Module 10

VIRTUE ETHICS: ST THOMAS AQUINAS’

THOUGHTS
St Thomas Aquinas Short Biography

He was a scholastic philosopher and theologian,

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
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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