Good and Evil Actions: A Journey Through Saint Thomas Aquinas

336 Pages·2010·1.512 MB·English

by  Steven J. Jensen

Good & Evil Actions
Good & Evil Actions
A Journey through Saint Thomas Aquinas
Steven J. Jensen
The Catholic University of America Press
Washington, D.C.
copyright © 2010
The catholic University of America Press
All rights reserved
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of American national standards for information
science—Permanence of Paper for Printed library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1984.
∞
library of congress cataloging-in-Publication data
Jensen, steven J., 1964–
Good and evil actions : a journey through saint Thomas Aquinas /
steven J. Jensen.
p. cm.
includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8132-1727-7 (paperback : alk. paper)
1. Good and evil. 2. Thomas, Aquinas, saint, 1225?–1274.
3. Good and evil—History of doctrines—Middle Ages,
600–1500. i. title.
BJ1401.J46 2010
171΄.2092—dc22
2009036241
For my parents
Parentibus non potest secundum aequalitatem
recompensari quod eis debetur.
(ii-ii, 80, 1)
contEnts
Foreword by Ralph Mcinerny ix
Acknowledgments xiii
introduction 1
1. Human Actions 8
2. intention 44
3. Exterior Actions 73
4. love of others 132
5. difficulties 180
6. teleology 225
7. Moral species 279
Bibliography 311
index 319
vii
FoREwoRd
it is inescapably true that we should do good and avoid evil,
but how are we to know the difference between them? whenever
st. Thomas faces this question, he quotes the Psalmist in the vul-
gate (Ps. 4, 6): Quis ostendit nobis bona? The answer is: signatum
est super nos lumen vultus tui, domine. who will show us what is
good? The light of the countenance is sealed upon us, o lord. That
is, by a participation in the divine wisdom, men have a natural ca-
pacity to discern good and evil.
one becomes a good person by performing good deeds; a pri-
mary task of moral philosophy, accordingly, is getting clear on the
nature of the human act. Human acts are acts that humans per-
form, of course, and it is important to begin with such resounding
truisms. But difficulties arise and one learns to appreciate Thomas
Aquinas’s distinction between the human act and the act of a man.
not every activity truly ascribed to a man counts as a human act,
the mark of the latter being that it is deliberate and voluntary. in-
haling and exhaling, dreaming, and the like thus do not count as
human acts. one must know what he is doing and freely do it in
order for the act to be human. Thus one is drawn into a consider-
ation of the constituents of the human act, the contributions of rea-
son on the one hand and of will on the other. There is the inner act
as well as the external action and moral appraisal of the one or the
ix
x foreword
other poses different though related questions. The constituents
of the complete human act enable us to appraise imperfect actions
that do not reach their term and yet form part of our moral history.
so it is that students of st. Thomas have long since learned
the complexity that awaits them in following initial leads of fun-
damental certainty. Along the way, a host of problems arise, more
or less central, and little schools are formed. Each of the constitu-
ents of the human act raises issues of its own. notably, the notion
of the intention of the agent calls for lengthy reflection. in short, an
ample menu of difficulties confronts the student who wants both
to be guided by st. Thomas and to learn from the efforts of others.
This presents a problem of method. should one simply identify the
problem areas, take them up one by one, and then present one’s
own interpretation?
comes now steven Jensen who has chosen a far more promis-
ing and difficult method: he will seek to make emerge from the dis-
cussion of the difficulties, artfully arranged, the authentic doctrine
of Thomas Aquinas. The advantages of this method are manifest,
but it puts great demands on the reader as it did on the writer. Fa-
miliarity with the chief rival positions is of little moment if one is
not at the same time aware of the developing dialectic which gives
rise to them. Jensen undertakes both to acquaint us with the best
that has been hitherto said, why it has been said, and, often, why it
is insufficient.
The present book, then, is a remarkable compendium of the sta-
tus quaestionis of a large number of prickly issues associated with
Thomas Aquinas’s theory of human action, a fair look at proposed
solutions, and finally Jensen’s own best thought on the matter. in
the course of doing this, he confronts positions put forward by
friends of his, always, as Aristotle learned vis-à-vis Plato, the sever-
est test. whether persuaded or not, none of his interlocutors could
consider him hasty or unfair.
over the past half century, much has been written about Thom-
as’s moral philosophy. This has doubled the scholar’s task, since
foreword xi
he must both immerse himself in the original texts and give a fair
hearing to what his predecessors have made of those texts. i doubt
that anyone has done this more thoroughly and impressively than
steven Jensen, and i for one am grateful to him.
Ralph McInerny
AcknowlEdGMEnts
i would like to thank all those who have helped with this book.
Those deserving special mention include James stromberg and
Ralph Mcinerny, who provided the foundation and inspiration,
stephen Brock, whose insights have guided me over the years,
Thomas osborne, Thomas Hurley, Richard cain, and Thomas
cavanaugh, all of whom provided helpful comments and sugges-
tions, Barbara stirling, who found the ideal artwork for the cov-
er, Jessica Jacobs, for assistance with the index, my wife, christine,
for her constant support, and my children, who endured my many
hours of seclusion.
xiii