Beyond Dualism and Physicalism. Thomas Aquinas on the Relationship between Soul and Body in Man

Thomas Aquinas conceives of human nature as an inseparable unity of spiritual soul and body, which relate to each other as form and matter. In doing so, he distances himself from dualistic models that identify human nature solely with the soul. Conversely, he disagrees with physicalistic approaches that reduce human beings to their material dimension because the spiritual soul exists < by itself > and is not destroyed in biological death. This nuanced perspective is still relevant in contemporary debates about human nature. Hylomorphic anthropology serves as a central foundation for addressing many other issues in Aquinas's philosophy and theology, such as his Christology, which reflects on the human nature of Christ in the hypostatic union, and his Eschatology, which discusses the ultimate reunification of soul and body in the resurrection of the dead.