On Thomas Aquinas’s Psychology
An Analysis of the Will in the Summa Theologica
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35699/1676-1669.2023.39938Keywords:
Thomas Aquinas, psychology, scientia de anima, will, history of psychologyAbstract
From the XIII century onward, Aquinas’s work has been much debated among philosophers and theologians. Not many psychologists, however, see in his work any relevance for contemporary psychology, although Aquinas’s system contains profound reflections on some aspects of human nature that still defy our understanding. Assuming that medieval thought can shed some light on contemporary psychological debates, the goal of this paper is twofold: first, we want to show that there is a genuine psychology in Aquinas’s work, understood as scientia de anima; second, we will illustrate our thesis by analyzing one of its central concepts, namely, the will. Our analysis will focus on the Summa Theologica, although Aquinas’s other writings will also be mentioned. In the end, we will discuss the implications of this concept for Aquina’s psychology, some limits of our present investigation, and potential paths for future research.
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