Republic of the Philippines

Commission on Higher Education

Republic Colleges of Guinobatan, Inc.
COLLEGE DEPARTMENT
G. Alban St., Iraya GUinobatan, Albay
Email Add: republiccolleges@yahoo.com

Reseaerch About :
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Francis Bacon
John Locke

Prepared by:
Maraño, Ria-Elise P.
BSED IV-English

Submitted to:
Dr. Evelyn Bautista
Professor
 Who Was Saint Thomas Aquinas?

Combining the theological principles of faith with the

philosophical principles of reason, Saint Thomas Aquinas
ranked among the most influential thinkers of medieval
Scholasticism. An authority of the Roman Catholic Church
and a prolific writer, Aquinas died on March 7, 1274, at the
Cistercian monastery of Fossanova, near Terracina,
Latium, Papal States, Italy.

Education

Saint Thomas Aquinas spent the next five years

completing his primary education at a Benedictine
house in Naples. During those years, he studied
Aristotle's work, which would later become a major
launching point for Saint Thomas Aquinas's own
exploration of philosophy. At the Benedictine house,
which was closely affiliated with the University of Naples, Thomas also developed an
interest in more contemporary monastic orders. He was particularly drawn to those that
emphasized a life of spiritual service, in contrast with the more traditional views and
sheltered lifestyle he'd observed at the Abbey of Monte Cassino.

Works
Over a mere two decades of literary activity, Aquinas left behind more than eight million
words (eight times more than has survived, for instance, from Aristotle). It is a measure
of Aquinas’s immediate and lasting influence that—quite unlike the situation with other
medieval philosophers—essentially everything he wrote has survived and has been
lovingly edited and translated into English and many other modern languages. In
outline, there are five categories of works:

 encyclopedic theological treatises, such as the Summa theologiae and

the Summa contra gentiles;
 disputed questions, such as the Questions on Truth, often more detailed than
his summae;
 brief works (opuscula), such as On Being and Essence;
 commentaries on Aristotle and on other philosophical texts;
 biblical commentaries.

Later Life and Death

In June 1272, Saint Thomas Aquinas agreed to go to Naples and start a theological
studies program for the Dominican house neighboring the university. While he was still
writing prolifically, his works began to suffer in quality.

During the Feast of Saint Nicolas in 1273, Saint Thomas Aquinas had a mystical vision
that made writing seem unimportant to him. At mass, he reportedly heard a voice
coming from a crucifix that said, "Thou hast written well of me, Thomas; what reward
wilt thou have?" to which Saint Thomas Aquinas replied, "None other than thyself,
Lord."
When Saint Thomas Aquinas's confessor, Father Reginald of Piperno, urged him to
keep writing, he replied, "I can do no more. Such secrets have been revealed to me that
all I have written now appears to be of little value." Saint Thomas Aquinas never wrote
again.

In January 1274, Saint Thomas Aquinas embarked on a trip to Lyon, France, on foot to
serve on the Second Council, but never made it there. Along the way, he fell ill at the
Cistercian monastery of Fossanova, Italy. The monks wanted Saint Thomas Aquinas to
stay at the castle, but, sensing that his death was near, Thomas preferred to remain at
the monastery, saying, "If the Lord wishes to take me away, it is better that I be found in
a religious house than in the dwelling of a layperson."

Often called "The Universal Teacher," Saint Thomas Aquinas died at the monastery of
Fossanova on March 7, 1274. He was canonized by Pope John XXII in 1323.

Motivating Natural Law Theory: The Euthyphro Dilemma and Divine

Command Theory
The likely answer from a religious person as to why we should not steal, or commit
adultery is: “because God forbids us”; or if we ask why we should love our neighbour or
give money to charity then the answer is likely to be “because God commands it”.
Drawing this link between what is right and wrong and what God commands and forbids
is what is called the Divine Command Theory (DCT).
There is a powerful and influential challenge to such an account called the Euthyphro
dilemma after the challenge was first raised in Plato’s Euthyphro. The dilemma runs as
follows: Either God commands something is right because it is, or it is right because
God commands it. If God commands something because it is right, then God’s
commands do not make it right, His commands only tell us what is right. This means
God simply drops out of the picture in terms of explaining why something is right.
If on the other hand, something is right because God commands it then anything at all
could be right; killing children or setting fire to churches could be morally acceptable.
But if a moral theory says this then that looks as if the theory is wrong.
Most theists reject the first option and opt for this second option — that God’s
commands make something right. But they then have to face the problem that it make
morality haphazard. This “arbitrariness problem” as it is sometimes called, is the reason
that many, including Aquinas, give up on the Divine Command Theory.
So for Aquinas what role, if any at all, does God have when it comes to morality? For
him, God’s commands are there to help us to come to see what, as a matter of fact, is
right and wrong rather than determine what is right and wrong. That is, Aquinas opts for
the first option in the Euthyphro dilemma as stated above. But then this raises the
obvious question: if it is not God’s commands that make something right and wrong,
then what does? Does not God just fall out of the picture? This is where his Natural Law
Theory comes in.

