In the realm of virtue ethics, the question of whether virtues remain after this life is a minor one. The basic text on this issue, written by St Augustine, is followed by Peter Lombard and Beda Venerabilis. These sources deal from the theological perspective with the basic question positively; however, they admit a change in the operations of virtues. Thomas Aquinas elaborates this perspective in philosophical argumentation. This article analyses the importance of the question from Aquinas’s perspective for virtue ethics. It then argues for the key role of this topic for the classical concept of virtue since it underlines the key role of infused cardinal virtues that connect the immanent and transcendent dimension of virtue ethics.
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