Neo-Scholasticism
Encyclopedia
Neo-Scholasticism is the revival and development of medieval scholastic philosophy starting from the second half of the 19th century. It has some times been called neo-Thomism partly because Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...

 in the 13th century gave to scholasticism a final form, partly because the idea gained ground that only Thomism
Thomism
Thomism is the philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, his commentaries on Aristotle are his most lasting contribution...

 could infuse vitality into 12th century scholasticism.

Traditional elements

Neo-Scholasticism seeks to restore the fundamental doctrines embodied in the scholasticism of the 13th century. The essential conceptions may be summarized as follows:

1. God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

, pure actuality and absolute perfection, is substantially distinct from every finite thing: He alone can create and preserve all beings other than Himself. His infinite knowledge includes all that has been, is, or shall be, and likewise all that is possible.

2. As to our knowledge of the material world: whatever exists is itself, an incommunicable, individual substance. To the core of self-sustaining reality, in the oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...

-tree for instance, other realities (accidents) are added—size, form, roughness, and so on. All oak-trees are alike, indeed are identical in respect of certain constituent elements. Considering this likeness and even identity, our human intelligence groups them into one species and again, in view of their common characteristics, it ranges various species under one genus. Such is the Aristotelean solution of the problem of universals
Problem of universals
The problem of universals is an ancient problem in metaphysics about whether universals exist. Universals are general or abstract qualities, characteristics, properties, kinds or relations, such as being male/female, solid/liquid/gas or a certain colour, that can be predicated of individuals or...

. Each substance is in its nature fixed and determined; and nothing is farther from the spirit of Scholasticism than a theory of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...

 which would regard even the essences of things as products of change.

But this statism requires as its complement a moderate dynamism, and this is supplied by the central concepts of act
Act
Act may mean:* Act/Power is a philosophical notion defined by Aristotle and known as entelechy* Act , a British band* Act , a document recording the legality of a transaction or contract...

 and potency
Potency
Potency may refer to:* Potency , a measure of the activity of a drug in a biological system* Virility* Potency is a measure of the differentiation potential of stem cells...

. Whatsoever changes is, just for that reason, limited. The oak-tree passes through a process of growth, of becoming: whatever is actually in it now was potentially in it from the beginning. Its vital functions go on unceasingly (accidental change); but the tree itself will die, and out of its decayed trunk other substances will come forth (substantial change). The theory of matter and form is simply an interpretation of the substantial changes which bodies undergo. The union of matter and form constitutes the essence of concrete being, and this essence is endowed with existence. Throughout all change and becoming there runs a rhythm of finality; the activities of the countless substances of the universe converge towards an end which is known to God; finality involves optimism.

3. Man, a compound of body (matter) and of soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...

 (form), puts forth activities of a higher order—knowledge and volition. Through his senses he perceives concrete objects, e.g. this oak; through his intellect he knows the abstract and universal (the oak). All our intellectual activity rests on sensory function; but through the active intellect (intellectus agens) an abstract representation of the sensible object is provided for the intellectual possibility. Hence the characteristic of the idea, its non-materiality, and on this is based the principal argument for the spirituality and immortality
Immortality
Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...

 of the soul. Here, too, is the foundation of logic and of the theory of knowledge, the justification of our judgments and syllogism
Syllogism
A syllogism is a kind of logical argument in which one proposition is inferred from two or more others of a certain form...

s.

Upon knowledge follows the appetitive process, sensory or intellectual according to the sort of knowledge. The will
Will (philosophy)
Will, in philosophical discussions, consonant with a common English usage, refers to a property of the mind, and an attribute of acts intentionally performed. Actions made according to a person's will are called "willing" or "voluntary" and sometimes pejoratively "willful"...

 (appetitus intellectualis) in certain conditions is free
Free will
"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...

, and thanks to this liberty man is the master of his destiny. Like all other beings, we have an end to attain and we are morally obliged, though not compelled, to attain it.

Natural happiness would result from the full development of our powers of knowing and loving. We should find and possess God in this world since the corporeal world is the proper object of our intelligence. But above nature is the order of grace and our supernatural happiness will consist in the direct intuition of God, the beatific vision. Here philosophy ends and theology begins.

Adaptation to modern needs

In each discipline, the scholastics used a book by a renowned scholar, called auctor, as basic course literature. By reading this book thoroughly and critically, the disciples learned to appreciate the theories of the auctor, and thus of the problems studied in the whole discipline, in a critical and self-confident way. Scholastic works therefore have a tendency to take the form of a long list of "footnotes" to the works studied, not being able to take a stand as theories on their own.

