Thomas Aquinas and Aristotlian Philosophy

Posted by mshupe 5 years, 2 months ago to Philosophy
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“Catholicism had once been the most philosophical of all religions. Its long, illustrious philosophical history was illuminated by a giant: Thomas Aquinas. He brought an Aristotelian view of reason (an Aristotelian epistemology) back into European culture, and lighted the way to the Renaissance. For the brief span of the nineteenth century, when his was the dominant influence among Catholic philosophers, the grandeur of his thought almost lifted the Church close to the realm of reason.”
SOURCE URL: https://www.centerforindividualism.org/poetic-justice-warrior-spotlight-the-dominican-friar-who-introduced-the-western-world-to-western-civilization/


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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 5 years, 2 months ago
    What a shame, if reason had persisted, we may have adopted a Conscious language about the teachings that actually made sense. There is much value there that could of awakened the masses into a willing conscious introspection of self and a reasonable common conscience to guide us.
    But instead, the organization continued the use the original nonconscious bicameral language fought with mistranslations, seemingly on purpose to keep everyone in a mystical, magical darkness that persists today.
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    • Posted by ewv 5 years, 2 months ago
      There is no such thing as "the original nonconscious bicameral language", which is meaningless.
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      • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 5 years, 2 months ago
        Naturally you would think that because you don't recognize that mankind was not always aware of his own awareness. Awareness of one's environment and awareness of self are two completely different things.

        What I have termed: "bicameral language", is language devoid of awareness of one's own awareness, devoid of the ability of self introspection. Without that kind of awareness, (consciousness) one could not view self, could not place himself in perspective to everything else if not for what others see of him and his behavior.
        That is as best I can describe what Jaynes saw that led him to his conclusions.
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        • Posted by ewv 5 years, 2 months ago
          Consciousness is the faculty of awareness of reality. Every human being is conscious and aware that he is. There is no such thing as "language devoid of awareness of one's own awareness". Human beings are not devoid of conscious awareness or themselves, and language is not "aware": of anything; it is the means by which we conceptualize and then communicate. There is no such thing as "the original nonconscious bicameral language". It is meaningless. Your private language invoking the meaningless through obscure terminology communicates nothing and the attempt is relevant to the topic of the thread, which is the role of Aquinas in re-introducing Aristotelianism to western culture.
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    • Posted by 5 years, 2 months ago
      As the great American composer Aaron Copeland said, if you want to understand the 1960s just look at The Beatles. Magical Mystery Tour! Or as I called it in a blog post, The Age of Absurdity, referring to The Age of Aquarius by the Fifth Dimension - peace, love and understanding!
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  • Posted by 5 years, 2 months ago
    It's too bad secular elites who deny reason have taken over American college campuses from the religious elites who were embracing it.
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    • Posted by ewv 5 years, 2 months ago
      The universities were not taken over by "secular elites" from "religious elites embracing [reason]". The modern universities were not run by religion and religion did not embrace reason. The destructive philosophy that dominates the universities since the rise of the New Left is not characterized as "secular" in opposition to "religion".

      "Thomas Aquinas utilized a method of thinking and learning known as Scholasticism, which is a system of critical thought that was a departure from traditional Christian theology."

      Medieval Scholasticism is characterized by its rationalism divorcing reason from reality, as in the endless arguments over how many angels dance on the head of a pin. Such nonsensical philosophizing preceded Aquinas and was not introduced by him. It was Augustine who turned Christian mysticism into a religious philosophy.

      Aristotle the writer was not unknown to the Dark and Middle Ages before Aquinas. Aquinas introduced Aristotelianism as a reality-centered philosophy. Prior to that the known works of Aristotle were mainly his forms of logic, which was abused as rationalistic Platonic arguments.
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