The sixth lecture in the Science & Religion Online Series, from the Angelicum Thomistic Institute, with Daniel De Haan, DD, Frederick Copleston Senior Research Fellow & Lecturer in Philosophy and Theology in the Catholic Tradition, Blackfriars and Campion Hall, Oxford University.
This presentation outlines an approach for thinking developmentally about virtues and human flourishing. The Thomist tradition details important insights concerning the ways the virtues transform and rightly order practical reason, will, desire, and other emotions. There is a need, however, to consider what commonsense and scientific enquiry tell us about developmental psychology. I argue there is a need to take more seriously the ways toddlers, young children, adolescents, and the elderly flourish and can aspire to cultivate the virtues. These diverse ontogenic ways are often quite distinct from the standard accounts of flourishing and virtues that focus entirely on mature adults. I hope to show some of the ways developmental psychology provides important insights for enriching our moral psychology.
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