Scholastic philosophy usually combined logic, metaphysics and semantics into one discipline, and is generally recognized to have developed our understanding of logic significantly when compared to the older sources. In the high scholastic period of 1250 - 1350 the philosophy of nature, psychology, epistemology and philosophy of science were also important areas of inquiry.

During the humanism of the 15th and 16th centuries, scholastics were put to the background and somewhat forgotten. This has been the source of the view of scholastics as a rigid, formalistic, aged and unproper way of doing philosophy. During the catholic scholastic revival in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the scholastics were repopularized, but with a kind of narrow focus on certain scholastics and their respective schools of thought, notably Thomas Aquinas. In this context, scholasticism is often used in theology or metaphysics, but not many other areas of inquiry.

Outside views

Boutroux
Boutroux
Boutroux is a surname and may refer to:*Émile Boutroux*Pierre Boutroux...

 thought that Aristotle's system might well serve as an offset to Kantism and evolution. Paulsen
Paulsen
Paulsen is a Danish and Norwegian patronymicsurname, from the given name Paul prefix, of Latin origin, itself derived from Paulus, meaning "small". There are over 200 varied spellings of the surname, including the English language version, Paulson. While Paulsen is a common surname, it is rare as...

 and Eucken declared neo-Thomism the rival of Kantism, and the conflict between them the "clash of two worlds". Adolf Harnack, Seeberg
Seeberg
Seeberg is a municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Seeberg has an area of . Of this area, 58.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 34% is forested...

 and others argued against underrating the value of scholastic doctrine.

Neo-Scholasticism gained among Catholics of the later 19th century, against other views such as Ontologism
Ontologism
Ontologism is a philosophical system most associated with Nicholas Malebranche which maintains that God and divine ideas are the first object of our intelligence and the intuition of God the first act of our intellectual knowledge.-Bibliography:...

, Tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...

alism, the dualism
Dualism
Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from...

 of Anton Günther
Anton Günther
Anton Günther was an Austrian Roman Catholic philosopher whose work was condemned by the church as heretical tritheism.-Biography:...

, and the thought of Descartes. It was endorsed by four Catholic Congress
Catholic Congress
A Catholic Congress or lay association is a term for gathering of lay Catholics to discuss certain political or social issues from a Catholic perspective. These have included the Piusverein in Germany and Switzerland as well a the Catholic Truth Society....

es: Paris (1891); Brussels (1895); Freiburg (1897); Munich (1900).

The leaders and their work

The neo-Scholastic movement was inaugurated by such writers as Gaetano Sanseverino
Gaetano Sanseverino
Gaetano Sanseverino was an Italian philosopher and theologian. He made a comparative study including the scholastics, particularly St...

 (1811–65) and Giovanni Maria Cornoldi
Giovanni Maria Cornoldi
Giovanni Maria Cornoldi was an Italian Jesuit academic, author, and preacher.-Life:Born at Venice, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1840 and taught philosophy at Brixen and Padua for many years...

 (1822–92) in Italy; Gonzalez (1831–92) in Spain; Kleutgen (1811–83) and Stöckl
Stöckl
Stöckl is a surname, and may refer to:* Albert Stöckl* Eduard de Stoeckl , Russian diplomat in Washington, D.C. * Ingrid Stöckl* Markus Stöckl...

 (1823–95) in Germany; de San (1832–1904), Dupont and Lepidi in Belgium; Farges and Dormet de Vorges (1910) in France, who with other scholars carried on the work of restoration before the Holy See gave it solemn approval and encouragement.

Pius IX, in various letters, recognized its importance; but the encyclical
Encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...

 "Aeterni Patris" of Leo XIII (4 August 1879) imparted to neo-Scholasticism its definitive character and quickened its development, setting forth the principles by which the movement is to be guided in a progressive spirit, and by which the medieval doctrine is to take on new life in its modern environment. "If," said the pope, "there be anything that the Scholastic doctors treated with excessive subtlety or with insufficient consideration, or that is at variance with well founded teachings of later date, or is otherwise improbable, we by no means intend that it shall be proposed to our age for imitation ... We certainly do not blame those learned and energetic men who turn to the profit of philosophy their own assiduous labours and erudition as well as the results of modern investigation; for we are fully aware that all this goes to the advancement of knowledge."

