Understanding of Real Being: debatable questions of Thomist' Epistemology in the light of contemporary studies

The article analyzes current debates around the Realistic Epistemology of Thomas Aquinas. Is Aquinas’ Epistemology a version of Empirism or Aposteriorism? The author answers this question negatively and criticizes accordingly the positions of Mieczysław Krąpiec and Stefan Swieżawski. Is it possible to say what Thomas denies a priori knowledge? Attentive perusal of the texts of Aquinas show, that there is a theory of formal a priori. Is it possible to say, what Aquinas’ Epistemology is a version of Representationalism? The article proves that this is not the case. In what sense Aquinas admits the theory of ideas? The author of the article gives his particular attention to this question and proves that Aquinas’ theory of ideas appears as a result of correction of the views Augustine (and Platonism in general).