The Thomistic Institute Thomas Aquinas: A Medieval Psychologist? | Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P.
Jun 7, 2022
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Primacy Of Knowing Reality
- Aquinas's priority as an intellectual was to know reality as it is, not to be original or innovative for its own sake.
- He sees certain knowledge as attainable via causes and aims for objective understanding across disciplines.
Nephew Shows Trust In Senses
- Fr. Cajetan Cuddy uses his nephew Abraham licking an ice cream cone versus a pine cone to show children's direct trust in sense perception.
- The example illustrates how even toddlers grasp external reality without philosophical skepticism.
Sense Perception Is The Epistemic Start
- For Aquinas, all knowledge begins in sense perception and moves from the more known to the less known to reach certain science.
- Science is defined as certain knowledge obtained through causes rather than modern experimental methods alone.