Abstract

Father Klubertanz has written a work of concrete and practical philosophy that is not without theoretical value. The philosophical background of the work is the Aristotelian-Thomistic conceptions of habit and virtue, i.e., the acquired internal principles of human activity, good and bad. The traditional doctrines are flexibly elaborated to interpret more modern studies in psychology in the context of moral theory. The book helps to fill an important but currently rather neglected part of ethics, namely the shaping of the personality of the ethical agent in relation to the ethical good, which is one part of relating the "is" and the "ought." Klubertanz recognizes that different habits may be mutually exclusive, but not that virtues themselves may be at odds. What one misses in the book is a recognition of the elements of sacrifice, decision, and creativity in the formation of personality.—P. M.