https://doi.org/10.26142/stgd-2020-007
In his encyclical Fides et Ratio, John Paul II mentioned St. Thomas Aquinas as a “master of the art of thinking,” emphasizing his ability to reconcile faith and reason. Undoubtedly, Aquinas’ great merit is the improvement of the philosophical tools inherited from Aristotle and its application in the process of rationalizing revealed truths. St. Thomas also made use of these tools in his successful attempt to address themes as irrational as magic and divination. Aquinas refers to the philosophical concept of efficient causality, the intellectual and sensory part of the human soul, and the sign understood as a material mediator in the process of communication. The use of these concepts allowed St. Thomas to rationally undertake a number of questions related to fortune-telling and magic, such as to what extent it is possible to rationally justify fortune-telling, why the influence of celestial bodies cannot determine human fate, or what is the source of the effectiveness of the specialists in magic.
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