THE MEDIAEVAL MIND 89 



angels and of the disembodied human soul. Averrhoes 

 had held that individuality was extinguished at death, 

 and to avoid this conclusion Aquinas assumed that 

 such spirits possessed a principle of individuation in 

 themselves. They are immaterial forms since they 

 can grasp the universal, and the soul unit is not 

 merely the rational spirit of Aristotle, but possesses 

 sensitive functions which depend on bodily perceptions 

 in life, but are in essence independent of them. 



But, for us, more important is the fact that the 

 whole of the scheme of Aquinas was framed in accord- 

 ance with the Ptolemaic astronomy and saturated with 

 geocentric ideas, with the view that all motion implied 

 a continual exertion of force, and with the whole 

 spirit of Aristotelian science. From these premisses 

 Aquinas deduced results in accordance with the 

 theology of his age, such as : " Movetur igitur corpus 

 celeste a substantia intellectuali." The deductions 

 being thus regarded as verified, the premisses became 

 strengthened, and doubt thrown on them was soon 

 regarded as inconsistent with the Christian conclusions 

 with which in Thomas' scheme they were connected. 

 The whole of knowledge was welded with dogmatic 

 theology into one rigid structure, the parts of which 

 were believed to be interdependent, so that an attack 

 on Aristotelian science became an attack on the 

 Christian faith. 



If Aquinas is the summit of the intellectual side 



of medievalism, Dante represents its highest poetic 



achievement. In Dante the whole basis 



is scholastic and especially Thomist, with 



the characteristic mediaeval blending of classic and 



