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Virtue, According to Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas

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A 5 page paper which examines the similarities and differences between Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas' concepts of virtue, then discusses Aquinas' addition of theological virtues to Aristotle's moral and intellectual virtues. Specifically considered are Aquinas' 'Summa Theologica' and Aristotle's 'Nicomachean Ethics.' Bibliography lists 4 sources.

Page Count:

5 pages (~225 words per page)

File: TG15_TGaquari.doc

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his classic treatise, Nicomachean Ethics. Aquinas considered himself primarily an Aristotelian philosopher, and followed closely in the footsteps of his intellectual mentor. However, he believed that while Aristotles concept of virtue was certainly valid in many respects, the Catholic priest believed it was incomplete. In his classic work, Summa Theologica (considered to be required reading for any religious scholar), he sought completion. First, a student of the subject of moral philosophy should consider Aristotles concept of virtue, which remains at the core of subsequent ethical inquiry. In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle first proclaims virtue to be a uniquely human function, and it is relative in that the individual human experience gives virtue its distinctive meaning (Yu 323). According to Aristotle, there are two specific types of virtues, "intellectual and moral, intellectual virtue in the main owes both its birth and its growth to teaching (for which reason it requires experience and time), while moral virtue comes about as a result of habit, whence also its name (ethike) is one that is formed by a slight variation from the word ethos (habit)" (II, 1). This is in keeping with Aristotles contention that human nature is based on dualism. As he saw it, the soul is subdivided into passions and reason (Yu 323). So, too, was his moral character, which explained how man could exist as both a social and rational being (Yu 323). The way Aristotle saw it, mans definition of virtue determined whether he was led by passion or by reason. In other words, man must find a happy medium if he is going to have a happy life. This set the intellectual stage for Aristotles famous "theory of the mean," which, simply stated, was "a mean between two vices, that ...

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