Introduction

The Summa Theologiae is the crowning work of medieval thought, so vast that it had more than three thousand articles when it was left unfinished. Each article begins with a question, 'Whether God exists?', 'Whether man can know God?', 'What is the essence of law?', then sets out the objections, cites an authority on the other side, gives the author's own answer, and finally replies to each objection in turn. The famous 'five ways' of proving God's existence come from it. This volume translates its most important parts: on the existence of God, on human happiness, on the virtues, on law, eternal, natural and human, and on just war. With it is On Kingship, written for the King of Cyprus, on the merits of monarchy and the safeguards against tyranny.