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Summa Contra Gentiles Analysis

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The world around us seems to be filled to the brim with self help books, podcasts, and workshops about helping someone get the life they desire. You name it, someone has created a ten or twelve step program that can change your life and bring you happiness after four payments of $49.99. One of the reasons why there’s so many similar works in the world of self help literature is because it sells. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Contra Gentiles may not be looked at as a traditional self help guide to happiness by most, but Aquinas makes very compelling arguments on his study of the relationship between honor and happiness, and why honor won’t bring eternal happiness.
To understand the relationship between honor and happiness, it’s important to first …show more content…
Her story, found on irenasendler.org, gives a quick look into this woman’s life. “Irena Sendlerowa was a Polish woman who, along with her underground network, rescued 2,500 Jewish children in Poland during World War II.” Sendler helped smuggle jewish children out of the ghetto during World War II, bringing them to safety where families would care for the children until their Jewish parents would be able to see them again. Unfortunately, majority of the parents had been killed during World War II, so there were not many reunions. Despite that fact, she had managed to save 2,500 young Jewish children from being killed by the Nazi’s or brought to concentration camps. This woman is someone who truly is worthy of being honored, for she lived a life full of virtuous acts and constantly put her life in danger to save another …show more content…
“But the gaining of honor is not within the power of any man; rather, it is in the power of the one who gives the honor. Therefore, human felicity is not to be identified with honors.” (Aquinas, p. 62) Individuals are not able to gain honor on their own because the power lies in the person honoring said individual. Human happiness cannot be found in honor, because that would mean an individual’s happiness lies in the hands of someone else. Taking the Kennedy family for example, their family only became honored because others around them decided that they deserved to be honored, and as much as any person would reason that a presidential family holds more power than most families in the country, it’s also fair to point out that if the general public didn’t choose to honor their family name, the presidential family wouldn’t of held the amount of control they did because the power lies within the hands of the people. Without followers, there is no power within a person. Now, let’s say that the heirs of the Kennedy family did an act so heinous and atrocious that the rest of the country decided they didn’t deserve to be honored like how John F. Kennedy was once honored. Would this affect the happiness of those heirs? After reading Aquinas, one can only assume it would have no effect whatsoever, because Aquinas believes there is no relationship between honor and

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