6. The Good and Knowledge as Causes of Love

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Good as the Fundamental Cause of Love #

• Thomas argues that the good, not merely being the object of desire, is the cause of love
• The desiring power is a passive power that is acted upon by its object
• Whatever acts upon the heart is thereby the cause of love
• The connection between good and love is analogous to other emotions: the object of fear is the cause of fear; the object of anger is the cause of anger

The Structure of Thomas’s Argument (Q. 27, A. 1) #

• Main conclusion: The good is the cause of love
• Two premises that form the main syllogism:
  1. The object of love is the cause of love
  2. The proper object of love is the good
• Each premise is itself supported by additional argumentation
• Thomas structures the article by establishing both premises separately before drawing the conclusion

The Fitting Between Good and Love #

• The good is what fits a thing; fitting is the middle term connecting good to love
• Love is the agreement or conformity (convenentia) of the heart with its object
• What fits a thing is what is loved by it
• The principle applies universally: “It’s not for me; it doesn’t fit me”

Objections to the Good as Sole Cause of Love #

• First objection (most serious): The bad is sometimes loved, therefore the good cannot be the only cause
  • Augustine counters: “Surely nothing is loved except the good”
• Second objection: We love those who admit faults about themselves; this seems to contradict that good causes love
• Third objection: Dionysius says the beautiful, not merely the good, is lovable; therefore the good is not the sole cause
  • Reply: The beautiful is the same as the good, differing only in definition

The Distinction Between Simply Good and Good in Limited Way #

• A critical logical distinction crucial throughout philosophy
• What is simply (simpliciter) good vs. what is good in a limited, qualified, imperfect way (secundum quid)
• Common mistake: confusing what is truly good simpliciter with what is good only in some partial way
• Example: One may not know a specific person simply, but know them in some way (e.g., knowing what a man and brother are)
• Application to love: The bad is never loved as bad, but always under the notion of some limited goodness

The Bad Loved Only Under Aspect of Good #

• Thomas’s answer to the first objection: “The bad is never loved except under the notion of the good, to wit, insofar as it is in some way good, however imperfectly it may be good, and is grasped as simply good”
• Examples:
  • Robbery is bad because it violates justice, but loved for the money it provides
  • Murder is bad as unjust, but pursued for the pleasure or relief from annoyance it seems to provide
  • Adultery is bad as unjust, but pursued for sensible pleasure
  • Abortion is bad simpliciter as taking innocent human life, but pursued because it saves from embarrassment or allows continuation of career
• The agent is always mistaken when choosing the bad (according to Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics)
• The agent is nonetheless responsible for the mistake

Beauty as the Good Known #

• Definition of beautiful: That which pleases when seen or known
• Definition of good: That which all things desire
• Beauty differs from good only in definition (ratione), not in reality (re)
• The word “lovely” (meaning beautiful) is derived from the word “love” itself, showing the special connection
• “Good-looking” is another expression showing the good as cause, not beauty separately
• Beauty applies only to the higher senses (sight and hearing) which serve reason
• We say “beautiful music,” “beautiful sight,” but not “beautiful smell” or “beautiful taste”
• Support from Augustine: “Ancient beauty, too late have I come to know thee”

Knowledge as Cause of Love #

• The good, as object of desire, must be grasped or known in some way to move the heart
• Knowledge is a cause of love for the same reason the good is: because it pertains to the good as known
• Bodily sight (sensible knowledge) is the beginning of sensible love
• Contemplation of spiritual beauty is the beginning of spiritual love
• Examples from Shakespeare:
  • Romeo: “Did my heart love till now? Forswear its sight, for I ne’er saw true beauty till this night”
  • Juliet’s mother: “I’ll look to like, if looking, liking move” (looking = knowing; liking = loving)
  • Ferdinand: “The very instant that I saw you, did my heart fly to your service”
• Friar Lawrence observes that “Young men’s love then, lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes”
• The lovers in various plays speak of their love originating from sight/knowledge

Key Arguments #

The Desiring Power and Its Object #

Syllogism Structure:

• Whatever is the object of love acts upon the desiring power (the heart)
• Whatever acts upon the heart is the cause of its motion (love)
• Therefore, whatever is the object of love is the cause of love

Application to the Good:

• The good is the proper object of the desiring power
• Therefore, the good is the cause of love

The Good as Fitting #

Syllogism Structure:

• The good is what fits a thing
• What fits a thing is what is loved by it
• Therefore, the good is the cause of love

Logical Link:

• The middle term is fitting (convenentia)
• This operates because love is the conformity of the heart with its object

Resolution of the Objection About Bad Things Being Loved #

Two distinctions critical:

1. Simply good (simpliciter) vs. good in a limited way (secundum quid)
2. Per se (intrinsically) vs. per accidens (accidentally)

Application:

