Aquinas on Virtue: A Causal Reading

258 Pages·2017·2.63 MB·English

AquinAs on Virtue
Selected Titles from the Moral Traditions Series
David Cloutier, Kristin Heyer, Andrea Vicini, SJ, Series Editors
James F. Keenan, SJ, Founding Editor
The Acting Person and Christian Loyal Dissent: Memoir of
Moral Life a Catholic Theologian
Darlene Fozard Weaver Charles E. Curran
Aquinas on the Emotions: Moral Evil
A  Religious-Ethical Inquiry Andrew Michael Flescher
Diana Fritz Cates
Overcoming Our Evil: Human
Catholic Moral Theology in Nature and Spiritual Exercises
the United States: A History in Xunzi and Augustine
Charles E. Curran Aaron Stalnaker
Creative Conformity: The Feminist Prophetic and Public: The Social
Politics of US Catholic and Iranian Witness of U.S. Catholicism
Shi’i Women Kristin E. Heyer
Elizabeth M. Bucar
Reconsidering Intellectual Disability:
The Critical Calling: Reflections on L’Arche, Medical Ethics, and
Moral Dilemmas since Vatican II Christian Friendship
Richard A. McCormick Jason Reimer Greig
Defending Probabilism: The Moral The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed
Theology of Juan Caramuel Catholic Anthropology
Julia Fleming Todd A. Salzman and
Michael G. Lawler
Family Ethics: Practices for Christians
Julie Hanlon Rubio The Social Mission of the US Catholic
Church: A Theological Perspective
Keeping Faith with Human Rights Charles E. Curran
Linda Hogan
Theological Bioethics: Participation,
Kinship Across Borders: A Christian Justice, and Change
Ethic of Immigration Lisa Sowle Cahill
Kristin E. Heyer
Sex, Violence, and Justice: Contraception
A Culture of Engagement and the Catholic Church
Cathleen Kaveny Aline H. Kalbian
Love and Christian Ethics: The Vice of Luxury: Economic
Tradition, Theory, and Society Excess in a Consumer Age
Frederick V. Simmons David Cloutier
AquinAs on Virtue
A CAusAl reAding
niCholAs Austin
Georgetown University Press / Washington, DC
© 2017 Georgetown University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, with-
out permission in writing from the publisher.
The publisher is not responsible for third- party websites or their content. URL links
were active at time of publication.
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Names: Austin, Nicholas, 1970– author.
Title: Aquinas on Virtue : A Causal Reading / Nicholas Austin.
Description: Washington, D.C. : Georgetown University Press, 2017. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016044707 (print) | LCCN 2017001329 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781626164741 (ebook) | ISBN 9781626164727 (hc : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781626164734 (pb : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, 1225?-1274. | Virtue. | Christian ethics.
Classification: LCC B765.T54 (ebook) | LCC B765.T54 A98 2017 (print) |
DDC 179/.9092—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016044707
Ó This book is printed on acid-f ree paper meeting the requirements of the American
National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.
18 17 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 First printing
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design by Trudi Gershenov
Classic Image / Alamy Stock Photo
It is the sweetest note that man can singe
When grace in Vertews keye tunes natures stringe.
—Saint Robert Southwell, SJ (1561–95)
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Note on Sources xi
Introduction xv
PArt i. defining Virtue
1 Defining Temperance Causally 3
2 Virtue as a Habit 23
3 Virtue as a Good Habit 37
4 Virtue’s Definition 58
PArt ii. CAusAl ethiCs
5 Exemplar and Object 75
6 End and Agent 92
PArt iii. the CAusAl AnAlysis of Virtue
7 Rational Virtue 109
8 Passionate Virtue 130
9 Telic Virtue 150
10 Graced Virtue 168
11 Rethinking Infusion 190
Appendix: Virtue Defined 213
Selected Bibliography 215
Index 225
vii
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ACknowledgments
This project has been a long time in the making, and I am happy to have the
opportunity to thank those who have made it possible.
The idea for the causal approach to virtue was born a good few years ago
in my doctoral dissertation on temperance, distilled in the first chapter of
this book. I owe most of all to James Keenan, whose contribution goes well
beyond his wise and skillful supervision of that dissertation. Without his exam-
ple, mentorship, and friendship, I would not be engaged in theological ethics
today. I could not have wished for better readers and teachers than Stephen
Pope and Jorge Garcia. A special thanks to Dominic Doyle and Edward Vacek
for their help with my licentiate thesis on infused moral virtue, and all my
teachers at Boston College, especially Lisa Cahill, Arthur Madigan, and David
Hollenbach. Thanks also to my fellow doctoral students and friends: Mon-
ica, Greg and Kathryn, Amanda, Meghan, Tom and Erin, Richard and Cath-
erine, Scott and Beth, Lila and Liz, Theodora, and many others. I am grateful
to my communities of the last few years: the St. Mary’s Jesuit community at
Boston College, especially Mayflower House; the Jesuit community at Brix-
ton, London; and my current community at Copleston House. The Sacred
Heart community in Edinburgh were wonderful hosts during the summers as
I worked on the book and took the occasional fishing trip! Many Jesuits have
kept me going: Todd Kenny, Frank Clooney, Ross Romero, Tom Regan, Paul
Harman, the late T. Frank Kennedy, Roger Dawson, Damian Howard, David
Smolira, Michael Holman, Dermot Preston, and others. I am sad to have lost
Lucas Chan, a brother Jesuit, a colleague, and a friend. Several others have
kindly read drafts of parts of the book, and their feedback has strengthened
the project: Gerry Hughes, Jim Keenan, Robert Deinhammer, and John Moffat.
Thanks especially to Jack Mahoney for his welcome support and insights. I
was blessed to work with Richard Brown from Georgetown University Press,
whose patient attention to the project has greatly contributed to its final form.
Ann B aker’s skilled copyediting was much appreciated. Several anonymous
reviewers helped me both with their encouragements and their constructive
criticisms. Thanks to the members of the Association of Teachers of Moral
Theology for excellent conversation. Heythrop College has been a wonderful
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