Aquinas Reading Group: Talk by Prof. Stephen Dumont

For the next meeting of our Aquinas Reading Group, Professor Stephen Dumont will be giving a talk on the historical background of a central part of the text we've been working through in the De Malo. An abstract is included below.

This meeting will be taking place on campus in Malloy Hall (room TBD). There will be snacks and drinks as usual. We hope you can join us!

Aquinas’s De malo Q. 6: Date, Genre, and Influence

A text of singular importance in moral psychology, Aquinas’s DM 6 provided the principal framework for debates over free will into the fourteenth century. We will discuss some recent findings that establish the question’s academic genre and dating, chief among which is a contemporary record of DM 6 itself made by Giles of Rome. Time permitting, we can indicate some of the reception and influence of Aquinas’s question. Among these, for example, is the unexpected integration of DM 6 with Anselm’s theory of the ‘two affections of will’ --  a device that  Aquinas never once mentions -- in later versions of voluntarism. 

Originally published at historyofphilosophy.nd.edu. Please check that event page for details, since this event section may not reflect any changes to the event.