Martin Rhonheimer – författare

The Perspective Of The Acting Person introduces readers to one of the most important and provocative thinkers in contemporary moral philosophy. In this collection of essays Martin Rhonheimer examines the central themes of natural law, moral action, and virtue emphasized by John Paul II's 1993 encyclical ""Veritatis Splendor"". Rhonheimer's work follows the general direction taken by the encyclical through an almost unprecedented rigor of philosophical argumentation and level of engagement with both European and American scholarship.Rhonheimer argues extensively, from the texts of Aquinas, against aspects of more traditional interpretations of the Angelic Doctor. He maintains that their deficiencies helped precipitate both the postconciliar crisis in moral theology and the rise of revisionist approaches. He addresses not only the central topics of natural law and moral action but also the resonableness of Christian morality, the relation between nature and reason, and that between metaphysics and ethics. All are considered from the distinctively moral perspective of the agent. Rhonheimer also responds to critics of both ""Veritatis Splendor"" and his own work and critiques works by revisionist moral theologians.The collection focuses on Rhonheimer's fundamental ethical theory, establishing the theoretical bases for his more applied works in areas such as sexual ethics, political philosophy, social ethics, and medical ethics. A detailed introduction by William F. Murphy, Jr., sketches Rhonheimer's intellectual biography and the development of his thought, and summarizes key content from the essays. Finally, a detailed bibliography of Rhonheimer's work is included, which further enhances the volume's value to moral philosophers and theologians.

Building on the renewal of Thomistic ethics encouraged by key moral encyclicals including ""Humanae Vitae"", ""Veritatis Splendor"", and ""Evangelium Vitae"", Martin Rhonheimer revisits some of the most difficult questions regarding the ethics of procreation and human life. The book offers a rigorous argument on the contested question of contraception and related matters, and similarly engages disputed questions surrounding abortion. With Rhonheimer's characteristic circumspection and rigor, his discussion of sexual ethics provides compelling argumentation in support of Catholic teaching against contraception. He applies this analysis to the related case of using contraceptives under the threat of rape. Rhonheimer agrees with trusted Catholic moralists, who from the early 1960s to the present have concluded that such use would be licit. He shows, moreover, both the flaws in alternative analyses and how the same conclusions can be reached in a defensible manner while upholding the teachings of ""Humanae Vitae"" and ""Veritatis Splendor"". Rhonheimer applies his philosophical acumen to another set of difficult moral questions about contemporary threats to the sanctity of human life, including artificial reproduction and abortion. Regarding artificial reproduction, his treatment further illustrates both the fecundity of his application of Thomistic virtue and action analysis and his insistence on the moral link between sex and procreation. Finally, he not only provides a rigorous rebuttal of some of the leading arguments justifying abortion, but offers readers an example of his writings in political philosophy through a profound reflection on the defense of human life in a constitutional democracy. This is a rigorous philosophical analysis of some of the most disputed questions in Catholic sexual ethics.

An introduction to the study of Thomistic moral philosophy. This is at once a return to a refreshingly profound understanding of the texts of Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle, and a new synthesis of ethics for our time.

The Common Good of Constitutional Democracy offers a rich collection of essays in political philosophy by Swiss philosopher Martin Rhonheimer. Like his other books in both ethical theory and applied ethics, which have recently been published in English, the essays included are distinguished by the philosophical rigor and meticulous attention to the primary and secondary literature of the various topics discussed. Rhonheimer takes up the unfinished agenda of the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Religious Liberty, Dignitatis humanae, and makes many significant philosophical contributions relating the Catholic tradition to modern and contemporary political philosophy. He begins with an argument for why political philosophy is necessary, especially in light of the democratic constitutional state and the culture of human rights. He addresses many disputed questions, including ones about autonomy, the common good, secularism, multiculturalism, the relationship between authority and truth in civil law, and the role of the state in the economic sector. In so doing, Rhonheimer engages the entire tradition from ancients like Plato and Aristotle through contemporaries including Rawls, MacIntyre, and Taylor. The volume includes a detailed introduction by William F. Murphy Jr., locating this collection in Rhonheimer’s broader body of work and within the field of political philosophy. This book will be an invaluable resource for Catholic philosophers, moral theologians, political philosophers, and other religious thinkers looking for philosophical resources to relate their traditions to the modern state.

Rhonheimer applies moral theology to practical questions, such as, what does it mean to violate the natural law, or to be "unnatural"?

Rhonheimer applies moral theology to practical questions, such as, what does it mean to violate the natural law, or to be "unnatural"?

Comments on Aristotelian ethics and its history since Thomas Aquinas. The author presents his thesis that Aristotelian ethics limits itself to the topic of the affective conditions of practical reason. He suggests that Thomas Aquinas later provides answers to Aristotle's theory of action.