Compare And Contrast Thomas Aquinas On Being Goodness

1381 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays on Thomas Aquinas philosophy

Thomas Aquinas’ many-sided theory of goodness is that it can be found in all things in some way, and Christopher Hughes deeply explores this in his reading Aquinas on Being, Goodness, and God.
Aquinas believes the God is the ultimate good. He also does not think that God and mankind should be comparable in terms of moral virtues. God never has obligations or duties at mankind does when it comes to divine goodness.
The definition of “good” is not as black-and-white as approval and disapproval according to Aquinas. He defines “good” as more “enticing” or “desirable”. The most universal type of goodness is the idea that everything is good as everything is being.
On the other hand, Aquinas’ theory of evil, involves the absence of good. He admits that it is unreasonable to envisage a world where animals don’t eat other animals for example. While it’s not a perfect world, Aquinas believes that if God did make “the perfect world” then it would be vastly different to the world we live in. He also admits that some things flourish at the expense of others, which is not a form of evil.
Wilful evil is classified in the category of being, and harming someone is an example of this. This form of evil is certainly considered so by Aquinas, as opposed to natural evil or evil consequence. The example of harming someone is another person choosing not to act well, rather than that person being made to exist by God.
Absolute goodness is perfection, which mankind could strive for without every achieving so. Depriving goodness beyond existence would be considered evil characteristics because it’s lacking fullness …show more content…

Perhaps this is due to the idea of evil being good deprived of a being, and how interesting that is considering I had never thought of that

Show More
Related

  • Conflict Between God And Evil Essay

    2051 Words  | 5 Pages

    It is perhaps the most difficult intellectual challenge to a Christian how God and evil can both exist. Many of the greatest minds of the Christian church and intellects such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas spent their entire lives trying to solve this problem, and were unsuccessful (Erickson, 2009, p.439). However, this dilemma is not only an intellectual challenge, but it is emotional. Man feels it, lives it. Failing to identify the religious form of the problem of evil will appear insensitive; failure to address the theological form will seem intellectually insulting. This conundrum will never be completely met during our earthly life, but there are many biblical and philosophical resources that help mitigate it.

    Read More

  • Aquinas versus Anselm

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    Examining the two works against each other as if it were a debate makes it a bit clearer to compare. Aquinas, reveals his argument under the groundwork that there are essentially two methods of understanding the truth. One being that it can be surmised through reason an logic, and the other being via inner faith. On the surface at this point it could be argued that this ontological determination a bit less convoluted than Anselm, yet I tend to think it could be a bit more confusing. This is what leads him to the claim that the existence of God can be proven by reason alone or “a priori”. Stemming from this belief he formulated his Five Proofs or what he called the “Quinquae Viae”. The first of which is fairly simple based on the fact that something in motion had to have been moved. Agreeing that something set it in motion therefor there must have been a...

    Read More

  • Thomas Aquinas: Justifiable War and Killing

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    Among some of the subjects that Aquinas tackles in On Law, Morality, and Politics is the dilemma of War and Killing. Aquinas sums up the legality of war through three criteria: that the war waged is done by a legitimate authority, that the war is just because the enemy has done something grossly wrong, and the intention of the war is to solely right the wrong. Also we see Aquinas say that the killing of an innocent person is justified if God will's it.

    Read More

  • The Problem of Evil in the Judeo-Christian Tradition Depicted in Hicks' Philosophy of Religion

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the excerpt from Philosophy of Religion, John Hicks outlines the problem of evil as such:

    Read More

  • Night By Eliie Wiesel: The Problem Of Evil

    1434 Words  | 3 Pages

    The problem of evil arguably the most personal and haunting question in apologetics. No heart is untouched by the sting of another’s words and the ultimate display of evil, death. For some, like Elie Wiesel in his autobiography Night, the full scope of human evil is unbearably clear as they are faced with the full measure of human evil. This reality of evil often leads to two responses: “since there is evil, there cannot be a god” or “if there is a god, he cannot be loving or powerful, or worse, he enjoys evil.” By exploring the nature of evil, developing loving, Christian responses, and historical evils like the persecution of the Jews, the problem of evil and the hope depicted in scripture comes into focus.

