The Thomistic Institute Justice and the Common Good According to St. Thomas Aquinas | Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P.
Jan 23, 2023
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Voting Is A Choice Of Goods
- Voting can aim at either personal preference or the shared common good, and the choice changes the nature of civic responsibility.
- Aquinas' framework urges voters to act with political prudence toward the common good, not merely self-interest.
Justice Operates In Three Dimensions
- Aquinas distinguishes three species of justice: commutative, legal (or general), and distributive, each tied to different social relations.
- Even simple exchanges between two people operate within family and political contexts shaped by these three justices.
Prudence Mirrors Types Of Justice
- Each species of justice requires a corresponding form of prudence: everyday prudence, political prudence, and the prudence of rulers for distributive justice.
- Justice and prudence together make social acts three-dimensional rather than isolated transactions.