In honor of his feast day, a passage that hit close to home from my current read, The Logic of Desire: Aquinas on Emotion by Nicholas E. Lombardo, O.P.
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| A work of theology that cites Conrad Baars and Walker Percy? Yes, please |
Among the moral virtues Aquinas ranks prudence first. Quoting Augustine, Aquinas defines prudence as "knowing what things to desire and what things to avoid." Prudence, however, does not determine the ultimate end of human striving, which is implicit in the structure of human nature, but rather determines the proper meant to that end. Prudence is not only concerned with knowledge. It also involves the execution of an intellectual judgment about what is to be done. In fact, the implementation of a prudential decision is the chief act of prudence, and someone who executes a poor decision is less imprudent than someone else who fails to execute a good decision.
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