Book contents
- Aquinas and the Ethics of Happiness
- Aquinas and the Ethics of Happiness
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Aquinas on Individual Happiness
- Part II Aquinas, Happiness, and the Unity of Ethics
- Chapter 6 From Individual Happiness to Common Happiness
- Chapter 7 Happiness and Law
- Chapter 8 Happiness and Virtue
- Conclusion
- Bibliography of Works by Thomas Aquinas with Abbreviations
- General Bibliography
- Index
Conclusion
Aquinas, the Ethics of Happiness, and Why It Matters
from Part II - Aquinas, Happiness, and the Unity of Ethics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 August 2025
Book contents
- Aquinas and the Ethics of Happiness
- Aquinas and the Ethics of Happiness
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Aquinas on Individual Happiness
- Part II Aquinas, Happiness, and the Unity of Ethics
- Chapter 6 From Individual Happiness to Common Happiness
- Chapter 7 Happiness and Law
- Chapter 8 Happiness and Virtue
- Conclusion
- Bibliography of Works by Thomas Aquinas with Abbreviations
- General Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Because the full reconstruction emerges piecemeal over the course of the study, this chapter starts by summarizing the most fundamental ways in which Aquinas connects the big-picture elements of his ethics through his understanding of happiness, both individual and common. The chapter then offers reasons for thinking that Aquinas’s ethics of happiness is still worth taking seriously today. In particular, it focuses on three illustrative aspects that make Aquinas’s ethical views distinctive and appealing. The first is Aquinas’s account of the nature of happiness and how that account fits into his broader understanding of well-being. The second is Aquinas’s account of the relationship between the right and the good. The third is Aquinas’s account of the most comprehensive role that virtue plays in ethics and human life.
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- Aquinas and the Ethics of Happiness , pp. 258 - 273Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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