Recta ratio, affectivity, and the good. Integration and ethics of reason in Francisco Suárez

Resumo

I propose to examine the approach to reason in the Jesuit tradition, in particular in the thinking of Francisco Suárez, as well as its intrinsic connection with other basic dimensions of human subjectivity, such as affectivity or the different affections or modes of love that modulate and condition the exercise of reason, especially in the determination of its moral realization. I consider this examination pertinent, as this tradition involves both a care for the intellectual faculty of the person and a certain suspicion that “higher powers,” such as reason and will, do not act merely as “masters” or directors of human action but rather that their right use must have undergone a purification of the passions of the soul, in particular of its affections, for the right exercise of reason, or recta ratio. Hence, a critical examination of disordered affections ordered in their correct orientation is presented as a propaedeutic way to exercise recta ratio. However, reason must not only be well-organized but must also enable the subject to pursue the good. The ethics of reason is therefore a constitutive dimension of reason. This ethics, in the Jesuit tradition and in Francisco Suárez, has not only a personal but also social component. Accordingly, the pursuit of the good applies not only to the good of the person but also strictly to the common good as the horizon of the ethics of reason.

Keywords: recta ratio; affectus; common good; Francisco Suárez SJ; Jesuit tradition.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/21836884/med41a30