{"title":"Responsibility for the Effects of our Actions in a Global Society: A Thomistic Approach","authors":"Jordan McFadden","doi":"10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0549","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0549","url":null,"abstract":"As contemporary ethical discourse has highlighted, due to the world’s increasing connectedness, everyday actions can contribute to harmful consequences far removed from everyday experience. I argue that Aquinas’s treatment of consequences can give us insight into our responsibility for such effects of our actions on a global scale. In particular, Aquinas recognises that we are responsible for per accidens effects of good actions performed negligently. Even an unintended per accidens effect may follow with a degree of likelihood that makes it foreseeable, even if not actually foreseen; thus the agent is responsible if he fails to take steps to prevent the negative per accidens effect from occurring. I argue that certain global effects of our actions fit this pattern, namely, they are per accidens effects that nonetheless follow from our actions with a high degree of likelihood. Thus, we have a responsibility to take steps to prevent them.","PeriodicalId":36725,"journal":{"name":"Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135314769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Becoming and Being a Person through Others: African Philosophy’s Ubuntu and Aquinas’ mutual Indwelling in Comparative Discourse","authors":"Callum David Scott","doi":"10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0749","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0749","url":null,"abstract":"African Philosophy and St Thomas Aquinas have both been taught in African universities, but the engagement between the continent’s indigenous philosophical tradition and the Catholic intellectual tradition’s preeminent strand, has not been thorough. Presupposing that plural philosophical traditions contribute to the search to better understand, this research embarks upon a comparative analysis of the perspectives of the African ubuntu philosophy and Thomist philosophical conceptualisations of human becoming and being. Through analysis of dimensions of both traditions, it is contended that human fulness arises through relationality. It is argued that in centring on the interpersonal encounter and the consequent recognition of another’s being through mutual engagement, these philosophical traditions open to each other. Further, both traditions contribute toward the ontology of personhood in ubuntu and the good of mutual indwelling, respectively.","PeriodicalId":36725,"journal":{"name":"Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia","volume":"135 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135314864","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Aquinas and the Geopolitical Thinking of Pope Francis","authors":"Graham James McAller","doi":"10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0531","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0531","url":null,"abstract":"This scientific article explores the notion of a Christian geopolitics and its compatibility with realpolitik and international relations. The analysis delves into the perspectives of Pope Francis, John Mearsheimer, and Catholic social thought principles to examine the moral implications of geopolitical strategies. Mearsheimer’s bait and bleed strategy in Ukraine is critiqued for its callousness and disregard for human life, while Francis’s emphasis on personal and social reform highlights the importance of ethics and the universal destination of goods. The article questions whether Christians can engage in realpolitik strategies that perpetuate poverty and violate the principles of human dignity and mercy. It further considers the implications for Catholic leaders in government and military roles, particularly in the context of upcoming U.S. presidential contenders. The analysis ultimately challenges the notion that a Christian geopolitics is a category mistake, advocating for a higher moral road in international relations.","PeriodicalId":36725,"journal":{"name":"Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135315352","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Das Wesen der menschlichen Handlung bei Thomas von Aquin","authors":"Christopher Alexander Franke, Joelma Carvalho","doi":"10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0479","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0479","url":null,"abstract":"The distinction between actus humanus and actus hominis is the best-known distinction in Thomas Aquinas’ theory of action. A human action (actus humanus) is a special case of an act of a human being (actus hominis). Several acts of our intellect and will form a human action and thereby put it from the realm of pure natural happenings (genus naturae) into the moral realm (genus moris). The paper at hand shows the character and main parameters of Thomas Aquinas’ action theory, especially in the Summa theologiae I-II, quaestiones 6-17. Moreover, it presents Thomas Aquinas’ central idea of what is the essence of a human action. The analysis especially makes use of the element of command (imperium) It shows that, according to Aquinas, acting consists in the intellectually comprehensible self-disclosure of a person and therefore builds the basis for the moral evaluation of human actions.","PeriodicalId":36725,"journal":{"name":"Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia","volume":"143 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135315355","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Living Well without Knowledge: Uncertainty in the Moral Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas","authors":"Joshua P. Hochschild","doi":"10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0405","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0405","url":null,"abstract":"Thomists typically emphasize and defend Aquinas’s “realist” approach to knowledge as an alternative to modern skepticism, but Aquinas is attuned to the common experience of uncertainty, and gives principled reasons for the limits of knowledge across various domains, including especially in the realm of human action. Virtue in general, and Thomistic practical wisdom specifically, can be understood as a habit for responsibly managing choice in the face of imperfect knowledge, unpredictable circumstances, and risk. Several modern specialized disciplines – especially economics, psychology, and various applied social sciences – have highlighted interesting questions about uncertainty and its practical significance, especially