Saint Thomas Aquinas

Man’s Ultimate Destiny

• “Angelic Doctor”

• Philosopher of common sense

• Aquinas came from a noble family from Naples.

• He joined the Dominican order against his family’s wishes

• Aquinas studied with Albert the Great in Paris and participated in the Aristotelian revival

of the Middle Ages.

• He was canonized and became a saint in 1323.

– Resisting the temptation of a prostitute and the discovery of Herring at night were

the miracles used to justify his sainthood.

• Aquinas’s extensive corpus of scholarship is perhaps a greater miracle than those

mentioned above.

2 Monumental Works

- Summa Theologica

- Summa Contragentiles

What is Man’s Ultimate Destiny?

Is There a Real Purpose for Human Life?

Did humanity come into existence thru a Supreme Creator? Is there an amazing purpose for

human life? Does your life have real meaning that you have never realized? What will you

really be doing for the next “thousand generations”? If all that you have ever heard is the

heaven or hell thing, then this article will blow your mind!

Goal of human life

• Thomas identified the goal of human existence as union and eternal fellowship with

God. This goal is achieved through the beatific vision, in which a person experiences

perfect, unending happiness by seeing the essence of God. The vision occurs after

death as a gift from God to those who in life experienced salvation and redemption

through Christ.

• The goal of union with God has implications for the individual's life on earth. Thomas

stated that an individual's will must be ordered toward right things, such as

charity, peace, and holiness. He saw this orientation as also the way to happiness.

Indeed, Thomas ordered his treatment of the moral life around the idea of happiness.

The relationship between will and goal is antecedent in nature "because rectitude of the

will consists in being duly ordered to the last end [that is, the beatific vision]." Those who

truly seek to understand and see God will necessarily love what God loves. Such love

requires morality and bears fruit in everyday human choices

Did Mankind Come into Existence through a Supreme Creator?

TWO POSSIBILITIES

• There are two possibilities for the origin of life, the theory of evolution and the belief in a

supreme Creator who made all things for a definite purpose.

EVERYTHING WAS DESIGNED FOR A PURPOSE

The following examples are from “The Collapse of Evolution”, by Scott M. Huse:

• Gardening Ants: A fascinating relationship, which has been observed in nature,

concerns the Bull’s Horn Acacia tree of Central and South America. This tree is

furnished with large hollow thorns that are inhabited by a species of ferocious stinging

ants. Consequently, the ants get food and shelter from the tree. The tree, for its part of

the bargain, receives complete protection from all animal predators and plant

competitors.

WHAT IS MAN’S PURPOSE?

• Everything that has been created was designed for a specific purpose. If the plant

kingdom, the animal kingdom and the insect world have their own reasons for being,

then what about man?

Certainly man is God’s crowning achievement.

Man alone was created with the ability to think and plan to bring his dreams into being.

Just what is God’s ultimate purpose for man?

The amazing truth is that you and I were created to become what God is, to actually be

born into the Divine Family of God which consists now of the FATHER and the SON,

both God, one Family. God is expanding His family to soon include what once were

human beings.

• Yes man is destined to not only be like Christ but share in His glory and inheritance.

Jesus is the first-born of MANY SONS God is calling to glory, honor, dominion and

eternal life.

St. Thomas Aquina’sPhilosophy of Happiness

“Happiness is two-fold; the one is imperfect and it is possible in this life; the other is perfect,

consisting in the vision of God”

“Happiness is two-fold; the one is imperfect and it is possible in this life; the other is perfect,

consisting in the vision of God”

“ Perfect happiness cannot consist essentially in the consideration of speculative sciences”.

“Three things must occur in happiness: to wit, vision, which is perfect knowledge of the

intelligible end: comprehension, which implies presence of the end: and delight or enjoyment,

which implies repose of the lover in the object beloved”.

TRANSFORMATION AND TRANSCENDENCE

• Aquinas links the afore described transformation with the power of transcendence in

man

Man has the unique power to change himself and the things around him for the

better indeed, in accordance with his urge to be perfect and happy, he can improve

and even perfect himself; and what is still more marvelous is that he can even

transcend himself.

BEYOND THE UNIVERSAL and THE TRANSCENDENTAL

Aquinas defined Trascendental as a description of the man who has attained union with

God.

Transcending the universal man of Aristotle as to perfection and destiny, the afore

described man of Aquinas is aptly called the Transcendental man.

TRANSCENDENTAL

came from the Latin word transcendere, which means to transcend, go beyond, soar

above, surpass.

Thus, the universal man of Aristotle who is perfect in his own right, is still imperfect in

comparison with the transcendental man of Aquinas.

The Transcendental – Golden Mean between Man and God

In order of being and perfection, the transcendental man is above the finite but below

the infinite. Thus trascendental man strikes the golden middle note in the harmony of

the finite and infinite.

Republic of the Philippines

Laguna State Polytechnic University Santa Cruz, Laguna

College of Nursing and Allied Health

PHILOSOPHY OF MAN

Rozelle Mae Birador

BSN-2A

Ma’am Gloria Ramos