Question

Are there current scientific development for example,in biology-that challenge the understanding of nature presented by Aquinas?

Answer 1

Answer:

Investigations of the nature and origins of life concern various scientific, ... to be clear that the contemporary natural sciences, and in particular biology, present challenges ... Thomas Aquinas' Understanding of Creation

Answer 2

Answer:

Aquinas must be seen as a product of his period and the knowledge of his time as a scientist. When present scientists have the benefit of tens of generations of scientific thought and growth, it is unjust to expect this brilliant man's work to have relevance to our understanding of science.

Explanation:

• Aquinas lived in the 13th century BCE, during a period of upheaval and controversy in which he played a key role.
• It was a time when science and technology, in the modern sense, were beginning to have an impact on people's lives.
• This prompted religious intellectuals of the day to consider the human situation more deeply.
• Aquinas was a valuable contributor whose abilities were recognised, but whose beliefs were often unpopular and opposed.
• Aquinas began to review the church's religious philosophy and the increasing scientific understanding of nature based on Aristotle's philosophy when the works of Aristotle were rediscovered at the time.
• The church, like many other groups, was opposed to any shift in theology.
• They occasionally permitted Aquinas to teach, which allowed him to have an impact on younger students.
• Despite the fact that they formally rejected his proposals at times, a severe rebuke, he was canonised barely 50 years after his death.
• Since Aquinas' time, 700 years of developing human understanding have resulted in current scientific advancements.
• Furthermore, his view of nature was essentially based on Aristotle's 900-year-old beliefs.
• The scientific understanding of Aquinas' time is unchallenged.
• In the 700 years since the thirteenth century, science has been supplanted, revised, rectified, and enlarged thousands of times.
• When one examines the achievements in science and the significant shift in our understanding in only the previous 70 years, Aquinas' role as a leading thinker and philosopher of his time can be seen in context (although he rejected the title of philosopher).
• The fact that his science was incorrect in our opinion in the twenty-first century has no bearing on the respect we should have for him as a thinker and teacher.
• The first three arguments of Aquinas—from motion, causality, and contingency—are examples of the cosmological argument for divine existence.

Hence, Aquinos stated that each one starts with a general fact about natural events before concluding on the existence of a supreme creative source for the universe.

#SPJ3