Abstract

In the United States, political, social, and philosophical polarization has led to intolerance and restrictions on free speech and the free exchange of ideas, most perniciously, in universities. St. Thomas Aquinas lived in an equally fractious time fraught with new discoveries, culture wars, and intellectual ferment. The thirteenth century witnessed the rediscovery of ancient sources and a renewed emphasis on observation and reason as tools for finding truth. Thus, Aristotle, a pagan; Averroes, a Muslim; and Maimonides, a Jew, were studied alongside the Bible and ancient Christian tradition. Thomas’ open, honest, thoughtful, kind, and confident spirit, framing his methodology of disputation--asking and answering difficult questions with full, honest attention to opposing viewpoints--could serve as a model for the best way to overcome the polarization, censorship, and stagnation that characterize much political and even intellectual discourse in the United States today.