Reclaiming the Virtues: Lawful Living According to Thomas Aquinas

Some might object that that Aquinas’s conception of virtue is wholly incompatible with the Lutheran view of good works. After all, if faith is a necessary condition for good works and true virtue, in what sense can we speak of moral virtues that are attainable through one’s natural powers, especially in the case of those who reject Christ? Gerhard provides a straightforward solution. Even though only good works done in faith are spiritually good, the works of the unregenerate can still be deemed “morally and civilly good.” We can still consider their deeds and virtues “according to the substance of the act,” which is exactly the analysis that Aquinas provides. Even if the efficient, impulsive, and final causes of the works of the regenerate and unregenerate differ, the analysis of virtue according to the substance of the act remains the same.

PhilosophyWilliam GreenJune 17, 2024aquinas, virtue, ethics, virtue ethics

Abortion as a Freedom

The worst harm from the decades of legalized abortion in the United States is probably the millions of dead human beings that none of us ever got to know. But I would argue, almost as bad has been the entrapment practiced on millions of women who found themselves unexpectedly in a tight spot, with an innocent new life suddenly blocking the way between them and their dreams, who had no externally enforced standards to keep them from taking the easy way out, and just rolling over it. If this life isn’t developed enough to say, “Don’t tread on me,” does it count when I do? “No,” the laws told them. “It doesn’t.

Politics, PhilosophyEric PhillipsJune 3, 2024ethics

Feminine Fortitude: Reflections on a Cardinal Virtue

It would be wrong, however, to imply that fortitude is, in any way, an exclusively masculine virtue. This is where the claim that “fortitude means ‘to act like men’” requires careful qualification. Some species of fortitude are necessary for feminine vocations. Not only that, but some expressions of fortitude are only possible in feminine vocations, as we demonstrated above with motherhood. To be a good mother is to be patient. To be a good daughter is to be persevering.

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