1. Thomas Aquinas
Theologian / Philosopher
Born: c. 1225
Died: 7 March 1274
Birthplace: Roccasecca, Italy
Best known as: Medieval Catholic scholar who wrote Summa Theologica
Name at birth: Tommaso d'Aquino
Thomas Aquinas was a priest, professor and philosopher who influenced centuries of religious
and academic thought with his methodical way of harmonizing faith and reason. Born to nobility
in southern Italy, he became attracted to life as a monk and scholar while a university student in
Naples. He joined the Dominican religious order, but his family locked him in their castle tower,
hoping to change his mind. A year later he escaped, studied in Cologne and Paris, was ordained a
priest, and taught in universities during the Scholastic era, when the ancient logic of Aristotle
was being revived despite condemnations by the Roman Catholic Church. Aquinas reconciled
the two by granting reason its own integrity. He used Aristotelian arguments to "prove" God's
existence and the truth of Christian beliefs, but held that some doctrinal truths are revealed only
by faith. He painstakingly questioned-and-answered his way through two major works: Summa
Contra Gentiles ("Summary of Arguments against the Disbelievers) and his final synthesis,
Summa Theologica. His thinking, later called Thomism, was rapidly adopted by the church.
Known as "the angelic doctor," he was canonized in 1323. In 1879, Pope Leo XIII declared
Aquinas's works "the only true philosophy.
[from http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/thomasaquinas.html]
2. Scholasticism, from the Latin word scholasticus ("that [which] belongs to the school) was a
method of learning taught by the academics (or schoolmen) of medieval universities circa 1100 – 1500
C.E. Scholasticism originally began as a reconciliation of the philosophy of the ancient classical
philosophers with medieval Christian theology. It was not a philosophy or theology in itself, but a tool
and method for learning which emphasized dialectical reasoning. The primary purpose of scholasticism
was to find the answer to a question or resolve a contradiction. It is most well known in its application in
medieval theology, but was eventually applied to classical philosophy and many other fields of study.
[from http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Dialectical+reasoning]
Scholasticism was the method of teaching that dominated the schools of Western
Europe from about 1100 until about 1600. Some scholars date it as early as the ninth century
and include Alcuin and John Scotus Eriugina among the scholastics. But the distinctive
scholastic texts that present authorities supporting apparently contradictory conclusions first
arose in the twelfth century with such works as Peter Abelard's Sic et Non.
Characteristic scholastic textbooks from the twelfth century confronted teachers and students
with conflicting authorities in law (Gratian's Decretum) and theology (Lombard's Sentences).
The strong, native tradition of twelfth-century logic and disputation was decisively influenced in
the thirteenth century by the introduction of Aristotle's analytics, metaphysics and natural
philosophy.
Scholastic masters modeled the use of sophisticated logical methods to resolve such apparent
contradictions. Students themselves were taught to defend views that they did not themselves
hold in disputations
The "Schoolmen" were themselves Christians often strongly committed to the Christian
mystical tradition and to the view that understanding could only be achieved by faith. However,
the authoritative texts from which they taught included not only St. Augustine and the fathers of
the church ("patristics") but also texts by Greek pagan thinkers and by physicians, lawyers, and
theologians from the Islamic world (including its Jewish scholars).
Scholastic universities awarded degrees in philosophy, theology, law (Roman and canon), and
medicine. History and literature were seldom studied, though grammar was required and some
acquaintance with all of the seven liberal arts was assumed. Philosophy itself gave birth to many
now independent fields of study including physics and chemistry, politics and economics,
biology and psychology.
Students were taught to argue from reason, experience, and authority. The disputation,
distinction, and deduction characteristic of scholasticism shaped university science and education
for centuries.
Still today we have much to learn from considering the arguments of scholastic thinkers on
topics of perennial philosophical reflection. Even what is merely amusing and hopelessly
antiquated in scholastic thought often continues to influence our cultural traditions.
[ from http://bartholomew.stanford.edu/scholasticism.html]