Thomist thought on the soul and death (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, September 30, 2023, 22:06 (420 days ago) @ dhw

Another Feser article:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/nbfr.12867

"Aquinas holds that after death, the human soul can no longer change its basic orientation either toward God or away from him. He takes this to be knowable not only from divine revelation but by purely philosophical reasoning. The heart of his position is that the basic orientation of an angelic will is fixed immediately after its creation, and that the human soul after death is relevantly like an angel. This article expounds and defends Aquinas's position, paying special attention to the action theory underlying it."

Comment: I've read the article but cannot copy portions. It assumes on faith God exists, angels exist and human souls and will exist. At death the human soul becomes angelic and is now in a fixed form. Soul and will are affected by the human's material body but cannot be effectively changed in becoming an immaterial angel.

Angels don't reason. They simply 'know'. The reasoning human's soul, upon death, simply 'knows' the way angels 'know'. The transformation is immediate and complete. And the soul's will can no longer be changed.

All accepted on faith. dhw will complain, how do they know this? Faith is not knowing, it is believing. We are not dealing with fact. dhw's problem is he wants 'factual evidence' he cannot have and will never have. So he will remain in his agnostic quandary. I don't need proof. I have found evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.