A Thomistic Approach to the Good Life | Prof. George Corbett

The Thomistic Institute

Christianity, Society & Culture, Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Catholic, Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality, Thomism, Catholicism

4.8 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2024

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Professor George Corbett presents a comprehensive overview of Thomas Aquinas's approach to ethics and the good life, emphasizing its centrality, goal-oriented nature, and focus on human nature and happiness. He explains how Aquinas's approach combines virtue ethics with an understanding of law and grace, emphasizing the pursuit of happiness through friendship with God. Corbett also highlights Aquinas's realistic view of sin and evil, his common-sense approach to emotions, and the empowering nature of his ethical framework for personal transformation.

This lecture was given on July 10th, 2024, at Stonyhurst College.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

About the Speaker:

George Corbett is Professor of Theology, School of Divinity, University of St Andrews. Prior to joining the School of Divinity in 2015, he held positions as Junior Research Fellow in Philosophy, Trinity College, and Affiliated Lecturer, University of Cambridge, where he taught English literature, Italian literature, and theology. He received his BA (double first), MPhil (distinction), and PhD (AHRC-funded) from the University of Cambridge. He also studied in Pisa (as an Erasmus-Socrates exchange scholar at La Scuola Normale Superiore), Rome (Institutum Pontificium Alterioris Latinitatis), and Montella (Vivarium Novum).

Prof. Corbett directs CEPHAS (a Thomistic Centre for Philosophy and Scholastic Theology), TheoArtistry (a project linking up theologians and artists), and co-directs the collaborative MLitt in Sacred Music.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to the Tomistic Institute podcast.
0:06.8	Our mission is to promote the Catholic intellectual tradition in the university, the church, and the wider public square.
0:13.1	The lectures on this podcast are organized by university students at Temistic Institute chapters around the world.
0:19.1	To learn more and to attend these events, visit us
0:22.2	at Thomisticinstitute.org. A to mystic approach to the good life. What I'm going to do in this
0:30.1	first talk is to try to introduce in just an hour a to mystic approach to the good life. And when I was preparing for this,
0:41.2	I started thinking about what seemed to me to be some core features of Aquinas' ethics,
0:49.6	core features that characterize it, some of its fundamental principles. So these are my reflections as part of
0:56.5	a conversation with you over the coming days. But going forward, there are plenty of other
1:01.9	resources to explore the domestic account of the good life further. And we can discuss some of those
1:07.7	in the concluding session, perhaps. So, just as there are for Aquinas,
1:12.7	seven key virtues, the three theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, and the four
1:17.9	cardinal virtues of prudence, temperance, justice and courage, and seven capital vices,
1:23.7	pride, envy, wrath, sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust. So in structuring my talk, I've come up with seven reflections and even seven key words
1:33.5	to describe, to provide reflections about this to mystic approach to the good life.
1:40.1	So I'm suggesting that Aquinas' ethics is central.
1:45.4	It's central to his thought as a whole.
1:48.2	I'm going to talk about it being tebological, goal-driven.
1:52.8	I'm going to reflect on it also being deontological, law-based.
1:56.9	I'm going to emphasize that it's anthropological.
2:01.5	It relates to our nature as particular kinds of animals, as human beings,
2:07.4	and that it's good focus that it releases true human freedom.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Thomistic Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Thomistic Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.