Summary of Aquinas’s Natural Law Theory

For Aquinas everything has a function (a telos) and the good thing (s) to do are those
acts that fulfil that function. Some things such as acorns, and eyes, just do that
naturally. However, humans are free and hence need guidance to find the right path.
That right path is found through reasoning and generates the “internal” Natural Law. By
following the Natural Law we participate in God’s purpose for us in the Eternal Law.
However, the primary precepts that derive from the Natural Law are quite general, such
as, pursue good and shun evil. So we need to create secondary precepts which can
actually guide our day-to-day behavior. But we are fallible so sometimes we get these
secondary precepts wrong, and sometimes we get them right. When they are wrong
they only reflect our apparent goods. When they are right they reflect our real goods.
Finally, however good we are because we are finite and sinful, we can only get so far
with rational reflection. We need some revealed guidance and this comes in the form of
Divine Law. So to return to the Euthyphro dilemma. God’s commands through the
Divine Law are ways of illuminating what is in fact morally acceptable and not what
determines what is morally acceptable. Aquinas rejects the Divine Command Theory.

Thomas Aquinas Quotes

 There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.

 To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no
explanation is possible.
 Wonder is the desire for knowledge.
 Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance
 Francis Bacon
IRISH-BRITISH PAINTER
Born: October 28, 1909 - Dublin, Ireland
Died: April 28, 1992 - Madrid, Spain

"I would like my picture to look as if a human being

had passed between them, like a snail leaving its trail
of the human presence... as a snail leaves its slime."

Who Was Francis Bacon?

Francis Bacon served as attorney general and Lord Chancellor of England, resigning amid
charges of corruption. His more valuable work was philosophical. Bacon took up Aristotelian
ideas, arguing for an empirical, inductive approach, known as the scientific method, which is the
foundation of modern scientific inquiry.

Early Life

Statesman and philosopher Francis Bacon was born in London on January 22, 1561. His father,
Sir Nicolas Bacon, was Lord Keeper of the Seal. His mother, Lady Anne Cooke Bacon, was his
father's second wife and daughter to Sir Anthony Cooke, a humanist who was Edward VI's tutor.
Francis Bacon’s mother was also the sister-in-law of Lord Burghley.

The younger of Sir Nicholas and Lady Anne's two sons, Francis Bacon began attending Trinity
College, Cambridge, in April 1573, when he was 12 years old. He completed his course of study
at Trinity in December 1575. The following year, Bacon enrolled in a law program at Honourable
Society of Gray's Inn, the school his brother Anthony attended. Finding the curriculum at Gray's
Inn stale and old fashioned, Bacon later called his tutors "men of sharp wits, shut up in their
cells if a few authors, chiefly Aristotle, their dictator." Bacon favored the new Renaissance
humanism over Aristotelianism and scholasticism, the more traditional schools of thought in
England at the time.

A year after he enrolled at Gray's Inn, Bacon left school to work under Sir Amyas Paulet, the
British ambassador to France, during his mission in Paris. Two and a half years later, he was
forced to abandon the mission prematurely and return to England when his father died
unexpectedly. His meager inheritance left him broke. Bacon turned to his uncle, Lord Burghley,
for help in finding a well-paid post as a government official, but Bacon’s uncle shot him down.
Still just a teen, Francis Bacon was scrambling to find a means of earning a decent living.

Philosopher of Science

Bacon remained in St. Alban's after the collapse of his political career. Retired, he was
now able to focus on one of his other passions, the philosophy of science. From the
time he had reached adulthood, Bacon was determined to alter the face of natural
philosophy. He strove to create a new outline for the sciences, with a focus on empirical
scientific methods—methods that depended on tangible proof—while developing the
basis of applied science. Unlike the doctrines of Aristotle and Plato, Bacon's approach
placed an emphasis on experimentation and interaction, culminating in "the commerce
of the mind with things." Bacon's new scientific method involved gathering data,
prudently analyzing it and performing experiments to observe nature's truths in an
organized way. He believed that when approached this way, science could become a
tool for the betterment of humankind.
Biographer Loren Eisley described Bacon's compelling desire to invent a new scientific
method, stating that Bacon, "more fully than any man of his time, entertained the idea of
the universe as a problem to be solved, examined, meditated upon, rather than as an
eternally fixed stage upon which man walked." Bacon himself claimed that his empirical
scientific method would spark a light in nature that would "eventually disclose and bring
into sight all that is most hidden and secret in the universe."

 Best Known For: Francis Bacon was an English Renaissance statesman and
philosopher, best known for his promotion of the scientific method.

What did Francis Bacon contribute to psychology?

Francis Bacon offers two accounts of the nature and function of the human mind: one is
a medical-physical account of the composition and operation of spirits specific to human
beings, the other is a behavioral account of the character and activities of individual
persons.

