Full transcript
0:00Thomas Aquinas thinks of reason or intelligence in high and noble terms, and those terms are
0:06summed up in three intellectual virtues: understanding, knowledge, and wisdom.
0:12His explanation of these reveals the potential of the human mind to go to the height and
0:18the depth of truth.
0:30Human reason or intellect has a natural drive to read the world.
0:35People gradually come to know various things: kinds of animals, seasons of the year, mathematical
0:41truths, songs, stories, human beings, our characteristics, the list goes on and on.
0:48As we continue studying and learning the world, both individually and collectively, we learn
0:54and study increasingly more things about increasingly more subject matters – everything from grass
1:00to God.
1:02Now the learning process is not simply learning random facts, but an attempt to understand
1:08why things are the way they are.
1:10It is one thing to know that certain birds migrate for the winter, and another things
1:15to know why.
1:18Our awareness of reality may be distinguished roughly into things to be explained and the
1:23things that do the explaining.
1:26In the case of bird migrations, the thing to be explained is the fact that certain birds
1:30migrate for the winter and the thing that does the explaining is the reason why they
1:36do that, for example, they are seeking a warmer climate or a better habitat for breeding or
1:41something similar.
1:43In the language of Thomas Aquinas, the things that do the explaining are called principles.
1:49When a person studies or learns a certain topic or subject matter, the person acquires
1:54an awareness of many truths.
1:57For example, someone who studies music learns all the notes on many scales and which notes
2:03form harmonious chords within different keys on the musical scale.
2:09Contained within that awareness are a great many truths about a great many notes and chords.
2:15And all those truths would seem to be a random collection unless one grasps the reason why
2:21behind chord formation.
2:23Now, the quest to grasp that reason sets up the science of harmonics.
2:30Someone who knows all the truths about various chords on a musical scale, but has not yet
2:35grasped the explanation or reason why, has not yet acquired understanding of harmonic
2:42principles.
2:43But when someone grasps the principle or the reason why behind the various chord formations,
2:50then the person has understanding.
2:53Speaking more generally, we can say the intellectual virtue of understanding is the fixed and stable
3:00disposition of the intellect to grasp the principle or reason why things are so in a
3:06certain subject matter, for example, in harmonics.
3:10Now, when someone has understanding of a principle in a subject matter, as in harmonics, one
3:16is in a position to look at all the truths within that subject matter in light of the
3:22principle or reason why behind them all.
3:25For example, in harmonics one can look at all the truths about chord formations in light
3:32of the principles of proportion of sound.
3:35And when a person does so, the person sees all the many truths about various chords fall
3:42into an orderly whole, an intelligible pattern.
3:46And that orderly whole of many truths is called knowledge or science.
3:52The intellectual virtue of knowledge or science is the fixed and stable disposition of the
3:57intellect to see a multiplicity of truths in a certain subject matter as an orderly
4:04whole in light of a first principle.
4:08Both understanding and knowledge are acquired by studying things, and often over a long
4:14period of time and addressing many questions.
4:19The difference between understanding and knowledge is this.
4:23Understanding is of a principle or reason why within a subject matter.
4:29Knowledge is of all the truths within a subject matter in light of the principles.
4:35Understanding of principles orders and provide explanation within whole branches of knowledge
4:41or fields of science.
4:43Newton’s Three Laws and various other principles, for example, reveal the order and provide
4:50an explanation for all the truths within the branch of knowledge or science called classical
4:56mechanics.
4:57Now, there is one last intellectual virtue to consider.
5:02If someone can grasp a principle within a specific subject matter or domain, such as
5:07bird migration or harmonics or classical mechanics, and by grasping that principle see the explanatory
5:15order of that whole domain of truths and arrive at knowledge or science, what would happen
5:22if we expanded our subject matter or domain of truths as far as possible?
5:28What if we ask about reality as a whole?
5:32Can we grasp the first principle or explanatory factor of reality as a whole?
5:39If one were to do so, then one would have the intellectual virtue of wisdom.
5:44The intellectual virtue of wisdom is the fixed and stable disposition of the intellect by
5:50which one glimpses the first principle of reality as a whole.
5:55The ancient philosopher Aristotle thought that it was metaphysics that did just that,
6:00and he called it wisdom.
6:02Now, metaphysics does indeed catch a glimpse of the first principle of reality and knows
6:08that the first principle of all things is God.
6:11But thanks to God’s own revelation of himself, and our response of faith seeking understanding
6:17of what God has revealed, theology knows God far better than metaphysics.
6:23And that is why theology is traditionally called a higher wisdom.
6:29Theology knows God revealing himself and all things in his light.
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