Filozoficzny spór o przedmiot poznania, a koncepcja poznania duchów czystych w wykładzie angelologii św. Tomasza z Akwinu
The Philosophical Dispute over the Subject of Cognition and the Concept of Cognition of Pure Spirits in St. Thomas Aquinas’ Lecture on Angelology

Summary/Abstract: In the philosophical dispute over the subject of cognition appropriate for man it is possible to identify the two most important positions, namely the idealistic stance, according to which ideas, understood one way or another, should be a point of departure for philosophical reflection due to the fallibility of sense data; and the realistic position which acknowledges the value of sensory cognition as it is the only kind that enables man to have contact with reality, as well as being the basis for intellectual cognition. The idealistic point of departure for philosophy remains intrinsically linked with the anthropological reduction by which man is conceived as a certain form of conscious being, a cognizing “pure spirit.” This type of spiritualism left its mark on Christian thought, which for centuries has remained greatly under the influence of Platonism. St. Thomas Aquinas, referring to Aristotelian philosophy, presents a personalistic vision of man as a spiritual and corporeal unity transcending the material world. Aquinas devotes much attention to angelology, trying to indicate essential differences between human nature and the nature of pure intelligences, namely angels. These differences refer, in particular, to many aspects of human and angelic cognition. Epistemological concepts in the philosophical dispute over the subject of cognition which have been developed since the times of Plato and Aristotle appeared to be helpful in explaining the way of gaining knowledge in reference to angelic and human nature. As the latter is always entangled in matter, the former, naturally devoid of sensory perception, is left to contemplate innate ideas.

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