7. Sacred Doctrine as Science and Its Superiority

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Sacred Doctrine as a Science (Article 2) #

• The Problem: Sacred doctrine appears to fail the definition of science because it proceeds from articles of faith rather than self-evident principles
• Aquinas’s Solution: Distinguishes two kinds of science:
  • Sciences with principles known through themselves (e.g., geometry, arithmetic)
  • Sciences with principles known through a higher science (e.g., astronomy from geometry, music from arithmetic)
• Key Claim: Sacred doctrine is a science in the second sense—a subalternate science proceeding from principles known by divine science
• The Analogy: Just as the astronomer takes geometric principles on faith from the geometer, sacred doctrine takes revealed principles on faith from God and the blessed who see God as He is
• Implication: Sacred doctrine has certitude because it rests on God’s knowledge, which cannot err

Unity of Sacred Doctrine (Article 3) #

• The Objection: How can one science treat both Creator and creature, which share no common genus? How can it address topics (angels, bodily creatures, human morals) that belong to different philosophical sciences?
• The Solution: Unity derives from the formal reason of the object (ratio formalis obiecti), not material diversity
  • Example: Sight is one power though it knows man, donkey, and stone—all different materially but unified under the formal object colored
  • Similarly, all subjects in sacred doctrine are unified under the formal aspect divinely revealed
• God as Primary Subject: God is treated principally; creatures are considered only insofar as they are referred to God as beginning or end
• Theological Structure: Following the principle Alpha and Omega (beginning and end):
  • God in himself
  • God as principle/maker of creatures
  • God as end toward which creatures are ordered
• Comparison to Philosophy: Sacred doctrine has greater unity than philosophy because it participates in God’s unified, simple knowledge, whereas philosophy divides knowledge into multiple sciences

Speculative vs. Practical Character (Article 4) #

• The Problem: Some object that sacred doctrine is practical (ordered to action, as James states: “Be doers of the word”); others argue it is speculative (primarily about God, who is not “doable”)
• Aquinas’s Resolution: Sacred doctrine transcends the philosophical distinction between speculative and practical
  • It comprehends both, just as God by one knowledge knows Himself and makes creatures
  • This is unlike philosophy, which divides knowledge into theoretical and practical sciences
• Primary Character: Though it contains both elements, sacred doctrine is more speculative than practical:
  • It chiefly treats divine things (God), which are objects of speculative knowledge
  • Human acts are considered only insofar as they order man toward perfect knowledge of God
  • The ultimate end is eternal beatitude—seeing God face to face—which is speculative knowledge
• Biblical Support: Christ says “This is eternal life, to know thee, the one true God” (John 17), emphasizing knowledge over action
• Contrast with Philosophy: In philosophy, God is known last; in sacred doctrine, God is known first, and other things are known in reference to Him—imitating God’s own unified knowledge

Excellence and Dignity of Sacred Doctrine (Article 5) #

• Two Criteria for Scientific Excellence:
  1. Certitude (how well you know)
  2. Subject Matter (what you know)—the more fundamental criterion
• Aristotle’s Principle: Better to know higher things imperfectly than lower things perfectly
• Sacred Doctrine’s Superiority:
  • Greater Certitude: Proceeds from divine light (God’s knowledge), which cannot be deceived, rather than natural human reason, which can err
  • Higher Subject Matter: Treats things that transcend reason, whereas other sciences treat things subject to reason
  • Noblest End (practical dimension): Ordered to eternal beatitude, to which all other practical ends are subordinated
• Response to Doubt: Though people may doubt articles of faith, this reflects weakness of human understanding (like eyes of an owl before sunlight), not uncertainty in the truths themselves
• Relation to Philosophy: Sacred doctrine borrows from philosophical disciplines not from inferiority but to use them as pedagogical aids (manuductio—leading by the hand) to manifest truths more clearly

Key Arguments #

The Subalternation Argument #

• Premise 1: Some sciences proceed from principles known by higher sciences
• Premise 2: Sacred doctrine proceeds from principles known by divine science (God’s knowledge and the knowledge of the blessed)
• Conclusion: Sacred doctrine is a science (in the subalternate sense)
• Supporting Examples:
  • Astronomy takes principles from geometry (e.g., Earth’s roundness from shadow on moon vs. from nature of Earth)
  • Music takes principles from arithmetic
  • Biologist uses conclusions from chemistry

The Formal Object Argument (Unity) #

• Premise 1: Unity of a science comes from the formal reason of its object, not material diversity
• Premise 2: Sight is one power though it perceives diverse things (man, donkey, stone) unified under one formal aspect (colored)
• Premise 3: Sacred doctrine considers all things under one formal aspect (divinely revealable)
• Conclusion: Sacred doctrine is one science despite treating diverse subjects

