Coleen Lara Sedilles November 6, 2020

BSA-II

Transcendent Theory: Plato and St. Thomas Aquinas

. There is a better world other than this material world. Basically, the theory of
transcendence sprang forth from that thought and was explained philosophically by thinkers from
the West. Below, we will be able to compare and contrast the theories of Plato and St. Thomas
on the Transcendent theory. Later as I end my essay, I will share my own reflection and
realizations for this topic.
In the moral theories of Plato and St. Thomas, there should be two evident differences
that we can immediately distinguish between both of them. First is the religious perspective of
St. Thomas. He expressed that final happiness only comes from God. This is achieved only when
we succumb to death and enter the kingdom of Heaven. Meanwhile, Plato implied that final
happiness comes from the Ideal World. Although, despite the difference of perspectives with St.
Thomas, I would assume that Plato is lowkey referring to Heaven because he described it as
paradise. Second, Plato said that there are certain factors for an act to be considered ideally good
– whether it be rational, unconditional, universal and/or immutable. They come from the Ideal
World. We could assume that these factors had to be set because we’re living in a world of
illusion. For St. Thomas, everything is ideally good since it’s created by God. No conditions are
needed to be set. Our acts are only tainted because of the original sin done by Adam and Eve.
We only have to follow our conscience through our good will.
Comparing the moral theories of Plato and St. Thomas, we can all agree that both of them
strongly imply that we can’t find real or complete happiness in our world today. There’s
something permanent that exists which can give us the true happiness that we desire. However, it
is not in this world. We might have to experience death first before being able to know the full
potential of complete happiness. On another note, the will to do good exists in both of their
theories, just as Aristotle and Kant’s theories did. For Plato, the will to do good is accompanied
by reason and consequently, for St. Thomas, it is accompanied with the cardinal virtues that is
dictated by our conscience. Whatever we do, we should always do it with good will and
according to the moral standards. If we do this for most of our lives, it will soon be rewarded in
the life we will achieve after we die.
I still think that we can still attain happiness in this world, however, just as much as we
experience pain as well. I mean, there’s really no point of living if we’re always happy. Pain and
suffering is a part of life and it helps us grow as a rational being. If there’s only happiness in this
world, we couldn’t learn from life at all. Pain and happiness is a continuous cycle we are all
required to undergo. In my opinion, the Transcendent Theory exists for us to have something to
look forward to in the afterlife. If we die, we’re going to leave this world with another sense of
purpose without pain anymore. For those who were struggling with constant suffering, this
would be a motivation for them to – not to die early but – expect a greener grass on the other side
that wouldn’t involve suffering at all. To think that this world exists might be still a mystery for
us in the material world as nobody is ever sure what it looks like and what it feels like to be in
that world. However, as long as we’re doing acts out of good will, we’ll be able to get there
soon.