The final cause for mankind is salvation and felicity in beholding God. It will be presented below that Aquinas leaves an allowance for philosophers who interpret Aristotelian philosophy as a philosophy devoid of sympathy for faith. He suggests that the end of man may also be known solely in philosophy without recourse to faith. The views of the two doctors In the critical edition of the Ordinatio, St. Thomas is cited by the editors in the footnotes to the text. In the controversy between the philosophers and the theologians, philosophers put forward three important arguments.
Philosophers uphold the perfection of nature.
Theologians recognize the necessity of divine grace and perfection. The Saint is mentioned in relation to the second argument of the philosophers in connection with Aristotle who divides the speculative sciences into mathematics, physics and metaphysics. St. Thomas is also mentioned in relation to a certain argument, again from the side of the philosophers, against the need for faith. In other words, if supernatural aid is not needed by the senses for apprehending their objects, neither will it be needed for the intellect which is a more perfect faculty. However, St. Thomas Aquinas acknowledges the necessity and hence the reliability of sacred doctrine in his Summa Theologica.