Hooked on Philosophy: Thomas Aquinas Made Easy

Robert A. O'Donnell, Ph.D. has offered this slender introduction to the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, with which modern man needs to be acquainted. Books like this, with a[..] price tag are the meat and potatoes of all knowldge, because the author isn't attempting to rip people off for the price of a paperback. Authors who want to actually inform and educate, keep-it-simple, like this book. Philosophy is traditionally divided into the following five Classifications (1) Epistemology (about knowledge) (2) Metaphysics (Time, Space, God) (3) Ethics (Good & Evil, Right & Wrong) (4) Aesthetics (Art & Beauty) (5) Political Philosophy Dr. O'Donnell divides his chapters basically, into the following classifications, for clarity of presentation to the modern reader. (1) Epistemology (2) Metaphysics (3) Theodicy Ideas about God & the Ontological Question) (4) Cosmology (the material universe) (5) Psychology (6) Ethics ________________________________________ It is an excellent exposition. One of the common negativisms encountered in philosophy is the issue of UNIVERSALS. What the author does is simply move past that, to address valid philosophical propositions. In this regard, it should be mentioned that arguments against the existence of UNIVERSALS, foreshorten arguments. Beyond this, arguments against the existence of UNIVERSALS become what is known as an ARGUED SUBJECTIVITY. That is, some philosophers do argue against the validity of UNIVERSALS, but here is what happens. They neither live their life as though UNIVERSALS did not actually exist. In fact, they frequently employ terminology for UNIVERSALS in their argumentative contexts, where they try to slip the UNIVERSAL past you, prentending that in fact, they do not recognize them. This occurs frequently in arguments by atheists. Moreover, in my life of reading, I have encountered literally hundreds of books composed by academics, who present the denial of UNIVERSALS as evidence for philosophical fact. Fortunately, Robert A. O'Donnell, Ph.D. is not one of the negativist academics. / /

In a perfect world every serious student of philosophy would be required to start with Fr. O'Donnell's thrilling travelogue through the ancient streets of true philosophy. One is enlightened almost magically to the realization that there really are absolutes; that truth is not only within our reach but actually quite easily grasped. Error becomes readily identifiable,e.g, how the theory of relativity was falsely applied to the moral order until these modern times hold that everything is relative,indeed that there is no such thing as absolute truth.This is an absolute "must read" for all men of good will.

I have a B.A. (cum laude) in philosophy from a major U.S. university, and am currently finishing up an M.A. in Thomistic theology. If I were to choose one book to give to a complete novice who desired to learn about Aquinas' thought, or Thomistic philosophy, this book would definitely be the one (along with McInerny's). There is no shallow end in philosophy, particularly not for St. Thomas (Aquinas), but O'Donnell sees to it that the only difficulties the reader will encounter, are simply inherent in the subject matter, and not because of some obfuscation on the part of the writer (something often found in many writers on philosophy and Aquinas). After working through this book, I think the reader will then have the necessary background to tackle the Summa Theologica, or at least an abridged version (Peter Kreeft's annotated _Summa of the Summa_ comes to mind).

This book is awesome for writing a paper for ethics class.

I have over a dozen books presenting the Realist philosophy as developed by Aquinas. This is the one I would recommend for a first introduction. Yet, ODonnell's presentation is so enlightening that I reread it. Also, includes interesting discussion of Einstien's theory of relativity. First-rate book.