
The Thomistic Institute Thomas Aquinas: A Medieval Psychologist? | Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P.
Jun 7, 2022
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Nephew Shows Trust In Senses
- Fr. Cajetan Cuddy uses his nephew Abraham licking an ice cream cone versus a pine cone to show children's direct trust in sense perception.
- The example illustrates how even toddlers grasp external reality without philosophical skepticism.
Soul Studied By Reason, Not Faith
- Aquinas treats the human person as both bodily and spiritual and analyzes the soul using reason, not faith.
- The soul is knowable because it manifests through the body and through intellective acts that are non-physical.
Child Reads Mother's Expressions
- He recounts his niece telling the mother about being hit to show children's grasp of others' inner states via bodily signs.
- The story illustrates how bodily expressions reveal the soul's states even to young children.
