A Philosophical Criticism of Augustine and Aquinas Essay -- Philosophy

A Philosophical Criticism of Augustine and Aquinas: The Relationship of Soul and Body       The relationship of the human soul and physical body is a topic that has mystified philosophers, scholars, scientists, and mankind as a whole for centuries. Human beings, who are always concerned about their place as individuals in this world, have attempted to determine the precise nature or state of the physical form. They are concerned for their well-being in this earthly environment, as well as their spiritual well-being; and most have been perturbed by the suggestion that they cannot escape the wrongs they have committed while in their physical bodies.      Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout the evolution of philosophic thought, there have been many different views on the relationship of mind and body. The great philosopher Plato and the Neoplatonists held the belief that man's body is merely a prison of his soul, but St. Augustine later refutes this with his idea of the disembodied soul. He distinguishes between the concept of the physical form and the spiritual soul, and he argues that humankind can be redeemed because of the God spirit contained in the intellectual soul. This intellectual soul is not an inseparable part of the body, as St. Thomas Aquinas postulates. Instead, this soul is indeed the higher part of man, the state and well-being of man depends upon its stability.      Ã‚  Ã‚   St. Thomas Aquinas adjusts this theory. He claims that the soul and body are inseparable, and he states that the soul is the form of the body. St. Thomas further believes that God creates the soul and matter (physical body) simultaneously, and the body affects the nature of that soul. His conception of redemption is distinctly different from Augustine; he a... ...stine: essays on some aspects of his thought written in commemoration of his 15th centenary. Sheed and Ward, Ltd., London : 1945. Rev. D.J. Leary. St. Augustine on Eternal Life. Burns, Oates and Washbourne, Ltd., London : 1939. W. Andrew Hoffecker. Building a Christian World View, vol. 1: God, man, and Knowledge. Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., Phillipsburg, New Jersey : 1986. William S. Babcock. The Ethics of St. Augustine: JRE Studies in Religion, no. 3. Scholars Press, Atlanta : 1991. Armand Maurer. Being and Knowing: Studies in Thomas Aquinas and Later Medieval Philosophers, Papers in Medià ¦val Studies, no. 10. Pontifical Institute of Medià ¦val Studies, Toronto : 1990. Thomas Aquinas. Faith, Reason and Theology. Armand Maurer,translator. Medià ¦val Sources in Translation, vol. 32. Pontifical Institute of Medià ¦val Studies, Toronto : 1987.