Publications

This dissertation includes an introduction, five main chapters, and a conclusion.In the chapter “The Definition of Change” (2), I expound Aquinas’ account of change. I maintain that Aquinas’ account is meant to describe both spiritual and material changes. Hence, the hylomorphic account of change as the passage from form-less matter to enformed matter is unable to describe all changes. Contrary to Brower (2014), I suggest that Aquinas’ favorite ...

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) famously distinguishes between perfect and imperfect happiness. Both types of happiness lie in the perfection of human nature, but perfect happiness is possible only in the afterlife through the vision of God's essence, whereas imperfect happiness is possible even in this life, be it through intellectual virtue and the contemplative life or moral virtue and the active life. This life's imperfect happiness is the focus ...

This article presents two case-studies that shed light on the silent yet significant role an editor might play in the reception of Renaissance texts and the place of Thomas Aquinas therein. Both studies take up texts from fifteenth-century Italy. The first addresses the scholastic philosopher, Dominic of Flanders, suggesting that Dominic’s originality as a thinker may have been ‘corrected’ by an anonymous editor in order to maintain closer ...

In this article I first provide an analysis of Aquinas's accounts of his philosophical predecessors and of their reasoning for their positions together with his critical rejection of their views asserting in various ways that human intellect or intellective soul is one for all human beings. This makes clear his own impressive depth of understanding of his sources as well as his sophisticated critical insights into arguments relevant to the ...

The text of Aquinas' action theory, ST, I-II, 1-21, has traditionally been interpreted in Roman Catholic Moral Theology with an emphasis upon the object of human action as the main focal point. This study attempts to demonstrate, on the basis of the structure and division of the text, that the priciple emphasis given by Aquinas to determine the meaning and moral status of human activity is not what is chosen as behaviour but rather the end that ...

The paper attempts to tackle the question of the relevance of emotions in theological ethics. It argues that emotions are discerning and thus inherent components of morality and they deserve a place in ethical projects that want to be adequate. The paper engages into a conversation with Martha C. Nussbaum and Thomas Aquinas. Specifically, it presents accounts of compassion and anger to illustrate the discerning nature of these emotions and the ...

© Russell L. Friedman 2010. How can the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be distinct and yet identical? Prompted by the doctrine of the divine Trinity, this question sparked centuries of lively debate. In the current context of renewed interest in Trinitarian theology, Russell L. Friedman provides the first survey of the scholastic discussion of the Trinity in the 100-year period stretching from Thomas Aquinas’ earliest works to William ...