Phil 43148: Aquinas on Virtue and Law

Phil 43148: Aquinas on Virtue and Law

Freddoso

Malloy 304

E-mail: afreddos@nd.edu

Home page: http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos

Purpose----Texts----Requirements---- Syllabus----The Presentation----Term Paper ----Online Handouts----Presentation Assignments

Purpose of Course: A part-lecture/part-seminar course for majors, the purpose of which is to provide the student with an opportunity (a) to see in some depth the relation among the main elements of St. Thomas's general moral theory as laid out in the First Part of the Second Part (Prima Secundae) of the Summa Theologiae, viz., the treatises on happiness, action, passion, habit, virtue, sin, law, and grace, and (b) to explore in great detail the twin realities of virtue and law as complementary (rather than, as some would have it, fundamentally opposed or at least wholly independent) influences on morally upright human action. We will pay special attention to the ways in which Catholic faith and practice lead St. Thomas to appropriate, correct, and transform classical moral theories.

Requirements for the course include active class participation, one class presentation, a 12-15 page final paper, and a final exam.

Texts:

St. Thomas Aquinas, Treatise on Happiness (includes treatises on happiness and action), tr. John Oesterle (Notre Dame Press)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Treatise on the Virtues (includes treatises on habit and virtue), tr. John Oesterle (Notre Dame Press)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Treatise on Law (includes treatises on habit and virtue), tr. Alfred J. Freddoso (course booklet available at the bookstore.)
For those interested, the Latin text is available online at Index Corporis Thomistici, which is maintained by Prof. Enrique Alarcon of the University of Navarre, Spain. An alternate translation of the whole of the Prima Secundae is available at the New Advent Website.
In addition, I am providing some supplementary material, along with class notes as available, on the course handout page.

Requirements:

Note on reading assignments: The only assignments for which you are responsible are those in the three texts ordered for the course. I will, however, be talking about other parts of the Prima Secundae as well, specifically the treatises on action, passion, sin, and grace. You can prepare for these classes by looking at my notes on the course handout page.
Presentations. During the course of the semester each student will be expected to prepare one brief (5-6 page) class presentation. A copy should be provided electronically for each student by noon of the day before the presentation is to be given. See below for more details. (25% of course grade)

Class Participation (25% of course grade).
Term Paper. You are required to write a 12-15 page paper, worth 50% of the course grade. A 2-3 page proposal, plus outline, is to be submitted for approval on or before April 4; the paper itself is to be handed in on or before the last class day, May 2. See below for more details.
Before the course begins, you are required to read my classnotes on Aristotle and Faith and Reason and God and Human Nature from Phil 30301.
Final Exam. If I determine that it is necessary, there will be a final exam on 5/8 at 8:00. If this dreadful possibility is realized, I will readjust the above percentages accordingly.

Tentative Syllabus:

I. An Introduction to the Prima Secundae: Happiness, Action, and Passion

1/17 and 1/22 and 1/24 and 1/29: Lectures and discussion on qq. 1-5, the Treatise on Happiness. Topics: the structure of the Prima Secundae; Aristotle on happiness; Aquinas on happiness; Aquinas' distinction between complete (perfect) and incomplete (imperfect) happiness; two forms of incomplete happiness (?); the objections to Aristotle on happiness (motivated by narrow self-interest (?); too dependent on moral luck (?); the insufficiency of the desire for happiness as a moral motive and the alleged need for some basic desire other than the desire for happiness as a moral motive), along with brief discussion of Plato, Duns Scotus, Hobbes, Hume, and Kant.

1/31 and 2/5: Lecture and discussion on qq. 6-21, the Treatise on Action. Topics: voluntariness; the interplay between intellect and will in the structure of human action; the specification of human actions; the moral evaluation of human actions.

2/7 and 2/12: Lecture and discussion of qq. 22-48, the Treatise on Passion. Topics: the nature of passion or emotion; lower and higher emotions; the distinction betwenn the concupiscible and irascible appetites; the distinction between love of concupisence (amor concupiscentiae) and love of friendship (amor amicitiae); St. Thomas's taxonomy of eleven basic passions; love and aversion as basic passions.

II. Virtue

2/14: Lecture and discussion of qq. 49-54, the Treatise on Habit. Topics: the nature and causes of habits; the intensification and remission of habits; different ways to divide habits up; the difference between habituation and training.

