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Aquinas at 800 – Papers from the 2024 Notre Dame Conference: Revisiting Human Law’s Capacity to Cultivate Moral Virtue Cover

Aquinas at 800 – Papers from the 2024 Notre Dame Conference: Revisiting Human Law’s Capacity to Cultivate Moral Virtue

By: Catherine Lemos  
Open Access
|Dec 2025

Abstract

This article offers a new perspective on the topic of human-made law’s capacity to cultivate moral virtue by focusing on two questions. First, is cultivating an individual’s virtue part of the goal of law or only a concomitant effect? Secondly, can our laws play a constructive role in fostering virtues beyond discouraging vices? To the first question, I will intervene in the debate between John Finnis and his interlocutors over the nature of the common good. To the second question, I will show how human law can contribute to key aspects of growth in virtue and thereby poise us to develop habits.

Language: English
Page range: 16 - 37
Submitted on: Nov 19, 2024
Accepted on: Mar 11, 2025
Published on: Dec 8, 2025
Published by: Thomas Institute of Utrecht
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

© 2025 Catherine Lemos, published by Thomas Institute of Utrecht
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.