Augustine and Aquinas 151St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
During the Middle Ages there existed a movement which
brought the different branches of learning in the secular world
together with the great body of Christian thought. The men who
formed this movement were called the Scholastics, and St.
Thomas Aquinas was the greatest of them all. His magnum opus,
Summa Theologica, is one of the great systematic treatises on
theology and philosophy.
After the Crusades, documents containing much of the learn
ing from ancient Greece began to filter into Europe. During the
early Middle Ages, little of Aristotle was known, but soon
complete texts of his logic, science, and ethics appeared, culmi
nating with the Politics. The Church was confronted with the
problem of what to do with these impressive works of philoso
phy, pagan in source and substance, which might threaten
Christian doctrine. Rather than ban these works, they were
incorporated into Christian theology, and in fact became the
cornerstone of the Roman Catholic philosophy. The man most
responsible for the marriage of Aristotelian philosophy and
Christian theology was Thomas Aquinas.
The state according to Aquinas is natural. Man is by nature a
social being, endowed with reason, and with each person having
a place in the hierarchy of that which exists with all things, from
the highest to the lowest. Man is totally incapable of survival
outside the state; his nature requires that he live in groups. His
reason permits him to create governments, pass laws, and
generally hold together the very delicate association of people.
The division of labor is a requirement of the differing capabili
ties of different individuals. If there were no state, men, who are
primarily concerned with self, would exist in a state of conflict
and anarchy. Therefore, the state must exist for the common
good, and the common good requires ruling power to direct
individuals to an end beyond themselves.
Like Aristotle, Aquinas sees the state as an institution that
exists to make man good. The common good requires that the
state preserve the peace— peace is essential, as order in a
classroom must exist before learning can take place. So must
peace exist in a community. Also, the common good requires
that the basic economic needs of the community are met—the