Advertisement
| aquinas law morality politics: On Law, Morality, and Politics (Second Edition) Thomas Aquinas, 2003-11-04 The second edition of Aquinas, On Law, Morality, and Politicsretains the selection of texts presented in the first edition but offers them in new translations by Richard J. Regan--including that of his Aquinas, Treatise on Law (Hackett, 2000). A revised Introduction and glossary, an updated select bibliography, and the inclusion of summarizing headnotes for each of the units--Conscience, Law, Justice, Property, War and Killing, Obedience and Rebellion, and Practical Wisdom and Statecraft—further enhance its usefulness. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Aquinas John Finnis, 1998 Founders of Modern Political and Social Thought Series Editor: Dr Mark Philp, Oriel College, University of Oxford Founders of Modern Political and Social Thought present critical examinations of the work of major political philosophers and social theorists, assessing both their initial contribution and continuing relevance to politics and society. Each volume provides a clear, accessible, historically-informedaccount of each thinker's work, focusing on a re-assessment of their central ideas and arguments. Founders encourage scholars and students to link their study of classic texts to current debates in political philosophy and social theory. This launch volume in the Founders of Modern Political and Social Thought series presents a critical examination of Machiavelli's thought, combining an accessible, historically-informed account of his work with a re-assessment of his central ideas and arguments. Maurizio Viroli challenges theaccepted interpretations of Machiavelli's work, insisting that his republicanism was based not on a commitment to virtue, greatness, and expansion, but to the ideal of civic life protected by the shield of fair laws. His detailed study of how Machiavelli composed his famous work The Prince presentsnew interpretations, and he further argues that the most challengingand completely underestimatedaspect of Machiavelli's thought is his philosophy of life, in particular his conceptions of love, women, irony, God, and the human condition. Viroli demonstrates that Machiavelli composed The Prince,and all his works, according to the rules of classical rhetoric and never intended to found the 'modern science of politics', aiming rather to continue and refine the practice of political theorising as a rhetorical endeavour taught by the Roman masters of civic philosophy. Viroli's Machiavelli, aserious challenge to contemporary methods of doing political theory, will be essential for advanced students of the history of political thought. |
| aquinas law morality politics: The Ethics of Aquinas Stephen J. Pope, 2002 In this comprehensive anthology, twenty-seven outstanding scholars from North America and Europe address every major aspect of Thomas Aquinas's understanding of morality and comment on his remarkable legacy. While there has been a revival of interest in recent years in the ethics of St. Thomas, no single work has yet fully examined the basic moral arguments and content of Aquinas' major moral work, the Second Part of the Summa Theologiae. This work fills that lacuna. The first chapters of The Ethics of Aquinas introduce readers to the sources, methods, and major themes of Aquinas's ethics. The second part of the book provides an extended discussion of ideas in the Second Part of the Summa Theologiae, in which contributors present cogent interpretations of the structure, major arguments, and themes of each of the treatises. The third and final part examines aspects of Thomistic ethics in the twentieth century and beyond. These essays reflect a diverse group of scholars representing a variety of intellectual perspectives. Contributors span numerous fields of study, including intellectual history, medieval studies, moral philosophy, religious ethics, and moral theology. This remarkable variety underscores how interpretations of Thomas's ethics continue to develop and evolve--and stimulate fervent discussion within the academy and the church. This volume is aimed at scholars, students, clergy, and all those who continue to find Aquinas a rich source of moral insight. |
| aquinas law morality politics: After the Natural Law John Lawrence Hill, 2016 The natural law worldview developed over the course of almost two thousand years beginning with Plato and Aristotle and culminating with St. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century. This tradition holds that the world is ordered, intelligible and good, that there are objective moral truths which we can know and that human beings can achieve true happiness only by following our inborn nature, which draws us toward our own perfection. Most accounts of the natural law are based on a God-centered understanding of the world. After the Natural Law traces this tradition from Plato and Aristotle to Thomas Aquinas and then describes how and why modern philosophers such as Descartes, Locke and Hobbes began to chip away at this foundation. The book argues that natural law is a necessary foundation for our most important moral and political values – freedom, human rights, equality, responsibility and human dignity, among others. Without a theory of natural law, these values lose their coherence: we literally cannot make sense of them given the assumptions of modern philosophy. Part I of the book traces the development of natural law theory from Plato and Aristotle through the crowning achievement of Thomas Aquinas. Part II explores how modern philosophers have systematically chipped away at the only coherent foundation for these values. As a result, our most important moral and political ideals today are incoherent. Modern political and moral thinkers have been led either to dilute the meaning of such terms as freedom or the moral good – or abandon these ideas altogether. Thus, modern philosophy and political thought are leading us either toward anarchy or totalitarianism. The conclusion, entitled Why God Matters, shows how even the philosophical assumptions of the natural law depend on a personal God. |
