Search results for ""Author Martin Rhonheimer""

Vital Conflicts in Medical Ethics by renowned Swiss philosopher Martin Rhonheimer considers some of the most difficult and disputed questions in Catholic moral theology. With great rigor, he addresses classic dilemmas including the morality of the procedure known as craniotomy, and of various treatments for tubal pregnancy. Rhonheimer's approach, grounded in his retrieval of Thomistic virtue ethics, supports the encyclical Veritatis Splendor in showing how these cases can be resolved without recourse to the revisionist method of 'weighing goods'. The debate that ""Vital Conflicts"" addresses traces back to late-nineteenth century declarations of the Holy Office, which directed that Catholic institutions were prohibited from teaching that the craniotomy was a licit procedure; this teaching had restrictive implications for related cases. In this book, his newest work to be translated into English, Rhonheimer analyzes the morality of different procedures that might be employed in cases of 'vital conflict', where the life of the embryo or fetus cannot be saved, while that of the mother can be saved, but only through a procedure that traditional moral theory would judge to be a 'direct', and thus illicit, killing. These traditional conclusions, however, are not easily accepted because they contradict the basic principle of medical practice that requires physicians to save lives when possible. To resolve this aporia regarding cases of vital conflict, Rhonheimer clarifies fundamental aspects of moral theory, such as the meaning of the prohibition against killing, makes a case that prior analyses are unsatisfactory, and proposes his own solution.

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An introduction to the study of Thomistic moral philosophy. This is at once a return to a refreshingly profound understanding of the texts of Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle, and a new synthesis of ethics for our time.

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The Common Good of Constitutional Democracy offers a rich collection of essays in political philosophy by Swiss philosopher Martin Rhonheimer. Like his other books in both ethical theory and applied ethics, which have recently been published in English, the essays included are distinguished by the philosophical rigor and meticulous attention to the primary and secondary literature of the various topics discussed. Rhonheimer takes up the unfinished agenda of the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Religious Liberty, Dignitatis humanae, and makes many significant philosophical contributions relating the Catholic tradition to modern and contemporary political philosophy. He begins with an argument for why political philosophy is necessary, especially in light of the democratic constitutional state and the culture of human rights. He addresses many disputed questions, including ones about autonomy, the common good, secularism, multiculturalism, the relationship between authority and truth in civil law, and the role of the state in the economic sector. In so doing, Rhonheimer engages the entire tradition from ancients like Plato and Aristotle through contemporaries including Rawls, MacIntyre, and Taylor. The volume includes a detailed introduction by William F. Murphy Jr., locating this collection in Rhonheimer’s broader body of work and within the field of political philosophy. This book will be an invaluable resource for Catholic philosophers, moral theologians, political philosophers, and other religious thinkers looking for philosophical resources to relate their traditions to the modern state.

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Rhonheimer applies moral theology to practical questions, such as, what does it mean to violate the natural law, or to be “unnatural”?

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Building on the renewal of Thomistic ethics encouraged by key moral encyclicals including ""Humanae Vitae"", ""Veritatis Splendor"", and ""Evangelium Vitae"", Martin Rhonheimer revisits some of the most difficult questions regarding the ethics of procreation and human life. The book offers a rigorous argument on the contested question of contraception and related matters, and similarly engages disputed questions surrounding abortion. With Rhonheimer's characteristic circumspection and rigor, his discussion of sexual ethics provides compelling argumentation in support of Catholic teaching against contraception. He applies this analysis to the related case of using contraceptives under the threat of rape. Rhonheimer agrees with trusted Catholic moralists, who from the early 1960s to the present have concluded that such use would be licit. He shows, moreover, both the flaws in alternative analyses and how the same conclusions can be reached in a defensible manner while upholding the teachings of ""Humanae Vitae"" and ""Veritatis Splendor"". Rhonheimer applies his philosophical acumen to another set of difficult moral questions about contemporary threats to the sanctity of human life, including artificial reproduction and abortion. Regarding artificial reproduction, his treatment further illustrates both the fecundity of his application of Thomistic virtue and action analysis and his insistence on the moral link between sex and procreation. Finally, he not only provides a rigorous rebuttal of some of the leading arguments justifying abortion, but offers readers an example of his writings in political philosophy through a profound reflection on the defense of human life in a constitutional democracy. This is a rigorous philosophical analysis of some of the most disputed questions in Catholic sexual ethics.

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