On Evil

by Thomas Aquinas

Book Overview

Many great thinkers have wrestled with the topic of evil. St. Thomas Aquinas's disputed question On Evil merges as the longest and most comprehensive study on the subject of evil available.

This long-awaited translation is based on the critical edition of the Latin text published by the Leonine Commission in 1982. The disputed question De malo (On Evil) was first presented as a series of oral debates at the University of Paris (1263-1272)...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0268037140
• ISBN13: 9780268037147
• Release Date: July 1995
• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
• Length: 576 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Summon Your Demons

It is a sad thing indeed, that the great Thomas Aquinas is the court theologian of the Roman Church. Those with an atheist bent, and who have never read a single line of Thomas's writings, point to his awful Summa Theologica, and brush him aside as a dullard and an adulterator of Aristotelianism. The truth is that Thomas was an excellent philosopher in his own right. Summa Theologica is not the best that he wrote. Dominique Chenu rightly pointed out that the Disputed Questions, and not the Summa, are to be considered the greatest among the writings of Thomas. And among the Disputed Questions, the one on hand, De Malo (On Evil), stands out as perhaps the very best. In this work, Thomas Aquinas offers us the most detailed anatomy of evil ever put down on paper. The only shortcoming of this work is that it is geared towards evil as an individual act, be it demonic or human. Thomas has nothing to say regarding the reality of social evil. But the latter perspective cannot be expected from a philosopher of the Middle Ages. Even so, those of our contemporaries who have the tenacity to study this brilliant treatise are likely to reap ample reward.