| aquinas law morality politics: A Comparative Analysis of Cicero and Aquinas Charles P. Nemeth, 2017-05-18 In A Comparative Analysis of Cicero and Aquinas, Charles P. Nemeth investigates how, despite their differences, these two figures may be the most compatible brothers in ideas ever conceived in the theory of natural law. Looking to find common threads that run between the philosophies of these two great thinkers of the Classical and Medieval periods, this book aims to determine whether or not there exists a common ground whereby ethical debates and dilemmas can be evaluated. Does comparison between Cicero and Aquinas offer a new pathway for moral measure, based on defined and developed principles? Do they deliver certain moral and ethical principles for human life to which each agree? Instead of a polemical diatribe, comparison between Cicero and Aquinas may edify a method of compromise and afford a more or less restrictive series of judgements about ethical quandaries. |
| aquinas law morality politics: The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Jurisprudence George Duke, Robert P. George, 2017-06-16 This volume brings together leading experts on natural law theory to provide perspectives on the nature and foundations of law. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Morality, Politics, and Law Michael J. Perry, 1990 This treatise explores the proper relationship of moral and religious beliefs to politics and law, focusing particularly on the USA, a country which, the author argues, is morally and religiously pluralistic. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Natural Law and Moral Inquiry Robert P. George, 1998-03-01 Germain Grisez has been a leading voice in moral philosophy and theology since the Second Vatican Council. In this book, such major thinkers as John Finnis, Ralph McInerny, and William E. May consider issues in ethics, metaphysics, and politics that have been central to Grisez's work. Grisez's reconsideration of the philosophical foundations of Christian moral teaching, seeking to eliminate both legalistic interpretation and theological dissent, has won the support of a number of leading Catholic moralists. In the past decade, moreover, many philosophers outside of Catholicism have weighed carefully Grisez's alternatives to theories that have long dominated secular moral philosophy. This book presents a broad spectrum of viewpoints on subjects ranging from contraception to capital punishment and considers such controversies as the scriptural basis of Grisez's work his interpretations of Aquinas, and his new natural law theory. The collection includes not only contributions from Grisez's supporters but also from critics of his thought, from proportionalist Edward Collins Vacek, SJ, to the neo-Thomist Ralph McInerny. A reply by Grisez, written with Joseph M. Boyle Jr., addresses the issues and viewpoints expressed, while an afterword by Russell Shaw reviews Grisez's pioneering work and conveys a vivid sense of the philosopher's personality. As Grisez's influence grows, this volume will serve as an important touchstone on his contributions to moral and political philosophy and theology. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Treatise on Happiness St. Thomas Aquinas, 1984-01-01 The Treatise on Happiness and the accompanying Treatise on Human Acts comprise the first twenty-one questions of I-II of the Summa Theologiae. From his careful consideration of what true happiness is, to his comprehensive discussion of how it can be attained, St. Thomas Aquinas offers a challenging and classic statement of the goals of human life, both ultimate and proximate. This translation presents in accurate, consistent, contemporary English the great Christian thinker's enduring contributions on the subject of man's happiness. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Ecstatic Morality and Sexual Politics Graham James McAleer, 2005 This first book-length treatment of Thomas AquinasÆs theory of the body presents a Catholic understanding of the body and its implications for social and political philosophy. Making a fundamental contribution to antitotalitarian theory, McAleer argues that a sexual politics reliant upon AquinasÆs theory of the body is better (because less violent) than other commonly available theories. He contrasts this theory with those of four other groups of thinkers: the continental tradition represented by Kant, Schopenhauer, Merleau-Ponty, Nancy, Levinas, and Deleuze; feminism, in the work of Donna Haraway; an alternative Catholic theory to be found in Karl Rahner; and the ôRadical Orthodoxyö of John Milbank. