RT Article
T1 Ordering Reasons, Mediating Virtues: How and Why Thomas Aquinas Affirmed the Compatibility of Acquired and Infused Moral Virtue
JF Studies in Christian ethics
VO 36
IS 2
SP 323
OP 349
A1 Decosimo, Joseph David 1979-
LA English
PB Sage
YR 2023
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1846965128
AB How should we conceive the interplay of nature and grace in Christian ethical life when it comes to the virtues? How did Thomas Aquinas conceive it? For Thomas, grace-given, infused moral virtues can use virtues acquired by habituation, ‘commanding’ their own proper act with its distinct, subordinate proper end and ‘referring’ or ‘mediating’ that act to beatitude. These diverse species of virtue effect distinct movements of will, practical reason, and passion answering to our distinct reasons for acting and the complex relations between those reasons. The role a virtue plays in our lives is distinct from what it produces in the world. This article elucidates, defends, and illustrates this vision, showing how it coheres with and illumines ethical life and why Thomas endorsed it, answering opponents who claim infused virtues replace acquired virtues, in fact or function, and showing non-specialists what is at stake in this debate.
K1 Thomas Aquinas
K1 nature and grace
K1 Action theory
K1 acquired virtue
K1 Christian ethical life
K1 infused moral virtue
DO 10.1177/09539468231154783