Questionable Views of Thomas Aquinas / Thomism

Thomism is Aristotelianism viewed through a Christian lens. For instance:

“The Eucharist, a Catholic mystery, needs Aristotle's thought to establish its philosophic legitimacy. Scholasticism, with its categories of ‘substance,’ ‘accidents,’ ‘genera,’ ‘substantial forms,’ is the sole authorization of this ontological three card monte which permits affirmation of the bread really, not symbolically—‘literally’ and not ‘figuratively,' for, to speak like Thomas Aquinas, the body of a man dead two thousand years ago is identical with the wine originating in French vineyards, real blood of the same man.” (Michel Onfray, "Jean Meslier and ‘The Gentle Inclination of Nature,'" translated by Marvin Mandell, New Politics, Vol. 10, No. 4, Winter 2006)

Aquinas put Scripture (specifically the Catholic Church’s interpretations of Scripture) above reason, devising ingenious rationalizations to try and claim that Scripture was in harmony with nature and reason. Thus he supported the following:

Slavery

Aquinas argued that slavery could not be in the soul’s best interest because it was not present in man’s original sinless state. But Aquinas also endorsed a hierarchically ordered cosmos and social order, including the Catholic Canon Law acceptance of slavery, which was only mitigated by conversion and baptism. At times he seems to follow Aristotle in his judgment that "slavery rests upon the ground that there are men for whom it is better to be slaves than to be free, and that slavery is therefore an institution of human reason; in others he seems to speak of it as an institution which could not have existed in the natural or primitive state. (Ideas of Slavery from Aristotle to Augustine by Peter Garnsey, and, “The Attitude of the Church Toward Slavery Prior to 1500” by Rayford W. Logan, The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 17, No. 4, Oct., 1932, p. 466-480)

Persecution of Heretics

Christian rulers must persecute heretics and execute heretics who refuse to repent. (“With regard to heretics... there is the sin, whereby they deserve not only to be separated from the Church by excommunication, but also to be severed from the world by death. For it is a much graver matter to corrupt the faith which quickens the soul, than to forge money, which supports temporal life. Wherefore if forgers of money and other evil-doers are forthwith condemned to death by the secular authority, much more reason is there for heretics, as soon as they are convicted of heresy, to be not only excommunicated but even put to death. On the part of the Church, however... if he is yet stubborn, the Church no longer hoping for his conversion, looks to the salvation of others, by excommunicating him and separating him from the Church, and furthermore delivers him to the secular tribunal to be exterminated thereby from the world by death. For Jerome commenting on Gal. 5:9, ‘A little leaven,’ says: ‘Cut off the decayed flesh, expel the mangy sheep from the fold, lest the whole house, the whole paste, the whole body, the whole flock, burn, perish, rot, die.’ Arius was but one spark in Alexandria, but as that spark was not at once put out, the whole earth was laid waste by its flame.” (Summa Theologica, IIa, IIae Question 11, art. 3)

Per the article on "Persecution and Thomas Aquinas" in The Catholic Encyclopedia, formal apostasy was then looked upon as treason against God — a much more heinous crime than treason against a civil ruler, which, until recent times, was punished with great severity. It was a poisoning of the life of the soul in others [Thomas Aquinas, II-II, Q. xi, articles 3, 4)

The Catholic Church demanded that Christian magistrates persecute heretics and use physical coercion against formal apostates.

Demons Cohabit with Witches

“The power of witchcraft is made manifest in serpents more than in other animals according to Genesis 3, since the devil tempted the woman through a serpent... Some have asserted that witchcraft is nothing in the world but an imagining of men who ascribed to spells those natural effects the causes of which are hidden... But such assertions are rejected by the true faith whereby we believe that angels fell from heaven, and that the demons exist, and that by reason of their subtle nature they are able to do many things which we cannot... If sometimes children are born from intercourse with demons, this is not because of the semen emitted by them, or from the bodies they have assumed, but through the semen taken from some man for this purpose, seeing that the same demon who acts as a succubus for a man becomes an incubus for a woman"). Aquinas’s well “reasoned” arguments on such matters matter helped influence inquisition verdicts.

Holy Divination

The “casting of lots” to decide a matter can reveal God’s will. Since there are many examples in the Scriptures of righteous men acting upon the casting of lots (Lev 16:8; Josh 7:14-15; 1 Chr 24:5; Neh 10:34), Aquinas reasons that it is not a vice to divide goods or duties by this means. The Proverbs declare that "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord" (Prov 16:33). In similar fashion God provided the Mosaic high priest with the mysterious Urim and Thummin to assist the Israelites in making official decisions in accordance with His will (Ex 28:30; Lev 8:8; Num 27:21; Deu 33:8; 1 Sam 28:6; Ezra 2:63; Neh 7:65). However, Aquinas warned that the practice of casting lots could be relied on too heavily, thus "tempting God;" or, demons might interfere with the outcome if the lots were cast without prior prayer. He found the casting of lots to be lawful in cases where making choices was difficult and when due reverence was observed, "If… there be urgent necessity it is lawful to seek the divine judgment by casting lots, provided due reverence be observed." He added that in most cases, the Holy Spirit can guide Christians in their decisions rather than having to rely on casting lots to determine God’s will. But the Holy Spirit was not so readily available to the characters of the Old Testament [Summa Theologica v. 3], so they had to rely on tossing lots. See, Whether Divination By Drawing Lots is Unlawful? Summa Theologica, Question 95, Article 8, 2nd Pt of the 2nd Pt. Also see his Treatise on the Cardinal Virtues)

