Saturday, December 11, 2010

1a 2ae q55 a3: Whether human virtue is a good habit? Yes.

Virtus humana, quae est habitus operativus, est bonus habitus, et boni operativus, quia virtus importat perfectionem potentiae, unde virtus cuiuslibet rei determinatur ad ultimum in quod res potest.

Human virtue, which is an operative habit, is a good habit, productive of good works, because virtue implies a perfection of power, wherefore the virtue of a thing is fixed by the telos of its power.

Augustinus dicit, in libro de moribus Eccles., "nemo autem dubitaverit quod virtus animam facit optimam".

Augustine says (De Moribus Eccl. vi): "No one can doubt that virtue makes the soul be at its best".

Et philosophus dicit, in II Ethic., quod "virtus est quae bonum facit habentem, et opus eius bonum reddit".

And the Philosopher says (Ethic. ii, 6): "Virtue is that which makes its possessor good, and his work likewise good".