Description
Book SynopsisThis book offers a rich and fascinating overview of medieval debates on moral dilemmas which were pursued by philosophers, theologians and canon lawyers. It will be valuable not only to advanced students and specialists of medieval thought, but also to those interested in the history of ethics.
Trade Review'Dougherty's exposition and choice of figures is excellent. The reconstruction of Aquinas is also highly plausible and valuable … But perhaps the chief value of the study for contemporary theorists is to be found in the very richness of the medieval treatments of moral dilemmas, a richness which Dougherty manages to convey with admirable skill.' Stephen Boulter, Philosophy in Review
'This book attempts to correct the impression one may gain from many histories of ethics that sophisticated moral dilemma theory did not exist in the Middle Ages. M. V. Dougherty examines the debates in the years following 1150 among philosophers, theologians, and canon lawyers. He shows that moral dilemmas were discussed in these debates, given that some human wrongdoing is inescapable and one must choose the lesser evils.' The European Legacy: Toward New Paradigms
Table of ContentsPreface; Introduction; 1. Gratian and his Glossators on conflicts in the natural law; 2. Twenty moral dilemmas from two early 13th-century summaries of theology: William of Auxerre's Summa aurea and the Franciscan Summa Halesiana; 3. Raymond Lull and moral ensnarement in the Vita coaetanea; 4. Thomas Aquinas, moral dilemmas, and a missing article from Quodlibet XII; 5. Thomas Aquinas on failures of practical reasoning: why synderesis doesn't inoculate agents against malformed conscience dilemmas; 6. Moral dilemmas in the early Thomistic tradition: Johannes Capreolus and the deceiving demon dilemma; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.
