SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS

Saint Thomas Aquinas was an Italian Dominican

friar, Philosopher, Catholic priest, and Doctor of
the Church. He is an immensely influential
philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the
tradition of scholasticism, within which he is
also known as the Doctor Angelicus and the
Doctor Communis.
Born: 1225, Roccasecca, Italy
Died: 7 March 1274, Abbazia di Fossanova, Italy
Realism, for this thinker, was shown in his belief
in the reality of matters. Matter, the material
substance out of which the world is made did
not co-exist with God before the creation of the
universe. Matter is not uncaused essence or
existence. It is dependent upon God for
existence.
 JOHN AMOS COMENIUS

Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian

from the Margraviate of Moravia who is
considered the father of modern education.
Born: 28 March 1592, Margraviate of Moravia
Died: 15 November 1670, Amsterdam,
Netherlands
 The mind of man is like a spherical mirror
suspended in a room which reflects
images of all things that are around it. The
room is the external world while the
mirror is the mind of man. Everything in
that world reflects its image upon man’s
mind.
 RENE DESCARTES
French philosopher, mathematician, and
scientist. A native of the Kingdom of France, he
spent about 20 years of his life in the Dutch
Republic after serving for a while in the Dutch
States Army of Maurice of Nassau, Prince of
Orange and the Stadtholder of the United
Provinces.
Born: 31 March 1596, France
Died: 11 February 1650, Stockholm, Sweden
 Believes that the physical world is real and his
senses are not deceived. The external world
appears to be real just as his senses experience
it. Since he believes in God as a Perfect Being,
and hence, perfectly good, God would not stoop
to deception. The reality of the world is
guaranteed to him by the goodness of god.
 BARUCH SPINOZA
(BENEDICT DE SPINOZA)
Jewish-Dutch philosopher of Portuguese
Sephardi origin. One of the early thinkers of the
Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism,
including modern conceptions of the self and the
universe, he came to be considered one of the
great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy.
Born: 24 November 1632, Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Died: 21 February 1677, The Hague, Netherlands
 Believes that there is only one substance and
this is identical with God. God has two
attributes, Thought and extension. Whereas the
idealists are concerned with the former, the
realists are concerned with the latter.
 JOHN LOCKE
English philosopher and physician, widely
regarded as one of the most influential of
Enlightenment thinkers and commonly
known as the "Father of Liberalism".
Born: 29 August 1632, Wrington, United
Kingdom
Died: 28 October 1704, High Laver, United
Kingdom
Believes that there are no innate ideas in the
mind. At birth, it is just like a blank sheet of
paper upon which the world writes its
impressions. Experience is the source of all
knowledge. And sensation and reason are
the two avenues through which this
knowledge come to us.
 IMMANUEL KANT
Influential German philosopher in the
Age of Enlightenment. In his doctrine of
transcendental idealism, he argued that
space, time, and causation are mere
sensibilities; "things-in-themselves" exist,
but their nature is unknowable.
Born: 22 April 1724, Konigsberg
Died: 12 February 1804, Konigsberg
 Asserts that our sensory experiences and perceptive
are representations of the external world and not
direct presentations of it. Our experience of the world
is private.it is different from the world out there. Our
minds do not affect the object we experience neither
do those objects depend upon us for existence.
However, when we experience objects, there is
something in that object out there which gives sense
impressions.
 REALISM
is the refinement of our acceptance of
the world as being just that it appears to
be, and that things are the same as they
are before entering our consciousness
and remain unchanged through our
experience.
 IDEALISM
Is a philosophical theory that maintains that the real is of
the nature of thought that the object of external perceptions
consists of ideas. Idealism asserts that reality is composed of
thought related to mind and idea, and that matter is mere by
product of its workings. Plato regards the real and significant
things in this world as ideas. For him “ideas” did not mean
anything mental with existence dependent upon the mind of
man. The world of matter is perceived clearly to man
through his senses and faculties. Sight, hearing, Smell, Taste
or Touch.