    Read More

  • Deontology in Jim and the Indians

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nothing in the world – indeed even beyond the world – can possibly be conceived which could be called good with qualification except good will (Kant 61).

    Read More

  • Euthyphro Dialogue

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...good nor bad feels wrong to us. This is because, as the centre of our ethical system, God represents perfection and what humanity is meant to achieve. People simply wish to be good, and to be good means to become more like God, a central idea in a number of religions.

    Read More

  • The Accomplishments of Thomas Aquinas

    599 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever walked 9000 miles? Well Thomas Aquinas did on his travels across Europe. Thomas had a complex childhood and a complex career. Thomas Aquinas has many achievements/accomplishments. History would be totally different without St.Thomas Aquinas. There would be no common law and the United States Government would not be the same without the common law.

    Read More

  • Aquinas Rhetorical Structure

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    In accordance with thomistic structure, Aquinas presents a contrary statement which dovetails into his response. Aquinas begins by defining the ultimate end, which is something that fulfills all of human desire. The object of man’s intellect and will are the universal truth and the universal good. Therefore, only the universal good can satisfy man. All of creation only participates in good but is not the universal good itself. Naturally, it follows that no created good can satisfy man. Only God can satisfy him because He is the universal good and

    Read More

  • Good vs Evil in Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game

    1037 Words  | 3 Pages

    The lines that define good and evil are not written in black and white; these lines tend to blur into many shades of grey allowing good and evil to intermingle with each another in a single human being. Man is not inherently good or evil but they are born innocent without any values or sense of morality until people impart their philosophies of life to them. In the words of John Locke:

    Read More

  • Antigone Good Vs Evil Essay

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    Is it likely attainable to be a doubtlessly good person, achieving the needs of every person thrown into one’s path? When referring to the two literary works, Antigone and The Good Person of Szechwan, it is utterly impossible to achieve this “goodness” primarily because both works, “good” is expected to be completely unflawed. The ancient philosophy of the Yin-Yang comes to mind when determining these books’ interpretations of goodness. According to the Yin-Yang, there must be a balance, a balance between the good and the bad. There is always bad in the good and good in the bad, allowing for constant stability in life. In both, Antigone and The Good Person of Szechwan, the characters’ definition of goodness is unable to be obtained due

    Read More

  • Comparing Erikson's View Of Goodness

    327 Words  | 1 Pages

    In attempt to integrate an individual’s goodness as a Christian versus Erikson’s view of goodness in people, I will begin with how God says there are none good besides Himself. This is because of our fallen state as humans and because we are sinful, there is always going to be a ratio of good to bad within us. The bad will always outweigh the good because we are sinful, prideful, and fallen. However, this is not to say that we cannot have goodness in us or be “good” Christians. It just means that we have to recognize that we cannot be innately good - only God can. This correlates to Erikson’s view of basic strengths and weaknesses because he argued that they exist in people as ratios (Evans, 1967). For example, you cannot achieve industry

    Read More

  • St. Thomas Aquinas’ First Two Ways in Proving the Existence of God

    5036 Words  | 11 Pages

    It is my view that God exists, and I think that Aquinas’ first two ways presents a

    Read More

  • A Person Being Good Essay: What Makes A Person Right?

    750 Words  | 2 Pages

    There is an incredibly thin line between what makes a person good and what makes a person right. A person being right is something that’s controversial; you can choose what you want because it’s your opinion. A person being good is something that no one gets a say in; all people are good. It’s hard to see that because people skewer the image of other people when they think that person did something wrong. We are judged more by our actions than by our intentions. In reality, our intentions are all that matter.

    Read More

  • Aquinas And Augustine Similarities

    1318 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aquinas and Augustine's showed their philosophies ,that were derived ancient philosophers, when they spoke of faith and reason, both of them tried to get there point out in there own way. Aquinas and Augustine both had one goal and and that was too prove that Christianity was somehow intertwined with philosophy and Both of them did just that, many people may or may not agree with these philosophies but it just depends on the type of person you are. Many people like to live off fact and know for certain, but like Aquinas and Augustine we all have our own philosophies, we choose what to believe and what not to believe. We are not machines nor are we controlled by one. We are after all humans and have free will, what we want to believe in is ours for the

    Read More

More about Compare And Contrast Thomas Aquinas On Being Goodness

Open Document