Abstract

Aquinas’s study of the passions allows one to build Anthropology on firm metaphysical and psychological ground. The Metaphysics of creation and the substantial unity of man are the two metaphysical pillars of this Anthropology, while the experience of such substantial unity is the psychologic alone. Starting from the analysis of these elements, the author draws what he calls the Thomistic Anthropology of the passions. He underlines that human passions are different from animal passions in relationship to both the unity between knowledge and desire and to the experience of the passion in its different steps: from love to hope, passing through desire. The conclusion is that a good understanding of the Anthropology of the passions is necessary to grasp more clearly the substantial unity, and the integration of human affectivity in the person through action and virtues.