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
St. Thomas’s Prologue to Question 1 - Man’s Ultimate Purpose
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
From a Thomistic point of view, those who say that happiness is not the ultimate purpose, or that happiness is not an end in itself, are usually making at least one of two mistakes. Either they are confusing happiness with pleasure, and saying that pleasure is not an end in itself, which is true; why pleasure cannot be our ultimate purpose is explained in Question 2, Article 6. Or else they are failing to distinguish the ultimate purpose in the sense of the thing itself that is to be attained (which is God) with the ultimate purpose in the sense of the attainment or enjoyment of that thing; this distinction is discussed in Question 1, Article 8, Question 2, Article 7, and Question 3, Article 1.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020