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Jensen's Good and Evil Actions Book Set for Release in April
2/11/2010
 The Catholic University of America Press has published a book by Dr. Steven J. Jensen, Good and Evil Actions: A Journey Through Saint Thomas Aquinas. Jensen is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of St. Thomas. The book will be available in April 2010.
Modern philosophy has long dismissed the traditional moral notion that some actions are inherently good or evil, claiming rather that actions lack clear boundaries and have no set nature, whether good, evil, or anything else. We might expect to find resources to rebut these consequentialist assertions in the perennial philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. Unfortunately, the analysis of the moral species within Aquinas confounds even the most resolute. Thomists are far from unanimity on the very questions at issue, such as the role of intention in moral judgment and the importance of the exterior or “physical” act. One influential reading of Aquinas assigns intention a central role; another extols a return to teleology and to the physical nature of the action.
 In Good and Evil Actions, Jensen navigates a path through the debate, retrieving what is of value from each interpretation. Intention receives its proper due, while leaving room for physical causality and teleology. Jensen provides a novel explanation of self-defense and develops a much needed account of the dignity of the human person. With exceptional clarity, he identifies the essential issues, resolves conflicting views, and reveals the truth as conveyed by Aquinas.
In his foreword, the late Ralph McInerny, longtime professor of philosophy and medieval studies at the University of Notre Dame, praises the book as “a remarkable compendium of the status questions of a large number of prickly issues associated with Thomas Aquinas’s theory of human action, a fair look at proposed solutions, and finally Jensen’s own best thought on the matter.”
Thomas A. Cavanaugh, professor of philosophy at the University of San Francisco described the book as, “A significant original contribution to a currently robust conversation in contemporary ethical debates. Jensen offers a novel interpretation of Aquinas’ position on how to define an act as good or bad.”
After completing his Ph.D. at the University of Notre Dame, Jensen continued his studies in ethics, with applications to medical ethics. He has published articles concerning St. Thomas Aquinas’ ethics, action theory, and theory of knowledge.
Prior to coming to the University of St. Thomas, he taught at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, W. Va. and at the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D. He has been at the University of St. Thomas since 2007. Jensen lives in Katy, Texas, with his wife and three children.
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