Analytical Thomism is a philosophical

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 movement which promotes the interchange of ideas between the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...

 (including the philosophy carried on in relation to his thinking, called 'Thomism

Thomism

Thomism is the philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, his commentaries on Aristotle are his most lasting contribution...

'), and modern analytic philosophy

Analytic philosophy

Analytic philosophy is a generic term for a style of philosophy that came to dominate English-speaking countries in the 20th century...

.

Scottish philosopher John Haldane

John Joseph Haldane

John Joseph Haldane is a leading Scottish philosopher, commentator and broadcaster. He is a Papal Adviser to the Vatican. He is credited with coining the term Analytical Thomism, and is himself a Thomist in the analytic tradition....

 first coined the term in the early 1990s, and has since been one the movement's leading proponents. According to Haldane, "analytical Thomism involves the bringing into mutual relationship of the styles and preoccupations of recent English-speaking philosophy and the ideas and concerns shared by St Thomas and his followers" (Haldane 2004, xii).

History

The modern revival of Aquinas's thought can be traced to the work of mid-19th Century thomists, such as Thomas Zigliara, Josef Kleutgen, Gaetano Sanseverino, and Giovanni Maria Cornoldi. This movement received an enormous impetus by Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...

's encyclical

Encyclical

An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...

 Aeterni Patris

Aeterni Patris

Eighteen months into his pontificate, in August 1879, Pope Leo XIII, formerly Joachim Pecci, cardinal and bishop of Perugia, published the encyclical Aeterni Patris...

of 1879. In the first half of the twentieth century, Edouard Hugon

Edouard Hugon

Édouard Hugon , Roman Catholic Priest, French Dominican, Thomistic philosopher and theologian trusted and held in high esteem by the Holy See, was a famed professor at the Angelicum at the turn of the 20th Century, as well as a well-known author of philosophical and theological manuals within the...

, Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange

Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange

Réginald Marie Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. was a Catholic theologian and, among Thomists of the scholastic tradition, is generally thought to be the greatest Catholic Thomist of the 20th century. Outside the ranks of Thomists of that sort, his reputation is somewhat more mixed. He taught at the...

, Étienne Gilson

Étienne Gilson

Étienne Gilson was a French Thomistic philosopher and historian of philosophy...

, and Jacques Maritain

Jacques Maritain

Jacques Maritain was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised as a Protestant, he converted to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive St. Thomas Aquinas for modern times and is a prominent drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...

, among others, carried on Leo's call for a Thomist revival (Paterson & Pugh, xiii-xxiii). Gilson and Maritain in particular taught and lectured throughout Europe and North America, influencing a generation of English-speaking Catholic philosophers. Some of the latter then began to harmonize Thomism with broader contemporary philosophical trends.

Recent philosophical reception of Aquinas

By the middle of the 20th century Aquinas's thought came into dialogue with the analytical tradition through the work of G. E. M. Anscombe, Peter Geach

Peter Geach

Peter Thomas Geach is a British philosopher. His areas of interest are the history of philosophy, philosophical logic, and the theory of identity.He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford...

, and Anthony Kenny

Anthony Kenny

Sir Anthony John Patrick Kenny FBA is an English philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of Wittgenstein and the philosophy of religion...

. Anscombe was Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...

's student, and his successor at the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

; she was married to Geach, himself an accomplished logician and philosopher of religion. Both had converted to Catholicism while studying at Oxford. Kenny, an erstwhile priest and former Catholic, became a prominent philosopher at the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 and is still portrayed by some as a promoter of Aquinas (Paterson & Pugh, xiii-xxiii), though his denial of some basic Thomist doctrines (e.g. divine timelessness) casts doubt on this.

Anscombe, and others such as Alasdair MacIntyre

Alasdair MacIntyre

Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre is a British philosopher primarily known for his contribution to moral and political philosophy but known also for his work in history of philosophy and theology...

, Philippa Foot

Philippa Foot

Philippa Ruth Foot was a British philosopher, most notable for her works in ethics. She was one of the founders of contemporary virtue ethics...