Why is Francis Bacon Known as the Father of English Essay?

Bacon earned the title because of his groundbreaking work in establishing and
popularizing the essay as a literary genre in English. Before Bacon, the essay was a
relatively obscure form of literature, with most writers preferring more extensive works
like epics, chronicles, or elaborate poetry. He revolutionized the form by shifting its
focus from storytelling to an exploration of ideas and arguments. Bacon's essays were
the first to focus on introspective reflection and the exploration of concepts such as
truth, love, death, and beauty, all while keeping his language concise, insightful, and
often aphoristic.

QUOTES

 To be ignorant of causes is to be frustrated in action.

 The sovereignty of man lieth hid in knowledge.
 Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in
children is increased with tales, so is the other.
 John Locke

Who Was John Locke?

John Locke went to Westminster School and then Christ

Church, University of Oxford. At Oxford, he studied
medicine, which would play a central role in his life. He
became a highly influential philosopher, writing about such
topics as political philosophy, epistemology, and
education. Locke's writings helped found modern Western
philosophy.

QUICK FACTS

 Name: John Locke

 Birth Year: 1632
 Birth date: August 29, 1632
 Birth City: Wrington
 Birth Country: United Kingdom
 Gender: Male
 Best Known For: English philosopher John Locke's works lie at the foundation of
modern philosophical empiricism and political liberalism.
 Industries
o Politics and Government
o Journalism and Nonfiction
 Astrological Sign: Virgo
 Schools
o University of Oxford
o Westminster School
 Death Year: 1704
 Death date: October 28, 1704
 Death City: Essex
 Death Country: United Kingdom

Early Life

Influential philosopher and physician John Locke, whose writings had a significant
impact on Western philosophy, was born on August 29, 1632, in Wrington, a village in
the English county of Somerset. His father was a country lawyer and military man who
had served as a captain during the English civil war.

Both his parents were Puritans and as such, Locke was raised that way. Because of his
father's connections and allegiance to the English government, Locke received an
outstanding education.

Education

In 1647 he enrolled at Westminster School in London, where Locke earned the distinct
honor of being named a King's Scholar, a privilege that went to only select number of
boys and paved the way for Locke to attend Christ Church, Oxford in 1652.

At Christ Church, perhaps Oxford's most prestigious school, Locke immersed himself in
logic and metaphysics, as well as the classical languages. After graduating in 1656, he
returned to Christ Church two years later for a Master of Arts, which led in just a few
short years to Locke taking on tutorial work at the college. In 1668 Locke was elected a
fellow of the Royal Society. He graduated with a bachelor's of medicine in 1674.
Early in his medical studies, Locke met Lord Ashley, who was to become Earl of
Shaftsbury. The two grew close and Shaftsbury eventually persuaded Locke to move to
London and become his personal physician. As Shaftsbury's stature grew, so did
Locke's responsibilities. He assisted in his business and political matters, and after
Shaftsbury was made chancellor, Locke became his secretary of presentations.

Writings and Beliefs

Shaftsbury's influence on Locke's professional career and his political thoughts cannot
be understated. As one of the founders of the Whig party, which pushed for
constitutional monarchism and stood in opposition to the dominant Tories, Shaftsbury
imparted an outlook on rule and government that never left Locke.

In Locke's landmark, Two Treatises of Government put forth his revolutionary ideas
concerning the natural rights of man and the social contract. Both concepts not only
stirred waves in England but also impacted the intellectual underpinnings that formed
the later American and French revolutions.

As England fell under a cloud of possible revolution, Locke became a target of the
government. While historical research has pointed to his lack of involvement in the
incident, Locke was forced to leave in England in 1683 due to a failed assassination
attempt of King Charles II and his brother, or what later came to be known as the Rye
House Plot.

Exiled in Holland, Locke composed "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,"

another groundbreaking work of intellectual might that spanned four books and took on
the task of examining the nature of human knowledge.

Just like his Two Treatises, the Essay was published after Locke's return to England in
1688. His arrival back in his homeland had come in the aftermath of the dramatic
departure of King James II, who'd fled the country, allowing the Whigs to rise to power.
Later called the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the event forever changed English
government, moving the balance of power from the throne to Parliament. It also set
Locke up to be a hero to many in his native country.

Later Years and Impact

In addition to his Essay and Two Treatises, Locke's return to England also saw him
publish additional work, including A Letter Concerning Toleration, The Reasonableness
of Christianity and Some Thoughts Concerning Education.

A hero to the Whig party, Locke remained connected to governmental affairs in his
advanced years. He helped steer the resurrection of the Board of Trade, which oversaw
England's new territories in North America. Locke served as one of the body's key
members.

Long afflicted with delicate health, Locke died on October 28, 1704, in Essex, where
he'd resided over the last decade of his life.

QUOTES

 Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has a right to, but
himself.