Why Does Evil Exist? (Aquinas) - a podcast by Dre Carlan

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“Is an action good or evil because of its end?
It seems not.
…the goodness of an act is something existing in it. But the end is an extrinsic cause. Therefore, action is not called good or evil because of the end. Moreover, it can happen that a good activity is ordered to a bad end, as when someone gives alms in order to be praised, and conversely a bad activity can be ordered to a good end, as when someone steals in order to give to the poor. Therefore, the action is not good or evil because of the end.”
-Summa theologiae, Question 18, Article 4


“Are moral acts specified by being good or evil?
It seems that they are not.
Good and evil are found in acts conformably with things, as has been said. But things are not specified by good and evil, for good and bad men are in the same species. Therefore, neither should the good and evil in acts make them specifically different. Moreover, since evil is a privation it is a kind of non-being, but non-being cannot be a difference, according to the Philosopher in Metaphysics 2.3. Therefore, since the difference constitutes the species, it seems that an act is not constituted in some species from the fact that it is evil. So good and evil do not make human acts specifically different.”
-Summa theologiae, Question 18, Article 5

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