moral good in the theology of St Thomas Aquinas.
Introduction
Thomas
Aquinas Summa Theologiae is
structured along a sure movement, Exitus-Reditus
movement (all things comes from
God and in different ways return to God). It is ultimately, the human person’s
yearning for or journey towards his or her perfect good. This exact movement
lies at the foundation of Aquinas Moral theology. Morally good action is that
which is conducive to the human person’s attainment of his or her ultimate end,
final happiness, the everlasting contemplation of the perfect good.
Pondering the influence of Aristotle
in his Moral Philosophy, Aquinas accepts that temporal happiness is achievable
in this life. But final happiness he adds consists in beatitude or the
supernatural union with God. Such end lies far beyond our reach or attain
through our natural human capacities. For this reason, in addition to our
natural capacities, law and the virtues, we need God, we need the grace of God
to transform our nature to actuality or deify it so that we might be better
suited to participate in this divine beatitude.
God Perfect the human nature in Christ, to partake fully in this divine beatitude. It is through Christ that God
has definitively and decisively revealed to us all that we need to achieve this
end. The Exitus-Reditus structure of
the Summa Theologiae is Aquinas’ own
way of positing that the journey to perfect good has been, decisively and
definitively made possible through Christ. Hence, after treating the questions
on God, how creatures proceed from God; the virtues and vices, the last part of
Summa Theologiae has been devoted by
Aquinas to the treatment of questions relating to the person and work of
Christ, who is the way of human person to his or her perfect good; the way of
God.
This
paper attempts an exploration of the nature and notion of the moral good in the
theology of St Thomas Aquinas. More so, the means of discovering this moral
good would equally be considered in this dissertation. For the sole aim of this
paper, the exploration would be dependent on Aquinas Summa Theologiae. Other
writings of his would equally be considered.
Moral Theology and Christian Faith
Christian
theology is a discipline in which the commitment of faith seeks to understand
God’s revelation.[1]
Moral theology is a particular expression of systematic theology which focuses
on the implications of the faith for the way we live. It is concerned with
God’s revelation of divine love in his incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, and through
the spirit as an invitation calling for our responses. Richard Gula posits
that, morality is often associated with behaviour guided by rules. But rules
alone are not sufficient for understanding the scope of moral reflection.[2]
Actions alone too are not sufficient, moral goodness as a quality of the person
is constituted not by rule-keeping behaviour alone, but by cultivating certain
virtues, attitude and outlooks.
Human Acts and the Acts of Man
Aquinas
in Summa Theologiae Prima Secundae, turns
his attention to the distinction to distinguish between the Acts of Man and
Human Acts. Thus, for Aquinas morality affects acts in as much they are
controlled by the free will of the human person. The human body is subject to a
number of forces, which the intellect is unaware of nor the will can control.
Acts perform while in an unconscious state, acts performed during insanity; all
such acts lie beyond the control and causality of the free will. They are
grouped together under the common name acts of man.
A human
act on the other hand is an act which is performed by the human person
precisely as a rational being and is conceived as an act proceeding from the
deliberate free will of man. Aquinas makes this point clear in the following
words; “Of actions done by man, those alone are properly called human, which
are proper to man as man.[3]”
Furthermore, human actions are those actions of which human person master. The
human person is the master of his or her actions by means of his or her reason
and will. The actions which proceed from a deliberate free will are properly
called human actions. If any other actions are found in the human person, they
are called actions of the human person, but not human actions, since they are
no proper to human person as human person.[4]
Thus,
Higgins posits that three element enter the human act; the will, human reason,
and freedom.[5]
Human action is rendered impossible with the absence of the consent of the
will. Intellectual knowledge is not merely an accompaniment but a co-cause of
human action. Deliberation is possible only after the intellect must have
presented the act as partially good or partially evil. The human person
deliberates that which has some goodness, real or apparent, which attracts the
will, alongside some admixture of evil, real or apparent, which repulse the
will. A voluntary decision follows deliberation.[6]
Aquinas posits that an action “is said to be voluntary when it is commanded by
the will or it is elicited by the will.”[7]
Human actions are also distinguished between perfect voluntary act, in which
there is full knowledge and consent, and imperfect voluntary act, in which
there is incomplete deliberation or consent; between directly voluntary act, if
it is the immediate object of the will, and indirect voluntary act, if it is
the effect of such an object immediately willed.
