The virtue of epicheia. Theory, history and application (I). From classical Greece to F. Suárez

Abstract

This article seeks to contribute to the deepening of the understanding and application of equity, with particular reference to the pastoral and moral problem of the reception of the Eucharist by divorced, remarried faithful. This first, historical part studies the concept of equity in classical Greece and the hellenistic period, with special attention to Plato and Aristotle; in relation to Aristotle, St Thomas’s Commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics and Gadamer’s hermeneutic interpretation are also examined. The author then analyzes the interpretation of equity in St Albert the Great, St Thomas Aquinas, Cardinal Cajetan, the voluntarist tradition, and Francisco Suárez.