From Theory to Praxis (1400 - 1550)

In the presentation of concept of virtue in arts, there is a remarkable shift from prudence as a figure without any attributes except the holding a book in her hands (thirteenth and fourteenth century) to an allegorical setting which manifests an abstract attitude in its concretization of everyday life, especially in the right use of money and provision for the future (sixteenth century). This shift in the representation of prudence reflects a significant change that took place in the development of moral thought and ethical reflection at the transition from the Later Middle Ages to the Early Modern Period, namely a change of paradigm from a theoretical approach in Scholastic ethics to a practical approach which takes into consideration the wide range of everyday situations and experiences. Though this shift is obvious, it contrasts with some observations which have been made in the field of the History of Moral Theology, namely that there was no great interest in, or further development of the theological moral theories of the thirteenth and fourteenth century during the fifteenth century. On the other hand, at the turn to the sixteenth century we find both a new and strong emphasis on moral theology, developed out of a new interpretation of St. Thomas Aquinas and combined with a "natural rights theory", and, in 1547, an institutional innovation: the foundation of the first chair for "Cases of Conscience", i.e. for practical pastoral questions. This institutional change marks the separation of practical ethics from systematic theology where it had been integrated throughout the Middle Ages. Thus the fifteenth century represents an unexplained gap in the development of Moral Theology. The aim of the Research Project is to fill the gap by explaining how the institutionalization of the chair for "cases of conscience" came about. It will shed light on the cultural circumstances of the foundation and especially on its premises, i.e. the developments of philosophical and theological moral theory during the later middle ages.