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Thomas Aquinas on Natural Inclinations: Metaphysical Background, Philosophical Anthropology, and Relation to Goods and Precepts
Matchulat, Justin
2021-12
Abstract
How and why does a being’s nature relate to what is good for it? Thomas Aquinas provides an account such that a being’s nature endows it with powers and natural inclinations – tendencies, strivings, directednesses – for the very goods that constitute a flourishing life for beings of that nature. In this essay, I aim to present, elucidate, and motivate Aquinas’s rich and nuanced thought on natural inclinations and how it illuminates some of his key views in metaphysics, philosophical anthropology, and ethics. I first provide the background in Aquinas’s philosophical psychology and metaphysics, including his natural theology. Next, I take up the objection that evolutionary theory renders Aquinas’s thought on these matters obsolete. I then consider the natural inclinations of human beings, and specifically how these natural inclinations relate to practical cognition of basic goods and precepts.
Part of
Esercizi Filosofici 16, 2 (2021)
Publisher
EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste
Source
Justin Matchulat, "Thomas Aquinas on Natural Inclinations: Metaphysical Background, Philosophical Anthropology, and Relation to Goods and Precepts", in "Esercizi Filosofici" 16, 2021, pp. 111-137
Languages
en
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internazionale
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Matchulat-J-2021=Esercizi Filosofici-16.2=pp111-137.pdf
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342.49 KB