St.

Thomas Is Christian theologian

the soul and the body cannot be separated into discrete existence

so both cannot exist separately

Effect of the death - soul turns into an unnatural state (not as conscious/aware as the body now)
ex. ligaw na kaluluwa, full of hatred. So when a person dies,

this unnatural state can become natural on the 2nd coming

His logical thought of the self becomes illogical in the end.

Roman Catholic belief/ St. Augustine's view still has it influence wherein the soul can still exist
after death of the body

If we will follow Aquinas’ train of thought, when the body dies, the soul will also terminate at the
same time since he believes that both the soul and the body cannot be separated

Natural theology, Aristotle's metaphysical system; hyle (matter) and morphe (form) = formed
matter or substance, Substance dualism

QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED
- A. CONCEPT OF SELF How did the Philosopher understand the concept of self?
- B. ILLUSTRATION Illustrate the understanding using common experience or any
analogy.
- C. EFFECT OF DEATHFollowing the concept of self, what will be the effect of
death?
- D. CRITICISM What is the weakness or main criticism of the Philosopher's
theory/understanding?

St. Thomas Aquinas, a Christian theologian during the Middle Ages, applied
Aristotle’s metaphysical view, hylomorphism, to his religion’s intellectual structure for
the concept of self. He proposed the idea that the soul and the body are intrinsically
connected, which obviously differs from Dualism. Through hylomorphism, he suggested
that the matter (hyle) is the body and the form (morphe) is the soul of the body. These
forms, which are embedded in physical objects, give matter its structure and existence
— it animates the body. Additionally, while the soul and body may be conceptually
separated, they cannot be in reality. In line with this, it proves his main point that a
human being is a body-soul composite.
Brian Leftow, an American philosopher, provides an analogy wherein the soul is a
free radical. A free radical is an elemental combination that works as a single unit in
chemical processes but is not bonded into a bigger molecule. Unstable free radicals
have an empty space in their structure that can be filled by another molecule, resulting
in a compound stable molecule.The radical remains attached to the resultant molecule
or the structuring part. God creates a human being as a stable molecule and death
detaches a part of it making an unstable radical. In resurrection, that part is revived,
forming the stable molecule before. This shows the human composite nature.
With the absence of the body, the soul persists to exist in an unnatural and
abnormal state. In this condition, the soul is not as conscious or aware as it is before.
And this unnatural state of the soul can become natural on the Resurrection. And this is
where we can find the flaw of Aquinas’ idea. If we follow his train of thought, that the
soul and body cannot exist separately, the soul dies together with the body. But he
maintained that the soul will remain in a substantial state until the resurrection of that
body. We could say that his logical thought of the self becomes illogical in the end.

The effect of this sacrifice is a difficulty in clearly explaining how an immaterial

form (in this case, the intellectual soul) continues to exist without a material body
In this, we could see that his rational concept of self eventually becomes illogical.