Patrick Downey
Professor
Philosophy Dept.
St. Mary’s College of CA
pdowney@stmarys-ca.edu
Office Phone 925 631-4455
Home Phone 925 406-4317
Catholic Moral Thought
Course Description: This course will provide an introduction to Catholic moral thinking, and
then examine that thinking as applied in central papal encyclicals such as Paul VII’s Humane
Vitae and John Paul II’s Veritatis Splendor. We will ground this thinking in Aristotle’s
understanding of human nature, and then see how it was integrated into a specifically Christian
moral understanding by Thomas Aquinas. McInerny’s Ethica Thomistica will prove our guide in
this venture, but what he will guide us to is a confident reading of two papal encyclicals that
speak to the central Catholic morals issues of our day such as marriage, chastity, abortion, birth
control, euthanasia, and the death penalty. At the end of the 4th week I will give a take home
exam to be returned the next meeting.
Texts:
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Bartlett and Collins, Chicago Press
Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae
Veritatis Splendor
Ralph McInerny, Ethica Thomistica:The Moral Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas
Pope Paul VII, Humane Vitae
Calendar
February 8, 2014
9:00-10:20
Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics Book I
10:35-11:30
Ralph McInerny Ethica Thomistica Preface, pp. 1-34
March 8, 2014
9:00-10:20
Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics Book II, Book VII, chapter 8
10:35-11:30
Ralph McInerny Ethica Thomistica pp. 35-76
April 12, 2014
9:00-10:20
Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics Book VI, Book X, chapters 7-9
Aquinas ST I q.1 a.1
10:35-11:30
Ralph McInerny Ethica Thomistica pp. 77-122
May 10, 2014
9:00-10:20
Veritatus Splendor §1-53
10:35-11:30
Veritatus Splendor § 54-120
Take Home Exam
June 14, 2014
9:00-10:20
Aquinas, ST IaIIae, q. 94
10:35-11:30
Humanae Vitae