American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly

Volume 78, Issue 3, Summer 2004

Christopher Kaczor
Pages 353-378

Thomas Aquinas’s Commentary on the Ethics
Merely an Interpretation of Aristotle?

In recent years, some controversy has arisen about whether Thomas Aquinas’s commentaries on Aristotle can be read as expressing Aquinas’s own views rather than as simply an interpretation of Aristotle. This article examines the reasons given in favor of the view that the commentaries, in particular the commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics, are merely interpretations of Aristotle. Using Thomas’s scripture commentaries, internal evidence, as well as the history of reception, it is concluded that the Sententia libri ethicorum presents Thomas’s own views and not merely his understanding of Aristotle.