This video is the first in a series trying to summarize philosophical schools of thought in (approximately) 60 seconds. First up, is Thomism (= the philosophical school following the legacy of St. Thomas Aquinas). Please like, comment, share, and subscribe!

Thomism holds that the universe is made up of a hierarchy of diverse grades of being – from elements to plants to humans to angels – all of which are dependent upon the non-contingent absolute, self-subsistent being (God) who creates, sustains, and moves everything else which exists in accord with their nature. Further, that man himself is a microcosm within a macrocosm being a union of matter (body) and spirit (mind) which is the substantial but immaterial form of the body and destined for life after death. Man by nature desires to know reality and its highest truths and deepest causes (that is, ultimately, to know God) but this possibility stretches beyond this life and man’s natural capacities: thus, if man is to attain eternal happiness, he must be instructed by a divine faith that transcends philosophy, and his actions must be guided by a divine love that builds on and perfects nature through divine grace.

Thomism is theistic (affirms the existence of God), realist (holds that we can come to know a world apart from our heads), and essentialist (affirming formal and final, alongside material and efficient, causality).

Some contemporary Thomistic thinkers include John Haldane, Bernard Lonergan, Gaven Kerr, and Eleonore Stump.

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