Love of self and love of God in thirteenth-century ethics
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Love of self and love of God in thirteenth-century ethics
University of Notre Dame Press, c2005
- : pbk
Available at 3 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Duke University
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In this book, Thomas M. Osborne, Jr., covers an important, but often neglected, aspect of medieval ethics, namely the controversy over whether or not it is possible to love God more than oneself through natural powers alone. In debating this topic, thirteenth-century philosophers and theologians introduced a high level of sophistication to the study of how one's own good is achieved through virtuous action.
The central issue for medieval scholars was how to adapt Aristotle's philosophical insights to a Christian framework. For Christians, loving God above all else was their central ethical duty. Most ancient and medieval Christians were also committed to eudaimonism, or the view that one's good is always maximized through virtuous action. The tension between these two aspects of Christian ethics reached its highest point in philosophical discussions about whether God can be naturally loved more than oneself. Osborne provides a history of these debates, based on a close analysis of primary texts, clarifies the concepts that are most important for understanding eudaimonism, and argues that the central difference between the ethical theories of such great thinkers as Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus is not about morality and self-interest, but rather about the relationship between ethics and natural inclination.
The arguments raised by the thirteenth-century philosophers and texts discussed in this book have important implications for natural law theories and virtue ethics and are essential for understanding the shift to modern moral theories. Love of Self and Love of God in Thirteenth-Century Ethics will be invaluable to philosophers and theologians, particularly those concerned with medieval philosophy, moral psychology, the history of ideas, and ethics.
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