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Sexual Morality John Piderit, 2011-11-03 Informal customs are the casual norms for most young adults in matters of sexual intimacy. Unfortunately, the sexual revolution has not proven to be as beneficial to women as was once thought and young men enjoy themselves without preparing themselves to be husbands and fathers. In this book, Piderit argues that a natural law approach to morality provides a grounded pathway toward marriage, and shows why these fairly traditional practices help young people find a partner to whom he or she can realistically promise love until death do us part. Any effective culture consists of practices, which are accompanied by narratives, norms, and benefits. By offering theory but focusing on practices, this book helps young adults understand why sexual intimacy should be reserved to marriage. The first two thirds of the book develop the natural law approach; seeking common ground early in the volume makes it possible to understand a Christian approach to morality as grounded in nature, not primarily in religion. The goal is to highlight the reasonableness of this approach. The final third (Part III) of the book explores what religious practice and membership in a Christian denomination adds to the natural law approach. In addition to a morality based on natural law, Piderit also proposes a morality based on virtue ethics, which give precedence to positive goals over forbidden actions. The focus is on individual actions, explaining why any individual action falls into the category of exemplary, acceptable, or corrosive; these are terms developed, explained, and used in the book. Individual actions, of course, get repeated over time, and this leads to the formation of habits. And the reason for bracketing the formation of habits is to focus on individual actions and in this way make clear to young readers why certain actions lead to human fulfillment and why others actions undermine that fulfillment. |
| aquinas law morality politics: The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Ethics Tom Angier, 2019-11-07 How do ethical norms relate to human nature? This comprehensive and interdisciplinary volume surveys the latest thinking on natural law. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Natural Moral Law in Contemporary Society Holger Zaborowski, 2010-08 The essays of this volume examine natural moral law, different natural law theories, and the role that natural law can and should play in our contemporary society |
| aquinas law morality politics: Thomas Hobbes and the Natural Law Kody W. Cooper, 2018-03-30 Has Hobbesian moral and political theory been fundamentally misinterpreted by most of his readers? Since the criticism of John Bramhall, Hobbes has generally been regarded as advancing a moral and political theory that is antithetical to classical natural law theory. Kody W. Cooper challenges this traditional interpretation of Hobbes in Thomas Hobbes and the Natural Law. Hobbes affirms two essential theses of classical natural law theory: the capacity of practical reason to grasp intelligible goods or reasons for action and the legally binding character of the practical requirements essential to the pursuit of human flourishing. Hobbes’s novel contribution lies principally in his formulation of a thin theory of the good. This book seeks to prove that Hobbes has more in common with the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition of natural law philosophy than has been recognized. According to Cooper, Hobbes affirms a realistic philosophy as well as biblical revelation as the ground of his philosophical-theological anthropology and his moral and civil science. In addition, Cooper contends that Hobbes's thought, although transformative in important ways, also has important structural continuities with the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition of practical reason, theology, social ontology, and law. What emerges from this study is a nuanced assessment of Hobbes’s place in the natural law tradition as a formulator of natural law liberalism. This book will appeal to political theorists and philosophers and be of particular interest to Hobbes scholars and natural law theorists. |
| aquinas law morality politics: The Concept of Law (lex) in the Moral and Political Thought of the ‘School of Salamanca’ Danaë Simmermacher, Kirstin Bunge, Marko J. Fuchs, Anselm Spindler, 2016-10-05 Scholarship on the moral and political philosophy of the ‘School of Salamanca’ has either long been emphasizing the discontinuity between medieval and modern philosophy and the way this discontinuity is represented in the works of these authors or discussing issues of moral justification that are often seen as the heart of early modern practical philosophy. This volume offers a fresh perspective by focusing on the concept of law. This allows for an in-depth analysis of a variety of normative issues in the authors’ moral and political thought. It also suggest a more continuous picture of the transition from medieval to modern philosophy and proposes a more nuanced view of the importance of political concepts in the authors’s practical philosophy. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Aquinas and Modernity Shadia B. Drury, 2008-05-16 In this startling book, Drury overturns the long-standing reputation of Thomas Aquinas as the most rational exponent of the Christian faith. She reveals that Aquinas as one of the most zealous Dominicans (Domini Canes) or Hounds of the Lord. The book contains incisive criticisms of Aquinas's reconciliation of faith and reason, his defense of papal supremacy, his justification of the Inquisition, his insistence on the persecution of Jews, and his veneration of celibacy. Far from being an antiquarian exercise, Drury shows why the study of Aquinas is relevant to the politics of the twenty-first century, where the primacy of faith over reason has experienced a revival. The current pope, Benedict XVI, relies heavily on Aquinas when prescribing cures for the ills of modernity. For Drury, religion is as incompatible with political moderation and sobriety in our time as it was in the thirteenth century. This is why she defends a secular version of Aquinas's theory of natural law_a theory that he betrayed in favor of what she calls 'the politics of salvation.' |
