Thomas Aquinas and Aristotlian Philosophy
Posted by mshupe 5 years, 11 months ago to Philosophy
“Catholicism had once been the most philosophical of all religions. Its long, illustrious philosophical history was illuminated by a giant: Thomas Aquinas. He brought an Aristotelian view of reason (an Aristotelian epistemology) back into European culture, and lighted the way to the Renaissance. For the brief span of the nineteenth century, when his was the dominant influence among Catholic philosophers, the grandeur of his thought almost lifted the Church close to the realm of reason.”
But instead, the organization continued the use the original nonconscious bicameral language fought with mistranslations, seemingly on purpose to keep everyone in a mystical, magical darkness that persists today.
What I have termed: "bicameral language", is language devoid of awareness of one's own awareness, devoid of the ability of self introspection. Without that kind of awareness, (consciousness) one could not view self, could not place himself in perspective to everything else if not for what others see of him and his behavior.
That is as best I can describe what Jaynes saw that led him to his conclusions.
"Thomas Aquinas utilized a method of thinking and learning known as Scholasticism, which is a system of critical thought that was a departure from traditional Christian theology."
Medieval Scholasticism is characterized by its rationalism divorcing reason from reality, as in the endless arguments over how many angels dance on the head of a pin. Such nonsensical philosophizing preceded Aquinas and was not introduced by him. It was Augustine who turned Christian mysticism into a religious philosophy.
Aristotle the writer was not unknown to the Dark and Middle Ages before Aquinas. Aquinas introduced Aristotelianism as a reality-centered philosophy. Prior to that the known works of Aristotle were mainly his forms of logic, which was abused as rationalistic Platonic arguments.