Definition
Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), also known as the “Angelic Doctor,” was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and theologian who became one of the most influential thinkers in Western history. Aquinas sought to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology, creating a comprehensive system of thought known as Thomism that dominated Catholic intellectual life for centuries. His major works — the Summa Theologica and the Summa contra Gentiles — address nearly every major question in theology and philosophy: the existence of God, the nature of evil, the relationship between faith and reason, and the structure of moral law. Aquinas’s “Five Ways” (quinque viae) are five arguments for the existence of God that remain standard reading in philosophy courses worldwide. He was canonized as a saint in 1323 and declared a Doctor of the Church. In modern times, his thought has been both celebrated by Catholic traditionalists and critiqued by secular philosophers who question his reliance on Aristotelian metaphysics.
Why It Matters
Aquinas is the internet’s least likely viral philosopher. In 2023, a meme format emerged on Twitter and TikTok in which users posted Aquinas quotes alongside contemporary situations: “When the Wi-Fi goes out during a Zoom call” paired with Aquinas on divine providence; “When the group chat is arguing” paired with Aquinas on the nature of discord. The memes were ironic, but they revealed something genuine: Aquinas’s rigorous, systematic approach to questions of meaning, purpose, and order resonates in an age of chaos. The internet has also rediscovered Aquinas through the “trad” (traditionalist) subculture — young, often online Catholics who embrace pre-Vatican II theology, Latin Mass, and Thomistic philosophy as an alternative to modern secularism. This has made Aquinas unexpectedly controversial: he is simultaneously a symbol of intellectual rigor and a figure associated with a specific political and religious movement. Aquinas matters because he asked the questions that the internet still asks: Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the good life? Is faith compatible with reason? The answers are 800 years old. The questions are timeless. The memes are new.
Example
“He read Aquinas at 22, for a philosophy class. He expected boredom. He found a mind that was restless, systematic, and strangely modern. Aquinas asked questions. He answered them. He asked more questions. He never stopped. The Summa was not a book. It was a machine for thinking. He posted a quote on Twitter. It got 12 likes. He didn’t care. Aquinas didn’t write for likes. He wrote for God. And for Aristotle. And for anyone who would read 3,000 pages of theology. That was the point. The point was not popularity. The point was truth. Or the search for it. Aquinas was not sure he found it. But he searched. That was enough.”
Related Terms
- Thomism — The philosophical system derived from Aquinas’s work
- Summa Theologica — Aquinas’s magnum opus and one of the most influential books in Western thought
- Five Ways — Aquinas’s five proofs for the existence of God
- Scholasticism — The medieval intellectual movement Aquinas epitomized
- Aristotle — The philosopher whose work Aquinas integrated with Christian theology