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Chapter 7 - Happiness and Law

from Part II - Aquinas, Happiness, and the Unity of Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2025

Joseph Stenberg
Affiliation:
Colgate University, New York
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Summary

This chapter explains the many ways in which individual happiness and common happiness are related to Aquinas’s account of law, both generally and with respect to some particular laws. The chapter begins by arguing that, by its very nature, every genuine law orders the things under it to the common happiness of some community or other. It then argues that, according to Aquinas, moral laws order us to common happiness by outlining universal and absolute rules that must be followed in order to fully realize common happiness. Unlike many have thought, then, Aquinas holds that our moral obligations are fundamentally determined by facts about which norms must be followed in order to realize common happiness, not individual happiness. That is the second element of his Holistic Eudaimonism. On the other hand, when it comes to civil laws, the chapter argues that Aquinas advocates a kind of top-down, restricted rule-consequentialism with common happiness as its goal.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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  • Happiness and Law
  • Joseph Stenberg, Colgate University, New York
  • Book: Aquinas and the Ethics of Happiness
  • Online publication: 07 August 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108777728.010
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  • Happiness and Law
  • Joseph Stenberg, Colgate University, New York
  • Book: Aquinas and the Ethics of Happiness
  • Online publication: 07 August 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108777728.010
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Happiness and Law
  • Joseph Stenberg, Colgate University, New York
  • Book: Aquinas and the Ethics of Happiness
  • Online publication: 07 August 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108777728.010
Available formats
×