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articles
1. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 3
Catherine A. Nolan A Functional Alternative to Radical Capacities: Critiquing Lee and Grisez
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Among those who adopt Aristotle’s definition of the human person as a rational animal, Patrick Lee and Germain Grisez argue that whole brain death is the death of the human person. Even if a living organism remains, it is no longer a human person. They argue this because they define natural kinds by their radical capacities (the capacity to act or the capacity to develop a further capacity). A human person is therefore a being with a capacity for rational acts, and an individual having suffered whole brain death no longer has any such capacity. I present two objections to the radical capacities argument: first, that it fails in defining natural kinds, and second, that it misrepresents Aristotle. Aristotle defines natural kinds not by their capacities but by their functions. A brain-dead individual, I argue, is still a rational animal, but an unhealthy one that is unable to function.
2. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 3
Agustín Echavarría Can a Metaphysically Perfect God Have Moral Virtues and Duties? Re-reading Aquinas
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Contemporary philosophers of religion usually depict God as a responsible moral agent with virtues and obligations. This picture seems to be incompatible with the metaphysically perfect being of classical theism. In this paper I will defend the claim, based on a reading of Thomas Aquinas’s thought, that there is no such incompatibility. I will present Aquinas’s arguments that show that we can attribute to God not only moral goodness in general, but also some moral virtues in a strict sense, such as justice and mercy. I will show why for Aquinas we can say that God has moral duties toward Himself and toward creatures. I will explain how for Aquinas God’s moral duties are not absolute, but conditionally necessitated. Finally, I will show how on Aquinas’s view there is no contradiction in saying that every act of God is, simultaneously, an act of justice and a supererogatory act of mercy.
3. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 3
Tucker Sigourney The Charity Account of Forgiving
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In this paper, I argue that the dominant contemporary accounts of forgiving do not capture what forgiving most centrally is. I spend the first parts of the paper trying to elucidate what it is that these accounts miss about forgiving, and to explain why I think they miss it. I spend the latter parts of the paper suggesting an alternative, which I call “the charity account.” This account draws much of its theoretical framing from the work of Thomas Aquinas, presenting forgiving as something importantly volitional and essentially loving.
4. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 3
R. James Lisowski To Pardon what Conscience Dreads: Revisiting Max Scheler’s Phenomenology of Repentance
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This article will examine the religious phenomenology of Max Scheler as it is found in his essay on repentance. In outlining Scheler’s understanding of repentance, I shall note his attempt at defining the phenomenon, as well as the presuppositions to and outcomes of this religious act. With this foundation laid, I shall then offer two critiques. First, Scheler’s rendering of repentance limps in not accounting for the cyclical and repeatable nature of repentance, to which human experience and Scheler’s own broader philosophy attest. Second, Scheler’s essay does not consider the role of other persons both in leading one to repentance and in completing the process. As with the first critique, both human experience and Scheler’s own personalist philosophy testify to the necessary role of other persons. These lacunae detract from the otherwise rich phenomenological account.
5. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 3
Nathaniel B. Taylor Substances in Subjects: Instantiation and Existence in Avicenna
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In an effort to refute Avicenna’s real distinction between essence and existence, Averroes argues for an Instantiation Analysis of existence which thinks of existence not as an accidental addition to an essence, but rather as the recognition that there is an instance in extramental reality which matches a concept in the mind of a knower. In this study, I argue that Averroes’s Instantiation Analysis fails to refute Avicenna’s real distinction by showing that Avicenna himself endorses the Instantiation Analysis and, in fact, makes use of it to motivate his real distinction. To show this, I review several texts where Avicenna makes the puzzling claim that substances are found to be in subjects. These texts reveal how Avicenna discovers the real distinction with Aristotle’s help—not, as Averroes relates, against the view of Aristotle.
disputed questions
6. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 3
Paul A. Macdonald Jr. Expanding the Domain of Justice to Include Animals and Animal Rights
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7. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 3
William Matthew Diem Why Animals Have No Rights
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8. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 3
Paul A. Macdonald Jr. Animal Subjects and Animal Rights: A Response to William Matthew Diem
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9. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 3
William Matthew Diem Reply to Macdonald
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book reviews
10. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 3
John Macias Love And Politics: Persistent Human Desires as a Foundation for Liberation
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11. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 3
Allison Krile Thornton Atonement and the Death of Christ: An Exegetical, Historical, and Philosophical Exploration
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12. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Volume > 96 > Issue: 3
Charles Duke Believing Philosophy: A Guide to Becoming a Christian Philosopher
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