The Virtue of Thomas Aquinas and Machiavelli
An investigation and exposition
The author's goal in this essay is to evaluate the definition of virtue according to Aquinas and compare/contrast that with Machiavellian virtue. Following this evaluation the author will attempt to discredit Machiavellian virtue as being shallow and impossible. Relying on question 55 from the Summa Theologiae and various chapters from The Prince, the author hopes to lay a solid and concrete argument against Machiavelli.
It is insufficient to write of Aquinas without first mentioning Aristotle and the relationship Thomas Aquinas had with his work. Aristotle writes at great length of the human good. The good for man, according to Aristotle, is an active use of those faculties which separate man from the rest of nature, namely reason and will, which are distinct from lower faculties such as feeling or reaction. One principle that deeply influenced Aquinas was Aristotle's theory that the moral......
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Approximate Word Count: 2610
Approximate Pages: 11 (260 words per double-spaced page) |