St.

Thomas Aquinas’

VIRTUE
ETHICS
MARIVIC E.
LOMOCSO
BIOGRAPY
 an Italian Dominican Friar and Catholic Priest
 an immensely influential Philosopher, Theologian and
Jurist in the tradition of Scholasticism
 Also known as “Doctor Angelicus” and “Doctor
Communis”
 Foremost classical proponent of Natural Theology
 “Father of Thomism”
 A Saint,
 A Model teacher
 Doctor of the Church (Catholic Church’s greatest
Theologian & Philosopher)
“Before St. Thomas
Aquinas was born, a
holy hermit shared a
prediction with his
mother, foretelling
that her son would
enter the Order of
Friars Preachers,
become a great
learner and achieve
unequaled sanctity.”
 Born onJanuary 28, 1225 in Roccasecca,
Kingdom of Sicily(Lazio Region), Italy
 Landulph –his father, a count of Aquino
 Theodora- his Mother, a countess of
Teano
 Youngest among 8 siblings
 Education
 Early education at the age of 5 in the
Abbey of Monte Casino to train among the
Benedictine monks
 “A witty child who had received a good
soul”(Wisdom 8:19)
 “ What is God to His Benefactors?”
 C. 1239 he was enrolled in University of
Naples wherein he was introduced to the
works of Aristotle, Averroes and
Maimonides
 At 19yrs old he secretly joined the
Dominican Order (John of St. Julian)
 On his way to Rome, He was kidnapped by
his brothers and held him as captive in
the fortress of San Giovanni Campano
 Attempts to deprogram Thomas from his
new Beliefs
Education
 St. Thomas Aquinas continued to pursue
his studies on1245 to 1252, with the
Dominicans in Naples, Paris and Cologne
and subsequently earned his Doctorate in
Theology under the tutelage of Albertus
Magnus
 In 1250, He was Ordained in Cologne,
Germany and went on to teach Theology
in University of Paris.
 He proved an exemplary scholar, though,
ironically, his modesty sometimes led his
classmates to misperceive him as dim-
witted (stupid/silly).
 St. Albert the Great on Thomas’s thesis,
"We call this young man a dumb ox, but his
bellowing in doctrine will one day resound
throughout the world!"
St Thomas’s mystical vision that
made writing seem
unimportant to him
“ at a mass during the feast of St
Nicolas in 1273, he reportedly
heard a voice coming from a
crucifix that said, “Thou hast
written well of me, Thomas; what
reward wilt thou have? “ His
reply is “None other than
thyself.”
Father Reginald of Piperno (his
Confessor), urged him to keep
writing however,

“ I can do no more. Such secrets

have been revealed to me that all
I have written now appears to be
of little value.”
-St. Thomas Aquinas

And he never wrote

again………..
 January 1274, St Thomas embarked
a
ontrip to Lyon France, on foot to
serve the Second Council But never
made it there.
 Along the way, he fell ill at the
Cistercian Monastery Fossanova, Italy.
The monks wanted St. Thomas
Aquinas to stay at the castle, but,
sensing that his death was near,
Thomas preferred to remain at the
monastery, saying, "If the Lord wishes
to take me away, it is better that I‘ll
be found in a religious house than in
the dwelling of a layperson."
 St. Thomas Aquinas died at the
Monastery of Fossanova on March
7, 1274.
St Thomas Aquinas last words were,
“This is my rest forever and ever:
Here will I dwell for I have chosen it
(Psalm 131:14)
 St Thomas Aquinas was
canonized by Pope
John XXII in 1323
 He is the Patron Saint
of: academics, against
lightning, booksellers,
learning, philosophers,
scholars, theologians,
against storms,
apologists, chastity,
pencil makers,
publishers, students.
St. Thomas Aquinas stands as
one of the great giants among
both intellectuals and
prayerful disciples in the
Catholic tradition.
INFLUENCE OF ARISTOTLE
ON ST. THOMAS AQUINAS’
VIRTUE ETHICS
Thomas is emphatically
Aristotelian

Thomas referred to
Aristotle as the
Philosopher, he was not
merely adopting a façon
de parler of the time.
He adopted Aristotle's analysis of physical
objects.
• his view of place, time and motion,
• his proof of the prime mover,
• his cosmology.
 Undoubtedly, Aquinas was heavily
influenced by Aristotle’s work.
 Aquinas adopted Aristotle’s ideas of
‘universal’ and ‘conventional’ law
and further developed them.
 Aquinas approved of Aristotle’s
description of man as a ‘social
animal’;
 He agreed that man may only achieve
virtue when he or she is part of
society.
 Aquinas agreed with Aristotle that
the purpose of law was to promote
the good of the community, or the
‘common good’
 Like Aristotle, Aquinas insisted
that the ethical comes from the
end that is inscribed in the
nature of all creatures.

