Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T04:12:00.587Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Aquinas's Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2020

Thomas M. Osborne Jr
Affiliation:
University of St Thomas, Houston

Summary

This Element provides an account of Thomas Aquinas's moral philosophy that emphasizes the intrinsic connection between happiness and the human good, human virtue, and the precepts of practical reason. Human beings by nature have an end to which they are directed and concerning which they do not deliberate, namely happiness. Humans achieve this end by performing good human acts, which are produced by the intellect and the will, and perfected by the relevant virtues. These virtuous acts require that the agent grasps the relevant moral principles and uses them in particular cases.
Get access
Type
Element
Information
Online ISBN: 9781108581325
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 07 May 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Primary Sources

Aquinas, Thomas (1884–). Opera omnia. Rome: Commissio Leonina.Google Scholar
Aquinas, Thomas (1927–1947). Scriptum super libros Sententiarum. 4 vols. Ed. Mandonnet, Pierre and Moos, M. F.. Paris: Lethielleux.Google Scholar
Aquinas, Thomas (1951). Super Evangelium S. Matthaei lectura [Reportatio Petri de Andria]. 5th ed. Ed. Cai, R. Turin-Rome: Marietti.Google Scholar
Aquinas, Thomas (1953). Super epistolas S. Pauli lectura. 2 vols. Ed. Cai, Raphael. Turin: Marietti.Google Scholar
Aquinas, Thomas (1953). Quaestiones disputatae. 2 vols. Ed. Bazzi, P, et al. Turin: Marietti. The DVC, DVCard., DVCarit. citations are all taken from vol. 2.Google Scholar
Aquinas, Thomas (1964). In duodecim libros Metaphysicorum Expositio. Ed. Catala, M-R and Spiazzi, R. Turin: Marietti.Google Scholar

Secondary Sources

Bejcvy, Istvan (2005). “The Problem of Natural Virtue.” In Bejcvy, Istvan and Newhauser, Richard, eds., Virtue and Ethics in the Twelfth Century, 133154. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Bejcvy, Istvan (2007). “The Cardinal Virtues in the Medieval Commentaries on the Nicomachean Ethics, 1250–1350.” In Bejcvy, Istvan, ed.,Virtue Ethics in the Middle Ages: Commentaries on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, 1200–1500, 199221. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Boyle, Leonard (2002). “The Setting of the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas – Revisited.” In Pope, Stephen J., ed., The Ethics of Aquinas, 116. Washington, D.C. : Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Cacouros, Michel (2003). “Le Traité pseudo-Aristotélicien De virtutibus et vitiis.” In Goulet, Richard, et al., eds., Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Supplément, 506546. Paris: CNRS.Google Scholar
Feingold, Lawrence (2004). The Natural Desire to See God according to St. Thomas and His Interpreters. 2nd ed. Ave Maria, Fl.: Sapientia Press.Google Scholar
Finnis, John (2008). Aquinas: Moral, Political, and Legal Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gallagher, David (1991). “Thomas Aquinas on the Will as Rational Appetite.Journal of the History of Philosophy 29, 559584.Google Scholar
Goudin, Antoine (1680). Philosophia Divi Thomae Dogmata. Vol. 4: Metaphysicam et Moralem Complectens. Bologna.Google Scholar
Herdt, Jennifer A. (2013). “Aquinas’s Aristotelian Defense of Martyr Courage.” In Hoffmann, Tobias, Müller, Jörn, and Perkams, Matthias, eds., Aquinas and the Nicomachean Ethics, 110128. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffmann, Tobias (2008). “Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas on Magnanimity.” In Bejcvy, Istvan, ed., Virtue Ethics in the Middle Ages: Commentaries on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, 1200–1500, 199221. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, Tobias (2012). “Conscience and Synderesis.” In Davies, Brian and Stump, Eleanore, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Aquinas, 255264. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, Tobias (2013). “Prudence and Practical Principles.” In Hoffmann, Tobias, Müller, Jörn, and Perkams, Matthias, eds., Aquinas and the Nicomachean Ethics, 165183. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houser, R.E. (2002). “The Virtue of Courage (IIaIIae, qq. 123–140).” In Pope, Stephen J., ed., The Ethics of Aquinas, 304320. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Jensen, Steven (2010). Good and Evil Actions: A Journey through Saint Thomas Aquinas. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press.Google Scholar
Jensen, Steven (2013). “Virtuous Deliberation and the Passions.The Thomist 77: 193227.Google Scholar
Jensen, Steven (2015). Knowing the Natural Law: From Precepts and Inclinations to Deriving Oughts. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press.Google Scholar
Lombardo, Nicholas E. (2018). “Emotion and Desire in the Summa Theologiae.” In Jeffrey Hause, ed., Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae: A Critical Guide, 111130.Google Scholar
Lottin, Odon (1949). Psychologie et morale aux xiie et xiii e siècles. Vol. 3. Louvain and Gembloux : Mont-César and Ducolot.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, Alasdair (1992). “Plain Persons and Moral Philosophy: Rules, Virtues, and Goods.American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 66 (1), 319.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, Alasdair (1999). Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues. Chicago, IL: Open Court.Google Scholar
McCluskey, Colleen (2000). “Happiness and Freedom in Aquinas’s Theory of Action.Medieval Philosophy and Theology 9, 6990.Google Scholar
McInerny, Ralph (1992). Aquinas on Human Action: A Theory of Practice. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press.Google Scholar
McInerny, Ralph (1997). Ethica Thomistica. Rev. ed. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press.Google Scholar
Müller, Jörn (2013). “Duplex Beatitudo: Aristotle’s Legacy and Aquinas’s Conception of Human Happiness.” In Hoffmann, Tobias, Müller, Jörn, and Perkams, Matthias, eds., Aquinas and the Nicomachean Ethics, 5271. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Perkams, Matthias (2013). “Aquinas on Choice, Will, and Voluntary Action.” In Hoffmann, Tobias, Müller, Jörn, and Perkams, Matthias, eds., Aquinas and the Nicomachean Ethics, 7290. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pieper, Josef (1966). The Four Cardinal Virtues. Trans. Richard and Clara Winston, Lawrence E. Lynch, and Daniel F. Coogan. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Pinckaers, Servais (2005). The Pinckaers Reader: Renewing Thomistic Moral Theology. Ed. Berkman, John and Titus, Craig Steve. Trans. Mary Thomas Noble, et. al. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press.Google Scholar
Pasquale, Porro (2016). Thomas Aquinas: A Historical and Philosophical Profile. Trans. Joseph G. Trabbic and Roger W. Nutt. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press.Google Scholar
Torrell, Jean-Pierre (2005). Aquinas’s Summa: Background, Structure, and Reception. Trans. Benedict M. Guevin. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press.Google Scholar
Wallace, William A. (1996). The Modeling of Nature: Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Nature in Synthesis. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press.Google Scholar
White, Kevin (2013). “Pleasure: A Supervenient End.” In Hoffmann, Tobias, Müller, Jörn, and Perkams, Matthias, eds., Aquinas and the Nicomachean Ethics, 220238. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Aquinas's Ethics
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Aquinas's Ethics
Available formats
×

Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Aquinas's Ethics
Available formats
×