St. Thomas Aquinas on Impairment, Natural Goods, and Human Flourishing

The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 20 (2):311-328 (2020)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This essay examines St. Thomas Aquinas’s views on different types of impairment. Aquinas situates physical and moral impairments in a teleological account of the human species, and these impairments are made relative in light of our ultimate flourishing in God. For Aquinas, moral and spiritual impairments are of primary significance. Drawing on Philippa Foot’s account of natural goods, we describe what constitutes an impairment for Aquinas. In the Thomistic sense, an impairment is a lack or privation in relation to that which is appropriate to the human being, known by our nature and ultimate perfection. For Aquinas, perfection lies in the transformation necessary for union with God.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 93,590

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Thomas Aquinas and the New Natural Law Theory on the Object of the Human Act.Kevin L. Flannery - 2013 - The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 13 (1):79-104.
St. Thomas Aquinas and the Natural Law.Steven A. Long - 2023 - The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 23 (4):577-601.
Perfection in death: the Christological dimension of courage in Aquinas.Patrick Mahaney Clark - 2015 - Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press.
St. Thomas and the Naturalistic Fallacy.Michael Augros & Christopher Oleson - 2013 - The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 13 (4):637-661.
A Thomistic, Non-Ableist Conception of Impairment and Disability.Bryan R. Cross - 2020 - The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 20 (2):233-242.

Analytics

Added to PP
2020-11-17

Downloads
23 (#160,613)

6 months
9 (#1,260,759)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

John Berkman
Regis College

Citations of this work

Disability, Enhancement, and Flourishing.Jason T. Eberl - 2022 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 47 (5):597-611.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references