General information

• Study points: 4.00
• Language: English
• Category: lecture - interactive lecture
• Duration: 26.0 hours 
• Periodicity: Taught next academic year in the second semester
• POC: Facultaire onderwijscel Godgeleerdheid

Taught by

Selling Joseph

Aims

This course will centre upon the exposure of the treatise on human acts written by Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae, I-II, qq 1-21. The question being investigated in this exposition is whether Aquinas considered the starting point of moral analysis to be a consideration of the end of human activity or a judgment about the object of human actions.

Content

In his study of the "principle of double effect", Peter Knauer suggested that when evil forms part of a complete human action, it is not necessary that this evil be contained as an effect of what might otherwise be a good or indifferent act for this evil to be justified or deemed morally permissible. Rather, evil which forms part of human action may (or may not) be justified through the presence of a commensurate reason, no matter where that evil is located: in the cause, in the act, or in the effect. This thesis appears to contradict the traditional moral theological position that evil may never be present in the act performed by a person. That act was synonymously referred to as the "object" of the human action, and understood to be equivalent to "the thing done". Arguments for this position have supposedly been based upon the teaching of Aquinas in S.T., I-II, 18, 2
 
After exploring the issue exposed by Knauer, we first offer a brief overview of Aquinas and his work on the S.T. We then undertake a detailed study of his text, namely the entire "de actibus humanis" in qq 1-21. Some of this study will be supplemented with other texts taken from the S.T. Time permitting, we will examine some of the reactions to Knauer's study. 

Course Material

Thomas Aquinas, De actibus humanus, S.T., I-II, qq 1-21
Peter Knauer, The Hermeneutic Function of the Principle of Double Effect, in McCormick & Curran (eds.), Moral Norms and Catholic Tradition: Readings in Moral Theology, 1 (1979) 1-39. 
Richard A. McCormick, "Ambiguity in Moral Choice," in
Richard A. McCormick and Paul Ramsey eds.), Doing Evil to Achieve Good: Moral Choice in Conflict Situations (Chicago, Univ. Pr., 1978) 3-53.
J. Selling, "Object, End and Moral Species in S.T., I-II, 1-21" ETL 84 (2008) 363-407.

Course activities

Verbal exposure with discussion.

Evaluation description

Examination type:
    oral with written preparation
When?: final examination during examination period
Evaluation type:
    Open book
    Presentation

Explanation

Students are expected to present an exposition on the topic of how Aquinas determines the moral species of human acts. The exposition should also relate to the formulation and controversy about the principle of double effect. This should be done via the presentation of a position paper of no more than 3 pages (max 1500 words), which may be prepared in outline form. This will be followed by a verbal explanation (exam) of the position that one has taken. Students may choose to base or augment their position with sources other than those covered in the course. However, the presentation is expected to demonstrate that the student has adequately mastered the material presented in the course and is familiar with the treatise in the I-II. At least one question will be asked about one of the texts of Aquinas dealt with in the course.