosopher Bertrand Russell. Russell 00:38:22.269 --> 00:38:24.690 was merciless. He accused Thomas of essentially 00:38:24.690 --> 00:38:27.849 engaging in special pleading. Russell argued 00:38:27.849 --> 00:38:29.949 that Thomas was not conducting independent philosophical 00:38:29.949 --> 00:38:32.989 inquiry, but merely using reason as a tool to 00:38:32.989 --> 00:38:35.690 justify conclusions dictated in advance by faith. 00:38:35.869 --> 00:38:37.989 Meaning he wasn't following where the argument 00:38:37.989 --> 00:38:40.769 led. He was forcing the argument to confirm the 00:38:40.769 --> 00:38:42.610 religious truths he already held to be true. 00:38:42.989 --> 00:38:45.530 Russell offered a famously sharp example regarding 00:38:45.530 --> 00:38:48.269 Thomas's justification for the indissolubility 00:38:48.269 --> 00:38:51.449 of marriage. Thomas argued that lifelong marriage 00:38:51.449 --> 00:38:53.449 was necessary for the education of offspring, 00:38:53.789 --> 00:38:56.070 partly because the father, being more rational 00:38:56.070 --> 00:38:58.750 than the mother, was better able to inflict physical 00:38:58.750 --> 00:39:01.769 punishment. Russell used this detail to argue 00:39:01.769 --> 00:39:04.469 that if those specific culturally driven rational 00:39:04.469 --> 00:39:06.909 justifications were proven scientifically false, 00:39:07.130 --> 00:39:10.050 no follower of Aquinas would stop believing in 00:39:10.050 --> 00:39:12.710 lifelong monogamy, proving that the real grounds 00:39:12.710 --> 00:39:15.510 of belief were theological, not rational. That 00:39:15.510 --> 00:39:17.530 critique cuts right to the heart of the dual 00:39:17.530 --> 00:39:20.489 light system. Was reason truly an equal partner 00:39:20.489 --> 00:39:22.789 or was it always the subservient handmaiden to 00:39:22.789 --> 00:39:25.349 revelation? It's the lasting tension of his work 00:39:25.349 --> 00:39:27.949 and it forces us to ask. Does Thomas prove that 00:39:27.949 --> 00:39:30.170 reason supports faith, or does he prove that 00:39:30.170 --> 00:39:32.469 faith dictates how we use reason? What stands 00:39:32.469 --> 00:39:34.849 out most profoundly in this deep dive is the 00:39:34.849 --> 00:39:37.789 central human tension of Thomas Aquinas' life. 00:39:38.360 --> 00:39:40.539 the man who attempted the most rigorous rational 00:39:40.539 --> 00:39:43.480 defense of the divine in history, only to later 00:39:43.480 --> 00:39:46.579 declare his entire corpus worthless straw. He 00:39:46.579 --> 00:39:48.820 fundamentally defined the intellectual landscape 00:39:48.820 --> 00:39:51.219 of the West, shaping our understanding of law, 00:39:51.420 --> 00:39:54.199 morality, and economics. From establishing the 00:39:54.199 --> 00:39:56.659 hierarchy of natural law that dictates the basic 00:39:56.659 --> 00:39:59.239 rights of self -preservation, to his framework 00:39:59.239 --> 00:40:01.860 for the just price -defining economic fairness, 00:40:02.000 --> 00:40:05.210 his shadow is cast across our institutions. Thomas 00:40:05.210 --> 00:40:08.530 Aquinas dedicated his brilliant short life to 00:40:08.530 --> 00:40:10.889 establishing the absolute boundaries for what 00:40:10.889 --> 00:40:13.670 human reason alone could achieve in knowing God. 00:40:13.929 --> 00:40:16.929 He used the best tools, the logic of Aristotle, 00:40:17.210 --> 00:40:19.889 and applied them with unmatched rigor to sacred 00:40:19.889 --> 00:40:22.269 truth. And that leads to the ultimate relevance 00:40:22.269 --> 00:40:25.409 for you, the listener, today. We live in an age 00:40:25.409 --> 00:40:27.750 that prizes empirical data, scientific investigation, 00:40:28.090 --> 00:40:30.429 and technological knowledge. We constantly seek 00:40:30.429 --> 00:40:32.469 to abolish mystery and push the limits of what 00:40:32.469 --> 00:40:34.949 is rationally knowable. Thomas Aquinas, the most 00:40:34.949 --> 00:40:36.969 dedicated rationalist of his age, pushed those 00:40:36.969 --> 00:40:39.690 limits too. But then he stopped. He reached a 00:40:39.690 --> 00:40:42.309 conceptual wall, a moment of profound mystical 00:40:42.309 --> 00:40:45.210 understanding so overwhelming that his massive 00:40:45.210 --> 00:40:47.710 million -word intellectual structure became just 00:40:47.710 --> 00:40:50.210 straw. The provocative thought we leave you with 00:40:50.210 --> 00:40:53.210 is this. In our modern pursuit of knowledge, 00:40:53.409 --> 00:40:56.010 where every truth seems accessible if we just 00:40:56.010 --> 00:40:58.960 apply enough computation and observation, What 00:40:58.960 --> 00:41:01.659 ultimate truths, if any, remain outside the grasp 00:41:01.659 --> 00:41:04.159 of reason, existing only in the realm of that 00:41:04.159 --> 00:41:06.719 ultimate ineffable mystical experience? What 00:41:06.719 --> 00:41:08.579 does it truly mean for the most rational moment 00:41:08.579 --> 00:41:10.840 of medieval age to hit that conceptual wall and 00:41:10.840 --> 00:41:13.300 choose silence? Is there a point where human 00:41:13.300 --> 00:41:16.000 understanding, no matter how refined, must eventually 00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:17.019 surrender to mystery?