Thomas Aquinas Research Paper

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Pages: 4

Does suicide elicit self-love or self-hate? Is it lawful to kill oneself? According to Aristotle, he states that, “the good person should be a self-lover, since he will help himself as well as benefit others by doing noble acts, but the wicked person should not, because he will harm both himself and those around him by following his evil feelings…” (NE, 1168, 13-16). However, contrary to the quote, Aristotle will later add an additional outlook on this view. Unlike Aristotle, there are some individuals who have a strong different outlook on the act of suicide. One of them is the well-known theologian, and philosopher Saint Thomas Aquinas, and expresses this in Summa Theologica.
Summa Theologica is one of the best known works of Saint Thomas
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He came from an aristocratic family, and his birth took place at the castle of Roccasecca. At the age of five or six, Aquinas was sent to study at the Abbey of Monte Cassino. There, he received an education in grammar and writing. He also spent time studying the Bible, and patristic authors such as St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Gregory the Great. Around 1239, Aquinas’ time in Monte Cassino came to an end because of political reasons revolving around the tension between Emperor Fredrick II and Pope Gregory IX. Forewarned of a military presence, Aquinas’ family arranged for him to continue his education at the University of Naples. During his student times at Naples, Aquinas enter the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans) founded by St. Dominic Guzman. Aquinas’ family objected to his decision. It is unclear why his family did not agree with his decision. Perhaps, it possibly could be because the Dominican Order was then relatively new, and did not conform to established patterns for religious life as exemplified by Benedictine and Cistercian monks (Davies, 4). Aquinas committed most of his life to preaching, studying, and being impoverished drew him closer to be part of the Dominicans. In the later years, while he was teaching in Rome, he began to work on his Summa Theologica. He worked steadily on it for many years, yet with what aim in