"When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics."
Often attributed to Frank Kafka
Between the 12th to 17th century, European education was dominated by medieval intellectual tradition and method of learning known as Scholasticism. Famous Scholastics include Anselm of Canterbury, William Ockham and Thomas Aquinas. "Summa Theological" was the masterwork of Aquinas, considered the best writing of Christian philosophy of the period. Scholasticism grew out of Christian monasteries where theological thinkers sought to reconcile faith and reason, using rigorous logical analysis to explore theological and philosophical questions.
Scholastics employ Aristotelian methodology of dialectical reasoning by use of thesis and enthetisis, encouraging arguments on the ideas and contradictions, making every effort to ponder into all possible details, and critically analysing for a resolution. A hallmark is their systematic approach, logical rigour, and inclusivity of details, like prying with a microscope. It was an endeavour to harmonise Aristotle's idea of metaphysics and a prime mover with Catholic dogmatic trinitarian theology.
Metaphysics is a Greek term for "those after the physics". Aristotle developed his doctrine on Metaphysics called "First Philosophy". Today, Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy which explores the fundamental nature of reality, existence, and being. It seeks to answer questions that go beyond the physical or empirical, delving into the nature of things like space, time, causality, and the existence of abstract or incorporeal entities. It is very abstract and intellectual stuff and thus the Kafkaesque quote above of "he who does not understand".
In its broadest sense, metaphysical pertains to the study of what exists beyond the material world, ie concepts that are not directly observable or measurable. This includes:
Ontology: The study of being and existence. What does it mean to exist? What kinds of things exist (e.g., physical objects, ideas, numbers)?
Cosmology: Exploring the origins and structure of the universe.
Causality: Investigating the principles behind cause and effect.
The Theological Focus: explores key questions like the existence of God (Anselm’s Ontological Argument), the nature of free will and divine omniscience, and the compatibility of reason and revelation.
Scholastic thinkers explore seemingly trivial questions to illuminate larger theological or philosophical principles. Aquinas never specifically discussed about angels dancing on the head of a pin, but wrote quite a bit on the metaphysics of angels. He dwelt on the nature and morality of spiritual beings, on things like the free will of angels, emphasizing their unique spiritual nature and proximity to divine action. Angels are immaterial beings created by God. They have intellect and will but lack physicality. Their will is directed by their intellect, which understands divine truths directly and intuitively, unlike humans, who learn discursively. Because angels have perfect knowledge (given by God), their choices are not influenced by ignorance or error, making their will deliberate and final. Despite their perfection, angels are not automatons; they have free will. The rebellion of Satan and the fallen angels demonstrates this freedom. They chose pride and self-exaltation over submission to God. Their freedom lies in their ability to choose between good and evil, despite their intimate knowledge of God. Because angels possess both intellect and free will, they are morally accountable for their actions.
Humans struggle with passions or bodily desires, which often obscure decision-making. Angels have wills that are pure and directed solely by intellect. This makes their decisions both more definitive and morally weighty. According to Aquinas, humans, because of their fallibility, can be pardoned by the grace of God whereas angels' wills are fixed due to the clarity of their initial choice, repentance is not allowed. That's why rebellious angels are punished eternally, while the obedient ones are confirmed in their beatific state.
Since angels are spiritual non-material entities, they do not occupy space. Theoretically, many angels could be at the same place at the same time. Hence the question arose as to how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
Then came the Age of Enlightenment, and Renaissance thinkers, influenced by empiricism and insistence on observable evidence, originated the "dancing angels" question as a satirical or exaggerated reference to medieval Scholastic debates about angels and their metaphysical properties. The "dancing angels" metaphor is derisive of Scholastic debates which Renaissance thinkers saw as overly pedantic and disconnected from practical concerns. They see it as a waste of time and effort over so much minutiae which serves no practical purpose. Scholastics viewed their discussions as part of a larger quest for understanding divine order and creation.
On a broader level, the "dancing angels" question is leveled against the impossibility of non-material entities impacting the material world. It is basically the old question of how can a God who is outside time, space, and matter, and being spiritual or non-material, impact the physical universe.
Let’s break down the question. The first implication is Time, Space and Matter is created simultaneously and God is outside of the system or universe. In other words, there is a continuum of space, time and matter. This is in fact the cosmological argument of the Big Bang. The Universe has a beginning from singularity. According to theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, time and space are intertwined in a continuum (spacetime), and matter cannot exist independently of this framework.
This can be reasoned logically. If there is Time and Matter, where is it to be located? If there is Space and Matter, when is it going to be located? All three have to come together at the same time.
Interestingly, this philosophical concept of continuum of Space, Time and Matter is narrated on the very first page of the Bible. Genesis 1.1 - "In the beginning (Time) God created the heavens (Space) and the Earth (Matter). There is clear alignment with modern scientific understandings of the universe's origin.
According to classical theism, God is eternal (not bound by time), omnipresent (not limited by space), and immutable (not subject to change, including changes in matter). These attributes set God apart as fundamentally different from the created world, which is contingent, finite, and mutable. It's the basic concept of aseity in Christian theology — that God is
self-existent and not dependent on anything outside Himself, including
time, space, or matter. God's essence is existence. If God were affected by these elements, He would
be subject to change, implying imperfection. This concept of God aligns with Aristotle's philosophical concept of the unmoved mover, or prime mover, or the first uncaused cause.