| aquinas law morality politics: Aquinas on Virtue Nicholas Austin, 2017-09-18 Aquinas on Virtue: A Causal Reading is an original interpretation of one of the most compelling accounts of virtue in the Western tradition, that of the great theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas (1224–1274). Taking as its starting point Aquinas's neglected definition of virtue in terms of its causes, this book offers a systematic analysis of Aquinas on the nature, genesis, and role of virtue in human life. Drawing on connections and contrasts between Aquinas and contemporary treatments of virtue, Austin argues that Aquinas’s causal virtue theory retains its normative power today. As well as providing a synoptic account of Aquinas on virtue, the book includes an extended treatment of the cardinal virtue of temperance, an argument for the superiority of Aquinas's concept of habit over modern psychological accounts, and a rethinking of the relation between grace and virtue. With an approach that is distinctively theological yet strongly conversant with philosophy, this study will offer specialists a bold new interpretation of Aquinas’s virtue theory while giving students a systematic introduction with suggested readings from his Summa Theologiae and On the Virtues. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Aquinas, Aristotle, and the Promise of the Common Good Mary M. Keys, 2006-09-18 Aquinas, Aristotle, and the Promise of the Common Good, first published in 2006, claims that contemporary theory and practice have much to gain from engaging Aquinas's normative concept of the common good and his way of reconciling religion, philosophy, and politics. Examining the relationship between personal and common goods, and the relation of virtue and law to both, Mary M. Keys shows why Aquinas should be read in addition to Aristotle on these perennial questions. She focuses on Aquinas's Commentaries as mediating statements between Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Politics and Aquinas's own Summa Theologiae, showing how this serves as the missing link for grasping Aquinas's understanding of Aristotle's thought. Keys argues provocatively that Aquinas's Christian faith opens up new panoramas and possibilities for philosophical inquiry and insights into ethics and politics. Her book shows how religious faith can assist sound philosophical inquiry into the foundation and proper purposes of society and politics. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Treatise on Law Saint Thomas (Aquinas), 1969 |
| aquinas law morality politics: Normative Jurisprudence Robin West, 2011-08-22 Normative Jurisprudence aims to reinvigorate normative legal scholarship that both criticizes positive law and suggests reforms for it, on the basis of stated moral values and legalistic ideals. It looks sequentially and in detail at the three major traditions in jurisprudence – natural law, legal positivism and critical legal studies – that have in the past provided philosophical foundations for just such normative scholarship. Over the last fifty years or so, all of these traditions, although for different reasons, have taken a number of different turns – toward empirical analysis, conceptual analysis or Foucaultian critique – and away from straightforward normative criticism. As a result, normative legal scholarship – scholarship that is aimed at criticism and reform – is now lacking a foundation in jurisprudential thought. The book criticizes those developments and suggests a return, albeit with different and in many ways larger challenges, to this traditional understanding of the purpose of legal scholarship. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Classics of Moral and Political Theory Michael L. Morgan, 2011-09-15 The fifth edition of Michael L. Morgan's Classics of Moral and Political Theory broadens the scope and increases the versatility of this landmark anthology by offering new selections from Aristotle's Politics, Aquinas' Disputed Questions on Virtue and Treatise on Law, as well as the entirety of Locke's Letter Concerning Toleration, Kant's To Perpetual Peace, and Nietzsche's On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Aquinas's Ethics Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung, Colleen McCluskey, Christina van Dyke, 2009 This work places Thomas Aquinas's moral theory in its full philosophical and theological context in a way that makes Aquinas accessible to students and interested general readers. |
| aquinas law morality politics: 50 Questions on The Natural Law Charles E. Rice, 2011-04-27 Charles Rice, professor of the jurisprudence of St. Thomas Aquinas for the last twenty years at Notre Dame Law School, presents a very readable book on the natural law as seen through the teachings of Aquinas and their foundations in reason and Revelation. Reflecting on the most persistent questions asked by his students over the years, Rice shows how the natural law works and how it is rooted in the nature of the human person whose Creator provided this law as a sure and knowable guide for man to achieve his end of eternal happiness. This book presents the teachings of the Catholic Church in her role as arbiter of the applications of the natural law on issues involving the right to live, bioethics, the family and the economy. Charles Rice has produced a firmly grounded and accessible handbook which touches on the most important topics regarding natural law that will benefit readers of all backgrounds. