Contingency and Fortune in Aquinas's Ethics

Novel interpretation of Aquinas's treatment of the effects of fortune on virtue, agency, and happiness.

John Bowlin (Author)

9780521620192, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 June 1999

250 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.54 kg

...well worth reading..." Theological Studies

In this study John Bowlin argues that Aquinas's moral theology receives much of its character and content from an assumption about our common lot: the good we desire is difficult to know and to will, in particular because of contingencies of various kinds - within ourselves, in the ends and objects we pursue, and in the circumstances of choice. Since contingencies are fortune's effects, Aquinas insists that it is fortune that makes good choice difficult. Bowlin then explicates Aquinas's treatment of a number of topics in light of this difficulty: the moral and theological virtues, the first precepts of the natural law, the voluntariness of virtuous action, and the happiness available to us in this life. By noting that Aquinas proceeds with an eye on fortune's threats to virtue, agency, and happiness, Bowlin places him more precisely in the history of ethics, among Aristotle, Augustine, and the Stoics.

Preface
List of abbreviations
Introduction
1. Virtue and difficulty
2. The contingency of the human good
3. Natural law and the limits of contingency
4. Virtue and discontent
5. Virtue and fortune
Epilogue: hope and happiness
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Philosophy of religion [HRAB]