in evaluating risk. Emphasizing the role of uncertainty in life is thus not only an invitation for Thomists to notice neglected aspects of Aquinas’s thought, but an opportunity to bring Aquinas’s writings into conversations in other disciplines. Catholic social teaching presents a particularly promising area to engage and learn from those other disciplines in the ongoing elaboration of Thomistic thought.","PeriodicalId":36725,"journal":{"name":"Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia","volume":"133 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135315361","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Eternidade do Mundo e Evolução: Duas Questões e uma Análise de tipo Tomista","authors":"Maria Leonor Xavier","doi":"10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0285","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0285","url":null,"abstract":"This essay was born out of two astonishments: an admiration and a perplexity. On the one hand, this essay was born out of our admiration for the text of the question De aeternitate mundi, written by St. Thomas Aquinas in the full maturity of his thought (1271). It is a philosophically exemplary text, in terms of construction and discernment, in which the author argues that there is no contradiction between the theology of creation and the possibility of an eternal world, in accordance with Aristotelian physics. On the other hand, we were also motivated by our perplexity with the difficulty that even today the Christian faith in creation experiences in dealing with the Darwinian theory of evolution. It occurred to us, then, to elaborate a question of evolution, entirely analogous, in construction and in discernment, to the question of the eternity of the world, as it had been thought of by St. Thomas Aquinas. Thus, we also argue here that there is no contradiction between the theology of creation and the possibility of a world in evolution, according to Darwin’s biological theory. And we do this by following the structure of the Thomasian question step by step.","PeriodicalId":36725,"journal":{"name":"Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia","volume":"143 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135314774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘Natural Inclinations’ in Aquinas and his Modern Interpreters","authors":"Tom Angier","doi":"10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0261","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, I tackle Aquinas’s notion of ‘natural inclinations’, specifically as it occurs in his seminal elaboration of the natural law in Summa Theologiae I-II. Question 94. Article 2. Maintaining that it constitutes a departure from Aristotle’s terminology, and is hence puzzling, I go on to investigate a raft of modern, mainly Anglophone, interpretations of the concept. Beginning with Jacques Maritain, I move through the broadly chronological sequence of John Finnis, Jean Porter, Steven Jensen, Justin Matchulat and Stephen Brock. In each case, I argue that – despite these scholars’ philosophical ingenuity and textual facility – there are crucial problems with their respective approaches and construals. I end the paper by outlining my own construal of ‘natural inclinations’, which, even if not bolstered by heavy textual scholarship, is at least coherent and, moreover, avoids the philosophical pitfalls of the above interpretations.","PeriodicalId":36725,"journal":{"name":"Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135314775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fine-tuning and the Afterlife in Aquinas","authors":"Mirela Oliva","doi":"10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0233","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0233","url":null,"abstract":"Does the fine-tuning of the universe for life continue in the afterlife? Aquinas would answer yes. In his view, the cosmic conditions post-apocalypse are set to support the resurrected body and the sensible knowledge of God’s majesty as reflected in the renewed material creature. The renewed universe is, thus, fine-tuned for immortal human life. In the first part, I present Aquinas’ version of fine-tuning, referring to earthly life and the afterlife. I distinguish between two modes of fine-tuning: organic and cognitive. In the second part, I analyze the characteristics of the universe post-apocalypse in connection with the resurrected body in general and the qualities of the blessed body in particular.","PeriodicalId":36725,"journal":{"name":"Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia","volume":"133 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135314778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The 700th Anniversary of the Canonization of Thomas Aquinas: A Legacy of Wisdom","authors":"Ricardo Barroso Batista, Bruno Nobre","doi":"10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0807","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0807","url":null,"abstract":"The current year of 2023 marks the 700th anniversary of the canonization of Thomas Aquinas (1323-2023), a key figure in Western philosophy and Christian theology. This commemorative evocation seeks to honor Aquinas by examining his monumental contributions to various domains of knowledge, highlighting his methodological rigor, and outlining the enduring relevance of his work for contemporary philosophical and theological discourse.","PeriodicalId":36725,"journal":{"name":"Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135314862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Aristóteles y Santo Tomás: la virtud de la magnanimidad","authors":"Margarita Mauri","doi":"10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0429","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17990/rpf/2023_79_1_0429","url":null,"abstract":"In Nicomachean Ethics IV Aristotle exposes the characteristics of the moral virtue of the μεγαλοψυχία and offers a detailed description of the conditions of the magnanimous. St. Thomas in his commentary on Ethics follows the Aristotelian text apparently without disagreeing with the Greek author, and completes this exposition with other texts found in the Summa Theologica. The aim of this paper is to highlight the differences, if there are any, between the Aristotelian conception of the μεγαλοψυχία and that of Saint Thomas, considering also whether the virtue of humility that appears in the Thomist texts can be equated to the vice of the pusillanimity of which Aristotle speaks.","PeriodicalId":36725,"journal":{"name":"Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135314869","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}