Cultural impact of Aristotle’s philosophy of logic

The cultural impact of Aristotle’s philosophy of logic begins with Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), who undertook to couple Christian theology to Aristotelian philosophy. The combination is far from self-evident and Aquinas did it only by twisting the ideas of Aristotle almost beyond recognition. In his “Summa Theologiae,” Aquinas provides a systematic presentation on how to merge syllogistic logic and Christianity. According to Aquinas reason and faith are both important and should coexist harmoniously. Aristotle must have turned in his grave upon hearing such a suggestion. Mixing logic and faith was anathema to his way of thinking. Nonetheless, I must acknowledge that Aquinas did a job better than anyone could have done in his impossible enterprise. Aquinas employed the Aristotelian doctrine of the four causes (material, formal, efficient, and final) in order to prove God’s existence. He regarded God as the ultimate final cause for all events in the world. “Summa Theologiae” argued with copious details that God’s existence can be demonstrated through a series of syllogisms. I must express my admiration at Aquinas’ talent at fabricating an array of proofs larger than all prior attempts in history. Aquinas was as enthralled by Aristotle’s logic as he was by the Bible; nonetheless, his disquisitions presenting God as “the prime mover” fail to meet the Aristotelian standard of proof. It doesn’t suffice to state that “there must be a prime mover in the universe” and that “God must surely be the prime mover.” Surprisingly enough, Aquinas drew on Aristotelian ethics to justify Christian virtues, but his arguments are far fetched. For Aristotle, happiness is the goal of life and virtues are methods for attaining the goal. In contrast, Aquinas says that God alone knows life’s purpose and that it is in our interest to obey God. As you can see, Aquinas’ logic is vaguely similar to Aristotle’s, but cannot withstand close examination. The greatest contribution of Aquinas was to popularise the works of Aristotle. He made hundreds of thousands interested in learning about Aristotle’s logic. Without intending it, he got them to think for themselves and draw correct conclusions. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/cultural-impact-of-aristotles-philosophy-of-logic/