Thought of Aquinas

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

G.K. Chesterton once said of St. Thomas Aquinas that "his philosophy, like his theology, is that of common sense." Chesterton may be right about that, but it's one thing for a philosophy to be common-sensical; it's another thing for it to be easy. The goal of this course is to enable student students to read Aquinas by focusing on a limited set of topics and helping students to learn about these topics while seeing their place in Aquinas's big picture. Possible topics include faith and reason; human nature, including the soul, the body, and the image of God; law and virtue; nature and grace; the "five ways"; and other topics drawn from his natural, ethical, and metaphysical thinking. For details about specific sections in a particular semester, see https://philosophy.nd.edu/courses/2nd-courses-in-philosophy/.