Published: 2018-10-07

Modern Christian Aristotelianism

Stanisław Janeczek
Humanities and Natural Sciences
Section: Articles
https://doi.org/10.31648/hip.1348

Abstract

The process of constitution of modern Christian Aristotelianism was essentially affected by the appearance of the Reformation which - initially - questioned the usefulness of philosophy for theology. The balance between biblistic tendencies and philosophically-oriented theology was constituted during the Tridentine Council. It promoted especially Thomistic Aristotelianism in order to make the Catholic doctrine precise in opposition to the theology of the reformed faiths. Although the use of hermeneutic methods in the study of Aristotle’s doctrine was a permanent element, with time the achievements of golden scholasticism become more and more important. Therefore modern Christian Aritotelianism, especially in church education, gradually takes the form of the so-called second scholasticism in the form of Aritotelian schools, in particular Dominican Thomism, Franciscan Scotism, and Jesuit Suarezianism. Nevertheless, the accomplishment of Aristotle does not cease to play the function of unifying these schools. This may be accounted for by the accuracy with which the integral character of modern Aristotelianism is preserved, with much concern for the systematic approach, the unity and permanence of the philosophical-theological composite. In this form modern Christian Aristotelianism was reluctant to the more and more active forms of philosophy and science regarded today as characteristic of modernity. Their cultural pressure was, however, the source of more or less conscious assimilation of modern elements in the corpus of Aristotelianism. This assimilation can be seen, among others, within the study of mathematics and leads to eclecticism typical of the Enlightenment, although still as part of the scholastic course of philosophy. This course was demolished especially by the exposition to the accomplishment of modern natural science, as of the so-called philosophia recentiorum.

Keywords:

history of philosophy, modern Christian Aristotelianism, second scholasticism, Christian culture

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Janeczek, S. (2018). Modern Christian Aristotelianism. Humanities and Natural Sciences, (13), 7–26. https://doi.org/10.31648/hip.1348

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