The idea that God is outside of the universe and therefore not affected by it is the belief that God is transcendent — the doctrine that God is beyond and independent from the created world. He is not limited by the universe He created, which aligns with classical theism that posits God as wholly other and not bound by temporal or spatial constraints.
The creator of a system exists outside of the system they create is a compelling way to conceptualize the relationship between God and the universe. Some analogies may clarify :
* The Painter and the Painting - A painter creates a painting, which is a product of his imagination and effort, but the painter exists outside the painting. The painting may reflect the painter's style and ideas, but it is not the painter himself.
* The Programmer and the Program - A programmer codes a software application. The logic and design of the software are determined by the programmer, but the programmer operates outside the framework of the software. The software cannot function without the programmer's initial input, but the programmer is not "inside" the program.
* The Author and the Story - An author writes a story, creating characters, events, and worlds. The author knows the beginning and the end of the narrative, but is not bound by the timeline or space within the story they crafted.
* The Musician and the Song - A musician composes a song, which expresses his emotions or ideas through melody and lyrics. However, the musician exists outside the song itself, independent of its physical or auditory representation.
As to the polemical part of the question that a spiritual or non-material force cannot have an effect on material body, this is easily illustrated by human emotions like love, hatred, envy, jealousy, rationality, hunger etc. Over such non-material entities, wars have been fought, monuments have been built, heaven and Earth have been moved, thousand ships have been launched, etc..
Aquinas' notion of non-material entities occupying the same space resonates with quantum superposition, it aligns with quantum theories of non-locality and immaterial causation.
The concept of Aquinas' non-material entities and its impact on the material world is at the core centre on the discussions of limitation of technology in the realm of Artificial Intelligence. As AI advances exponentially, the issue of moral capacity is being hotly debated. Ethicists use Aquinas’ framework to analyze whether advanced AI could make morally accountable decisions. Aquinas' model of angelic will, one that is perfectly informed, immediate, and irrevocable, serves as a benchmark for evaluating AI’s capacity for ethical autonomy. The metaphysics of Aquinas' angels illuminates the unique qualities of immaterial beings, suggesting that no matter how advanced, AI might lack the spiritual and moral depth of angelic or human beings.
Angelic metaphysics inspires analogies about non-physical dimensions. Scientists and philosophers occasionally reference angelic metaphysics to hypothesize about the nature of non-material extraterrestrial intelligence or beings from higher dimensions.
New theories pushing the search for a model to explain the origin of the universe are coming from extreme concepts that places some quantum laws as the causality, that is, the incorporeal entity that caused the material universe into existence. The Mathematical Universe Hypothesis posits that the universe is not just described by mathematics, but is mathematics. In this view, all physical phenomena, including the Big Bang singularity, are manifestations of mathematical structures. (See my earlier blog "Does Science Or God Explain Origin Of The Universe".
Scholasticism transitioned to the Renaissance which marked a profound shift in European intellectual, cultural, and scientific thought, moving away from medieval frameworks dominated by theology and church authority to a broader exploration of human potential, classical antiquity, and empirical observation. The metaphorical "dancing angels" was Renaissance thinkers mocking Scholastics for indulgence in senseless metaphysical crap with no practical uses. Just like many highly educated folks today who favour science and criticise dogma, Renaissance thinkers forget the intellectual Scholastics from the monasteries led to the foundation of numerous institutions of learning from where they themselves gained their knowledge. The fundamental rigor in logic and methodological precision in details of Scholasticism led to development from Aristotelian trivium (ethos, pathos, logo or rhetoric, grammar and logic) and quadrivium (arithmetic, music, geometry, astronomy) to the extensive curricula of present day.
Some of the prestigious institutions founded by Scholastics are :
Universicy of Paris
University of Bologna
University of Oxford
University of Cambridge
University of Salamanca
Scholastics founded various religious orders which were instrumental in developing and disseminating Scholastic thought through their institutions they founded all over the world, even to this day. These were the Dominican Order, Franciscan Order and the Cistercian Schools.
As intellectualism shifted from the monasteries of Scholasticism to Humanism of the Renaissance, the focus on morality moved to the backstage, replaced by the god of empiricism. In our current day, Neo-Liberalism has replaced the Renaissance's Humanism and kicked morality totally off the stage. The creep of debauchery and moral confusion and chaos is the order of the day in Western countries. That's what happens when humans take God out of their lives. But there is hope. The election of Donald Trump, and many populist rightwing politicians returning to power in Europe, will bring Conservativism back and frustrate the march of Neo-Liberalism toward their immoral 'end of history'. (see "Trump Stopped The Global Elites March To The End Of History")
To round off, the "dancing angels" draws into discussion the complexity of God’s nature. The idea of the continuum of space time and matter shows the symmetry of the three elements of creation. There is a trinity of trinities when we see in Time there is past-present-future, in Space there is length-width-height, and in Matter there is solid-liquid-gas. Whether pure coincidence or some unfathomable genius in design, the trinities in creation line up with the Christian Trinitarianism of God as one essence in three persons of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Aquinas did not actually mention it as a trinity, but his scholastic work on metaphysics helps us to see the relationship between God, angels and humans. God as the Being whose essence is Existence. Angels are created by God as incorporeal and purely intellectual beings, who participate in existence granted by God and act as intermediaries between God and humans, facilitating divine will. Humans bridge the material and immaterial realms, having a physical body as container or vessel for a rational soul capable of intellectual and spiritual growth, and are made in the image of God, with the potential to share in divine life through grace. Neat.
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