Disputed Questions on Evil
These questions examine evil, sin and the will, asking how an action can be bad without making evil an independent substance.
Understanding the text
The collection brings together disputations from Aquinas’s mature period; their exact dates and order of composition remain debated.
Key points
- 01
Privation
Evil is analyzed as a lack of a due good, rather than an autonomous thing opposed to goodness.
- 02
Choice
A bad action involves will and judgment within circumstances that must be distinguished.
- 03
Responsibility
Ignorance, habit and passions change the assessment of an act without automatically removing all responsibility.
How to read it
Compare the first question on evil with the treatment of will in the Summa Theologiae.
Editions & sources
Summaries and key points are original editorial interpretations. They accompany reading the work and do not replace an edition of the text. Editorial method ↗