Self-love according to Thomas Aquinas’ Thought

Abstract

Though traditionally associated with a virtue by which man are capable of loving and wanting the good for others, according to Thomas charity does not imply absolutely that one forgets of forgetting oneself, but comprises the love to oneself that, unlike what certain interpretations of Buddhism, totalitarianism, etcetera, propose, it is not only something necessary and delectable, but it also rests on a demand for existential plenitude, namely, the natural desire to reach happiness, and it is the root of every kind of love, hence being the main model and measurement of love to other persons. This paper focuses on the study of its philosophical, anthropological and ethical features.