In Italy, the movement was vigorous from the start. The Accademia di San Tommaso, founded in 1874, published up to 1891 a review entitled "La Scienza Italiana". Numerous works were produced by Giuseppe Pecci
Giuseppe Pecci
Giuseppe Pecci S.J. was a Catholic Thomist theologian whose younger brother, Vincenzo, became Pope Leo XIII and appointed him a cardinal...

, Tommaso Maria Zigliara
Tommaso Maria Zigliara
Tommaso Maria Zigliara was a Roman Catholic cardinal, theologian, and philosopher.-Life:...

 (1833–93), Satolli (1839–1909), Liberatore (1810–92), Barberis (1847–96), Schiffini (1841–1906), de Maria, Talamo, Lorenzelli, Ballerini, Matussi and others. The Italian writers at first laid special emphasis on the metaphysical features of Scholasticism, without paying sufficient attention to the sciences or to the history of philosophy. Later this underwent a change which promises excellent results.

From Italy the movement spread into the other European countries and found supporters in Germany such as Kleutgen, Stöckl, the authors of the "Philosophia Lacensis" published at Maria Laach by the Jesuits (Pesch, Hontheim, Cathrein), Gutberlet, Commer, Willmann, Kaufmann, Glossner, Grabmann and Schneid. These scholars have made valuable contributions to the history of philosophy, especially that of the Middle Ages. Stöckl led the way with his "Geschichte d. Philosophie des Mittelalters" (Mainz, 1864–66). Ehrle and Denifle founded in 1885 the "Archiv für Literatur u. Kirchengesch. d. Mittelalters", and the latter edited the monumental "Chartularium" of the University of Paris. In 1891, Von Hertling and Bäumker began the publication of their "Beiträge zur Gesch. d. Phil. des Mittelalters".

Belgium has been particularly favoured. Leo XIII established in 1891 at Louvain
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...

 (then still a francophone university) the "Institut de philosophie" for the special purpose of teaching the doctrine of St. Thomas together with history and the natural sciences. The Institute was placed in charge of Mgr (later Cardinal) Mercier whose "Cours de philosophie" has been translated into the principal languages of Europe.

In France, besides those already mentioned, Vallet, Gardair, Fonsegrive and Piat have taken a prominent part in the movement; in the Netherlands (Amsterdam) de Groot; in Switzerland (Freiburg), Mandonnet; in Spain, Orti y Lara, Urráburu, Gómez Izquierdo; in Mexico, Garcia; in Brazil, Santroul; in Argentina, Julio Meinvielle
Julio Meinvielle
Father Julio Meinvielle was an Argentine priest and prolific antisemitic writer.-Background:Meinvielle studied for his Doctorate in Philosophy and Theology in Rome and soon afterwards became a prolific writer of religious, historical and economic books within the school of Thomism...

 and Nimio de Anquín
Nimio de Anquín
Nimio de Anquín was an Argentine Thomist writer and fascist politician.A native of Córdoba, Argentina, de Anquín studied law at National University of Córdoba. With his studies in Argentina completed he travelled to Germany to study philosophy under Ernst Cassirer...

; in Hungary, Kiss and Pecsi; in England, Clarke, Maher, John Rickaby, Joseph Rickaby
Joseph Rickaby
-Life:He was born in 1845 in Everingham, York. He received his education at Stonyhurst College, and was ordained in 1877, one of the so-called Stonyhurst Philosophers, a significant group for neo-scholasticism in England...

, Boedder (Stonyhurst Series); in the United States, Coppens, Poland, Brother Chrysostom, and the professors at the Catholic University (Shanahan, Turner, and Pace).

A considerable number of reviews have served as its exponents: "Divus Thomas" (1879–1903); "Rivista Italiana di filosofia neo-scolastica" (Florence, since 1909); "Annales de Philosophie Chrétienne" (Paris, since 1830); "Revue néo-scolastique de Philosophie" (Louvain, since 1894); "Revue de Philosophie" (Paris, since 1900);" Revue des Sciences philosophiques et théologiques" (Kain, Belgium, since 1907); "Revue Thomiste" (Paris, since 1893); "Philosophisches Jahrbuch für Philosophie und spekulative Theologie" (Paderborn, since 1887); "St. Thomas Blätter" (Ratisbon, since 1888); Bölcseleti-Folyóirat (Budapest, since 1886);" Revista Lulliana" (Barcelona, since 1901); "Cienza Tomista" (Madrid, since 1910). In addition to these, various periodical publications not specially devoted to philosophy have given neo-Scholasticism warm attention.

External links

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