PHIL 5338: Introduction to Thomistic Ethics

Building on the achievements of the course in Thomistic anthropology, this course highlights the human person as agent, as moving toward ends or goods, and finally toward the ultimate end which Aquinas calls beatitudo: happiness. The nature of the ultimate end will thus be the centerpiece of the course discussion, with other key concepts and distinctions which contribute to Aquinas’s understanding of the ultimate end coming strongly into play, e.g., the nature of the human act, the distinction between right and wrong action, the nature of and the distinctions between the virtues, and the role of law in human happiness. Discussion will be focused on but need not be limited to questions in the Secunda pars of the Summa theologiae.