, and John Finnis

John Finnis

John Finnis , is an Australian legal scholar and philosopher, specializing in the philosophy of law. He is Professor of Law at University College, Oxford and at the University of Notre Dame, teaching jurisprudence, political theory, and constitutional law...

, can largely be credited with the revival of "virtue ethics

Virtue ethics

Virtue ethics describes the character of a moral agent as a driving force for ethical behavior, rather than rules , consequentialism , or social context .The difference between these four approaches to morality tends to lie more in the way moral dilemmas are...

" in analytic moral theory and "natural law theory" in jurisprudence

Jurisprudence

Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...

. Both movements draw significantly upon Aquinas.

The field

Philosophers working in the intersection of Thomism and analytic philosophy include: David Braine, Brian Davies OP (Fordham), Gabriele De Anna (Udine), John Finnis

John Finnis

John Finnis , is an Australian legal scholar and philosopher, specializing in the philosophy of law. He is Professor of Law at University College, Oxford and at the University of Notre Dame, teaching jurisprudence, political theory, and constitutional law...

 (Oxford), Peter Geach

Peter Geach

Peter Thomas Geach is a British philosopher. His areas of interest are the history of philosophy, philosophical logic, and the theory of identity.He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford...

, John Haldane

John Joseph Haldane

John Joseph Haldane is a leading Scottish philosopher, commentator and broadcaster. He is a Papal Adviser to the Vatican. He is credited with coining the term Analytical Thomism, and is himself a Thomist in the analytic tradition....

 (St Andrews), Jonathan Jacobs (Colgate), Anthony Kenny

Anthony Kenny

Sir Anthony John Patrick Kenny FBA is an English philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of Wittgenstein and the philosophy of religion...

 (Oxford), Fergus Kerr OP (Oxford), Gyula Klima (Fordham), Norman Kretzmann

Norman Kretzmann

Norman J. Kretzmann was a Professor of Philosophy at Cornell University who specialised in the history of medieval philosophy and the philosophy of religion.Kretzmann joined Cornell's Department of Philosophy in 1966...

, John Lamont, Anthony J. Lisska (Denison), Alasdair MacIntyre

Alasdair MacIntyre

Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre is a British philosopher primarily known for his contribution to moral and political philosophy but known also for his work in history of philosophy and theology...

 (Notre Dame), William Marshner

William Marshner

William Harry Marshner, S.T.D., is a prominent convert to Catholicism, an eminent Thomistic theologian, ethicist, and a founding professor at Christendom College in Front Royal, VA where he was chairman of the theology department in the early days of the college.-Biography:Born in Baltimore in...

 (Christendom), Christopher Martin (St Thomas, Houston), Cyrille Michon (Nantes, France), Mark Murphy (Georgetown), Herbert McCabe

Herbert McCabe

Herbert McCabe was an English Dominican priest, theologian and philosopher, who was born in Middlesbrough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. After studying chemistry and philosophy at Manchester University, he joined the Dominicans in 1949, where under Victor White he began his life-long study of...

, John P. O'Callaghan (Notre Dame), Claude Panaccio (UQAM), Robert Pasnau (CU Boulder), Craig Paterson (Independent Scholar), Roger Pouivet (Nancy, France) Matthew S. Pugh (Providence College), Eleonore Stump (Saint Louis

Saint Louis University

Saint Louis University is a private, co-educational Jesuit university located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by the Most Reverend Louis Guillaume Valentin Dubourg SLU is the oldest university west of the Mississippi River. It is one of 28 member institutions of the...

), Thomas Sullivan and Sandra Menssen (University of St. Thomas, MN), Stephen Theron, Denys Turner

Denys Turner

Denys Alan Turner is a British academic in the field of philosophy and theology. He is currently Professor of Historical Theology at Yale University having been appointed in 2005, previously having been Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University. He earned his PhD in Philosophy...

(Yale), Michael Thompson (Pittsburgh).