Question

Why st thomas was called the aristotle of medieval ages?

Answer 1

Thomas Aquinas, the dominant thinker of the middle ages, combined the science and philosophy of Aristotle with the revealed truths of Christianity. Holding that Aristotelianism is true but is not the whole truth, he reconciled the philosophy of Aristotle with the truth of Christian revelation. Aquinas was a committed disciple of Aristotle but was an even more sincere disciple of the Church. He reconciled Aristotle's ideas to a new context, was able to make distinctions that Aristotle did not formulate, and never hesitated to go beyond Aristotle. The 13th century rediscovery and revival of the corpus of Aristotle's teaching and Aquinas' synthesis of it with the tenets of Christian faith effected a dramatic change in medieval political thought. Through his writings, Aquinas provided a solid bridge from the ancients. According to Aquinas, philosophy and theology do not contradict one another and play complementary roles in the quest for truth. For Aquinas, the whole of human knowledge forms one all-encompassing, orderly, hierarchical system with sciences at the base, philosophy above them, and theology at the top. It follows that human values and truths are not eradicated by the revelation of higher ones. Faith does not contradict nature, human knowledge, or science. Philosophy proceeds from principles discovered through the use of human reason and theology emanates from authoritative revelation. Philosophy and religion are equally valid in their respective spheres and reason and faith cooperate in advancing the discovery of truth. Aquinas emphasises that divine revelation in no way contradicts that which men discover by the use of natural reason.
Aquinas taught that the universe is an orderly and integrated hierarchy that can only be fully understood when seen in relationship to God. In fact, Aquinas promulgated a fourfold classification of law in which only one category is human. Eternal law is practically identified with the divine reason of God that governs and orders the entirety of creation. The eternal law is "imprinted" on all things including men. Natural law is that part of the eternal law that is presented to the reason of man. Men are guided by a rational apprehension of the eternal law which is imprinted as precepts, rules of behavior, or broad principles of natural law. Because men are autonomous beings they must choose to observe the law of nature through acts of free will. Natural law is a product of unaided reason. Human laws are positive laws that are, or should be, derived from natural law. It is the correlation between natural law and human law that determines the moral validity of the latter. The divine law, the law of grace, is the portion of the eternal law that God has revealed to man through the Old and New Testaments, the law of Moses, the Decalogue, and in Church dogma. Divine law is a gift rather than a discovery of natural reason. Revelation adds to reason but does not overturn it. Divine law supplements natural law and corrects its human misinterpretations. It is needed because natural law cannot direct man to his transcendent end.

Answer 2

Answer:

Because he combined the science and philosophy of Aristotle with the truths of Christianity.

Explanation:

• St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-74), the greatest of the mediaeval Christian intellectuals, was greatly influenced by Aristotle's philosophy, which had a significant influence on generations of mediaeval scholars.
• Thomas was particularly impressed by one of Aristotle's ideas: that knowledge is not innate but is acquired through sensory reports and logical reasoning from self-evident truths.
• Aristotle's definition of metaphysics as the study of existence, which Thomas also adopted,
• Along with his distinctions between act and potency, essence and existence, substance and accidents, the active and passive intellect.

Thus this is the answer.

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