Liebe als Affekt und Tugend. Reflexionen über eine komplexe Denkfigur bei Thomas von Aquin

Aquinas takes love to be both a passion and a virtue. Love as a virtue comprises both the acquired ethical virtue of friendship and the theological virtue of charity, which is a divine gift. Yet at the same time, Aquinas also insists that no passion is a virtue. The apparent tension between the two claims can be resolved once we are prepared to interpret 'love' as a concept with different but analogous meanings. In this paper, this claim is argued for in two steps. First, it is shown that this reading is in line with what Aquinas actually says about love as a passion and a virtue. Second, the explanatory power of such a conception of love is shown by comparing it to Nussbaum's univocal notion of love.

ISBN:978-3-658-17873-4

Publication year:2018

Accessibility:Closed