Thomism is the philosophical school that followed in the legacy of St. Thomas Aquinas and lead to the canonization of the original dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. The word comes from the name of its originator, whose summary work Summa Theologica has arguably been second to only the Bible in importance to the Catholic Church.

Saint Thomas was important in shifting the influence of medieval philosophy (also known as Scholasticism) away from Plato and towards Aristotle. In this he was influenced by contemporary Arabic philosophy, especially the work of Averroes. The ensuing school of thought, through its influence on Catholicism and the ethics of the Catholic school, is by any standard one of the most influential philosophies of all time, also significant due to the sheer number of people living by its teachings. Thomism also influenced the birth of Protestantism, which arose partially as a reaction to the authoritarian, Thomic dogma of the Catholic Church.

Thomism prevailed and became the official dogma of the Catholic Church, offering a coherent, logical, and clear metaphysical picture of both the material and spiritual worlds. It prevailed until the discovery of Newtonian mechanics, which contradicted the Aristotleian physics and thusly discredited much of the thomistic ontology. The ethical parts of Thomism, as well as a large part of its views on life, humans, and theology, transcended into the various schools of neothomism that are the official dogma of the Roman Catholic Church today.

See also

• School of Salamanca, 16th century Spanish Thomists