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Common Good Constitutionalism Adrian Vermeule, 2022-02-08 The way that Americans understand their Constitution and wider legal tradition has been dominated in recent decades by two exhausted approaches: the originalism of conservatives and the “living constitutionalism” of progressives. Is it time to look for an alternative? Adrian Vermeule argues that the alternative has been there, buried in the American legal tradition, all along. He shows that US law was, from the founding, subsumed within the broad framework of the classical legal tradition, which conceives law as “a reasoned ordering to the common good.” In this view, law’s purpose is to promote the goods a flourishing political community requires: justice, peace, prosperity, and morality. He shows how this legacy has been lost, despite still being implicit within American public law, and convincingly argues for its recovery in the form of “common good constitutionalism.” This erudite and brilliantly original book is a vital intervention in America’s most significant contemporary legal debate while also being an enduring account of the true nature of law that will resonate for decades with scholars and students. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Law's Virtues Cathleen Kaveny, 2012-09-20 Can the law promote moral values even in pluralistic societies such as the United States? Drawing upon important federal legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, legal scholar and moral theologian Cathleen Kaveny argues that it can. In conversation with thinkers as diverse as Thomas Aquinas, Pope John Paul II, and Joseph Raz, she argues that the law rightly promotes the values of autonomy and solidarity. At the same time, she cautions that wise lawmakers will not enact mandates that are too far out of step with the lived moral values of the actual community. According to Kaveny, the law is best understood as a moral teacher encouraging people to act virtuously, rather than a police officer requiring them to do so. In Law’s Virtues Kaveny expertly applies this theoretical framework to the controversial moral-legal issues of abortion, genetics, and euthanasia. In addition, she proposes a moral analysis of the act of voting, in dialogue with the election guides issued by the US bishops. Moving beyond the culture wars, this bold and provocative volume proposes a vision of the relationship of law and morality that is realistic without being relativistic and optimistic without being utopian. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Ethics for A-Level Mark Dimmock, Andrew Fisher, 2017-07-31 What does pleasure have to do with morality? What role, if any, should intuition have in the formation of moral theory? If something is ‘simulated’, can it be immoral? This accessible and wide-ranging textbook explores these questions and many more. Key ideas in the fields of normative ethics, metaethics and applied ethics are explained rigorously and systematically, with a vivid writing style that enlivens the topics with energy and wit. Individual theories are discussed in detail in the first part of the book, before these positions are applied to a wide range of contemporary situations including business ethics, sexual ethics, and the acceptability of eating animals. A wealth of real-life examples, set out with depth and care, illuminate the complexities of different ethical approaches while conveying their modern-day relevance. This concise and highly engaging resource is tailored to the Ethics components of AQA Philosophy and OCR Religious Studies, with a clear and practical layout that includes end-of-chapter summaries, key terms, and common mistakes to avoid. It should also be of practical use for those teaching Philosophy as part of the International Baccalaureate. Ethics for A-Level is of particular value to students and teachers, but Fisher and Dimmock’s precise and scholarly approach will appeal to anyone seeking a rigorous and lively introduction to the challenging subject of ethics. Tailored to the Ethics components of AQA Philosophy and OCR Religious Studies. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Natural Law in Jurisprudence and Politics Mark C. Murphy, 2006-03-13 Natural law is a perennial though poorly represented and understood issue in political philosophy and the philosophy of law. In this 2006 book, Mark C. Murphy argues that the central thesis of natural law jurisprudence - that law is backed by decisive reasons for compliance - sets the agenda for natural law political philosophy, demonstrating how law gains its binding force by way of the common good of the political community. Murphy's work ranges over the central questions of natural law jurisprudence and political philosophy, including the formulation and defense of the natural law jurisprudential thesis, the nature of the common good, the connection between the promotion of the common good and requirement of obedience to law, and the justification of punishment. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Reason, Morality, and Law John Keown, Robert P. George, 2013-03-21 John Finnis is a pre-eminent legal, moral and political philosopher. This volume contains over 25 essays by leading international scholars of philosophy and law who critically engage with issues at the heart of Finnis's work. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Contemporary Perspectives on Natural Law Ana Marta González, 2016-05-13 Resorting to natural law is one way of conveying the philosophical conviction that moral norms are not merely conventional rules. Accordingly, the notion of natural law has a clear metaphysical dimension, since it involves the recognition that human beings do not conceive themselves as sheer products of society and history. And yet, if natural law is to be considered the fundamental law of practical reason, it must show also some intrinsic relationship to history and positive law. The essays in this book examine this tension between the metaphysical and the practical and how the philosophical elaboration of natural law presents this notion as a limiting-concept, between metaphysics and ethics, between the mutable and the immutable; between is and ought, and, in connection with the latter, even the tension between politics and eschatology as a double horizon of ethics. This book, contributed to by scholars from Europe and America, is a major contribution to the renewed interest in natural law. It provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of natural law, both from a historical and a systematic point of view. It ranges from the mediaeval synthesis of Aquinas through the early modern elaborations of natural law, up to current discussions on the very possibility and practical relevance of natural law theory for the contemporary mind. