Introduction The Catholic Church’s longstanding usury prohibition is today widely considered defu... more Introduction The Catholic Church’s longstanding usury prohibition is today widely considered defunct. In contemporary capitalist societies a certain opprobrium attaches to “usury,” in the popular sense of charging excessive interest on a loan, but lending at interest is otherwise accepted as a normal and necessary feature of economic life. Few within or without the Church (except Muslims) object to “usury” in the original sense of charging even low interest on a loan, absent any title beyond the mere act of lending. Recent popes have sometimes condemned “usury,” but it is unclear whether they have used the word in its popular or in its original sense. While the
Philosophers who defend a person’s right, under certain circumstances, to end his own life or to ... more Philosophers who defend a person’s right, under certain circumstances, to end his own life or to have a physician end it for him typically appeal both to respect for patient autonomy and to considerations of beneficence. Neither autonomy alone nor beneficence alone can ground a persuasive case for euthanasia. I argue, however, that the standard argument for euthanasia is unsound. It is not possible to combine the principles of autonomy and beneficence in such a way as to justify euthanasia for those who request it and are either incurably ill, in irremediable pain, or fearful of future incapacity, while excluding both involuntary euthanasia and assisted death for those who request it despite being neither incurably ill, in irremediable pain nor fearful of future incapacity. This article is available in Solidarity: The Journal of Catholic Social Thought and Secular Ethics: http://researchonline.nd.edu.au/ solidarity/vol6/iss1/3 The Dialectic of Autonomy and Beneficence in the Standar...
Thomas Aquinas believes that the immortality of the human soul is rationally demonstrable. If he ... more Thomas Aquinas believes that the immortality of the human soul is rationally demonstrable. If he is right, it is natural to ask what, if anything, unaided reason can discover about the soul’s fate after death. While Aquinas denies that reason can establish anything about the afterlife with certainty, he claims that probable rational arguments can be made for the prospect of perfect happiness in the afterlife, for man’s supernatural last end and even for the soul’s eventual reunion with the body. In this paper I argue that he also has the resources to construct a probable rational argument for something very like what Catholic tradition calls Purgatory.
Introduction The Catholic Church’s longstanding usury prohibition is today widely considered defu... more Introduction The Catholic Church’s longstanding usury prohibition is today widely considered defunct. In contemporary capitalist societies a certain opprobrium attaches to “usury,” in the popular sense of charging excessive interest on a loan, but lending at interest is otherwise accepted as a normal and necessary feature of economic life. Few within or without the Church (except Muslims) object to “usury” in the original sense of charging even low interest on a loan, absent any title beyond the mere act of lending. Recent popes have sometimes condemned “usury,” but it is unclear whether they have used the word in its popular or in its original sense. While the
Philosophers who defend a person’s right, under certain circumstances, to end his own life or to ... more Philosophers who defend a person’s right, under certain circumstances, to end his own life or to have a physician end it for him typically appeal both to respect for patient autonomy and to considerations of beneficence. Neither autonomy alone nor beneficence alone can ground a persuasive case for euthanasia. I argue, however, that the standard argument for euthanasia is unsound. It is not possible to combine the principles of autonomy and beneficence in such a way as to justify euthanasia for those who request it and are either incurably ill, in irremediable pain, or fearful of future incapacity, while excluding both involuntary euthanasia and assisted death for those who request it despite being neither incurably ill, in irremediable pain nor fearful of future incapacity. This article is available in Solidarity: The Journal of Catholic Social Thought and Secular Ethics: http://researchonline.nd.edu.au/ solidarity/vol6/iss1/3 The Dialectic of Autonomy and Beneficence in the Standar...
Thomas Aquinas believes that the immortality of the human soul is rationally demonstrable. If he ... more Thomas Aquinas believes that the immortality of the human soul is rationally demonstrable. If he is right, it is natural to ask what, if anything, unaided reason can discover about the soul’s fate after death. While Aquinas denies that reason can establish anything about the afterlife with certainty, he claims that probable rational arguments can be made for the prospect of perfect happiness in the afterlife, for man’s supernatural last end and even for the soul’s eventual reunion with the body. In this paper I argue that he also has the resources to construct a probable rational argument for something very like what Catholic tradition calls Purgatory.
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