Point taken.
I am not in any sense a Thomist.
In his time, and indeed now for that matter, “human” was synonymous with “rational-minded and embodied.”
As our knowledge of biology has advanced since then, it has also been assigned to “a being possessing a certain type of embodiment, and genetic structure.”
Should sapient aliens be discovered, they would not have human bodies; and so we would in all likelihood NOT call them “human.” Rather, a more unwieldy term (“rational being”??) would be defined for the new superset of which human life, and the aliens, would be subsets.
ICXC NIKA.
(Disclaimer: I have yet to get into Aquinas, I know I need to study a lot of theology, science, and history to fill in gaps in my knowledge. It’s hard amidst daily life, as I’m no longer a student, to give some of those deep thinkers the close concentration and attentive reading they deserve. But I hope to carve out time to do so. Bucket list!)
But GEddie, your post is possibly the best on this entire thread in its attempt to clarify the terminology and what it is we’re discussing. I am interested in exobiology and speculation about these sorts of things, which many consider a waste of time, but God gave me a curious mind!
Angels, we know, are God’s creation, and are purely
intelligent beings of pure spirit, and there are different choirs of them. Angels can assume a human form in some instances when that serves God’s purposes. Maybe fallen angels (demons) can as well to do the Devil’s work, I’m not sure on that one.
Sentient beings with eternal, spiritual souls is how I’m going to classify humans and any other (at this point hypothetical, but possibly someday proven to exist) beings God may have created on faraway planets. They would be the “humans” among their planets’ “animal,” “plant” and other inferior species, some of which would be analogous to our Earthly categories of lifeforms, others might be unique to how life developed on their world.
The term “aliens” tends to be problematic. I believe it is likely that true, scientifically plausible aliens exist. We may never know of specific instances due to the vast cosmic distances. The type of “alien from outer space” that has taken hold of the popular imagination, distilled from a melange of science fiction imagery, Cold War fears, Roswell/Area 51 mythos, and the like - that kind I don’t believe is a real alien being from another planet, but rather an imaginary construct of human modern mythology.
I’ve laid the groundwork for discussion of whether the sentient beings with eternal, spiritual souls of the paragraph before last would need salvation. That would depend upon whether they did or did not commit their race’s analogue to the human race’s Original Sin. As to how God would make a plan for their salvation should they have committed that sin, that’s up to Him. He is infinite and can deal with this question better than we can, although I’m writing a science fiction novel that attempts to address the question at least obliquely. I think sometimes I’m a glutton for punishment for trying, but I’m in too deep to back out now! :compcoff:
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