Studying Philosophy for the Teaching of the Faith
A Dominican Outline
Part I: Methodological Skills
Introduction:
A: The Fundamental Logical Relations
1). The Three Acts of the Mind.
2) Syllogistic Reasoning.
3) Grammar.
4) Univocation and Analogy.
B: The Four Modes of Discourse
1). Poetic or Narrative Discourse
2). Rhetoric
3) Dialectical Discourse
4). Demonstrative Discourse
C: The Four Scientific Questions.
D: History of Methodology.
Part II: Natural Science
Introduction:
A: History of Scientific Method
1). Ancient and Medieval Science
a) Plato
b) The Epicureans
c) The Stoics
d) Aristotle
2) Modern Natural Science.
3). Modern Scientific Method..
4). Present Picture of the Universe
a). Cosmological Evolution.
b). Matter and Energy.
c). Quantum Indeterminism.
d). Biological Evolution.
e). The Physical Meaning of Modern Models.
(1). Difficulties in Physics.
(2). Difficulties in Biology and Psychology.
(3). Thomist Approach to Difficulties in Modern Science
(a).Is Natural Philosophy the Same as Natural Science?
(b). Mathematical Natural Science.
(c). Mechanism, Idealism, or Thomism?
B: The Foundations of Natural Science According to Aristotle and Aquinas
1). Natural and Artificial Observation.
2) A Thomist Critique of Modern Science.
3). A Universe in Process.
a). Matter and Form.
b). Causality.
c). Substance and Accidents.
d).Categories.
(1). Intrinsic.
(2) Extrinsic (Relational)..
(3). The Physical Reality of the Categories.
e). Advance from General to Specific.
f). Is the Universe Self-Explanatory?
(1). Existence of an Uncaused Cause.
(2) Limited Scope of Natural Science.
C: The Human Person, and Embodied Spirit
1). The Spirituality of the Human Soul.
2). Origin of the Human Soul.
3). The Powers of the Human Soul
a) Dependence of Human Cognition on the Senses.
b) The Affective Drives or “Passions” and the Human Will.
c). Interaction of Human Nature and Culture.
D: Do Also Pure Spirits Exist?
1). Popular Belief in Spirits.
2). Natural Science Arguments for Their Existence.
PART III: ETHICS
Introduction
A: Value-free Science and Ethical Values.
1). Secular Ethics.
2). Christian Ethics.
B: True and Illusory Happiness.
1). The “Is’ and the “Ought.”
2). Imperfect Natural Happiness and Graced Beatitude.
3). The Basic Needs of Human Nature.
C: Why We Need Virtues?
1). Skills of Consistent Problem Solving.
2). The Four Major Virtues.
a). Temperance.
b). Fortitude.
c). Justice.
d). Prudence.
3) Auxiliary Virtues.
D: Social Ethics.
1). The Three Forms of Prudence.
2). The Modern Social Sciences.
3). Family Ethics.
a). The Natural Structure of the Family.
b). Cultural Development of the Family
4). Politics.
a). Community and Forms of Authority:
b) The Common Good.
c). Solidarity, Functionality, Subsidiarity.
E: Economics and Technology in Service of the Common Good.
(1). Economic Determinism.
(2) The Technologies.
(3) Environmentalism.
F: The Fine Arts.
PART IV: METAPHYSICS
A: The Problem of The Search for Wisdom.
1). How Can We Unify Human Knowledge?
2). First Philosophy Presupposes Yet Is Formally Distinct From Natural
Science.
a). Could Natural Science Be First Philosophy?
b). Unlike Nature Science, First Philosophy Studies the Essence of
Immaterial Beings.
c). Natural Theology is Not “Onto-theology.”
B: Other Conceptions of “Metaphysics.”
1). The Platonic Tradition.
a). Aquinas and Platonism.
b). Scotus’ Conception of Metaphysics.
2). Modern Doubts About the Value of Metaphysics.
a). The Turn to the Subject.
b). The Kantian Definition of Truth as Consistency of Thought.
c). Contemporary Continental Philosophy.
d). Contemporary British-American Philosophy:
C: Present Tasks of Metaphysics
1): Five Tasks for First Philosophy:
2). Ontology: Different Kinds of Being and Their “Properties.
a). Different Kinds of Being:.
b). Properties Analogically Common to all Kinds of “Being.”
c). Other Transcendental Terms
3). Epistemology.
a). Anti-dualism.
b). Human Spiritual Powers.
c). The Separated Soul.
4). Ousiology.
5). Aetiology;
6). Natural Theology.
a). The Natures of Spiritual Beings.
b). The Nature of Pure Spirits.
(1). Specification and Powers.
(2). Activities of Pure Spirits.
c). The Real Distinction and the Limitation of Act by Potency.
(1). In Changeable Beings.
(2). In Spiritual Beings.
(d). The Nature of the First Cause, God.
(1). The Transcendent, Personal God.
(2). The Problem of Evil.
D: Reconciliation of Philosophical Traditions.