Father Pegues discusses the ultimate object of human happiness, man’s greatest good and final end, as presented by St. Thomas Aquinas in his Treatise on the Last End (Summa Theologica I-II, 1-5). Father Pegues writes: “Man under the higher action of God and dependently upon this action, can fix for himself the end for which he acts; whereas other creatures of the material world put into execution blindly, naturally, or instinctively the end fixed to their action by God.” The reason for this difference between man and other creatures is because “man is endowed with mind, whereas other creatures are not.” “There is always some supreme object or some last end man has in view whenever he acts; since without some such supreme object or last end he would be unable to will anything at all. Man ordains all to this supreme object or last end whenever he acts; if he does not do this consciously and explicitly, he does it at least implicitly. This last end or supreme object which man always has in view when he acts and to which he ordains all is happiness. Of necessity man desires to be happy.”
The Object of Human Happiness | SaintlySages
The Object of Human Happiness | SaintlySages
Nelson MCBS 