Aquinas sees the key elements of his ethics – happiness, law, virtue, and grace – as an interconnected whole. However, he seldom steps back to help his reader see how they actually fit together. In this book, Joseph Stenberg reconsiders the most fundamental ways in which Aquinas connects these major elements of his ethics. Stenberg presents a novel reading of Aquinas's account of individual happiness that is historically sound and philosophically interesting, according to which happiness is exclusively a matter of engaging in and enjoying genuinely good activities. He builds on that reading to offer an account of common happiness. He then shows that Aquinas defends a unique form of eudaimonism, Holistic Eudaimonism, which puts common happiness rather than individual happiness at the very heart of ethics, including at the heart of law, virtue, and grace. His book will appeal to anyone with an interest in Aquinas or the history of ethics.
By:
Joseph Stenberg (Colgate University New York)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 19mm
Weight: 642g
ISBN: 9781108478434
ISBN 10: 1108478433
Pages: 334
Publication Date: 21 August 2025
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Introduction; Part I. Aquinas on Individual Happiness: 1. Three kinds of perfectionism; 2. The heart of happiness: enjoying good activities; 3. Perfect happiness; 4. Natural imperfect happiness; 5. Graced imperfect happiness; Part II. Aquinas, Happiness, and the Unity of Ethics: 6. From individual happiness to common happiness; 7. Happiness and law; 8. Happiness and virtue; Conclusion; Bibliography of works by Thomas aquinas with abbreviations; General bibliography; Index.
Joseph Stenberg is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Colgate University. He has published a number of journal articles on Aquinas's ethics and on contemporary accounts of well-being.
