Thomas Aquinas championed Reason and Faith.
He refused to mindlessly believe, and sought after truth. He saw the value of science and reason, along with faith and in God’s grace. He argued that good ideas come from anyone, regardless of belief or race. He referenced pagans, and monks in his writings.
You can learn a lot from Thomas Aquinas, as the author Kevin Vost notes. He was a memory expert. He could bring up abstract ideas from memory at will. He could read a book and comprehend it right away. And he once wrote a letter to a Brother John, advising him how to study.
To paraphrase Aquinas, he says ‘to be able to gain knowledge, you should take in simple concepts first, and then you can go deeper into more abstract ideas.’ The first half of this book expands on simple concepts based on Thomas Aquinas’ letter.
How To Study
To summarize, these concepts are about having intellectual humility, having a clear conscience, how prayer helps you organize your thoughts, devoting time to study, being a good friend and having the right amount of social interactions, limiting distractions, learning about the saints and to imitate Christ, keeping in mind important truths, fully employing your understanding, to love learning, and the importance of exercise and physical activity.
The latter half of this book expands on abstract ideas to help you identify wrong reasoning. The last three chapters talk about Logical Fallacies, Faulty Worldviews, and Heresies/Half-truths.
Logical Fallacies
| Argumentum ad baculum | Argument to the cudgel or Argument to the stick – “agree with me, or else” |
| Argumentum ad hominem | Arguments “against the man” – insults |
| Argumentum ad ignorantiam | Appeal to ignorance by claiming that if we cannot prove that his statement is false, then it must be true – “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” |
| Argumentum ad misericordium | Appeal to misery or pity – appealing to empathy to circumvent reason |
| Argumentum ad populum | Appeal to masses or band wagon fallacy – some idea, product, or practice must be true or good if the majority or a vast number of people believe it is true, use the product, or practice the activity |
| Argumentum ad verecundiam | Appeal to authority – misplaced modesty that grants authority more credit than is due |
| Dicto simpliciter | Stating case too simply ignoring exceptions to the rule |
| False dichotomy | Either-or, or black and white thinking |
| Genetic Fallacy | Idea is rejected because of its real or supposed source |
| Hasty Generalization | Jumping to general conclusions based on far too little evidence |
| Hyperbole | Exaggerates and distorts true facts |
| Petitio Principii | Begging the question or circular reasoning – assumes from the start what it supposedly proves |
| Post hoc, ergo proper hoc | After this, therefore because of this – assume that because one thing occurred after another, it must be the result of the first thing; “correlation does not prove causation” |
| Red herring | Ignorantio elenchi – diverting attention to something irrelevant |
| Quotation out of context | Statement is selectively presented by ignoring context |
| Slanting | Begging the question – skewing conclusion towards one’s conclusion by the use of loaded words with strong positive or negative emotional connotations |
| Special Pleading | Setting standards for others that are not applied to oneself |
| Stereotyping | Treats members of groups as if they were the same |
| Straw Man | Attributing a weaker argument |
| Undistributed Middle Term | Faulty deductive reasoning, assuming a universal term applies to all cases |
Faulty Worldviews
| Agnosticism | Materialism |
| Atheism | Modernism |
| Consequentialism | Nihilism |
| Constructivism | Nominalism |
| Consumerism | Postmodernism |
| Emotivism | Pragmatism |
| Fideism | Reductionism |
| Historicism | Relativism |
| Idealism | Scientism |
| Individualism | Skepticism |
Heresies & Half-Truths
| Arianism | Manicheanism |
| Catharism | Monophysitism |
| Gnosticism | Nestorianism |
| Iconoclasm | Pelagianism |
| Jansenism | Sola Scriptura |
Why read How To Think Like Aquinas?
You get an understanding of how reason and faith can coexist. You learn that anyone could seek and access great truths, if they are willing to make time for study and to employ their reason.
How can you use this information?
Be open to knowledge. Understand basic concepts first before getting into more abstract ideas.
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