Peter A. Redpath, The Moral Psychology of St. Thomas Aquinas: An Introduction to Ragamuffin Ethics

Abstract

Author Peter Redpath outlines a personalist Thomism, a philoso-phy for the acting person. He aims to correct what he sees as miscon-ceptions of St. Thomas’s teachings in large part due to Cartesian phi-losophy and the West’s deficient metaphysics. In personalist Thomism, “metaphysics and ethics are more than subjects of study;” “they are chiefly habits of the human soul, habits generated by an organizational and moral psychology” (21). Redpath succeeds in showing reason’s centrality to discerning and living the moral life of virtuous habits. Giv-en the book’s topic, only the second chapter deals with God, Divine Providence, and Divine Rule directly. Other chapters focus on human happiness, the emotions, habit, the law, justice, friendship, and pleas-ure. Redpath notes the importance of being motivated to possess “the real desire to become morally good, an excellent human being” (2).

Keywords

• of St. Thomas Aquinas: An Introduction to Ragamuffin Ethics
• The Moral Psychology of St. Thomas Aquinas: An Introduction to Ragamuffin Ethics
• Peter A. Redpath
• Moral Psychology
• Thomas Aquinas
• Ethics