Thomas Aquinas College Lectures & Talks

Original score for the YouTube limited series "The Mind and the Machine" a production of Thomas Aquinas College, original score composed by Richard Goforth, produced by Douglas Cummins and executive producers Chris Weinkopf and John Goyette.

Watch the series at ThomasAquinas.edu/Mind

Original score for the YouTube limited series "The Mind and the Machine" a production of Thomas Aquinas College, original score composed by Richard Goforth, produced by Douglas Cummins and executive producers Chris Weinkopf and John Goyette.

Watch the series at ThomasAquinas.edu/Mind

Why does Thomas Aquinas believe that thinking and understanding require life itself? And what does that imply about the limits of artificial intelligence?

In this ninth episode of The Mind and the Machine: Aquinas on AI, philosopher Dr. Michael Augros (Thomas Aquinas College) develops a causal explanation—rooted in Thomistic metaphysics—for why AI systems cannot truly perform cognitive acts such as thinking and understanding.

Building on the previous episode’s deductive arguments, this lecture goes deeper by asking why, in principle, cognition must belong only to living beings. Drawing on Aquinas’s philosophy of life, unity, immanent action, and cognition, the video argues that genuine thought cannot arise from machines because machines lack the kind of substantial unity and self-movement proper to living things.

This episode explores:

Aquinas’s definition of a living thing as a self-moving being

What it means for something to be “one being absolutely” rather than an aggregate

Why living beings possess a unity machines lack

The difference between immanent operations (like thinking) and transitive actions

Why cognition presupposes life, not mere computation

Why AI systems, even highly complex ones, are not genuine subjects of thought

Using examples from biology, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind, Dr. Augros shows that cognition is not something that can emerge from collections of parts acting together, but must belong to a single, unified, living subject.

This episode is a key installment in the series, connecting intelligence, life, and being, and preparing the ground for the final conclusions about why artificial intelligence can simulate thought without ever truly thinking.

Whether you’re interested in AI consciousness, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, neuroscience, ethics, theology, or the future of artificial intelligence, this lecture offers a deep and rigorous account of what it truly means to be a thinking being.

“The Eucharist and Typology,” the 2026 St. Thomas Day Lecture at Thomas Aquinas College, New England, by Dr. Matthew Levering

"Aquinas and Consequentialism", a lecture given by Dr. Thomas Cavanaugh of the University of San Francisco, for Thomas Aquinas College on St. Thomas Day 2026.

In this episode of The Mind and the Machine, philosopher Dr. Michael Augros explores what Thomas Aquinas can teach us about artificial intelligence, consciousness, and human thought.

Can AI truly think or understand, or does it merely simulate intelligence? Drawing on Aquinas’s philosophy of mind, Aristotle’s theory of cognition, and careful analysis of cognitive acts vs computational processes, this video examines whether machines can ever possess real understanding, awareness, or consciousness.

We investigate:

Whether thinking is fundamentally different from computation

Why sensation and understanding may require life itself

The difference between cognitive acts and mechanical processes

How medieval philosophy sheds new light on modern AI debates

This lecture is part of a 10-part series on artificial intelligence, philosophy, and the nature of mind, produced in collaboration with Thomas Aquinas College.

If you’re interested in AI ethics, philosophy of mind, consciousness, cognition, neuroscience, and classical philosophy, this series offers a rigorous and thought-provoking exploration of what it truly means to think.

The Gödel Problem: A Mathematical Argument Against AI Thought, The Mind and the Machine, Episode 7 by Thomas Aquinas College Lectures & Talks

Does Ai Understand? - Mind and Machine: Episode 6 by Thomas Aquinas College Lectures & Talks

Does AI Understand? - Mind and Machine Episode 5 by Thomas Aquinas College Lectures & Talks

“The Noble Due: Aquinas and Debitum Morale,” a lecture by Rev. Patrick Carter, O.S.B. (’05), given at Thomas Aquinas College, New England, on November 21, 2025.