THOMAS AQUINAS'TA MUTLULUK

Thomas Aquinas is one of the greatest thinkers of Christianity. His ethical theory, togetherwith the theories of Augustine and Abelard, constitutes one of the main ethical theories ofMedieval Christianity. Aquinas develops his theory most extensively and systematically inthe Second Part of the Summa Theologica. For Aquinas ethics has two principal topics: first,what is the ultimate goal of human being, and second, how that goal is to be achieved. Theaim of this study is to present Aquinas' understanding of happiness in general. For thisreason it will discuss the following questions: What is the ultimate goal of human being?What constitutes man's happiness? What is happiness? What are the things required forhappiness? Whether happiness can be attained? The article concludes that Aquinas tries toharmonise Aristotelian ethics with Christianity, and in doing so he adds new dimensions tothe Aristotelian ethics.

Thomas Aquinas is one of the greatest thinkers of Christianity. His ethical theory, togetherwith the theories of Augustine and Abelard, constitutes one of the main ethical theories ofMedieval Christianity. Aquinas develops his theory most extensively and systematically inthe Second Part of the Summa Theologica. For Aquinas ethics has two principal topics: first,what is the ultimate goal of human being, and second, how that goal is to be achieved. Theaim of this study is to present Aquinas' understanding of happiness in general. For thisreason it will discuss the following questions: What is the ultimate goal of human being?What constitutes man's happiness? What is happiness? What are the things required forhappiness? Whether happiness can be attained? The article concludes that Aquinas tries toharmonise Aristotelian ethics with Christianity, and in doing so he adds new dimensions tothe Aristotelian ethics.