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Wisdom, Law, and Virtue Lawrence Dewan, 2008 This title focuses on morals, how human beings should live their lives. The essays included treat the history of philosophy as a development that proceeds by deepening appreciation of basic questions rather than the constant replacement of one worldview by another. |
| aquinas law morality politics: The Classical Utilitarians Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, 2003-03-15 This volume includes the complete texts of two of John Stuart Mill's most important works, Utilitarianism and On Liberty, and selections from his other writings, including the complete text of his Remarks on Bentham's Philosophy. The selection from Mill's A System of Logic is of special relevance to the debate between those who read Mill as an Act-Utilitarian and those who interpret him as a Rule-Utilitarian. Also included are selections from the writings of Jeremy Bentham, founder of modern Utilitarianism and mentor (together with James Mill) of John Stuart Mill. Bentham's Principles of Morals and Legislation had important effects on political and legal reform in his own time and continues to provide insights for political theorists and philosophers of law. Seven chapters of Bentham's Principles are here in their entirety, together with a number of shorter selections, including one in which Bentham repudiates the slogan often used to characterize his philosophy: The Greatest Happiness of the Greatest Number. John Troyer's Introduction presents the central themes and arguments of Bentham and Mill and assesses their relevance to current discussions of Utilitarianism. The volume also provides indexes, a glossary, and notes. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Aquinas's Moral Theory Scott MacDonald, Scott Charles MacDonald, Eleonore Stump, 1998 Aquinas's discussions of moral issues are extensive, and range well beyond the narrowly defined set of issues in the modern tradition of moral philosophy. This volume explores the ethical dimensions of a wide selection of philosophical and theological topics in Aquinas's texts. It covers topics central to ethics, such as happiness, moral virtue, and natural law, as well as related topics pertaining to the metaphysical basis of Aquinas's account of goodness, the ramifications of his ethical concerns for his philosophy of language, and the significance of his philosophical psychology for his ethics.The volume is divided into three sections focusing, respectively, on issues concerning moral theory and moral theology, moral psychology and practical reason, and moral theory in philosophy of language and metaphysics. The authors--distinguished scholars of medieval philosophy--bring to these issues a variety of approaches and viewpoints. By creatively sampling the breadth of Aquinas's reflections on ethical issues and exploring some of the significant connections that tie his moral thought to other parts of his philosophical and theological system, they display the richness and depth of Aquinas's moral thinking. Contributors: Jan A. Aertsen, Thomas-Institut, Cologne; E. Jennifer Ashworth, University of Waterloo; John Boler, University of Washington; Mark D. Jordan, Emory University; Anthony Kenny, Oxford University; Peter King, University of Toronto; Scott MacDonald, Cornell University; Gareth B. Matthews, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Paul Vincent Spade, Indiana University; Eleonore Stump, Saint Louis University |
| aquinas law morality politics: The Political Writings of St. Augustine Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine, Dino Bigongiari, 1996-09-01 Here in one concise volume is St. Augustine's brilliant analysis of where faith and politics meet - casting a penetrating light on Roman civilization, the coming Middle Ages, ecclesiastical politics, and some of the most powerful ideas in the Western tradition, including Augustine's famous just war theory and his timeless ideas of how men should live in society. |
| aquinas law morality politics: The Priority of Prudence Daniel Mark Nelson, 1992 In The Priority of Prudence, Daniel Mark Nelson proposes a reappropriation of a moral perspective that focuses on the cardinal virtues of courage, temperance, justice, and prudence. The study aims to recover and rehabilitate the virtue of prudence as a way of resuming a moral conversation that has been stalemated for too long. Nelson's main source for reviving the virtue of prudence is St. Thomas Aquinas's account of the cardinal virtues in the Summa Theologica. A primary problem with using Aquinas as a source for reviving an ethics of virtue centered on prudence is that he is commonly perceived as the most prominent figure in the conflicting natural-law tradition. According to Nelson's reinterpretation, however, Aquinas teaches that moral understanding depends first and foremost on prudence working in accord with other cardinal virtues and that natural law functions to explain moral reasoning rather than to guide it. This study serves to advance the debate about the contemporary relevance of an ethics of virtue by way of its significantly more detailed explication of prudence. Nelson makes important connections between influential reinterpretations of the ethical theory of Aquinas that have been published during the last thirty years and widespread interest in an ethics of virtue that has been expressed by Alasdair Maclntyre, Stanley Hauerwas, William Sullivan, Robert Bellah, and others. The Priority of Prudence represents a significant contribution to the scholarly literature both in the study of Aquinas and in the debate on the ethics of virtue. