Charles Coulombe, EENS, Theology, Philosphy. St. Thomas

[Kephapaulos]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoTI5HIyLFc


From about 18:12 to 26:46 in the video is the relevant part.


What should be made of what Charles Coulombe said about theology and philosophy?

[Geremia]

What should be made of what Charles Coulombe said about theology and philosophy?

Somewhere between 18:12 to 26:46 he mentioned that all early Christian philosophers were Platonists* and that it wasn't a problem until after Aquinas that man is begins his existence as a tabula rasa, which Coulombe seems to think implies that man's goodness and evilness is simply a product of his environment. He gives the example of how good children are taught to be good because of good parents and evil children are taught evil because of evil parents; however, the doctrine of original sin implies man is not conceived indifferent to good or evil but with an inclination to sin. It's seems as if Coulombe thinks original sin is contrary to the fact of man beginning his existence as a tabula rasa, but it is actually original sin that causes us to be conceived ignorant; cf. St. Thomas's question "Whether in the state of innocence children would have been born with perfect knowledge?" (Summa Theologica I q. 101 a. 1).*Were they? In the beginning of St. Gregory of Nyssa's commentary on the Psalm of Psalms, for example, he upholds the 18th Thomistic Thesis that "Intellectuality necessarily follows immateriality."