Aquinas (Questions 6-9) Flashcards
- Describe Aquinas’ view of the structure of human action. Why does he think that people must have ends at all? Why does he think that people must have ultimate ends? Why does he think that we cannot have several ultimate ends?
Aquinas believes in the structure of human action with purposeful ends. He argues that people must have ends because actions are directed toward goals. Ultimate ends are necessary to provide a unifying purpose to human actions, preventing an infinite regress of desires–or never desiring to initiate an action. Having several ultimate ends is impossible for Aquinas because it would lead to incoherence and conflicting pursuits.
- Aquinas rejects honour, power, and all created goods as candidates for happiness. Why does he reject them? In what ways do they fall short?
Aquinas rejects honor, power, and created goods as candidates for happiness because they are contingent and finite. These goods are subject to change and may not fulfill the ultimate purpose of human existence. Pursuing them can lead to disappointment and a failure to attain lasting happiness.
In specific:
Wealth?—No, it is an instrumental good, not a final one.
Honor?—No, honor is conferred by the one who does the honoring as a kind of sign or testimony about the honoree’s excellence.
Glory?—No, glory is being well known and praised, but (1) human opinion can be wrong, and (2) human good/happiness causes the knowledge of it, not the other way around.
Power?—No, power can be used for good or evil.
- What does Aquinas think the final good/happiness is, for human beings? Why does he think this? How are the intellect and will involved? How do we attain the final good/happiness?
Aquinas identifies the final good/happiness for human beings as the vision of God. This vision is the ultimate fulfillment of human desires and is attained through the intellect and will. The intellect comprehends divine truths, and the will directs the individual toward the ultimate good. Attaining final happiness involves living in accordance with reason and moral virtues.
- Augustine and Aquinas’ ethical systems are in some ways very different from their predecessors (i.e., Plato and Aristotle). Some of the differences are due to the central role God takes in their ethics. Explain some of the ways that God factors into the ethics of one or both figures, and what changes result in their ethical systems.
Both Augustine and Aquinas introduce God into their ethical systems, marking a departure from predecessors like Plato and Aristotle. Augustine emphasizes the centrality of God in directing human love and defining virtue. Aquinas incorporates natural law, which is rooted in God’s eternal law, to provide a moral framework. These additions result in a more explicitly theological foundation for ethics.
In specific:
Contra Aristotle:
The best life is not scientific study.
Happiness is not (just) a good of the soul.
Aristotle also believes that this form of study is only relative to a specific class of Greek males, and not for those who dissent from this criteria.
Highest good that there is (God) = highest human good/highest benefit for human beings (God).
Contra Aristotle AND Plato:
Happiness is not attainable by one’s own powers—it is a gift.
So: Aquinas’ ethics are in some ways more ambitious and humbler (they are out of our own reach).
