Analytical Thomism

Analytical Thomism is a movement whose aim is to present the thought of Thomas Aquinas in the style of modern analytic philosophy. The term was first coined by Scottish philosopher John Haldane in the early nineteen-nineties, and refers broadly to philosophers working on the thought of St Thomas using the methods of the analytical tradition. The tradition began in the mid-twentieth century at Cambridge, germinating in large part out of the lectures given to a few Catholic-minded scholars (particularly Elizabeth Anscombe) by Ludwig Wittgenstein in the years before his death.

Analytical Thomists include Haldane, Anthony Kenny, Peter Geach and his late wife, Elizabeth Anscombe (who taught Kenny). Some American analytical Thomists include Brian Davies, o.p., Anthony Lisska and Gyula Klima.

Sources

• 'Analytical Thomism', Monist, vol. 80, no. 4, October 1997. Edited by John Haldane.

• 'Thomism and the Future of Catholic Philosophy', (with commentaries by Tim Chappell, John Greco, Dagfinn Føllesdal, Bas van Fraassen, Bonnie Kent, Ralph McInerny, Christopher Martin, Hayden Ramsay, Nicholas Rescher, Tom Sullivan, Charles Taylor, and Linda Zagzebski) New Blackfriars, Vol. 80, No. 938, 1999.