Aquinas on Subjectivity

American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 84 (1):69-83 (2010)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In this paper, I argue against John Crosby’s view that Aquinas does not have an account of the nature and role of subjectivity. I maintain that Aquinas’s notion of the love-based self-relation which is fully actualized in self-friendship is an account of subjectivity. I accept Crosby’s characterization of subjectivity as a foundational self-relation which constitutes interiority and is the foundation for experience and action. I proceed by showing how, for Aquinas, the relation of self-love automatically arises from human nature in virtue of amor. Dilectio then transforms the self-relation into a relation of self-consciousness, and finally amicitia adds the note of a stable habit that fully actualizes the self-relation. I show how the actualized self-relation constitutes interiority and is the basis for properly human experience and action.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive

    This entry is not archived by us. If you are the author and have permission from the publisher, we recommend that you archive it. Many publishers automatically grant permission to authors to archive pre-prints. By uploading a copy of your work, you will enable us to better index it, making it easier to find.

    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 104,919

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Aquinas on Self-Love and Love of God.Anthony T. Flood - 2016 - International Philosophical Quarterly 56 (1):45-55.
The Root of Friendship: Self-Love and Self-Governance in Aquinas. By Anthony T. Flood.Paul Kucharski - 2015 - American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 89 (4):730-733.
Consciousness and the self.Roland Breeur - 2003 - International Journal of Philosophical Studies 11 (4):415-436.
A Style of Life: Spectral Subjectivity and the Limits of Sacred Life.Stuart John Murray - 2004 - Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley
The root of friendship: self-love & self-governance in Aquinas.Anthony T. Flood - 2014 - Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press.
How We Are Moral.Jenna Kreyche - 2011 - Stance 4 (1):27-38.
Knowledge, freedom and willing: Hegel on subjective spirit.Damion Buterin - 2009 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 52 (1):26 – 52.
To Thine Own Self Be True.Mark Van Hollebeke - 2001 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 75:149-170.

Analytics

Added to PP
2011-01-09

Downloads
51 (#472,279)

6 months
2 (#1,375,912)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Anthony T. Flood
North Dakota State University

Citations of this work

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references