Abstract
This lecture is an attempt to trace the evolution of the concept of wisdom as found in the thought of Aristotle and Aquinas. This is done in terms of how the Greek concept of wisdom as an intellectual virtue is understood and used to express the Christian concept of wisdom as a gift of the Holy Spirit. The main aim is to understand how Aquinas derived the concept of wisdom from Aristotle’s philosophy and developed it in his theology.
The study is based on Book 6 of Aristotle Nichomachean Ethics and Question 45 of the second part of the second part of Aquinas Summa Theologiae. It concludes with a reflection on the relationship between wisdom and happiness.
Edmond Eh Kim Chew, OP