Saint Thomas Aquinas was a 13th century philosopher and Catholic saint who studied under Albert the Great. He wrote monumental works like the Summa Theologica that explored man's ultimate destiny. Aquinas believed the goal of human existence is union with God through the beatific vision after death, which provides perfect happiness. On earth, individuals must order their will toward charity, peace, and holiness to experience happiness and properly orient themselves toward their final goal of union with God. Aquinas saw man as having a divine purpose - to become what God is by being born into God's family through Christ.

1. Saint Thomas Aquinas
Man’s Ultimate Destiny
• “Angelic Doctor”
• Philosopher of common sense
• Aquinas came from a noble family from Naples.
• He joined the Dominican order against his family’s wishes
• Aquinas studied with Albert the Great in Paris and participated in the Aristotelian revival
of the Middle Ages.
• He was canonized and became a saint in 1323.
– Resisting the temptation of a prostitute and the discovery of Herring at night were
the miracles used to justify his sainthood.
• Aquinas’s extensive corpus of scholarship is perhaps a greater mi racle than those
mentioned above.
2 Monumental Works
- Summa Theologica
- Summa Contragentiles
What is Man’s Ultimate Destiny?
Is There a Real Purpose for Human Life?
Did humanity come into existence thru a Supreme Creator? Is there an amazing purpose for
human life? Does your life have real meaning that you have never realized? What will you
really be doing for the next “thousand generations”? If all that you have ever heard is the
heaven or hell thing, then this article will blow your mind!

2. Goal of human life
• Thomas identified the goal of human existence as union and eternal fellowship with
God. This goal is achieved through the beatific vision, in which a person experiences
perfect, unending happiness by seeing the essence of God. The vision occurs after
death as a gift from God to those who in life experienced salvation and redemption
through Christ.
• The goal of union with God has implications for the individual's life on earth. Thomas
stated that an individual's will must be ordered toward right things, such as
charity, peace, and holiness. He saw this orientation as also the way to happiness.
Indeed, Thomas ordered his treatment of the moral life around the idea of happiness.
The relationship between will and goal is antecedent in nature "because rectitude of the
will consists in being duly ordered to the last end [that is, the beatific vision]." Those who
truly seek to understand and see God will necessarily love what God loves. Such love
requires morality and bears fruit in everyday human choices
Did Mankind Come into Existence through a Supreme Creator?
TWO POSSIBILITIES
• There are two possibilities for the origin of life, the theory of evolution and the belief in a
supreme Creator who made all things for a definite purpose.
EVERYTHING WAS DESIGNED FOR A PURPOSE
The following examples are from “The Collapse of Evolution”, by Scott M. Huse:
• Gardening Ants: A fascinating relationship, which has been observed in nature,
concerns the Bull’s Horn Acacia tree of Central and South America. This tree is
furnished with large hollow thorns that are inhabited by a species of ferocious stinging
ants. Consequently, the ants get food and shelter from the tree. The tree, for its part of
the bargain, receives complete protection from all animal predators and plant
competitors.
WHAT IS MAN’S PURPOSE?
• Everything that has been created was designed for a specific purpose. If the plant
kingdom, the animal kingdom and the insect world have their own reasons for being,
then what about man?
Certainly man is God’s crowning achievement.
Man alone was created with the ability to think and plan to bring his dreams into being.
Just what is God’s ultimate purpose for man?
The amazing truth is that you and I were created to become what God is, to actually be
born into the Divine Family of God which consists now of the FATHER and the SON,
both God, one Family. God is expanding His family to soon include what once were
human beings.

3. • Yes man is destined to not only be like Christ but share in His glory and inheritance.
Jesus is the first-born of MANY SONS God is calling to glory, honor, dominion and
eternal life.
St. Thomas Aquina’sPhilosophy of Happiness
“Happiness is two-fold; the one is imperfect and it is possible in this life; the other is perfect,
consisting in the vision of God”
“Happiness is two-fold; the one is imperfect and it is possible in this life; the other is perfect,
consisting in the vision of God”
“ Perfect happiness cannot consist essentially in the consideration of speculative sciences”.
“Three things must occur in happiness: to wit, vision, which is perfect knowledge of the
intelligible end: comprehension, which implies presence of the end: and delight or enjoyment,
which implies repose of the lover in the object beloved”.
TRANSFORMATION AND TRANSCENDENCE
• Aquinas links the afore described transformation with the power of transcendence in
man
Man has the unique power to change himself and the things around him for the
better indeed, in accordance with his urge to be perfect and happy, he can improve
and even perfect himself; and what is still more marvelous is that he can even
transcend himself.
BEYOND THE UNIVERSAL and THE TRANSCENDENTAL
 Aquinas defined Trascendental as a description of the man who has attained union with
God.
 Transcending the universal man of Aristotle as to perfection and destiny, the afore
described man of Aquinas is aptly called the Transcendental man.
TRANSCENDENTAL
 came from the Latin word transcendere, which means to transcend, go beyond, soar
above, surpass.
 Thus, the universal man of Aristotle who is perfect in his own right, is still imperfect in
comparison with the transcendental man of Aquinas.
The Transcendental – Golden Mean between Man and God
In order of being and perfection, the transcendental man is above the finite but below
the infinite. Thus trascendental man strikes the golden middle note in the harmony of
the finite and infinite.

4. Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Santa Cruz, Laguna
College of Nursing and Allied Health
PHILOSOPHY OF MAN
Rozelle Mae Birador
BSN-2A
Ma’am Gloria Ramos