Philosophy is really starting to aggravate me! Arggh! It seems like you know and then you have no idea, or then you get confused. Aquinas really threw me off. I just don’t know anymore. I just want to start off by saying I believe God exists because history, nature, the Bible, faith, and Jesus Christ. When we look at the mountains, the moon, how the sun rotates, humans, creatures, anything and everything on this world, then you know that God exists. Nature and history shows us some truths about God, but it does not tell us enough about God. But most of all Jesus Christ confirms his existence and through Jesus he shows us what we need to do to be a good human being and how to have a close relationship with God. I think so far Aquinas agrees with that. But what throws me off is that Aquinas thinks, “human happiness does not consist in moral activities” (page 278). Why not? I think that is a part of happiness. Aquinas says that because, “ The ultimate end of things is to be assimilated to God. Therefore, man’s happiness will lie in that which most assimilates him to God. But this does not come about through the moral virtues, since such acts can only be attributed to God metaphorically, because God does not have passions or anything like them, which are the moral subject of moral virtues.” It makes it seem like he is telling us to be God. That just doesn’t seem right to me. It is impossible to me because we aren’t God, we are humans. I know we are suppose to imitate God, but we are not perfect. I get the whole negative theory and that God does not express emotions because he doesn’t have emotions. The bible is symbolic but through Jesus we should know how to act, and that consists of moral virtues. Jesus displayed characteristics of moral virtues and emotions. Like for example, I believe that to enter into the Kingdom of God and also to be close to God, we must show compassion. Jesus was very compassionate. I remember a parable in the bible where it talks about a slave that owes his master money and the slave then begged to have mercy on him. The master forgave the slaves debt. But that same slave didn’t show mercy to someone that owed him money. When the master found out, he threw that slave into prison. I just don’t know, this whole order thing gets confusing. It feels like Aquinas, Augustine, and Aristotle beliefs are all just running together. So moral activities are ordered to something else so that cannot be happiness according to Aquinas. I just really believe that it’s a part of being happy but I understand that it does not mean complete happiness. I’m on Aristotle’s side with this situation. Aquinas says that since we can’t have the form of God in us, then we must understand God to be close to Him. True happiness is contemplating the form of God. I’m still searching for the answer on what that exactly means that we should do.
I think that Thomas Aquinas is telling people to understand God and that people can achieve happiness by understanding God. I do not think that Thomas Aquinas is telling people to be like God. When people understand God they will find the answers to their life questions. I think that Thomas Aquinas want people to focus on understanding God and to not get distracted with things like bodily pleasures. If people were to separate their body and soul they would be able to achieve true happiness. I think that both Aquinas and Aristotle believe that humans chief goal in life is happiness.
ReplyDeleteHi! Thanks for commenting. I agree that he wants us to understand God better. But what I was trying to get at was why isn't moral virtues happiness? Aristotle believed it was, and I agree with Aristotle. Aquinas thinks that moral virtues is ordered to something else and that's why it isn't happiness. But as I read further, I learned that Aquinas says that contemplating God is the final good. To clarify the whole being like God statement, I think Aquinas wants us to be imperfectly perfect, or close to perfection. Since we aren't the form of God, we have to contemplate the form of God to understand Him. But my blog was mostly about moral virtues and I just agree with Aristotle because moral virtues is a key ingredient of being happy to me.
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