Christian Anthropology: The Human Person in Catholic Thought - Body and Soul: Against Dualism and Reductionism

Session 2: Body and Soul: Against Dualism and Reductionism

The Catholic tradition holds that the human person is a substantial unity of body and soul — neither a ghost in a machine (Cartesian dualism) nor a sophisticated animal (reductive materialism). This session introduces Thomistic hylomorphism as the tradition's answer: what it means, why it was developed, and why it matters for how we treat bodies and persons.

Reading: Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae Ia, Q.75–76 (selections); CCC §§362–368; Feser, Aquinas ch. 4 (excerpts)

Instructor: Dr. Aloysius Ventham

Philosopher and meta-ethicist. Program Director of the Villa Steiner Academy. Works on moral reasoning, judgment, and responsibility; teaches philosophy and ethics in Salzburg and Vienna.