2/19: Presentation # 1 on q. 55 (the essence of virtue) and Presentation #2 on q. 56 (the ontological subject of a virtue conceived of as an accidental modification, i.e., which 'part' or 'parts' of the soul have virtues?)
2/21: Presentation # 3 on q. 57 (the intellectual virtues) and Presentation # 4 on q. 58 (the distinction between the intellectual virtues and the moral virtues)

2/26: Presentation #5 on q. 59 (the relation of the moral virtues to the passions) and Presentation #6 on q. 60 (the distinctions among the moral virtues)

2/28: Presentation # 7 on q. 61 (the cardinal virtues) and Presentation #8 on q. 62 (the theological virtues)

3/5: Lecture and discussion on qq. 63-67 (the two causes of virtue, the mean of virtue, the connectedness of the virtues, the equality of the virtues and the duration of the virtues.
3/7: Lecture and discussion on qq. 109-114 (Treatise on Grace) and qq. 68-70 (the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, and the beatitudes). Topics: the transformation of Aristotelian moral theory into Catholic moral theory; divine adoption; infused moral virtues
3/19: Very selective lecture and discussion on qq. 71-89 (Treatise on Sin)

III. Law

3/21: Lecture and discussion on 90-92. Topics: the nature of law; the different kinds of law; the relation between law and virtue (part 1).
3/26: Presentation # 9 on q. 93 (eternal law) and Presentation # 10 on q. 94 (natural law)
3/28: Presentation # 11 on q. 95 (human law) and Presentation # 12 on qq. 96-97 (the power of human law and changes in human law).
4/2: Presentation # 13 on q. 98 and 99 (the Old Law and the kinds of precepts found in the Old Law)

4/4 and 4/11: Lecture and discussion on q. 100. Topics: the relation between the natural law and the moral precepts of the Old Law; the relation between the moral precepts and the virtues, both in their mode and in their content; the enumeration of and distinction among the moral precepts; the moral precepts and dispensations; the fulfillment of the moral precepts and justification before God.

4/16: Presentation #14 on q. 101 (the ceremonial precepts in themselves) and Presentation #15 on q. 104 (the judicial precepts in themselves)

4/18 and 4/23: Lecture and discussion on qq. 102, 103 and 105. Topics: an overview of the reasons for the ceremonial and judicial precepts; the duration of the ceremonial precepts.

4/25: Lecture and discussion on q. 106. Topics: the nature of the New Law; the effects of the New Law (especially justification).

4/30: Lecture and discussion on q. 107. Topic: the relation between the New Law and the Old Law.

5/2: Lecture and discussion on q. 108. Topic: the contents of the New Law.

The Presentation

Each presentation will occupy one-half of a class period, i.e., 37.5 minutes (give or take a few seconds). The paper you write for the presentation should be 5-6 pages, double-spaced in a 12 pt. font with one-inch margins. This paper must be distributed to the instructor and the class by at least 12:00 noon on the day before the presentation is scheduled. During the class time devoted to your presentation, you may use no more than 20 minutes to present your paper. Even though you have a right to assume that everyone has read both the material from St. Thomas and your paper, you may nonetheless simply read your paper. Other options are just to point out the highlights or points you find interesting or problematic or obscure, etc. You are in charge of the class during your 37.5 minutes (give or take a few seconds). How you do this is up to you, though you are obligated to take and answer (or try to answer) questions from others in the seminar.

As for the content of the paper, you are not obligated to discuss every point St. Thomas makes in the material you are presenting. However, you are expected to cover the important points. You do not have to present the material in the exact order in which St. Thomas presents it. In fact, you should try to find ways of re-ordering the material so as to make the big picture more evident to others in the seminar -- who have, of course, already read the material (and your paper) with extreme care.

The Term Paper

The main project for this course is a 12-15 page paper which is to be submitted on or before the last class day (May 2); a 2-3 page proposal is due on or before April 11. In what follows I will try to give you some clear indication of what I am looking for in both the paper and the proposal.

Comments about the paper:

The topic of the paper should be connected in some fairly recognizable way with our readings and discussions. You may try a deeper discussion of some point discussed in class. You might pick out another work of St. Thomas's (e.g., a question from, say, the Summa Contra Gentiles or an article or articles from one of the disputed questions such as De Veritate or De Malo or De Potentia Dei) and zero in on some topic that is prominent in that work, as long as we have touched upon it in class. There may be other possibilities as well, including a comparison between St. Thomas's view on some topic and that of some other classical or contemporary author.

The paper is a fairly long one, and so you will have to plan it carefully. I expect the paper to move forward at well-marked junctures instead of merely talking around one or another point in order to fill space. I especially do not want a paper consisting primarily of loosely connected observations about some topic. Further, every paper must begin with an introduction that tells the reader exactly what you mean to do in the paper and how each section of the paper is related in general to your topic.

I expect the paper to be stylistically and grammatically beyond reproach. I will take off for sloppy sentence-structure, misspellings, dangling participles, etc. Proofreading is absolutely essential.

Comments about the proposal:

The proposal should contain two parts, viz., a narrative and an outline. The narrative should be a two-page (or so) description of the thesis or interpretation you wish to defend and of the steps by which you will defend it. In order to write this sort of narrative you already have to have a fairly detailed idea of what you want to do and the series of steps by which you propose to do it. In general, your strategy must be to construct a logical sequence of steps which will correspond to the main divisions of the paper.

The outline that accompanies the narrative should make graphically clear the main divisions and subdivisions in the text. This outline should include more than just the three or four main headings; I want to see some subheadings within each of those main divisions, so that I will have a reasonably clear idea of how the paper is supposed to progress.

I encourage you to try your ideas out on one another and I also encourage you to consult with me before the proposal deadline if you think it will be helpful--either after class or by making an appointment to see me at some other time.