The Division and Methods of the Sciences

by Thomas Aquinas, Armand A. Maurer (Translator)

Questions v and vi of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Commentary on the De Trinitate of Boethius contain St. Thomas’ most comprehensive treatment of the classification of the theoretical sciences and description of their methods. They examine the meaning of knowledge and science, the distinction between practical and theoretical science, and the modes of procedure of the three main theoretical sciences: physics, mathematics and metaphysics. They also clarify the nature of an “intermediate science” (scientia media) partaking of both physics and mathematics.

The Questions are preceded by the text of Boethius’ De Trinitate which is the occasion of St. Thomas’ raising his Questions concerning science, and his literal commentary on the text. A comparison of the literal commentary with the questions that follow shows on the one hand St. Thomas’ dependence on the classical Boethian philosophy, and on the other his original development of that philosophy through his reading of philosophers like Aristotle and Avicenna and through his own personal insights.

Three appendices translate the division of the sciences in St. Thomas’ Commentary on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, the nature of metaphysics in his Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics, and the order of learning the sciences proposed in several of his works.

Genres: Philosophy, Science, Theology, Christianity, Classics, Religion, Catholic

119 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican friar and theologian of Italy and the most influential thinker of the medieval period, combined doctrine of Aristotle and elements of Neoplatonism, a system that Plotinus and his successors developed and based on that of Plato, within a context of Christian thought; his works include the Summa contra gentiles (1259-1264) and the Summa theologiae or theologica (1266-1273).

Saint Albertus Magnus taught Saint Thomas Aquinas.

People ably note this priest, sometimes styled of Aquin or Aquino, as a scholastic. The Roman Catholic tradition honors him as a "doctor of the Church."

Aquinas lived at a critical juncture of western culture when the arrival of the Aristotelian corpus in Latin translation reopened the question of the relation between faith and reason, calling into question the modus vivendi that obtained for centuries. This crisis flared just as people founded universities. Thomas after early studies at Montecassino moved to the University of Naples, where he met members of the new Dominican order. At Naples too, Thomas first extended contact with the new learning. He joined the Dominican order and then went north to study with Albertus Magnus, author of a paraphrase of the Aristotelian corpus. Thomas completed his studies at the University of Paris, formed out the monastic schools on the left bank and the cathedral school at Notre Dame. In two stints as a regent master, Thomas defended the mendicant orders and of greater historical importance countered both the interpretations of Averroës of Aristotle and the Franciscan tendency to reject Greek philosophy. The result, a new modus vivendi between faith and philosophy, survived until the rise of the new physics. The Catholic Church over the centuries regularly and consistently reaffirmed the central importance of work of Thomas for understanding its teachings concerning the Christian revelation, and his close textual commentaries on Aristotle represent a cultural resource, now receiving increased recognition.

Reviews

[Ejansand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for those who want to understand St. Thomas’s approach to knowledge and metaphysics.

The only downside is that the copy I read happens to have a printing error where some of the last few pages of text are missing, along with a portion of the bibliography! Hopefully this was a one-off printer’s error, since this translation, along with Maurer’s commentary on the text, are great.

[David Haines · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the translation, by Armand Maurer, of Aquinas's Commentaries on the 5th and 6th Questions in Boethius's work, De Trinitate (On the Trinity). It is, essentially, as the title makes evident, an analysis of the how the sciences are divided, and how each science gains knowledge of it's proper object. Other subjects touched on throughout the book include first principles, the agent intellect, an indepth discussion of abstraction, man's knowledge of God, the order of being, the order of learning (the acquisition of knowledge), as well as the difference between knowing "what" X is, and knowing "that" X is (and how this applies to God). Maurer also includes, in the appendices, other commentaries of Aquinas on the division of the sciences, and concerning the proper order that should be followed in education. This book is well worth the read for anyone that is interested in any of the subjects mentioned above, as Aquinas, with his usual clarity, explains each of these subjects in detail.

[Br Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent treatment of the sciences. Interesting to note the unique place of mathematics.

[Br. Justin Marie Brophy, O.P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fundamental text. Generally required reading. This sets down the framework for studying the sciences.