The Thomistic Institute Immortality and Immateriality – Prof. Thomas Osborne
Mar 20, 2026
Thomas M. Osborne Jr., a Thomist scholar and philosophy chair known for work on Aquinas and moral psychology, explores how Aristotle and Aquinas link immaterial intellect to the soul's immortality. He contrasts modern consciousness debates with classical concerns. Short segments examine levels of life, intentional presence in perception, intellect’s universality, and Aquinas’s arguments for an immaterial intellect.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Distinct Levels Of Knowing In Living Beings
- Thomas M. Osborne Jr. frames the issue as distinct levels of life: plants, animals, and humans, each with progressively richer modes of knowing.
- Humans possess intellectual knowledge that is neither purely material like animal sensation nor purely immaterial like angelic knowledge, making it unique.
Armadillo Tacos Illustrate Material Versus Immaterial
- Osborne uses a Texas armadillo ranch story to show material bodies become other things (food) while immaterial souls cannot be eaten or sucked out.
- He contrasts armadillo tacos with sci‑fi soul‑sucking movies to illustrate 'not material'.
Sensation As Intentional Presence
- Sensation involves an intentional presence: the sensible form is received without its matter into the perceiver.
- This 'immaterial' presence differs from being an immaterial substance; it's a reception of form into bodily organs and brain.