Angels and Philosophy

The controversy over the number of angels at the tip of the needle is considered a proverbial example of the obscurity and ridiculousness of scholastic speculation. Book T. However, Suarez-Nani shows that the medieval philosophy of angelic beings represents a crucial link between ancient Neo-Platonism and modern thought. Angels are the model of the purely rational being to which man should aspire, and angelology is at the same time an anthropology whose long-lasting influence demonstrably goes back to Leibniz and Kant. < br> Through a lucid yet revelatory comparison of the teachings of Thomas Aquinas and Dietrich of Freiberg, the author presents a key chapter of European thought, which, along with Thomas, Dietrich, Albert the Great and Henry of Ghent, also includes the censorship commission of Bishop Tempier of Paris and Dante's Divine Comedy.