Aristotle and Aquinas have many similar philosophical ideas, due to Aquinas’ ardent study of Aristotle’s philosophies. The primary difference in these influential scholars is the usage of God in their written works and ideological findings. Whereas Aquinas was a highly religious man, who tied much of his ideas to the highest being, God, Aristotle was not. Although Aristotle did agree that God is the highest being, he did not agree that everything in the universe can be related to, or originated from, God. The majority of Aquinas’ ideology came from findings in Aristotle’s many great works, however, Aquinas went one step further than Aristotle. Aquinas saw that God, the “Unmoved Mover,” must be the center and ultimate end to each human life. Aquinas states five main arguments that prove God must exist for the highest end. According to Aristotle, each human being is created in order to live a virtuous life through action, action that is performed for the good of each individual in order to be like God, the highest …show more content…
This is not to say that Aquinas did not believe in the power of our ability to reason, he did believe in it, simply not as strongly as Aristotle did. Aquinas takes a more theological role on man’s highest virtue. Aristotle believed the highest excellence the soul can achieve to be philosophical, whereas Aquinas believes it to be theological. The two philosophers agree, however, that the only way to obtain a virtuous life was to build a life out of habits. To be in a state of always making the moral decision will bring about a moral life. Aquinas believed that all of man’s action should come from pursuing God, and all action should lead to being like God. He also believed that life should be led based on reason that is inherently given through