“What something is for is placed in the very

core of what something is. At a person’s core is
a desire for the good. “
 Aquinas, as did Aristotle,
equated God with the
highest good. 

For Aquinas, however, this

God is the Trinitarian God of
Christianity – Father, Son
and Holy Spirit
 He assessed whether he could use these
principles to prove God’s existence. Once he
was satisfied, Aquinas adapted these
principles to suit his monotheistic goals.

 On this point, Aquinas diverged from

Aristotle in a significant way.
 EUDAIMONIA
(HAPPINESS)
Aristotle and St. Thomas
Compared
 Both Aristotle and
Aquinas held that
people were made for
HAPPINESS. 
 Aristotle Aquinas
happiness with the good life lived happiness with the good life lived
by a virtuous person by a virtuous person
human happiness was not
fulfilled with the good life lived
on earth
Because of his belief in God’s
love for us as shown in Jesus.
there is a fuller happiness –
called blessedness – that is to be
found only by accepting God’s
pure gift of the resurrected
Christ.
 ARISTOTLE ON HAPPINESS
Aristotle says that eudaimonia means
'doing and living well'. This would be
to say that 'happiness is doing well
and living well'.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS ON HAPPINESS

Imperfect happiness can be lost, but
perfect happiness cannot. Neither man nor any
creature can attain final happiness through his
natural powers. Since happiness is a good
surpassing anything that has been created, no
creature, even an angel, is capable of making man
happy. Happiness is the reward for works of
virtue.
 VIRTUES FOR
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
 Aquinas offers several
definitions of virtue.

 a virtue is a habit that “disposes

an agent to perform its proper
operation or movement” 

 it follows that a virtue is a habit

that disposes us to reason well.
VIRTUE – an attitude or
way that enables us to do
good.
KINDS OF VIRTUE

THEOLOGICAL

MORAL
1. THEOLOGICAL VIRTUE
A Theological Virtue is virtues given to us
by God and not by human efforts.

FAITH HOPE LOVE

2. MORAL VIRTUES
are attitudes, and good habits that
govern one's actions, passions, and
conduct according to reason; and are
acquired by human effort.

“Cardinal” VIRTUES
 virtues that are related
to
moral decision and action
“Cardinal” Virtues
PRUDENCE FORTITUDE

JUSTICE TEMPERANCE
is moderation A careful good
judgement that
or voluntary allows someone to
self-restraint avoid danger

is courage in A process or
result of using
pain or laws to fairly
adversity judge or punish
 THE
NATURAL
LAW
Aquinas described four kinds of law. 

ETERNAL LAW 

DIVINE LAW 

NATURAL LAW. 

HUMAN LAW 
Eternal law was God’s
perfect plan, not fully
knowable to humans.
It determined the way
things such as animals
and planets behaved
and how
people should behave. 
Divine law, primarily from
the Bible, guided
individuals beyond the
world to "eternal
happiness" in what St.
Augustine had called the
"City of God."
Aquinas wrote most extensively about 

Natural Law - "the light of reason is placed

by nature [and thus by God] in every man
to guide him in his acts."

- human beings, alone among God’s

creatures, use reason to lead their lives.
The master principle of natural law,
"good is to be done and pursued and
evil avoided."
Aquinas stated that reason reveals particular
natural laws that are good for humans such
as:

 self-preservation,
 marriage and family, and
 the desire to know God.

Reason, he taught, also enables humans to

understand things that are evil such as adultery,
suicide, and lying.
 Human Law could vary with time, place,
and circumstance.

 Last Type of law as "an ordinance of

reason for the common good" made and
enforced by a ruler or government.

 He warned, however, that people were

not bound to obey laws made by humans
that conflicted with natural law.
As the "rule and measure" of human
behavior, the natural law provides the
only possible basis for morality and
politics.

Simply stated, the natural law guides

human beings through their
fundamental inclinations toward
the natural perfection that God, the
author of the natural law, intends for
them.