Conscience in Medieval Philosophy

by Edited by Timothy C. Potts

• ISBN13: 9780521892704
• ISBN10: 0521892708
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-04-18
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book presents in translation writings by six medieval philosophers which bear on the subject of conscience. Conscience, which can be considered both as a topic in the philosophy of mind and a topic in ethics, has been unduly neglected in modern philosophy, where a prevailing belief in the autonomy of ethics leaves it no natural place. It was, however, a standard subject for a treatise in medieval philosophy. Three introductory translations here, from Jerome, Augustine and Peter Lombard, present the loci classici on which subsequent discussions drew; there follows the first complete treatise on conscience, by Philip the Chancellor, while the two remaining translations, from Bonaventure and Aquinas, have been chosen as outstanding examples of the two main approaches which crystallised during the thirteenth century.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Glossary	xiv
Peter Lombard and Jerome	1	(11)
Philip the Chancellor	12	(20)
Bonaventure	32	(13)
Aquinas	45	(16)
Balance-sheet	61	(84)
TRANSLATIONS
Notes on the translations	75	(4)
Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel 1.7	79	(2)
Augustine, On the Trinity, book 12 (excerpts)	81	(9)
Peter Lombard, Books of Judgements 2.39	90	(4)
Philip the Chancellor, Summa de bono, treatise on conscience	94	(16)
Bonaventure, Commentary on Peter Lombard's Books of `Judgements' 2.39	110	(12)
Aquinas, Debated Questions on Truth 16--17	122	(15)
APPENDICES
1 Medieval texts on conscience	137	(3)
2 Programme for a medieval-philosophy course on conscience	140	(5)
Bibliography	145	(1)
Analytical index of subjects	146	(5)
Index of proper names	151	(2)
Index of Biblical references	153