Phil 43148 01  CRN: 27092  Aquinas on Virtue and Law  3:00-4:15 MW

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 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.