Some Contemporary Schools of Thomism and Paradigmatic Members

Below is a brief overview of the different contemporary "schools" of Thomism. The following categorization is admittedly oversimplified, but sufficiently informative nonetheless for beginners looking to figure out the general landscape of contemporary Thomism. Readers will notice that some of these schools overlap, and the fact that a thinker is in one school does not necessarily mean he or she is not in another school as well. Moreover, many thinkers (the vast majority) don't fall cleanly into any category. Those who do are normally the founders of that school. Readers should note that I've had to coin some new designations for the various schools in order to cut reality at the joints. Readers will also note that this division, while not ignoring doctrine, is primarily sociological, not doctrinal.

Analytic Thomism: This form of Thomism is characterized primarily not by any of its doctrines, but by its main interlocutors or debate partners. Analytic Thomists are engaged in dialogue with mainstream Anglophone philosophers of the last hundred or so years (loosely speaking, "analytic philosophers"). Because of its dialogue partners, analytic Thomists tend to employ the logical tools and idiom of mainstream anglophone philosophy. Just as "analytic philosophy" is used as a catch-all label for very different groups in the UK, North America, and other parts of the English-speaking (and even, sometimes, German-speaking) world, the same goes for "analytic Thomism."

• E.g., Peter Geach (esp. reconciling Fregean and medieval semantics and philosophy of being), G. E. M. Anscombe (student of Wittgenstein, major contributions to ethics), Anthony Kenny, Christopher Martin , Norman Kretzmann, Eleonore Stump, David Oderberg, Edward Feser, Brian Davies, OP, John Haldane, Jeff Brower, Tim Pawl, Robert Koons.

Aristotelian Thomism: This broad collection of schools is characterized by seeing a very close proximity between the thought of Aquinas and of Aristotle and in emphasizing the importance of form and substance in Aquinas's thought, relative to existential Thomists. This form of Thomism is sometimes loosely associated with Laval, where Ralph McInerny studied, and which he described as teaching Aquinas's philosophy from his commentaries on Aristotle. This form of Thomism tends to be suspicious of (though not in principle opposed to) claims to development in Aquinas's thought, and it reads his works holistically as mutually clarifying.

• Analytic Neo-Scholastic Thomists: These Thomists draw inspiration from the early twentieth-century scholastic manual tradition for addressing modern analytic debates. (E.g., Edward Feser, David Oderberg.)

• River Forest Thomists: These Thomists are characterized by their emphasis on studying natural science and for their controversial opinion that one cannot do metaphysics without first proving the existence of an incorporeal substance in natural science / natural philosophy. (E.g., Benedict Ashley, OP; Thomas O'Brien, OP; William Wallace, OP; James Weisheipl, OP; Ralph McInerny.)

• Lawrence Dewan, OP: Rejects the River Forest thesis about the origin of metaphysics.

Existential Thomism (taken very broadly): This title, while conventional is rather misleading. Aristotelian Thomists too talk about "existence." Existential Thomists are broadly characterized by seeing the act of being (actus essendi) as something distinct from merely being something—for instance, being a man or a dog. They tend to view Aquinas as a highly original thinker primarily because of what he says about "the act of being" (actus essendi / actus entis).

• Existential Thomism (taken less broadly): Thomists who hold that there are two operations of the intellect corresponding, respectively, to essence and existence, and that we know existence by the second operation of the intellect, called "judgment."

  • Gilsonian Thomism (aka Toronto Thomism, Existential Thomism taken narrowly): Adds to existential Thomism taken broadly a belief that Aquinas radically departed from the essentialistic metaphysics of Aristotle and that the Dominican commentatorial tradition on Aquinas overlooked the existential character of his thought; rejects claim that there is a concept of existence. (E.g., Etienne Gilson; Joseph Owens, CSsR; Armand Maurer, CSB; John F. X. Knasas.)

  • Maritainian Thomism: Takes a more irenic view toward Aristotle and the Dominican commentatorial tradition; puts forward controversial theory of an "intuition of being" that result in a concept of being, rejected by Gilson. (E.g., Jacques Maritain.)

• Cornelio Fabro: Emphasizes the Neoplatonic sources of Thomistic metaphysics and rejects Gilson and Maritain's understanding of the two operations of the intellect; makes the method of "resolutio," not the second operation of the intellect, the key to the metaphysical cognition of being.

• John Wippel: Heavily influenced by both Gilson and Fabro, but not beholden to either. Accepts Fabro-style theory of resolutio, but also Gilsonian theory of second operation of the intellect. Accepts Fabro's distinction between actual existence and the act of being, something not found in Gilson or Maritain.

The New Natural Law: This is a school, founded in the late twentieth century, specifically focused on philosophy of law and ethics (especially bioethics). While initially closely linked with Thomas Aquinas, it is now generally recognized that, for better or worse, it departs significantly from Thomas's natural law theory. Its basic doctrine is that morally right action requires not acting against a set of mutually incommensurable "basic good."

• E.g., Germain Grisez, Joseph Boyle, John Finnis, Patrick Lee.

Suarezian Thomists: This is a rather small tradition of twentieth-century Thomists, who, regardless of their thoughts on other topics, have devoted considerable effort to showing that St. Thomas did not hold a real distinction between essence and esse (usually translated "existence") in creatures, but held something more akin to the position of Siger of Brabant or Francisco Suárez, SJ. Since the early twentieth-century, these arguments have, unfortunately, been generally disregarded without comment.

• E.g., Marcel Chossat, SJ; Pedro Descoqs, SJ; Francis Cunningham, SJ.

Transcendental Thomism: Most of the members of this school have been Jesuits. The school is loosely united by a common focus on epistemology and on a broad debt to Immanuel Kant.

• E.g., Joseph Maréchal, SJ; Karl Rahner, SJ; Bernard Lonergan, SJ.

Phenomenological Thomism: This is a very loose category of Thomist, which may well overlap with the other categories. It is the best way to characterize Stein and Woltyła, who were both heavily influenced by Edmund Husserl and had a broad openness to other scholastic traditions, such as the Scotistic and Bonaventurean philosophical tradition as well as a deep knowledge of the thought of St. Thomas.

• E.g., Edith Stein (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, OCD); Karol Woltyła (John Paul II); Hans Urs von Balthasar; W. Norris Clarke, SJ; Mark Spencer.