ABSTRACT
Among contemporary scholars in medieval philosophy, Thomas Aquinas’s theory of faith is widely considered to be voluntarist. But this reading is far from obvious, and another reading of Aquinas’s theory is possible. A witness of such a reading is Francisco de Vitoria (ca. 1483–1546). In his commentary on Aquinas’s Summa theologiae IIaIIae, he defends a moderate psychology of faith, grounded in the notion of pia affectio. This concept, borrowed from Peter of Ailly and James Almain, allows Vitoria to reject both Holcot’s naturalism and Cajetan’s voluntarism. Against Cajetan, he claims that it is not possible to believe without any probable reason. Through a careful reading of Vitoria’s sources and arguments, this chapter examines how a Thomist conception of faith is evidence against certain forms of doxastic voluntarism.