They
are equally distinguished between expressly voluntary act, when the consent is
manifested externally by some word or sign, and tacitly voluntary act when the
consent is not manifested externally in anyway, but is indicated by some fact
or the omission of some fact which entitles one to conclude that the consent is
present. Finally, human acts are distinguished between positive voluntary act,
when it consist of an act actually willed and performed, and negatively
voluntary act, when the person deliberately decides not to perform a particular
act but omit it.[8]
The Good as Happiness
It is
evident that the human person desires the good as the end of all his or her
actions. “The conscious state of satisfaction” according to Fagothey, “which
the human person feels when he possesses this good is called happiness.”[9]
Aristotle posits that “happiness is the end of all actions’ the basic motive
and good of all human endeavours. One who would not crave happiness must have
no desires, and such person could not be human. We are so made that we must
seek happiness, and no one is free with regards to this. Thomas Aquinas makes
it clear when he argued that, “Since the good is the object of the will, the
perfect good of a man is that which satisfies his will. Thus, to desires
happiness is nothing else than to desire that one’s will be satisfied. And
everyone desires.”[10]
The policeman who stands in the middle of the road to extort money from unsuspecting
motorist or the prostitutes who stands in the middle of the road, or young man
who decides to steal from a bank, or the politician who vies for the political
post for the purpose of amassing wealth, desire happiness. However, some do not
know what to do in order to realize happiness; Aristotle’s position does not
lie in such vices as robbery or theft, sex etc. It lies in virtuous activities.
“Happiness, he posits is an activity in accordance with virtue.”[11]
The good of man is to live a happy and virtuous life. For Aquinas, happiness is
another name for God, God is happy by nature, God’s happiness is good.[12]
Quest for Happiness
We all
agree that happiness lies at the core of every human action, but not all agree
in what this happiness consist. Happiness is the human person’s subjective or
intrinsic last end. The human person is so made that they must seek happiness.
But, what is that objective or extrinsic last end whose possession will bring
about this subjective (happiness) state within man?
Philosophers
and Theologians from time immemorial have tried to answer this question. These
have developed themselves into various schools of thought which include;
Hedonism, Utilitarianism, Stoicism etc..
Hedonism,
first formulated by Aristippus and refined by Epicurus, claims that pleasure,
sensual pleasure, is the objective or extrinsic last end which will bring about
the subjective or intrinsic state in human person. Thus, Epicurus stated that:
We call pleasure the
beginning and the end of the blessed life. For we recognize pleasure as the
first good innate in us and from pleasure we begin every act of choice and
avoidance, and to pleasure we return again, using the feeling as the standard
by which we judge every good.[13]
However,
he added “not every pleasure is to be sought they lead to greater pain and not
every pain is to avoided since some naturally bring about lasting pleasure.”[14]
Utilitarianism,
an extension of Hedonism, claims that the intrinsic last end which can bring
about the subjective state within the human person is the “altruistic pleasure
of seeking the greatest happiness of the greatest number.”[15] Stoicism
however claims that the extrinsic last end of the human person is virtue. “Virtue
is the only good. It is not the means to an end, but an end itself.”[16]
Vice is the only evil. The greatest error is to suppose that pleasure is a
good. I would rather be mad than be glad, the Stoics claim.
The Confluence of Morality and the Good
Christian
Morality is distinguished not by the fact of having convictions about the good,
but by the fact of the kinds of convictions they have. The Christians
conviction about the good is governed by religious beliefs expressed in the
stories of the Bible. These stories demonstrate the pre-eminent goodness of
God. Anything else is good only in relation to God a s a reflection or
meditation of God. The goodness of God is disclosed in the scripture,
pre-eminently in Jesus Christ.[17]
Hence to be happy, the Christian needs to seek good; he or she needs to seek
God. This way, faith would become a reference point for morality, it influences
and informs morality. And the standard for moral choice would also become what
God enables or requires of us. Herein, we see the confluence of morality,
happiness and the good. As Gula points out, for the Christian, “moral actions
are judged wrong not because of the harms they cause to self or others, or
because they violate rational rules of conduct. Rather they are wrong because
they are not properly responsive to what God enables or requires.[18]
Virtue as Habitus
Aquinas
posits that virtue is the utmost reach of the power of the thing. It is said to
make the one having good and makes his work good. A thing is good in as much as
it has a complete ordering or disposition to it end. Thus, it is evident that
virtue is the disposition of the perfected for the best.[19]
Hence virtue is a habitus. It is a good habitus which makes an agent to act in
accordance with the agent’s own nature.[20]
As a perfection of power, this good habitus disposes us to act in good ways for
the sake of ends that are suitable and good for us including our ultimate end
and highest good-genuine happiness.
Development of Virtue
Aquinas
believes that virtues of the natural order, such as intellectual and moral
virtues, are acquired by repeated god acts. However it is equally noted that
there is a way, Aquinas believes, in which virtue excluding the theological
virtues which wholly from without, may be said to be present either in the
human person’s specific or individual nature. It is present in an incipient
state and by way of aptitude.[21]
Virtue is said to be present in the human person’s specific nature by reason of
how the will is naturally drawn to the good and by reason of how the agent
exhibits certain naturally known principles of knowledge such as the principle
of non-contradiction, identity, excluded middle, etc.
