Virtue and Ethics in the Twelfth Century

About the Author István P. Bejczy, Ph.D. (1994) in History, has published on medieval and Renaissance cultural history (including La Lettre du Prêtre Jean and Erasmus and the Middle Ages). He directs a research programme on medieval moral consciousness at the Radboud University Nijmegen. Richard G. Newhauser, Ph.D. (1986) in English, has published on medieval moral thought (including The Treatise on Vices and Virtues in Latin and the Vernacular and The Early History of Greed). He is Professor of English and Medieval Studies at Trinity University, San Antonio. Product Description This volume analyses the renewal of Western moral thought in the twelfth century. This renewal was marked by a burgeoning of increasingly systematized texts, a lively reception of ancient moral philosophy and a greater emphasis on the psychology of the moral agent. Five contributions are devoted to monastic morality (Anselm of Canterbury, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hugh of Folieto, Hugh of Saint Victor, Peter Abelard); another five to (proto-)scholastic thought (John of Salisbury, Peter Abelard, Stephen Langton, the idea of natural virtue, the justification of lying); three discuss moral issues in a wider social context (liberality vs. avarice, royal justice in England, the cardinal virtues and the French monarchy). The two remaining contributions explore ethical traditions in Islamic and Jewish philosophy. With contributions by István P. Bejczy, Céline Billot-Vilandreau, Marcia L. Colish, Timothy Gianotti, Jeroen Laemers, John Kitchen, Cary J. Nederman, Richard G. Newhauser, Willemien Otten, Burcht Pranger, Riccardo Quinto, Ineke van ’t Spijker, Arjo Vanderjagt, Björn Weiler and George Wilkes.