Abstract

The notion of hierarchy is omnipresent in 13th century. It is present even when the term is not used, as it happens regarding the faculties of the human soul, where the sensible knowledge and the passions are considered as inferiors to the intelligence and the will. However, Thomas Aquinas to describe the utmost wisdom to which the humans may aspire, viz the wisdom gift of the Holy Spirit, uses the senses and, among these ones, touch and taste, the most material senses, as well as the passions, mainly love and pleasure. So, when he tries to speak about this wisdom he will characterize it as a vision or contemplation, act of the intellect, but founded upon a loving and pleasing union. This union is like a taste of the divine goodness and the touch of the soul by God. He, therefore, reverses the hierarchy of the faculties.