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals Immanuel Kant, 1993-06-15 This expanded edition of James Ellington’s preeminent translation includes Ellington’s new translation of Kant’s essay Of a Supposed Right to Lie Because of Philanthropic Concerns in which Kant replies to one of the standard objections to his moral theory as presented in the main text: that it requires us to tell the truth even in the face of disastrous consequences. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Narrative, Nature, and the Natural Law C. Alford, 2010-05-10 Beginning with Saint Thomas Aquinas and ending with the latest developments in international human rights, 'Narrative, Nature, and the Natural Law: From Aquinas to International Human Rights,' brings a fairly traditional interpretation of the natural law to some rather untraditional problems and areas, including evolutionary natural law. |
| aquinas law morality politics: To Kill Another Graham McAleer, 2011-12-31 Basing his argument on natural law, Graham J. McAleer asserts that only public authority has the right to intentionally kill. He draws upon the work of Thomas Aquinas and Francisco de Vitoria, defending the claim that these natural law theorists have developed the best available theory of homicide. To have rule of law in any meaningful sense, the author argues, there must be protections for the guilty and prohibition against killing innocents. Western theories of law have drifted steadily towards the privatization of homicide,despite the fact that it runs counter to rule of law. Public acts of homicide like capital punishment are now viewed by many as barbaric, while a private act of homicide like the starvation of comatose patients is viewed by many as a caring gesture both to patient and family. This subversion of the rule of law is prompted by humanitarian ethics. McAleer argues that humanitarianism is a false friend to those committed to the rule of law. The problem of human vulnerability makes political theology an inescapable consideration for law. Readers will find much to reflect upon in this book. McAleer’s argument can be read as a cultural chapter in the history of moral ideas, but also as a close and timely reading of a grim subject. |
| aquinas law morality politics: Natural Law Howard P. Kainz, 2004 Is there such a thing as an objective law of morality? Natural law theorists maintain that there is, and Natural Law probes the history and implications of this powerful concept. Tracing the development of natural law from ancient times to the present, the book also examines the leading figures, transitions, and turning points in the idea's evolution, and brings a natural law approach to contemporary issues such as abortion, homosexuality, and assisted suicide. |
| aquinas law morality politics: The Political Ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, 1997-10-01 Originally published in The Hafner Library of Classics in 1953, The Political Ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas provides important insights into the human side of one of the most influential medieval philosophers. St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1226–1274) is recognized for having synthesized Christian theology with Aristotelian metaphysics, and for his spirited philosophical defense of Christianity that was addressed to the non-Christian reader. In this collection, editor Dino Bigongiari has selected Aquinas’s key writings on politics, justice, social problems, and forms of government, including the philosopher’s main works: Regimine Principus (On Kinship) and The Summa Theologica. In an authoritative discussion of the historical background and evolution of St. Thomas Aquinas’s political ideas, Dr. Bigongiari’s commentary explains this philosopher’s enduring influence and legacy. Accompanying explanatory notes and a helpful glossary of unusual terms and familiar words help to make this practical volume an ideal text for students and general readers alike. |
| aquinas law morality politics: The Philosophy of Positive Law James Bernard Murphy, 2008-10-01 In this first book-length study of positive law, James Bernard Murphy rewrites central chapters in the history of jurisprudence by uncovering a fundamental continuity among four great legal philosophers: Plato, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Hobbes, and John Austin. In their theories of positive law, Murphy argues, these thinkers represent successive chapters in a single fascinating story. That story revolves around a fundamental ambiguity: is law positive because it is deliberately imposed (as opposed to customary law) or because it lacks moral necessity (as opposed to natural law)? These two senses of positive law are not coextensive yet the discourse of positive law oscillates unstably between them. What, then, is the relation between being deliberately imposed and lacking moral necessity? Murphy demonstrates how the discourse of positive law incorporates both normative and descriptive dimensions of law, and he discusses the relation of positive law not only to jurisprudence but also to the philosophy of language, ethics, theories of social order, and biblical law. |
Aquinas Institute of Rochester
The Aquinas Institute of Rochester is a Catholic, private, college preparatory, co-educational school educating in the Basilian tradition.
