The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-03-21

n
i for unity; and in st. Thomas
AquinaS was the ruling passion. Be
fore him Christian doctrine had
been a wild growth of mysticism,
asceticism, mythology, and ideal
ism; with him it became an ordered
system, so logically eXpOunded that
the hidden connections appeared,
and the defects we're wildly re-
yealed.
1t was like q Gothic cathedral,
great variety of detail brought to
sublime unity, a great mass resting
at last upon one arch, with ribbed
vaults and flying buttresses of ar
gument, and startling gargOyles Of
absurdity peering out now and then.
THE quaint old habit Of central
izing a strain at one point" says
Henry Adams, and then dividing
and subdividing it, and distributing
it on visible lines of support to a
visible foundation, disappeared in
architecture soon after 1900, but
fingered in theology two centuries
longer, and even, in very old-faSh-
toned communities, far down 10 our
own time Never, not even in Arts
totle, had philosophy attained to
such unity before.
On the face of it it was all the
strictest logic, tremendous Sorites
of concatenated syllogisms. Each
book is divided into "quaestiones,"
and each "quaestio" into "articult';
under each article Thomas presents
first the heretical positions, often
vigorously and cleverly stated, usu-
ally in stern SyllOgistic form; then
each argument is met with "Scholas-
tica disputation" - by conceding,
denying, or distinguishing the major
or the minor premise, or by denying
the necessity Of the conclusion mon
sequitur does not follow"
II n
HAVING slain all heterodox
4 Il views. Thomas presents what
seems to him the truth, demon
strates it in syllogistic form, and
then buttresses it with quotations
from the Scriptures and the Fathers.
1t was out of this scholastic method
that Spinoza evolved his even
stricter geometric exposition.
Underneath this armor many vul-
nerable points can be found if we
look for them; and indeed was alb
surdity dressed so speciously. Here,
for example, we learn of the omni-
potence of God; everything that
transpires in this world is the result
of his will; how then, can man have
freedom of will?
Thomas argues valiantly, but the
stout monk in effect takes to his
heels in a cloud of distinctions that
obscure the issue without meeting it;
in truth, any external and omni-
potent deity reduces human being
to puppets, and determinism and
fatalism lie concealed in the most
respectable theology.
And how shall we reconcile evil
with God? Abelard had asked; it
is very simple, answers Thomas, God
neither wills the occurrence nor the
non-occurrence of evils, but only
wills to permit their occurrence.
What an impartial deity!
Can the real nature Of God be
known by human beings? Ger
tainly, says Thomas; for "since
everything is movable so far as it
exists in actuality, God, who is pure
actuality. is himself most
movable" Not only do we know
the real nature of God, but we know
just how God knows himself and
the world; for Thomas proceeds to
explain these things with marvel
GUS syllogiSmS.
NEVERTHELESS the chief aim
IN of human life is to acquire
face to face knowledge OF God; the
things of this world are as nothing;
and though happiness lies in action,
the highest action is thought, and
the highest thought is the thought
of God. The great purpose of man
is to become an angel i'll heaven
AS to angels, they must exist; for
"the perfection of the universe re-
quires that there should be intellect
ual creatures; but to know cannot
be the act of the body, or of any
corporeal faculty, because all body
is limited to here and how; ergo it is
necessary, in order that the uni
verse may be perfect, that there
should is incorporeal creatures"
If it is not evident let US go over
it again. And Thomas passes on, in
the "Quodlibetalia," to debate the
problem whether angels can pass
from one place to another without
going through the intermediate
space.
The soul, as Aristotle properly