Thomas of Sutton, 0. P.

His Place in Scholasticism and an Account of his Psychology

The significance of Thomas of Sutton for the history of Mediaeval Philosophy rests on three things : a) his deviation from the traditional Augustinianism which prevailed not only in the Dominican Order but also in the University of Oxford, b) his pronounced opposition to the original and the eclectic theories of Henry of Ghent, and c) his championship of the cause of St. Thomas who had incurred public censure through the efforts of Pecham, the Franciscan Archbishop of Canterbury, of Kilwardby, the Dominican Archbishop of Canterbury, who had published in 1277 his famous condemnation, and of William de la Mare, the English Franciscan whose Correc- torium jratris Thome was fairly well known. Sutton's championship, it may be observed in passing, was never potent enough to secure the annulment of these public censures, and though Thomistic philosophy was taught in the Dominican Order after the edicts of the Chapter which met at Paris in 1279 and the commendations of the Chapters of 1286, 1309 and 1313, it never became the official philosophy of Oxford.

Sutton's deviation from Augustinianism, or at least from the form of Augustinianism current in his day, is apparent not only in his attitude to such problems as the character of matter, the nature of the soul, the passivity of the senses, the functions of the intellect, the soul's knowledge of itself and the possibility of eternal creation, but also in his pronounced leanings towards Aristotelia- nism which are perhaps most evident in his metaphysical and psychological discussions. His opposition to Henry of Ghent, who is always in his mind when he speaks of opinio illius relicta in scriptis, appears in his treatment of the principle of individuation, the distinction between essence and existence, the function of the species