Medieval Philosophy

by Peter S. Adamson

In a sense Aquinas’ goal was the same as the one pursued by Siger and Boethius. All three sought to make space for pure rational inquiry within the institutional framework of the university. Siger and Boethius attempted to do so by carefully qualifying their philosophical claims. Siger, stung by the condemnations, framed his exegesis of Aristotle with warnings about the limited competence of human reason. Boethius admitted that natural reasoning can always be trumped once supernatural phenomena are taken into account. But these were rather precarious ways to secure an autonomous role for science. Much better would be to show that science establishes truly reliable conclusions, without having to worry that these conclusions can be shown to admit of exceptions or just be outright false from the standpoint of faith.13 This was Aquinas’ solution. He went so far as to integrate theology itself into a thoroughly Aristotelian picture of human knowledge, enthroning it as the new queen of sciences, which both draws from and contributes to rational inquiry. In this respect, Aquinas was a more radical Aristotelian than either Boethius or Siger.