Resources for better understanding natural philosophy?

[Maezck]

I was wondering what resources there are to help explain how possibly, the Reformation and Enlightenment periods have, in a way, been forced to explain the Roman Catholic faith. It was shown to me that The Western part of the Church uses the philosophical language of Aristotle while the Eastern Church uses the language of Plato.

Another user on this forum told me:

“St Thomas of Aquinas would not appear in the Eastern part of the Church. He and several other saints were needed during the 13th century in the West.”

I’d really love to learn more about how scholasticism, in essence, is truly complementary to the faith. I hope this makes sense.

Thank you

 

[Richca]

It was shown to me that The Western part of the Church uses the philosophical language of Aristotle while the Eastern Church uses the language of Plato.

I think this statement requires a few qualifications. Aristotelianism really didn’t figure prominently in the western or latin Church until the early second millenium particularly among the scholastic theologians when the translation of Aristotle’s works into latin became widely disseminated. St Augustine who was a latin father used the philosophy of Plato much more than that of Aristotle and thus even among some of the scholastic theologians, particularly the Franciscan school and St Bonaventura, Platonism figures more prominently in their philosophy and theology than Aristotelianism in various ways such as Plato’s idea of participation. Aristotelianism figures prominently in the philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas and his teacher, St Albert the Great, who were both Dominicans, with elements of Platonism however too. Aquinas’ natural philosophy is a synthesis of the best of Plato and Aristotle and other philosophers and even Aristotle’s thought is a synthesis in various ways of the greek philosophers who went before him including Plato of whom Aristotle was a pupil of in his younger days. Aristotle’s formal cause which is one of the four causes of things in his philosophy is derived from Plato though with some modifications. Plato’s idea of participation figures prominently in the philosophy and theology of Aquinas, for example, the being or existence of creatures is a created participation in God’s being or existence.

I’d really love to learn more about how scholasticism, in essence, is truly complementary to the faith. I hope this makes sense.

St Thomas Aquinas is the greatest of the scholastic theologians and it is his philosophy and theology that the Catholic Church, in a sense, has taken for its own and praised above all others among the scholastics. To learn how scholasticism is truly complementary to the faith, I would recommend reading Aquinas’ works many of which are online in english and particularly his Summa Theologica. See the following link:
https://dhspriory.org/thomas/

For an introduction to Aquinas’ philosophy and metaphysics, Edward Feser has recently written a couple of excellent books on this though I’m not sure they are available for free online though you may be able to get a kindle like edition. A couple of Feser’s books are:
‘Aquinas - A Beginner’s Guide’
‘Scholastic Metaphysics - A Contemporary Introduction’

Feser’s newest book which is just being published and released now and which looks very interesting is called ‘Aristotle’s Revenge: The Metaphysical Foundations of Physical and Biological Science’.

 

[Richca]

(continued)

You could probably find a great many books on scholastic philosophy and theology and particularly concerning Aquinas on Google Books. A number of websites are devoted to scholastic theology and philosophy. Still, I would recommend as I said above, to read the very works of these theologians and especially Aquinas and his Summa Theologica (Aquinas’ Summa Contra Gentiles is more detailed or explanatory philosophical approach to the faith) and you will see how he conforms greek philosophy and particularly Aristotelianism to the faith and Sacred Theology or divine revelation. Of course, to understand Aquinas metaphysics and his use of Aristotelianism or Platonism in his works, one needs at least a basic grasp of the concepts of Thomistic metaphysics and Aristotelianism which Feser’s books that I mentioned give a good introduction too.

 

[Aquinas11]

I’m reading “Beyond Virtue” right now

Its essentially talking about how since Enlightenment our moral system went off the rails and that we need to get back to Aristotle/Aquinas virtue ethics, which have objective foundation. He gives quick example of how modern ethics is incoherent:
(1) You’ll frequently hear modern people say “that’s not what I believe” or “that is not my truth” etc = subjective truth argument
(2) Yet youll hear the same people then assert some type of objective truth “that is immoral”, etc

(1) and (2) can’t be true. He explains how modern ethics went off rails hundreds years ago around Enlightenment/etc and how we need get back to Aristotle/Aquinas virtue ethics which are more objectively grounded

 

[Wesrock]

Some of Feser’s books have helped me greatly, and I agree with Riccha’s recommendations. Feser is certainly not the only Thomist writing, but he does a pretty good job of conveying ideas to a modern audience.

Another book I found helpful is W. Norris Clarke’s The One and the Many, which presented a much warmer take on Thomism than Feser.