The present volume, EVIL according to Saint Thomas Aquinas - Volume VII, continues the Series Thomistic Wisdom: Reflections on Evil, dedicated to the systematic, philosophical, and theological study of the Quaestiones Disputatae de Malo of Saint Thomas Aquinas. In this work, the author fully addresses Questions XII, XIII, XIV, and XV, in which the Angelic Doctor examines some of the vices most decisive for understanding the moral life of the human entity: anger, avarice, gluttony, and lust.
Far from being a mere historical or academic analysis, this book seeks to introduce the reader to the speculative depth of Thomistic thought, showing how Saint Thomas studies each passion and each vice from its metaphysical, anthropological, and moral root. Each Question is examined Article by Article, carefully following the structure proper to the scholastic method: objections, arguments from authority, central response, and solutions to the proposed difficulties.
In
Question XII, anger is studied both as a passion and as a vice, distinguishing its legitimate forms from its sinful deformations, as well as its moral gravity and its condition as a capital vice.
Question XIII focuses on avarice, analyzing its proper object, its relation to the disordered desire for temporal goods, and the problem of usury as a violation of natural justice.
Question XIV develops a true treatise on gluttony, examining the various species of the disorder of appetite and their effects upon rational life.
Finally,
Question XV addresses lust, studying its nature, gravity, species, and moral consequences in the human entity.
Each of these Questions also includes a doctrinal synthesis intended to offer the reader an organic and ordered vision of the principal concepts developed by Saint Thomas. These syntheses facilitate both systematic study and later consultation of the themes treated.
The work constantly seeks to preserve the balance between doctrinal rigor and expository clarity. Therefore, although the content possesses philosophical and theological depth, the exposition strives to remain accessible to students, researchers, professors, and readers interested in the Thomistic tradition and in classical moral philosophy.
Of special importance is the Epilogue, written entirely in the form of questions and answers, following the characteristic style of this series. This method not only reproduces, in some way, the pedagogical dynamism of medieval scholasticism, but also offers important advantages for learning: it allows essential concepts to be fixed, facilitates memorization, organizes the principal ideas, clarifies concrete difficulties, and promotes a gradual and structured understanding of the themes studied. The interrogative formulation obliges the reader to confront the problem actively, while the synthetic answer contributes to consolidating the knowledge acquired throughout the work.
In times marked by moral confusion, relativism, and the fragmentation of thought, the study of Saint Thomas Aquinas continues to offer extraordinary intellectual clarity for understanding the nature of good and evil, the human passions, and the objective order of moral life. This volume modestly aspires to contribute to that rediscovery of Thomistic wisdom.
May these pages help the reader not only to know better the doctrine of the Angelic Doctor, but also to deepen the understanding of the human entity, of its acts, and of its ultimate ordination to the good.
