Abstract

Thomas Aquinas was the most influential philosopher of the Middle Ages, and one of the most famous Christian theologians of all time. His philosophy is a powerful synthesis of Aristotle and Plato presented within a Christian framework. His "five ways" to prove the existence of God are studied by undergraduates on many theology and philosophy of religion courses. Apart from his specifically theological works, he spent much of his time writing about metaphysics, all of which was to have important ramifications for epistemology, philosophy of mind and ethics. Christophe Hughes focuses mostly on the philosophical Aquinas; beginning with a chapter on his life and works he goes on to discuss Aquinas's metaphysics and his theory of human beings in general, covering his ideas about body and soul, the mind, and free will.