IV. Moraltheologische Vor- und Rahmenbedingungen der spätscholastischen Wirtschaftsethik

Abstract

Moral Theology as a Pre-condition and Presupposition of Economic Ethics in Late Scholasticism. In the context of a rapidly developing economy, the late Spanish or Iberian scholasticism dealt with numerous ethical issues of economic life. The moral presuppositions and conditions of their ethical and legal decisions are important because moral theology was established as a discipline of its own right precisely in the wake of the School of Salamanca. The influence of Thomas Aquinas, as well as the nominalist School, on Iberian late scholasticism becomes apparent in its shift to the concrete and to the law. Three elements in particular are discussed in this essay: the interaction between law and morality; the discovery of history as a source of theological knowledge; and Probabilism as a moral theological method. On the basis of the natural law, the late Spanish scholastics defended private property against any encroachment by temporal or spiritual powers. In their value and price theory they focus on the just price, which they generally consider to be the market price, corrected by the requirements of the common good. The lasting importance of scholastic statements on the economy lies in their emphasis on its ethical dimension.