Thomas Aquinas - Wikipedia
Thomas Aquinas by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1650. In the Summa Theologica, Thomas begins his discussion of Jesus Christ by recounting the biblical story of Adam and Eve and by describing …
Saint Thomas Aquinas - Encyclopedia Britannica
Apr 24, 2025 · St. Thomas Aquinas was the greatest of the Scholastic philosophers. He produced a comprehensive synthesis of Christian theology and Aristotelian philosophy that influenced …
Thomas Aquinas - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Dec 7, 2022 · Viewed through a theological lens, Aquinas has often been seen as the summit of the Christian tradition that runs back to Augustine and the early Church. Viewed as a philosopher, he …
Home | Aquinas Institute
The Aquinas Institute publishes the complete works of Thomas Aquinas and Augustine free online and in print
Saint Thomas Aquinas: Biography, Life, Philosophy & Theology
Aug 9, 2023 · Italian Dominican theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas was one of the most influential medieval thinkers of Scholasticism and the father of the Thomistic school of theology.
Thomas Aquinas - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
St. Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican priest and Scriptural theologian. He took seriously the medieval maxim that “grace perfects and builds on nature; it does not set it aside or destroy it.”
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274; of Aquino, Italy) was an Italian philosopher and theologian known as the Angelic Doctor. Born of a wealthy family at Rocca Secca, near Naples, in Italy, he …
Who Was Thomas Aquinas and Why Is He Mentioned So Often?
Feb 12, 2024 · Thomas Aquinas, who lived from 1225 to 1274 AD, played a crucial role in medieval Catholic theology and philosophy. Thanks to his profound insights and masterful integration of …
Thomas Aquinas - World History Encyclopedia
Apr 13, 2021 · Saint Thomas Aquinas (l. 1225-1274, also known as the "Ox of Sicily" and the "Angelic Doctor") was a Dominican friar, mystic, theologian, and philosopher, all at once. …
Aquinas Institute of Rochester
The Aquinas Institute of Rochester is a Catholic, private, college preparatory, co-educational school educating in the Basilian tradition.
Thomas Aquinas - Wikipedia
Thomas Aquinas by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1650. In the Summa Theologica, Thomas begins his discussion of Jesus Christ by recounting the biblical story of Adam and Eve and by …
Saint Thomas Aquinas - Encyclopedia Britannica
Apr 24, 2025 · St. Thomas Aquinas was the greatest of the Scholastic philosophers. He produced a comprehensive synthesis of Christian theology and Aristotelian philosophy that influenced …
Thomas Aquinas - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Dec 7, 2022 · Viewed through a theological lens, Aquinas has often been seen as the summit of the Christian tradition that runs back to Augustine and the early Church. Viewed as a …
Home | Aquinas Institute
The Aquinas Institute publishes the complete works of Thomas Aquinas and Augustine free online and in print
Saint Thomas Aquinas: Biography, Life, Philosophy & Theology
Aug 9, 2023 · Italian Dominican theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas was one of the most influential medieval thinkers of Scholasticism and the father of the Thomistic school of theology.
Thomas Aquinas - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
St. Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican priest and Scriptural theologian. He took seriously the medieval maxim that “grace perfects and builds on nature; it does not set it aside or destroy it.”
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274; of Aquino, Italy) was an Italian philosopher and theologian known as the Angelic Doctor. Born of a wealthy family at Rocca Secca, near Naples, in Italy, he …
Who Was Thomas Aquinas and Why Is He Mentioned So Often?
Feb 12, 2024 · Thomas Aquinas, who lived from 1225 to 1274 AD, played a crucial role in medieval Catholic theology and philosophy. Thanks to his profound insights and masterful …
Thomas Aquinas - World History Encyclopedia
Apr 13, 2021 · Saint Thomas Aquinas (l. 1225-1274, also known as the "Ox of Sicily" and the "Angelic Doctor") was a Dominican friar, mystic, theologian, and philosopher, all at once. …