• The bad is never the per se object of love
• The bad is loved only per accidens, insofar as it contains some limited goodness
• The agent mistakes what is bad simpliciter for what is good simpliciter, or mistakes a limited goodness for the true good

Important Definitions #

• Bonum: The good; that which all things desire; the primary cause of love
• Convenentia: Fitting, agreement, conformity; the conformity of the heart with its object in love
• Simpliciter: Simply, without qualification; absolutely true
• Secundum quid: In a limited way, qualifiedly, imperfectly; true only in some respect
• Pulchrum: The beautiful; the good as known or seen; that which pleases when perceived
• Desiderativum: The desiring power; a passive power acted upon by its object

Examples & Illustrations #

From Shakespeare’s The Tempest #

• Ferdinand falls in love with Miranda at first sight
• He calls her “perfect and so peerless, are created of every creature’s best”
• Shows how perception of multiple gathered goods causes love

From Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet #

• Romeo never knew love until he saw Juliet: “Did my heart love till now? Forswear its sight, for I ne’er saw true beauty till this night”
• Knowledge (sight) of true beauty is the cause of his sudden, intense love
• Juliet’s mother says “I’ll look to like, if looking, liking move”—looking (knowing) generates liking (loving)
• Friar Lawrence observes the change: “What a change is here! Is Rosalind… so soon forsaken? Young men’s love then, lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes”

From Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra #

• Antony at Cleopatra’s feast: “For his ordinary, pays his heart… his eyes eat only”
• His gaze (knowledge/sight) causes his heart to follow in love

From Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night #

• Duke Orsino: “When first mine eyes did see Olivia… That instant was I turned into a heart”
• Shows the immediate movement of the desiring power upon seeing beauty

From Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice #

• Marlow’s line quoted: “Whoever loved, that loved not at first sight”
• Phoebe has fallen in love at first sight
• Illustrates the role of knowledge (sight) in causing love

From Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew #

• Petruchio: “Kindness in woman, he says, not their beauteous look shall win my love”
• Kindness is a good of the soul; beauteous looks are goods of the body
• Shows that different goods can be the cause of love

From Shakespeare’s Othello #

• “She fell in love with me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them”
• Pity is a good of the soul; shows goods beyond physical beauty cause love

From Shakespeare’s As You Like It #

• Phoebe quotes Marlowe’s dead poet
• “Whoever loved, that loved not at first sight”
• Illustrates debate over whether love requires knowledge by sight or can develop by second sight, third sight, etc.

From Jane Austen #

• “Sweetness makes so essential a part of every woman’s worth in the judgment of man that though he sometimes loves where it is not, he can never believe it absent”
• Shows sweetness as a good of the soul that causes love

From Shakespeare’s Richard III #

• Richard, deformed, believes he cannot be loved: “Am I then a man to be beloved?”
• His deformity prevents him from having the goodness (particularly beauty and likeness to others) that would cause love
• Leads him to resolve to be a villain: “I am determined to prove a villain”

From Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream #

• Helena pursues Demetrius, who loves Hermia
• Helena thinks she is ugly and therefore unloveable
• Says of Hermia: “What wicked and dissembling glass of mine made me compare with Hermia’s spherying”
• She assumes lack of beauty means lack of lovability, showing belief that the good (beauty) causes love

Questions Addressed #

Can the Bad Be Loved if the Good is the Cause of Love? #

Objection: People love bad things; therefore the bad must be a cause of love, not only the good.

Resolution: The bad is never loved as bad. It is loved only insofar as it appears good in some limited way. The agent is always mistaken, confusing what is bad simpliciter with what is good in some qualified sense. The bad is loved per accidens (accidentally), not per se (intrinsically). Example: one loves robbery not because it is unjust, but because the money provides some limited good.

If Beauty is Lovable, Isn’t Beauty Rather Than Goodness the Cause? #

Objection: Dionysius says the beautiful is lovable; the word “lovely” derives from “love”; therefore beauty seems to be the cause of love, not merely goodness.

Resolution: Beauty is not a different cause from goodness; it is the same as goodness, differing only in definition. Beauty is the good as known or perceived, while good is simply that which all desire. The beautiful belongs particularly to the objects of the higher senses (sight and hearing) which serve reason. Thus we speak of beautiful music and beautiful sights, but not beautiful tastes or smells.

How Can We Love What We Don’t Perfectly Know? #

Issue: The lecture illustrates through Marlow and Shakespeare that people fall in love at first sight. But if knowledge is required for love, how can love occur before extensive knowledge is acquired?

Implication: The good must be grasped or known in some way, but not necessarily known perfectly or completely. Bodily sight provides sufficient knowledge of sensible beauty to initiate love. One can love something more than one fully knows it, because love requires only grasping the object as a whole, while knowledge involves distinguishing and dividing its parts.