The Role of Courage in Intellectual Work ()
Abstract
Intellectual
life is not a thing apart from the humanizing and moralizing influences that
moral virtues provide. Saint Thomas’s teachings about moral virtues suggest how
essential he considers them for a flourishing speculative life. He makes all
this very clear in the Second Part of the Summa Theologiae. The potential parts of fortitude which
have a crucial role in intellectual work are patience, perseverance and
magnanimity. In this article I show how these potential virtues act in
speculative life.
Keywords
Moral Virtues, Intellectual Work, Courage, Patience, Constancy, Perseverance, Magnanimity, Presumption, Ambition, Vainglory, Obstinacy, Arrogance, Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
References
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Aristotle (1993). De Anima (D. W. Hamlyn, translation). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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John Paul, II. (1998). Fides et ratio (Vatican Translation). Boston: Pauline Books and Media.
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