The Excellence Argument #

• For Speculative Dimension:
  • Sacred doctrine shares in divine certitude (higher than natural reason)
  • Sacred doctrine treats of God and supernatural matters (higher subject than natural things)
• For Practical Dimension:
  • Sacred doctrine orders all knowledge to eternal beatitude
  • No practical end is higher than beatitude
• Conclusion: Sacred doctrine exceeds all other sciences in both dimensions

Important Definitions #

• Scientia (Science): Reasoned-out knowledge proceeding from principles; translates Greek episteme. Emphasizes certainty and argumentative reasoning from principles.
• Formal Reason of the Object (ratio formalis obiecti): The aspect under which a power or science considers diverse things as a unified whole (e.g., color for sight, divinely revealed for sacred doctrine). Unity of science derives from this formal aspect, not from material diversity of subjects.
• Subalternate Science (scientia subalterna): A science that takes its principles from a higher science on faith and proceeds from those principles (e.g., astronomy from geometry, music from arithmetic). Lower science doesn’t prove principles but uses them authoritatively.
• Divinely Revealed (divinitus revelata): The formal object under which sacred doctrine considers all things—the aspect that unifies all diverse subjects treated in sacred doctrine
• Eternal Beatitude (beatitudo aeterna): The ultimate end and highest good—seeing God face to face—to which all knowledge and action in sacred doctrine is ordered
• Manuductio: “Leading by the hand”—pedagogical use of lower or more known things to lead to higher or less known truths

Examples & Illustrations #

Geometric Knowledge of Roundness #

• The astronomer knows the Earth is round from observing its shadow on the moon (mathematical/abstract middle term)
• The natural philosopher knows it from the nature of Earth tending toward the center (material middle term)
• Same conclusion known through different sciences via different principles and methods

Sensory Knowledge (Touch and Sight) #

• Both touch and sight can know that something is round
• Touch knows through tactile sensation; sight knows through color and shape
• Different ways of knowing, same object—illustrates how diverse sciences can treat the same reality differently

The Common Sense (sensus communis) #

• Five external senses are unified in the common sense, which distinguishes between objects of different senses (sweetness vs. whiteness of sugar)
• Reason similarly unifies knowledge from diverse philosophical sciences
• Sacred doctrine’s unity parallels reason’s unifying function at a higher level

Hierarchy of Arts #

• Pharmacy (making medicine) serves medicine (health)
• Medicine serves the state/city (civic good)
• This shows how subordinated sciences/arts are ordered to higher ends
• Sacred doctrine, ordered to eternal beatitude, exceeds all subordinated practical sciences

Personal Anecdote: Loudspeaker and Mozart #

• A high-fidelity musical system with technical clarity plays inferior music
• A lower-fidelity system plays Mozart
• Illustration: better to know higher things imperfectly than lower things with perfect clarity
• Applies to sacred doctrine: less certain knowledge of God exceeds most certain knowledge of earthly things

Movie and Television Analogy #

• Prefers watching an interesting film on a poor-quality copy to viewing something trivial in crystal-clear digital reproduction
• Shows that what is known (subject matter) matters more than how clearly it is known (certitude)
• Supports principle that sacred doctrine’s high subject matter exceeds other sciences despite potential doubt by weak intellects

Questions Addressed #

Can sacred doctrine be a science if based on faith? #

• Yes: It qualifies as a subalternate science, like astronomy to geometry
• Faith articles are principles known by higher science (divine science)
• Proceeds argumentatively from those principles

How can one science treat both Creator and creature, which share no genus? #

• Unity comes from the formal object (divinely revealable), not from material subjects sharing a genus
• God is primary subject; creatures are considered only in reference to God as beginning or end
• Parallels how sight unifies diverse things under the formal aspect colored

If philosophers have discussed everything, why is sacred doctrine necessary? #

• The same things can be known in different ways and through different principles
• Sacred doctrine knows some things about God that philosophy cannot (Trinity, Incarnation)
• Sacred doctrine may know more completely what philosophy knows incompletely
• Different sciences treating same things shows diversity of sciences, not redundancy

Is sacred doctrine speculative or practical? #

• Both, transcending the philosophical division
• Primarily speculative: concerns God principally and orders human acts to vision of God
• Ultimate end (eternal beatitude) is speculative knowledge, not action
• Imitates God’s unified knowledge rather than following philosophical categories

Why does sacred doctrine borrow from philosophy if it is superior? #

• Not from inferiority but as pedagogical aid (manuductio)
• Uses more known things (natural reason) to lead to less known (revealed truths)
• Does not prove philosophical principles but uses them to manifest truths more clearly
• Lower sciences serve higher in proper order

How can people doubt articles of faith if sacred doctrine is so certain? #

• Doubt reflects weakness of human understanding, not uncertainty of the thing itself
• Analogy: eyes of an owl cannot see the sun despite its brightness; weakness is in the viewer, not in what is seen
• The truths themselves (known to God and the blessed) are absolutely certain
• Our reception of them can be weakened by our fallen intellect