The Location of Hell is "beneath the earth"

Rejoicing Forever At the Sight of the Damned's Suffering

“Nothing should be denied the blessed that belongs to the perfection of their beatitude. Now everything is known the more for being compared with its contrary, because when contraries are placed beside one another they become more conspicuous. Wherefore in order that the happiness of the saints may be more delightful to them and that they may render more copious thanks to God for it, they are allowed to see perfectly the sufferings of the damned...The saints will rejoice in the punishment of the wicked, by considering therein the order of Divine justice and their own deliverance, which will fill them with joy. And thus the Divine justice and their own deliverance will be the direct cause of the joy of the blessed: while the punishment of the damned will cause it Indirectly.” (The Relations of the Saints Towards the Damned, Summa Theologica, Question 94)

Relying heavily on Aristotle, Aquinas accepted emotions as a necessary evil, viewing them as having a deleterious effect on people's lives. In general, according to his writing, prototypical emotions were all negatively valenced, such as despair or grief. In contrast, positive feelings, such as happiness, were not considered to be a part of his emotional phenomenology. Rather, Aquinas viewed happiness as a dispassionate, rational state, and he viewed God and the angels as rational, dispassionate, and therefore happy beings. (A. M. Schmitter, 17th and 18th Century Theories of Emotions. In E. M. Zalta (Ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Interestingly, by denying the existence of what would be viewed today as normal and necessary goals of apetitie drive, such as pleasure from food, drink, or sex, Aquinas essentially described a depressed society marked by anhedonia. (Yana Suchy, Clinical Neuropsychology of Emotion, Guilford Press, N.Y., 2011).

In the category of sins of lust, masturbation and homosexuality are greater sins than rape. The "unnatural vices" according to Thomas appears to be, from most to least offensive: masturbation, bestiality, sodomy, and copulation in strange manners. Thomas, then, argues that masturbation is the worst sin in the category of sins of lust. (Whether the unnatural vice is the greatest sin among the species of lust? Summa Theologica II-II, 154, 12)

Woman is of a Lesser Rank or Order than Man

“...the weakness of the female sex... commend[s] the divine wisdom that arranges creation in diversity of ranks and orders.” (Summa contra Gentiles, IV, Question 88)

"[Per Aquinas] women are controlled by their sexual appetites while men are governed by reason. Women's lives and concerns are trivial and are wholly dependent on men, while men need women only for procreation. Because of their inferiority as a sex, women are utterly incapable of filling important roles either in society or in the church. The woman is subject to the man, on account of the weakness of her nature, both of mind and of body... Man is the beginning of woman and her end, just as God is the beginning and end of every creature.... children ought to love their father more than their mother" (Ruth Tucker, Women in the Maze, p. 156).

“According to the medicine of his century, which, of course, Thomas did not correct, woman was an incomplete man, a half-baked male, whose unfinished characteristics come about through some weakness in the parents, some disposition in the human material or some extrinsic cause such as, for example, a strong south wind at the time of conception. Nevertheless Thomas thinks this creature was made on purpose, deliberately planned by God.” (Walter Farrell, O.P., A Companion to the Summa, I ch. 12)

“If it were not for some [divine] power that wanted the feminine sex to exist, the birth of a woman would be just another accident, such as that of other monsters [= a dog with two heads, a calf with five legs, etc.]” The original Latin reads, “Nisi ergo esset aliqua virtus quae intenderet femineum sexum, generation feminae esset omnino a casu, sicut et aliorum monstrorum.” (De Veritate 5, 9, d. 9)

The male seed is the active force: “In perfect animals, generated by coition, the active force is in the semen of the male, as the Philosopher [Aristotle] (De Gener. Animal. ii, 3); but the foetal matter [that the active force works on and transforms] is provided by the female...” (Summa Theologica II, Question 18, art. 1, ad 4)

"As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active force in the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of woman comes from a defect in the active force or from some material indisposition, or even from some external influence" (Summa Theologica, Question 92, art. 1, Reply Obj. 1)

The active force in the male seed derives part of its power from the heavenly bodies: “... the (vital) spirit in the semen which is frothy, as is attested by its whiteness. In which spirit, moreover, there is a certain heat derived from the power of the heavenly bodies, by virtue of which the inferior bodies also act towards the production of the species as stated above (115, 3, ad 2). And since in this (vital) spirit the power of the soul is concurrent with the power of a heavenly body, it has been said that ‘man and the sun generate man.’” (Summa Theologica II, Question 18, art. 1, ad 3)