Law as a necessity for Good
The
choice to do what is always n our power and we sometimes succeed in executing
this, other time we fail to perform morally praiseworthy acts. Mbukanma in his
book, The Problem of Choice in Moral life
gives reason why Aquinas includes law in his Moral discourse. He states:
We are imperfect beings
in the sense that we do not have complete understanding of moral rules and the
capacity to live them in certain concrete moral situations; and so, some laws
for the common good prescribed by legitimate authorities in the society can be
of great help in our efforts to live the moral life. With moral rules in our
possession, we do not always have to go through the rigour of thinking about
what is the morally right thing to do. By provision of religious and social
laws, we are helped to behave well in a political society. Obedience to such
laws helps to strengthen our will to obey the moral law within us.[22]
The
importance of law, in Aquinas moral theory, cannot be overemphasized the
general structural movement of the Summa
Theologiae, that is the movement from terminus a quo-Exitus to terminus ad
quem reditus, also lies at the core of Aquinas treatment of Law and its
important in the journey towards the good. Natural law offers moral
justification for all laws; it is a priori element of laws; it is the deal by
which all existing positive laws can be judged; it refers to immutable rules;
as an autonomous law, it is valid because it is based on an ideal naturally
known to everyone and finally it is a spontaneous law.[23]
Conclusion
Morality
for Aquinas is a response to the question of happiness and the ultimate end of
human life. Human persons advance in this pursuit of the ultimate happiness by
means of virtuous acts and by avoiding vices. Though, in Aquinas’ opinion,
human actions are not enough. Albeit human persons’ by means of their natural
abilities can gain some happiness, this happiness is not perfect happiness.
Perfect happiness lies beyond human natural powers. For perfect happiness, the
human person needs external aid. By means of grace and divine law, the human
person is aided by God to achieve this perfect happiness. In Christ, God has
definitively given all we need to achieve this perfect happiness. This, in
itself is an act of love by a great God. It is for this reason that Aquinas
would say theology is a work of love. It is a revelation of the truth of
salvation. To seek the good, is to seek this truth of salvation. It is to seek
Christ who says “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Christian must love,
examine, reflect and embrace this truth. Moral theology is a discipline which
seeks to relate this truth to concrete situation. Moral theology proposes that
pursuit of the ultimate end must be firmly founded on Christ.
Thomas
Aquinas treatment of Moral theology is evidently centers in Christ. It is in
relation to Christ, who is the model and savior that a human being receives and
grows in grace, and moves closer to the ultimate end that is God.
Today
the Holy Mother Church continues to exonerate and affirms Thomas Aquinas’
contribution to theology in general and moral theology in particular, as the
standard that rules Catholic education system. Pope John XXII in his address
affirmed Thomas Aquinas as the mind which enlightened the Church more than all
the other Doctors of the church
[4] Cf. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I – II, q. 1, a. 1.
[5] Cf. Thomas Higgins, Man as Man (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing
Company, 1958), p. 32
[6] Cf. Thomas Higgins, Man as Man, p. 32.
[7] Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I – II, q. 1, a. 1. Reply to objection 2.
[8] Cf. Celestine Bittle, Man and Morals, pp. 35 – 37.
[9] Cf. Austin Fagothey, Right and Reason (California: Mosby
Company, 1959), p. 44
[10] Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I – II, 5, a. 8.
[11] Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, Bk X. Ch. 6.
[12] Thomas Aquinas, Summa ContraGentiles, Bk. 3, Ch 17, a. 2
[13] Epicurus’ “Letter to
Menoecius” in Diogenes Laetius, Lives and
Opinion of Eminent Philosophers, bk X, p. 27.
[14] Austin Fagothey, Right and Reason, p. 63.
[15] Austin Fagothey, Right and Reason, p. 64.
[16] Austin Fagothey, Right and Reason, p. 66
[17] Cf. Richard M Gula, Reason Informed by Faith (New York: Paulists
Press, 1989)’ pp. 43 – 44.
[18] Cf. Richard M Gula, Reason
Informed by Faith (New York: Paulsts Press, 1989)’ pp. 43 – 44.
[19] Thomas Aquinas, De Vitutibus,
a. 1.
[20] Thomas Aquinas, Summa
Theologiae, I – II, q. 55, a.3
[21] Thomas Aquinas, Summa
Theologiae, I – II, q 63, a. 1
[23] Cf. J Gurvitch, L’ Experience Juridique quoted George W
Paton, A Text – Bokk of Jurisprudence, (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1951), p. 78
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