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Abstract
This dissertation seeks to explain the essential relationship between human dignity and the common good in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. Chapter I explains St. Thomas's definition of the human person and human dignity, and explains his dynamic account of man created ad imaginem Dei, namely, that the imago Dei is not only intrinsic to man's nature, but is also designed to be perfected through the life of virtue. The image of God in man, while imprinted on each and every person, is perfectly actualized in the saints who know and love God in beatitude. The conclusion of this chapter is that true care for the dignity of persons cannot merely involve an affirmation of their existence and autonomy, but must involve helping persons to achieve the ends for which they were made (dignity of end or finality), naturally, morally, and spiritually.
Chapter II explains the crucial role of the common good in bringing about the perfection of the dignity of persons. Specifically, chapter II examines and explains the 1940s debate between Charles De Koninck, Fr. I Th Eschmann, O.P. and Jacques Maritain on the primacy of the common good in St. Thomas Aquinas. Through a careful and assiduous analysis of their arguments and citations of the Thomistic corpus, this chapter demonstrates that for the Angelic Doctor, the "common good" is a cause in the order of final causality, capable of perfecting persons through their participation in the good of the family, civil society, and the Church. Furthermore, this chapter proves that St. Thomas's teaching on the common good is above all theological since he considers divine beatitude to be the highest common good. Love of God precisely and formally as a common good is at the heart of Divine beatitude and the theological gift of charity, since God himself both is and is to be loved as the bonum commune omnium.
Finally, this dissertation includes two Appendices: I. "Marriage and the Primacy of the Common Good," which shows some of the errors of a more personalist understanding of marriage, one which severs its intrinsic ordination to the common good through the procreation and education of children. Appendix II. entitled, "Theological Meditations and Development of St. Thomas's Teaching on the Common Good: The Role of Mary as Mediatrix and Co-Redemptrix", is a very brief reflection on the fecundity of St. Thomas's principles on the common good for Marian theology.
