St. Thomas Aquinas was a 13th century Dominican friar, philosopher, and theologian. He developed a system of virtue ethics based on natural law. For Aquinas, natural law is derived from eternal law, which is God's will. Humans can discern natural law through reason. Aquinas identified four cardinal virtues - prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude - that are binding for all people. He also distinguished between mortal and venial sins. Overall, Aquinas developed a virtue ethics centered around acting in accordance with natural law and reason to live a morally good life.
St. Thomas Aquinas was a 13th century Dominican friar, philosopher, and theologian. He developed a system of virtue ethics based on natural law. For Aquinas, natural law is derived from eternal law, which is God's will. Humans can discern natural law through reason. Aquinas identified four cardinal virtues - prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude - that are binding for all people. He also distinguished between mortal and venial sins. Overall, Aquinas developed a virtue ethics centered around acting in accordance with natural law and reason to live a morally good life.
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MODULE 10 VIRTUE ETHICS ST THOMAS AQUINAS THOUGHTS.pptx
St. Thomas Aquinas was a 13th century Dominican friar, philosopher, and theologian. He developed a system of virtue ethics based on natural law. For Aquinas, natural law is derived from eternal law, which is God's will. Humans can discern natural law through reason. Aquinas identified four cardinal virtues - prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude - that are binding for all people. He also distinguished between mortal and venial sins. Overall, Aquinas developed a virtue ethics centered around acting in accordance with natural law and reason to live a morally good life.
St. Thomas Aquinas was a 13th century Dominican friar, philosopher, and theologian. He developed a system of virtue ethics based on natural law. For Aquinas, natural law is derived from eternal law, which is God's will. Humans can discern natural law through reason. Aquinas identified four cardinal virtues - prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude - that are binding for all people. He also distinguished between mortal and venial sins. Overall, Aquinas developed a virtue ethics centered around acting in accordance with natural law and reason to live a morally good life.
born in the Castle of Roccasecca, near Aquino, Italy. He studied with the Benedictines of Monte Cassino, and at the University of Naples. Against the bitter opposition of his family, he entered the Dominican order of mendicant friars. His brothers kidnapped him and kept him a prisoner in the paternal castle for over a year; in the end he made his way to Cologne to become a pupil of Albertus Magnus. In 1252 he went to Paris, and taught there, until in 1258 he was summoned by the pope to teach successively in Anagni, Orvieto, Rome, and Viterbo. He died at Fossanuova on his way to defend the papal cause at the Council of Lyon, and was canonized in 1323. His prolific writings display great intellectual power, and he came to exercise enormous intellectual authority throughout the Church. In his philosophical writings he tried to combine and reconcile Aristotle's scientific rationalism with Christian doctrines of faith and revelation. His best- known works are two huge encyclopedic syntheses. The Summa contra Gentiles that deals chiefly with the principles of natural religion. His Summa Theologiae that contains his mature thought in systematic form, and includes the famous 'five ways' or proofs of the existence of God. Thomism now represents the general teaching of the Catholic Church. Thomas Aquinas begins from the standpoint of faith. His perspective presupposes the existence of a God who is the author (source) and the goal (end) of all eternity. For Aquinas, God reveals His goodwill as the Eternal Law reflected in the order of reality. Relating with the law as governing all is relating relating with God himself whose will emanates to govern all that is. Human freedom for St Thomas Aquinas, is an imprint of the Divine will in the very being of the human person. This sharing of human reason in the eternal will or divine will is for him/her the natural law. Natural Law
It is the law inscribed by God into the heart and
mind of every man which help them discern what is good from what is not. For Aquinas, the natural law impinges on the very freedom of the human being who can know his/her options and voluntarily will to take actions. Coscience and Natural Law
For Aquinas, the conscience refers to the proper
functioning of reason in moving the human person towards an end goal that is fittingof his/her dignity. According to him, there are different kinds of conscience that may lead usto wrongdoing, namely: the certain, the perplexed, the doubtful, and the erroneous. Correct Conscience
It judges what is really good as good and what
is really evil as evil Certain Conscience
It has a subjective assurance of the lawfulness
of unlawfulness of an act. This implies that the person is sure of his decision Perplexed Conscience
This type of erroneous conscience unable to
grasped something clearly and fears sin in whatever choice it makes. Doubtful Conscience
This is a state of mind when it cannot decide
with certainty whether an action or behavior is good or bad leaving you unsure of what to do or not having any peace of mind after performing a certain action. Erroneous Conscience
It judges incorrectly that is what is good is evil
and what is evil is good. It is a result of long time persistence in doing, that the self is no longer concerned whether what he/she does is good or not bad. Furthermore, Thomas distinguished four kinds of law: eternal, natural, human, and divine. Eternal law is the decree of God that governs all creation. Natural law is the human participation in the eternal law and is discovered by reason. Natural law, of course, is based on first principle, that good is to be done and promoted, and evil is to be avoided. All other precepts of the natural law are based on this. The Relational and Perfection of Love
The human person is not only bound to find full
maximum capacity of one;s own being in a search for self-actualization. But by thoroughly relating with other other human persons and all of creation. St Thomas Aquinas holds that the true destiny of man lies in a gratuitous perfection that is beyond the human person yet relates with him/her thoroughly in freedom, and therefore, in fullness of love. The highest perfection of man for St Thomas Aquinas is in his/her wanting to be with God. In other words, the ethical man is not the perfect man but one who wants to be saved by cooperating in freedom with what is attainable for him/her. Thomas's ethics are based on the concept of first principles of action. Thomas defined the four cardinal virtues as prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude. For him, the cardinal virtues are natural and revealed in nature, and they are binding on everyone. Thomas also greatly influenced Catholic understandings of mortal and venial sin. Thomas viewed theology, as a science, the raw material data of which consists of written scriptures and the tradition of the Catholic Church. According to him, faith and reason, while distinct but related, are the two primary tools for processing the data of theology. St. Thomas believed both were necessary for one to obtain true knowledge of God. Thomas believed that the existence of God is neither obvious nor unprovable. In the Summa Theologica, he considered in great detail five reasons for the existence of God. These are widely known as the quinque viae, or the Five Ways. Concerning the nature of God, Thomas felt the best approach, commonly called the via negativa, is to consider what God is not. This led him to propose five statements about the divine qualities: God is simple, without composition of parts, such as body and soul, or matter and form.
God is perfect, lacking nothing. That is, God is
distinguished from other beings on account of God's complete actuality. God is infinite. That is, God is not finite in the ways that created beings are physically, intellectually, and emotionally limited. This infinity is to be distinguished from infinity of size and infinity of number. God is immutable, incapable of change on the levels of God's essence and character.
God is one, without diversification within God's
self. The unity of God is such that God's essence is the same as God's existence. References
Corpus, R.M., de la Cruz, R.G., & Tabotabo, C.V.
(2011). Standards of Human Conduct: Ethics for Filipinos. Quezon City: C & E Publishing Inc. Corpus, R.M., de la Cruz, R.G., Estoque, R.S., & Tabotabo, C.V. (2008). Introduction to Logic: A Modular Approach. Intramuros, Manila: Mindshapers Co., Inc. Lombo, J.A., Russo, F. (2014). Philosophical Anthropology: An Introduction. Illinos: Midwest Theological Forum
Sheerean, Patrick J. (1983). Ethics in Public
Administration: A Philosophical Approach. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger