 Philosopher and theologian St.

Thomas
Aquinas was born circa 1225 in Roccasecca, Italy.
Combining the theological principles of faith with
the philosophical principles of reason, he 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.
 His teaching are mainly embodied in his two
monumental works:
The Summa Theologica and Summa Contra
Gentiles.
 Summa Theologica was written to explain
the Christian faith.
 Summa contra Gentiles is
more apologetic in tone, as it was written to
explain and defend the "Christian truth" in
hostile situations against unbelievers, with
arguments adapted to fit the intended
circumstances of its use, each article
refuting a certain heretical belief or
proposition.
 Aquinas followed fundamentally the teaching of his great
predecessor, Aristotle, whom he honored with the exclusive title,
“ The Philosopher.” However, Aquinas saw farther and
beyond the vision of Aristotle who relied only on the natural
powers of human reason and experience in his search of truth.
 Like Aristotle, Aquinas proclaimed the supremacy of reason
(rationalism) in man, and maintained that man can know the
truth with certainly by the use of his reason. Yet Aquinas
stressed that there are some truths which cannot be known by
human reason alone and which can be perceived only with the
aid of the light of divine revelation. Yet the two truths, those
known through reason and the divinely revealed truths can
never contradict each other, because they emanate from the
same source, God, who is TRUTH Itself.
 Man can know and validly prove God’s existence by
reasoning, as show in the conclusion of Aristotle’s arguments
to prove the existence of God. Thus, by said arguments we
can arrive at the knowledge of God as the “Prime Mover”,
“First Cause”, “Perfect Good”, “Final Cause”, and “Good of all
Things”. Aquinas upheld these arguments as valid true, and
in fact adopted these proofs in his Quinque Viae (Five Ways)
to prove God’s existence. Yet he saw their limitations: they do
not reveal the nature of God as we know Him from the Bible
and Christian Teaching.
 Aristotle’s Philosophy of Man, particularly on the ultimate
destiny of man. For instance, while there are hints of the
immortality of the soul of man in his writings, Aristotle never
proves the immortality of the soul as this lies beyond the ken
of human reason.
 Like Aristotle, Aquinas taught that man naturally
longs for perfection and happiness and that this
longing can be realized on earth with the full and
optimal development of all of man’s power, -
rational, moral, social, emotional, physical.
 Yet, Aquinas saw and pointed to a higher form of
perfection and happiness possible to man beyond
this life, owing to the immortality of human soul.
“The perfect happiness which all men seek can
be found in God alone” according to St.
Thomas Aquinas
 The end-product of the aforedescribed all-rounded and total
development of the man is the WHOLE MAN or the
Universal Man of Aristotle. Yet to Aquinas, such a man,
though he has attained the highest possible perfection and
happiness on earth still longs for the Infinite and the Eternal.
For all the goods of this life such as money, fame, power,
health, talents, and even life itself are unstable, limited, and
transitory,; and even if the man had gained all of these, they
cannot make him perfectly happy. In the transcendental
vision of St. Aquinas, and also according to Christian
teaching, man in his present state of existence on earth is
mortal, finite and imperfect; but with the attainment of his
supreme purpose and union with God, he elevated to the
rank of the Divine. The Immortal, the Perfect.
Present State of Existence Ultimate Destiny

Imperfect L Perfect
Finite L Infinite
Temporal L Eternal
Natural L Supernatural
Human L Divine
 The transformation described in the foregoing scheme, is also
suggested in Plato’s theory of Imitation of the Divine Model, THE
GOOD. By Perfect imitation of the Good, by constantly being
good and doing good, according to Plato, we become and
eventually identify ourselves with THE GOOD. Likewise, this
transformation is implied in the First Epistle of St. John, chapter
four and verse eight that reveals God as LOVE. Since according to
this revelation, God who is Love, then by Loving we are likened to
God who is Love, and if we love perfectly and constantly, we
identify ourselves with love (GOD). Furthermore, this
transformation by love elevates us to the rank of divinity as
children of God, as revealed in an unparalleled passage of St.
Paul, paraphrased hereunder. “ By the power of Love, you are
made the children of God, and participants of his Divine
Nature”
 St. Thomas Aquinas links the aforedescribed transformation with
the power of transcendence in man. Of all creatures of God, man
has the unique power to change himself and the things around
him for the better. Indeed, in accordance with his natural 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. For when he dies he does not really cease to exist – he
merely transcends his mortal bodily life, his limitations and
imperfection of the human soul, according to St. Thomas Aquinas.
In the case of the just man who persevering lives a righteous and
virtuous life, said just man at death transcends his mortal state by
good deeds.
For as the poet sings: “ Only the action of the just Smell
sweet and blossom in their dust”.
 Thus, in the light of wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas and
Christian teaching we see that man has a supernatural
transcendental destiny. Transcending the universal man of
Aristotle as to perfection and destiny, the aforedescribed man
of Aquinas is aptly called the Transcendental Man. Aquinas
did not use the transcendental in speaking about the
ultimate destiny of man, yet the idea of transcendental is
clearly implied in his description of the man who has
attained union with God. The term transcendental
Humanism is mentioned in the encyclical Progressio
Populorum to signify the highest stage of man’s perfection
attainable through man’s union with the all-Perfect Being,
God. Transcendental comes from the Latin word
Transcendere, which means to go beyond, surpass.
A universal man is all perfect within a class. His perfection is
plenary and integral but limited to a class. Where as a
transcendental soars above all classes, all limitations, and
therefore unlimited, infinite, in perfection.

