AN APPRAISAL OF THOMAS AQUINAS’ THOUGHTS ON THE FEMININE QUESTION

Abstract

Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae, (II, II, and Q. 46) says ‘wisdom denotes a certain rectitude of judgment according to the eternal law.’ He therefore talks of the office of the Wiseman. A wise person is one who ‘desire to taste all kinds of knowledge.’ In Aquinas’ epistemology, the totality of being is opened to human understanding because ‘the soul is in a sense all things.’ Opposed to wisdom is Stultitia (folly). Folly he says, is a certain paralysis of the senses, cause by: fear, laziness, or stupefaction by a concern for baser things like food and sex. The Wiseman has the double task of refuting errors and propagating truth. For the Church, Aquinas exercised the office of Wiseman effectively. Pope Leo XIII say he was ‘greatly enriched as he was with the science of God and the science of man.’ Yet, feminist’s theologians in the Church have found fault lines with his writings on women, in statements such as ‘the woman is a misbegotten male.’ Aquinas is blamed for promoted sexism and patriarchy androcenticsm in theology. Our intention in this paper is to present and analyze Aquinas’s thoughts on women, consider his sources justifications and finally check whether correctives can be found in his work.