Commentary On Thomas Aquinas S Treatise On Happiness And Ultimate Purpose

Explores the meaning of life and nature of happiness through the lens of Thomas Aquinas's classical treatise.

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.

Natural moral law stands at the center of Western ethics and jurisprudence and plays a leading role in interreligious dialogue. Although the greatest source of the classical natural law tradition is Thomas Aquinas's Treatise on Law, the Treatise is notoriously difficult, especially for nonspecialists. J. Budziszewski has made this formidable work luminous. This book - the first classically styled, line-by-line commentary on the Treatise in centuries - reaches out to philosophers, theologians, social scientists, students, and general readers alike. Budziszewski shows how the Treatise facilitates a dialogue between author and reader. Explaining and expanding upon the text in light of modern philosophical developments, he expounds this work of the great thinker not by diminishing his reasoning, but by amplifying it.

The fifth volume of The Hackett Aquinas, a series of central philosophical treatises of Aquinas in new, state-of-the-art translations accompanied by a thorough commentary on the text. Acclaim for previous volumes in the series: The Treatise on Human Nature Translated, with Commentary, by Robert Pasnau "This very readable and accurate translation of the so-called Treatise on Human Nature strikes the right balance between literal rendition of Aquinas' Latin and naturalness of English expression, and thus will be of use both to new students of Aquinas and to those familiar with the original Latin. The commentary on the text should make the translation especially suitable for use in courses on Aquinas' philosophy of human nature and theory of knowledge." —Deborah Black, University of Toronto The Treatise on the Divine Nature Translated, with Commentary, by Brian J. Shanley, O.P. "That Shanley's translation-cum-commentary can open students to such a rich appropriation of Aquinas explains why I call it 'superb.'" —David Burrell, The Thomist Disputed Questions on Virtue Translated by Jeffrey Hause and Claudia Eisen Murphy; Commentary by Jeffrey Hause "Hause and Murphy are to be congratulated. [Their volume's] strong points are numerous and important. The translation is clear and faithful. . . . Hause offers an extended commentary which is solid and helpful for beginning readers. . . . A gem." —R. E. Houser, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Essay from the year 2008 in the subject Ethics, grade: No specific grade, Stockholm (Sankt Sigfrids Prästseminarium), course: Given as a course in ethics for seimarians, 1994, language: English, abstract: The crisis of ethics in our time calls for a synoptic view capable of kindling confident teleological motivation, in persons and societies. It is futile to search for the "clear and distinct idea" in a field of such universal importance as ethics, for which the ordinary discourse of humanity is well suited. Rather, our notions must be open, open to the analogies in things and situations, and open too to the real human situation in all its depth and breadth, such things as the desires of the human heart, the burdens of finitude, misfortune and death, the polarization of the sexes, the insights and traditions of religion, the exigences of politics, the compelling witness of the arts and of literature. The reason for this universal importance, such that a field of discourse considered especially intractable or even, recently, "queer" (J.L. Mackie), cannot be isolated as if somehow less scientific and hence inherently problematical or "emotive", was clearly stated by Aristotle when founding this science, this theoria of praxis. It is that ethics is concerned with the nature and end of man, with man, that is, in view of his characteristic action or praxis. That is to say, to take the short way for the present, it is the science of human happiness, of how to be happy. But this is the object of all human endeavour without exception. Hence, if its content be ever identified, e.g. as the vision of God, then it will follow that this content is the ultimate aim of all our civil and social arrangements, a conclusion that St. Thomas unhesitatingly draws.1 1 Summa contra gentiles III 37.

A major new study of Aquinas and his central project: the understanding of human nature.

This guide to St Thomas Aquinas' virtue ethics provides commentary on essential texts, rendering them accessible to all readers.

Essay from the year 2008 in the subject Ethics, grade: No specific grade, Stockholm (Sankt Sigfrids Prästseminarium), course: Given as a course in ethics for seimarians, 1994, language: English, abstract: The crisis of ethics in our time calls for a synoptic view capable of kindling confident teleological motivation, in persons and societies. It is futile to search for the "clear and distinct idea" in a field of such universal importance as ethics, for which the ordinary discourse of humanity is well suited. Rather, our notions must be open, open to the analogies in things and situations, and open too to the real human situation in all its depth and breadth, such things as the desires of the human heart, the burdens of finitude, misfortune and death, the polarization of the sexes, the insights and traditions of religion, the exigences of politics, the compelling witness of the arts and of literature. The reason for this universal importance, such that a field of discourse considered especially intractable or even, recently, "queer" (J.L. Mackie), cannot be isolated as if somehow less scientific and hence inherently problematical or "emotive", was clearly stated by Aristotle when founding this science, this theoria of praxis. It is that ethics is concerned with the nature and end of man, with man, that is, in view of his characteristic action or praxis. That is to say, to take the short way for the present, it is the science of human happiness, of how to be happy. But this is the object of all human endeavour without exception. Hence, if its content be ever identified, e.g. as the vision of God, then it will follow that this content is the ultimate aim of all our civil and social arrangements, a conclusion that St. Thomas unhesitatingly draws.1 1 Summa contra gentiles III 37.