The universal man of Aristotle who is perfect in his own

right, is still imperfect in comparison with the
transcendental man of Aquinas.
 When we say that man becomes, Perfect, we herein mean not
perfect per-se, but perfect by participation with the PERFECT. We
speak of the transcendental man as absolutely perfect but only
insofar as he participates in the Absolutely Absolute Perfection of
God. In his monumental work, the Summa Theologica, praised as
an imposing monument of thought even by the arch critic of
Christian philosophy, Bertrand Russell, Aquinas dealt with the
question; whether man or a higher being can raise man to the
level of the infinitely perfect.?
Aquinas answered; neither man by his natural power alone nor a
higher being such as angel can effectuate said elevation or
transformation. Between the finite creature and the infinite
creator lies an infinite gap which can be bridged only by an
infinite power. Said infinitely perfect power is aptly called and
indentified with Love because it unites and because it bespeaks of
the nature of God who is LOVE.
 Aquinas said, there is admittedly a contradiction as in
Logic, between the two terms, if taken as absolutes
and in the abstract. However, we deal here with real
existential beings such as man, a finite being, and God,
the infinite being. A contradiction occurs only in the
field of discourse, between two absolutely opposed
terms or proposition. Between two realities, such as
between man and God there can never be a
contradiction. Hence, Union between the two or the
participation of one in the other does not involve or
make a contradiction.
 The reconciliation, and harmony between the finite and
the infinite is manifest in the Metaphysics of Thomas
Aquinas in his teaching on Transcendental. Translating
the terms to existential reality, we see the transcendental
man existing between finite man and the Infinite God,
as may be shown in the following progression:

FINITE TRANSCENDENTAL INFINITE

 According to St. Thomas Aquinas, man with his
natural powers alone cannot attain a supernatural
destiny. To actually reach his supernatural destiny he
should be elevated and empowered by supernatural
grace (love), by the power of love as already
explained in the foregoing schema.
This is the power of love spoken of by St. Paul which
elevates human beings to the rank of the Divine to
become children of God and heirs of the heavenly
kingdom.
“By the Power of LOVE you, are made children of
God and participants of the Divine Natural”.
 Since man is irresistibly drawn towards his supreme goal,
Happiness, by the equally irresistible power of love, the how do
these indubitable facts square with man’s freedom?
This does not pose a problem to the Oriental Sages as well as to
most non-christian thinkers, because they ignore or deny the
indubitable and undeniable nature of man as a free being. To
them man is irresistibly drawn to God, his goal. However, this
speaks of utter failure on their part to account for the essentially
distinguishing characteristic of man – LIBERTY. As universally
attested to by mankind and history, man, owing, to his free will.
That is why St. Aquinas wisely chose Love rather that Law. For
love is more in consonance with man’s free nature. For law
commands and compels; love only calls and invites!
 St. Thomas Aquinas improved and perfected
Aristotle’s teleological proof, proclaiming in
its conclusion the existence of an ultimate
cause and goal of all things, drawing all things
to Itself. In the Transcendental and beatific
vision of St. Thomas Aquinas, what was dimly
seen in the abstract by Aristotle as the first
and the last cause of all things, is clearly
revealed face to face as the Transcendental
Lover, God, the loving Father, who calls and
invites all men, his children, to Him to share
in His Infinite Bounty forever in heaven.