Dr. Angela Knobel Lectures on Aquinas and Moral Virtue

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In the latest installment of the St. Vincent de Paul Lecture and Concert series, students at Thomas Aquinas College, California, attended the lecture, Aquinas’s Theory of Infused Moral Virtue, given by Dr. Angela Knobel on November 8.

The graduate director and an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Dallas, Dr. Knobel earned her doctorate in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. Her academic work focuses primarily on moral philosophy and theology, and she is the author of numerous articles on Aquinas’s account of virtue, as well as Aquinas and the Infused Moral Virtues, published by University of Notre Dame Press in 2021.

In her lecture, Dr. Knobel laid out St. Thomas’s general theory of infused virtues, explaining, as she said, “the essential, foundational aspects of Aquinas’s view that, not only faith, hope, and love, but also versions of all the moral virtues are directly bestowed by God along with the gift of saving grace.”

Dr. Knobel demonstrated how Aquinas’s distinction between natural, acquired virtue and supernatural, infused virtue accommodates both the Aristotelian account of virtue and the Christian conception of virtue as defined by St. Augustine of Hippo. Acquired virtue seeks to perfect man’s nature as a rational animal, but infused virtue seeks to raise him to something higher and divine through grace. “The goal of the moral life for the Christian,” she said, “is to live in a manner befitting to our divine inheritance, and living as befits our divine inheritance is not something we can do without divine help.”

Dr. Knobel also emphasized how, in Aquinas’s account, the two types of virtue differ from one another, since they arise from different principles, have different objects, and are ordered to different ends. “There are for Aquinas deep and important differences between the infused and acquired moral virtues,” Dr. Knobel argued. “Each type of virtue moderates the appetites in different ways.”

In the question-and-answer period after the lecture, Dr. Knobel explained further details of Aquinas’s theory. Through conversation with students and tutors, she clarified the relationship between the acquired and infused moral virtues, discussed how infused virtue moves the soul, and spoke about the cultivation of infused and acquired virtues.

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