Quaestiones Disputatae de Pinckaers

In this essay, I start by entering three methodological concerns about Pinckaers’s work, concerns that will resurface, in different forms, over the course of the paper. I then elaborate some more substantive challenges to Pinckaers’s moral theoretical argument. These are meant not as devastating objections, but they do require a convincing response—a response I leave up to moral theologians. Finally, I offer a summary of my critique of Pinckaers’s project. Overall, what I appreciate about that project will take a back seat, not because I fail to appreciate it, but because philosophers thrive on disagreement, and rarely put pen to paper in order to express agreement.