Q0442
“Whatever is received is received according to the mode of the receiver.” — Thomas Aquinas (Traditional scholastic maxim (Aquinas tradition))
Verified English quotation. Primary source: Traditional scholastic maxim (Aquinas tradition). Theme: knowledge.
English
Whatever is received is received according to the mode of the receiver.
Source and attribution
The archive attributes this English wording to Traditional scholastic maxim (Aquinas tradition) and files it under Scholasticism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
About Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) was the Dominican scholastic who synthesized Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology in the Summa Theologiae and Summa contra Gentiles. Educated at Naples, Paris, and Cologne under Albert the Great, he taught in Paris and Italian studia.
Interpretation
The scholastic maxim states a condition on reception: what a thing becomes in you depends on the structure of what receives it. Aquinas uses it to explain how knowledge is possible without the soul being made of what it knows, and how the same teaching is understood differently by different people. The principle is epistemic rather than mystical. It places the limitation in the receiver rather than in the thing received.
Why it matters
It is a useful check on miscommunication: what someone takes from what you said is governed by what they have room for, not by what you meant.
Concepts in this quote
- Knowledge
- Knowledge is the philosophical study of what we can justifiably claim to know—and where certainty ends.
- Limits
- Limits appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat limits as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.
How to cite this quotation
APA: Thomas Aquinas. (n.d.). Whatever is received is received according to the mode of the receiver. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0442
MLA: Thomas Aquinas. “Whatever is received is received according to the….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0442.
Chicago: Thomas Aquinas. “Whatever is received is received according to the….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0442.
Frequently asked questions
What is the source of the quotation “Whatever is received is received according to the…”?
The passage is attributed to Thomas Aquinas, Traditional scholastic maxim (Aquinas tradition). The archive attributes this English wording to Traditional scholastic maxim (Aquinas tradition) and files it under Scholasticism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
What does Thomas Aquinas mean by knowledge?
Epistemology asks whether knowledge is justified true belief, reliable tracking of the world, or something else; it also asks how perception, testimony, memory, and reason contribute. This passage enters that discussion through knowledge, limits.