Book contents
- Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on Happinessand Ultimate Purpose
- Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on Happiness and Ultimate Purpose
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Analytical Table of Contents
- Ante Studium (Before Study)
- Epigraph
- Commentator’s Introduction
- General Prologue of St. Thomas Aquinas to the Treatiseon Happiness and Ultimate Purpose
- Question 1 Man’s Ultimate Purpose
- St. Thomas’s Prologue to Question 1 Man’s Ultimate Purpose
- Question 1, Article 1 Whether it belongs to man to act for an end?
- Question 1, Article 2 Whether it is proper to the rational nature to act for an end?
- Question 1, Article 3 Whether human acts are specified by their end?
- Question 1, Article 4 Whether there is one last end of human life?
- Question 1, Article 5 Whether one man can have several last ends?
- Question 1, article 6 Whether man will all, whatsoever he wills, for the last end?
- Question 1, article 7 Whether all men have the same last end?
- Question 1, article 8 Whether other creatures concur in that last end?
- Question 2 Where Does Complete Happiness Lie? Failed Candidates
- Question 3 What Then Is Complete Happiness In Itself, And In What Does It Really Lie?
- Question 4 What Complete Happiness Requires
- Question 5 How Complete Happiness Is Finally Attained
- Afterword So What Is Our Ultimate Purpose? What Is Happiness?
- Index
Question 1, Article 5 - Whether one man can have several last ends?
from Question 1 - Man’s Ultimate Purpose
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 October 2020
- Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on Happinessand Ultimate Purpose
- Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on Happiness and Ultimate Purpose
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Analytical Table of Contents
- Ante Studium (Before Study)
- Epigraph
- Commentator’s Introduction
- General Prologue of St. Thomas Aquinas to the Treatiseon Happiness and Ultimate Purpose
- Question 1 Man’s Ultimate Purpose
- St. Thomas’s Prologue to Question 1 Man’s Ultimate Purpose
- Question 1, Article 1 Whether it belongs to man to act for an end?
- Question 1, Article 2 Whether it is proper to the rational nature to act for an end?
- Question 1, Article 3 Whether human acts are specified by their end?
- Question 1, Article 4 Whether there is one last end of human life?
- Question 1, Article 5 Whether one man can have several last ends?
- Question 1, article 6 Whether man will all, whatsoever he wills, for the last end?
- Question 1, article 7 Whether all men have the same last end?
- Question 1, article 8 Whether other creatures concur in that last end?
- Question 2 Where Does Complete Happiness Lie? Failed Candidates
- Question 3 What Then Is Complete Happiness In Itself, And In What Does It Really Lie?
- Question 4 What Complete Happiness Requires
- Question 5 How Complete Happiness Is Finally Attained
- Afterword So What Is Our Ultimate Purpose? What Is Happiness?
- Index
Summary
Although St. Thomas always tries to meet his opponents at their highest point, it may at first seem that the Objections in this Article seem rather silly. I don’t think he would deny that. Thinking that a single person can have more than one independent ultimate goal is like thinking that one can have one’s cake and eat it: To make it appear plausible, one must descent to even sillier suppositions. Yet there is much more to St. Thomas’s analysis than saying “Don’t be silly,” for questions from people who “don’t get it” are often the most difficult and challenging to answer. One may have to go right down to the foundations of thought in order to identify the mistake.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020