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Aquinas on the Materiality of the Human Soul and the Immateriality of the Human Intellect
Author(s) -
Klima Gyula
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
philosophical investigations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.172
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 1467-9205
pISSN - 0190-0536
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9205.2008.01368.x
Subject(s) - intellect , soul , materialism , philosophy , epistemology , dualism , materiality (auditing) , context (archaeology) , dilemma , aesthetics , history , archaeology
This paper argues that Aquinas's conception of the human soul and intellect offers a consistent alternative to the dilemma of materialism and post‐Cartesian dualism. It also argues that in their own theoretical context, Aquinas' arguments for the materiality of the human soul and immateriality of the intellect provide a strong justification of his position. However, that theoretical context is rather “alien” to ours in contemporary philosophy. The conclusion of the paper will point in the direction of what can be done to render Aquinas's position more palatable to contemporary philosophers.