Matter and the human body according to Thomas Aquinas.
Creators: name: Farmer, Linda L.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1997
Subjects: subject: Philosophy.

description: The aim of this dissertation is to provide an accurate, concrete and complete account of the human body in St. Thomas's mature texts in order to show that St. Thomas ascribed to the human body a rich and important causality which contributes positively to human existence. As St. Thomas inscribes his anthropology in an Aristotelian framework, a first section (Chapters 1 and 2) is devoted to an examination of Aristotle's views on matter and the body. The second section is, then, devoted to the human body in St. Thomas's anthropology. Chapter 3 examines St. Thomas's general anthropology from the 'viewpoint of soul', outlining his adoption of Aristotle's hylomorphic theory as regards human beings and paying particular attention to points on which his analysis differs from that of Aristotle. Chapter 4 sets forth the methodology we employ in our examination of the human body in St. Thomas's philosophy. Before studying the human body from the 'viewpoint of body', we first address, in Chapter 5, the issues of human individuation in St. Thomas's philosophy and of Aquinas's views on the elements. In regards to the question of matter being the principle of individuation, we argue that St. Thomas distinguishes two sorts of 'individuation' and that, although materia signata is the cause of our being unum de numero (which is one kind of 'individuation'), it is not the cause of our being unum numero (esse being the principle of this kind of 'individuation'). Regarding elemental change and the composition of the elements, we show that, according to St. Thomas, elements are composed of substantial form and prime matter, that their changes are not accidental but substantial (i.e., involve generation and corruption) and that the qualities or powers of a corrupted element remain virtually in the composite. Chapters 6-8 then study the human body from the 'viewpoint of body', examining the causality of matter in each level of life: vegetative (Chapter 6), sensitive (Chapter 7) and intellective (Chapter 8). At the vegetative level, the role of matter in generation, nutrition and growth is discussed, as is St. Thomas's doctrine regarding the necessary qualities of the human body. In Chapter 7, the causality of matter in sensation is examined in regards to (a) organs and faculties; (b) the exterior senses (of which the sense of touch is primary and, for this reason, will be the focus of our discussion); (c) the functions of the human heart with respect to our vital operations, movement and erect position; (d) the interior senses and their relation to the structure of the human brain; and (e) appetites and emotions. The final chapter, Chapter 8, then examines the causality of matter at the level of intellective life. There we show that the human soul requires matter (more precisely, a human body) to acquire knowledge, exercise its acquired knowledge and to make particular decisions. As St. Thomas's views regarding the nature of man and the causality of matter have important implications for the separated state of the soul and, also, as regards the resurrection of the body, we discuss these implications, examine the consistency of St. Thomas's position with the assumptions of his anthropology and his theory of knowledge and argue that causality he ascribes to the material dimension of human beings is truly significant, extending even to our final beatitude. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)