The philosophical-theological reception of Aristotelianism – the system of Thomas Aquinas.

Abstract

This article analyzes the philosophical-theological reception of Aristotelian thought within Thomas Aquinas’s doctrinal synthesis, arguing that his intellectual project sought to integrate reason and faith into a unified system for understanding reality. The study proposes that this reception was not a simple conceptual appropriation but a methodological reconstruction through which Aquinas purified neoplatonic elements, incorporated Jewish and Arabic contributions, and employed Aristotelian logic to structure a metaphysical framework capable of grounding Christian theology. Methodologically, the article proceeds with a systematic exposition of key Thomistic concepts—act and potency, essence and existence, substance and accidents, causality, epistemology, and the hierarchy of being—showing their internal coherence and their function within Aquinas’s cosmology, philosophical anthropology, ethics, and political theory. The analysis emphasizes that Aquinas’s central objective was to establish a Christian rationalist worldview in which metaphysics becomes the foundation for explaining both the structure of the universe and moral behavior as well as social order. Among the study’s main contributions, it highlights the consolidation of a system that would significantly shape Western intellectual tradition, articulating a conception of the world in which divine truth enlightens human reason and philosophy operates as both a dialectical and apologetic tool for theology