The end or purpose for which something is made or strives.
Sin
Corruption or the absence of being; a deviation from what something is meant to be.
Conversion
Turning towards God and away from sin.
Aristotle’s Self-Sufficiency
Involves living in community with parents, children, wife, friends, and fellow citizens.
Essence
The being of a thing, comprising both form and matter.
Virtue
The mean (or middle ground) between two extremes, each representing a vice. It is a state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean.
Principle from Motion: St. Thomas's First Way
Argues that every potential is actualized by a prior external action, leading to the necessity of a First Mover, or Pure Act.
This relates to the cosmological argument for the existence of God.
Beatitude
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, it is synonymous with human flourishing. It is the ultimate end of human life, consisting of union with God.
Eudaimonia
According to Aristotle, it is synonymous with human flourishing or living well. It is not just happiness but a life well-lived in accordance with virtue.
Posteriori
Gaining knowledge about a cause by observing its effects. Empirical knowledge is an example of posteriori knowledge.
Nature
A thing’s internal principle of motion or rest.
The Three Capacities of the Human Soul
The appetites (desires), the will (rational choice), and the intellect (reason).
Pleasure and Pain
Virtue is concerned with pleasure and pain, and the appropriate regulation of these experiences is essential, requiring proper training from childhood.
The Human Good
The activity of the soul in accordance with the best virtue or reason.
Moral Luck
The concept that external, uncontrollable resources (friends, wealth, political power) are necessary for true happiness. Without these, happiness is unattainable.
St. Monica
Her death closely parallels the death of Socrates.
Tolle, lege
A Latin phrase meaning "take up and read," which prompted St. Augustine to read St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, leading to his conversion.
Mimetic Desire
St. Augustine attributes his boyhood theft of pears to mimetic desire, which involves imitating the desires of others.
Libido Dominandi
The desire to control, which St. Augustine identifies as the heart of all sin. It is the desire to control one's own life, others, and the world.
Manichaeism
A branch of Gnosticism that influenced Augustine, positing a constant conflict between good and evil forces and viewing spirit as good and matter as evil.
St. Augustine's Encounter with a Beggar
Augustine reflects on encountering a joyful, drunk beggar in Milan and realizes that the beggar had achieved a joy that Augustine was seeking through ambitious pursuits.
The beggar's joy was more genuine, although not true joy, because it was free from care.
Alypius and Curiosity
The passage describes Alypius being overcome by curiosity at a gladiatorial fight, leading to a grievous wound in his soul.
The Good
Every skill, inquiry, action, and rational choice aims at the good, which is that to which everything aims.
Virtue as States
Virtues are states of character, in respect to which we are well or badly disposed in relation to feelings.
Wisdom
St. Augustine describes wisdom as eternal, without "was" or "will be," but only "is," participating in eternity.
Political Science
According to Aristotle, political science is the highest master science because it aims at the good of the community.
God
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, God is the natural end of man.
The Three Types of Sin
The lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the world, and the lusts of the devil.
Acting in Accordance with Reason
According to Aristotle, the characteristic activity of the human person is acting in accordance with reason.
God's Form and Matter
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, God has none (trick question).