Study Questions for Thomas Aquinas
Summa Contra Gentiles, pp. 202-216

in Cahn and Markie, eds., Ethics (2009)

by Dr. Jan Garrett

Revised July 21, 2010

Please consult the accompanying web page, Thomist Vocabulary [=TV].

Numbers in brackets correspond to the section divisions within specific chapters in the text.

1. State some of the key reasoning behind Thomas' claim that every agent acts for an end. (Book III, ch. 2) (See TV "agent," "end.")

Note the differences between actions that aim at products and actions in which the agent's inclination terminates in action itself. [2]

What error does Thomas attribute to the ancient natural philosophers? [10]

2. State some of the key reasoning behind Thomas' claim that every agent acts for a good. (ch. 3) (See TV "good")

3. Why does Thomas say that the end of every intellectual substance is to understand God? (ch. 25) (See TV "intellectual substance" and "understanding.")

4. Why does Thomas deny that "felicity" consists in an act of the will? (ch. 26) (See TV "felicity" and "will.")

5. Why does Thomas deny that human "felicity" consists in pleasures of the flesh? (ch. 27) (See TV "pleasures of the flesh," "concomitant")

6. Why does Thomas deny that it consists in honors? (ch. 28)

7. Why does Thomas deny that it consists in glory? (ch. 29)

8. Why does Thomas deny that it consists in riches? (ch. 30)

9. Why does Thomas deny that it consists in worldly power? (ch. 31)

10. Why does Thomas deny that it consists in goods of the body? (ch. 32)

11. Why does Thomas deny that it lies in the senses? (ch. 33)

12. Why does Thomas deny that it lies in the acts of the moral virtues? (ch. 34) (See TV "moral virtues," "acts of habits")

13. Why does Thomas deny that it lies in the acts of prudence? (ch. 35) (See TV "prudence")

14. How does Thomas argue that ultimate felicity consists in the contemplation of God? (ch. 37) (See TV "contemplation")