Tomorrow, 28 January, the Church’s liturgical calendar marks the feast of St Thomas Aquinas. Known as “the Angelic Doctor”, “Doctor Communis” and “Doctor Universalis”, St Thomas exerted a huge influence on Western thought, especially in the fields of ethics, natural law, metaphysics and political theory. The majority of modern philosophy argumentation stemmed from a development – or outright negation of – his thinking. Along with Saints Albert the Great, Catherine of Alexandria and Justin the Martyr, St Thomas Aquinas is the patron saint of philosophers.

The prominent figure of Thomas Aquinas makes us ask an absolutely pertinent question: “Is philosophy still relevant today?” Would we be better without it? Sometimes it is mistakenly held that philosophy is just one of many other subjects under the sun, but such a position is erroneous. Perhaps Owen Barfield can give us a helping hand in finding the right answer to our query. When the young C.S. Lewis referred to philosophy as “a subject”, his friend Barfield said: “It wasn’t a subject to Plato. It was a way.”

Tradition has it that philosophy is the study, through the employment of reason, of the most profound realities. It talks about the nature of the material world, the nature of man, the existence of God. It safeguards our ability to know the truth. It investigates the transcendentals of truth, goodness and beauty. Philosophy demonstrates the mode of life that rational beings must embrace. In the field of logic, it prepares and fortifies the mind to scrutinise arguments and discern truth from falsity. Its point of departure is unstructured, in other words commonsense knowledge which every human being possesses. Then philosophy explains, sustains and deepens our natural, healthy views.

Moreover, any philosophy worth its salt enlightens all other ways of knowledge by showing their interconnection with one another.

Therefore, the physical sciences: mathematics, politics and economics, are intimately interwoven as parts of a whole, having philosophy as their foundation. It is precisely in this perspective that the Church wisely directs that two years of philosophy should be included in the intellectual formation of her future ministers in order that the latter be trained to view reality holistically and be able to grasp how God’s special revelation to the human race is still providentially inserting itself in our day-to-day lives.

Philosophy helps us to penetrate self-evident principles, like the principle of non-contradiction. Common sense tells us that something either is or is not. Hence it can and cannot be at the same time.

Philosophy sees reality in the light of these principles. It demands so much effort, something that the current superficial and secular culture openly refuses to do. In this regard, one can value more G.K. Chesterton’s sharp and intriguing contrast between the pragmatist and the Thomist. “The pragmatist sets out to be practical, but his practicality turns out to be entirely theoretical. The Thomist begins by being theoretical, but his theory turns out to be entirely practical. That is why a great part of the world is returning to it today.”

In his encyclical on the relationship between faith and reason, Fides et Ratio, Blessed John Paul II spoke at length on the point that philosophy’s importance is undisputed. He strongly affirmed that “all men and women… are, in some sense, philosophers and have their own philosophical conceptions with which they direct their lives” (§ 30).

Philosophy plays an essential role in the progress of culture and individual and social behaviour, as well as in sacred theology itself.

Blessed John Paul II stated that “philosophical thought is often the only ground for understanding and dialogue with those who do not share our faith” (§ 104). Within the same encyclical, the Holy Father exhorted those responsible for priestly formation “to pay special attention to the philosophical preparation of those who will proclaim the Word of God to the men and women of today” (§ 105). This must be so because “the study of philosophy is fundamental and indispensable to the structure of theological studies, and to the formation of candidates for the priesthood” (§ 62).

In this Year of Faith, why not study the writings of Aquinas to appreciate more our Catholic faith?

 

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap

SAN GWANN