Thomas Aquinas on Human Nature: A Philosophical Study of Summa Theologiae, 1a 75-89 [Paperback]

Robert Pasnau (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521001897 | ISBN-13: 978-0521001892 | Publication Date: November 12, 2001

This major new study of Thomas Aquinas, the most influential philosopher of the Middle Ages, offers a clear and accessible guide to the central project of Aquinas's philosophy--the understanding of human nature. Robert Pasnau sets the philosophy in the context of ancient and modern thought, and argues for groundbreaking proposals for understanding some of the most difficult areas of Aquinas's thought--the relationship of soul to body, the workings of sense and intellect, the will and the passions, and personal identity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a welcome and rewarding book." Journal of Religion

"I found the book at once helpful, stimulating and provocative. ...a book like this is among the best homages a philosopher can receive, and the best aids a student can hope for." Carlo Leget, University Medical Centre Nijmegen

"The treatise on human nature in the Summa theologiae is one of the best known philosophical texts of St. Thomas Aquinas." Theology Digest

"Exceptionally effective." The Philosophical Review

Book Description

This is a major new study of Thomas Aquinas, the most influential philosopher of the Middle Ages. The book offers a clear and accessible guide to the central project of Aquinas's philosophy: the understanding of human nature. Robert Pasnau sets the philosophy in the context of ancient and modern thought, and argues for some groundbreaking proposals for understanding some of the most difficult areas of Aquinas's thought: the relationship of soul to body, the workings of sense and intellect, the will and the passions, and personal identity.

Product Details

• Paperback: 516 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (November 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521001897
• ISBN-13: 978-0521001892
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,569,047 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Let the buyer beware, August 26, 2006

By 

Craig Payne (Ottumwa, Iowa) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Thomas Aquinas on Human Nature: A Philosophical Study of Summa Theologiae, 1a 75-89 (Paperback)

This book was difficult to rate--the three stars I gave it were generous, because it does contain a great deal of interesting information, accessibly written. However, I should say at once that this is NOT the book for beginning students of Aquinas's anthropology (view of human nature) or metaphysics. This is not due to the book's difficulty, but rather to its tendentiousness. My other inclination was to give it one or two stars. When the reviews say that Pasnau is being "provocative" or that he will "irritate to distraction Aquinas's more possessive followers," what that really means is that he presents a great many of his own philosophical views and argues that they are Aquinas's views as well. Aquinas's "more possessive" followers are also quite a bit more accurate and true to their source (although Pasnau claims the contrary). So for beginning students, Pasnau can be quite misleading on a number of points. Just for examples: Pasnau argues that Aquinas was a compatibilist on the subject of free will (if anything, he was a libertarian, as writers such as Eleonore Stump have argued extensively). Pasnau also argues that, given Aquinas's Aristotelian conception of the intellectual soul being infused into the embryo after several weeks of development, that Aquinas would today be pro-choice on abortion (Pasnau refers to the pro-life view as the "noxious" agenda of the Catholic Church). However, since Aquinas's scientific information, as he himself writes, is empirically based rather than metaphysical in nature, Aquinas today would certainly take advantage of the knowledge of the physical self-organization of genetics to push the infusion of the soul back to the time of conception. Another example: Pasnau argues that to be human is to have "a God-given soul." No, according to Aquinas, to be human is to have a God-given soul AND a body--both are necessary conditions for humanity, but neither is a sufficient condition by itself. Pasnau does argue for this position, as well--in such instances he is somewhat self-contradictory. For a better book on Thomas's view of human nature, I would recommend the older classic "Thomistic Psychology" by Brennan, or the new "Aquinas" by Stump.

(August 10, 2009 REVISION) Upon re-reading the book, I've decided I was a bit too hard on Pasnau. I still think he is wrong on compatibilism and abortion (and on what Aquinas's bioethical views would be today). However, Pasnau's discussion of Aquinas on the soul / body relationship is quite long and careful, and much more valuable than I was giving him credit for. I still would not recommend the book for beginning students of Aquinas, but it is helpful even if because it brings about a re-thinking of Aquinas's anthropology. Maybe that was the author's goal.