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Virtù esemplari. L’etica tommasiana tra neoplatonismo e aristotelismo
Vaccarezza, Maria Silvia
2018
Abstract
This paper offers an historical analysis of the role of moral exemplarity in Thomas
Aquinas‟ thought, in order to contribute to the current discussion on moral Exemplarism.
First, I will argue that, by combining Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism, Aquinas‟ ethics
amounts to a peculiar exemplarist theory of the virtues. The Aristotelian emphasis on the
phronimos, combined with the Neoplatonic exitus -reditus conceptual schema, results – I
will argue – in an account of the degrees of virtue which grounds a form of theological
exemplarism. Then, I will claim that, in order to make sense of Aristotle‟s own ethical
dynamism, an understanding of the development of virtue by degrees is needed. By means
of such an understanding, I will show that the distance separating Aquinas‟ and Aristotle‟s
account of virtue development significantly reduces. Thanks to this analysis, I will finally
support a model of virtue development grounded both in moral exemplarity and in an
ideal of dynamic unity of the virtues.
Publisher
EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste
Source
Maria Silvia Vaccarezza, "Virtù esemplari. L’etica tommasiana tra neoplatonismo e aristotelismo", in "Etica & Politica / Ethics & Politics (2018) XX/2", Trieste, EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2018, pp. 15-30
Languages
it
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internazionale
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