What would Socrates and Plato have thought of Thomas Aquinas?

Question

And his belief that reason is capable of operating within faith?

Answer 1

They would have admired his ethics and morality, as the cosmology and the systematic and structured arguments he putted forward since it's based on Aristotle, and Aristotle himself being a disciple of Plato, although not wholly agreeing with him.

I would say that socrates would be please with the morality since Socrates din't care about cosmology, Socrates' philosophy was one of rationality to live a good life. to be moral, and st Thomas was a champion in that regard.
Plato would have definitely disputed some of St Thomas' view since they are somewhat not totally in alignement with what plato thought.
But neither one would think of him as wrong regarding God, since Aquinas was a superb philosopher who, as I said before was Aristotelian par excellence. And remeber that all the three of them: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle envisaged, excogitated, arrived at the intellectual and logical conclusion of God as one. for plato God being the source and only true being, being in itself, and for Aristotle being the "prime, or unmoved mover"

They would have been stonished though, at the revelation of Christ being the divine logos.

One thing is for sure, few intellects in the history of mankind have been comparable to the sharpness and power of St Thomas' intellect. His structured and highly logical thinking. His capacity to discern intellectually truths of a revealed nature, illuminating them by the light of reason. MAke no mystake, they would have been impressed by him.

Answer 2

It is like asking what Newton would have thought of Einstein.

As Newton was necessary for Einstein to build upon and modify, Socrates and Plato were necessary building blocks in man's understanding of reality, upon which St. Thomas Aquinas built.

Einstein probably would have baffled Newton, as St. Thomas Aquinas probably would have baffled Socrates and Plato, since the higher level can comprehend the lower, but not vice versa.


But of course we have to include Aristotle as a necessary link.

Socrates was the precursor to Plato, and Plato was the precursor to Aristotle.

It was mostly Aristotle that St. Thomas Aquinas built his system upon, incorporating the valid insights of Aristotle into Christian theology.




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Answer 3

G'day Punkrawkgurl,

Thank you for your question.

It would have been an interesting meeting. They would probably find conversations with him interesting but he may have been a bit too theological for them. Mind you, the whole concept of medieval Christianity would have been a vastly different religious system to classical Greek religion. It would be worth sitting in on the discussions.

They would probably be sceptical of his claims but I think religion and philosophy were completely different in ancient Greece. Theology would have been a completely novel concept.

Regards

Answer 4

I think Socrates say this.

"I'm sure that you believe the truth you say.

So you want a common belief of the truth nobody knows.

Don't you?"

Answer 5

They would have not been able to understand him because they had no concept of a divinely inspired faith.

Answer 6

Christian "philosophy" is all casuistry. They would have thought him a jerk.

Answer 7

Their faces would have lit up, and they'd smack their foreheads and say, "Why didn't I think of that?"