This book is a close study of Aquinas's best-known philosophical text (§In.1), read in the light of his full body of writings (§In.2). The topic is human nature, which for Aquinas means above all a discussion of the soul and its various capacities (§In.3). My focus is philosophical, and yet the subject is a work of theology, because often it is theology in the Middle Ages that comes closest to our modern philosophical concerns (§In.4). Still, it is crucial to understand the theological context. Aquinas's interest in the philosophical problems surrounding human nature grows out of his broader theological views about the meaning of life (§In.5).

Overview

In the chapters to come, I have some novel and perhaps surprising things to say about Thomas Aquinas. As I consider how best to ease the reader down this road, the words of Montaigne come to mind: “Aristotle wrote to be understood; if he could not do this, much less will another that is not so good at it” (Essays, ch. 21). In fact I doubt whether Aristotle always did write to be understood, but certainly Aquinas did, above all in his reader-friendly Summa theologiae. But in the more than 700 years that have passed since Aquinas's death in 1274, our modes of expression have changed a great deal. Surely there is some call for commentary.

Of course, I am not alone in this enterprise.