7. Knowledge and Likeness as Causes of Love

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Knowledge as a Cause of Love #

• Knowledge is a cause of love for the same reason as the good itself: because it pertains to the object of love
• The good as known is what moves the heart to love, not merely the good in abstraction
• Bodily sight begins sensible love; contemplation of spiritual beauty begins spiritual love
• Faith must precede charity in the order of generation because knowledge must come first
• Even magical love (as in A Midsummer Night’s Dream) must pass through the knowing power—the eyes must be anointed

The Problem: Can We Love What We Don’t Know? #

Objection: If knowledge causes love, how can we desire science that we don’t yet possess?

Response: One who seeks science knows it in an imperfect way—either generally, through its effects, or through hearing about it. To know something perfectly is to possess it; to know it imperfectly is to be able to know it. The distinction is between knowing simply versus knowing in some limited or qualified way.

The Problem: Do We Love God More Than We Know Him? #

Objection: We love God more than we know Him in this life, so knowledge cannot be the cause of love.

Response: Knowledge and love differ fundamentally in their operation:

• Knowledge requires distinction and division—analyzing parts, powers, and properties
• Love regards the thing as a whole in itself, without division
• Perfect knowledge demands knowing all parts and properties; perfect love requires only grasping the thing as a unified whole
• Therefore, something can be perfectly loved even if not perfectly known
• Example: One can love rhetoric knowing only that it is the art of persuasion, without mastering all its technical details
• Application to God: The washerwoman may love God more than the theologian, even though the theologian knows more about God

The Relationship Between Good and Knowledge #

• Thomas ties the first two causes together: the good as known
• The object of love is the good as sensed, imagined, or understood—not the good in abstraction
• This is why reason becomes “a marshal to the will,” leading the will to love

Likeness as a Cause of Love #

• Likeness is introduced as a distinct cause of love, separate from (though related to) knowledge and goodness
• When two beings are alike, they are “in some way one” in that form
• Affection tends toward another as toward something one with itself
• Can be explored through fictional examples showing attraction based on similarity versus attraction based on perceived goodness

Key Arguments #

Against Knowledge as Cause (Objection 1) #

Premise: Something unknown cannot be sought or loved Conclusion: Therefore knowledge is not a cause of love

Thomistic Response:

• One who seeks knowledge does not seek it entirely unknowingly
• They know it imperfectly: in general, through effects, or through hearing of it
• Augustine teaches that to know something perfectly is to have it; to know it imperfectly is to be able to know it
• This removes the apparent contradiction

Against Knowledge as Cause (Objection 2) #

Premise: If knowledge causes love, more knowledge should cause more love Premise: But we love God more than we know Him Conclusion: Therefore knowledge is not the cause of love

Thomistic Response:

• Knowledge requires analysis—breaking things into parts and distinguishing them
• Love regards the whole without analysis
• Therefore the degree of love need not be proportional to the degree of knowledge
• What is perfectly loved need not be perfectly known
• Faith precedes charity in the order of generation; hope is replaced by the beatific vision, but charity remains

Against Knowledge as Cause (Objection 3) #

Premise: If knowledge causes love, love should only be found where knowledge exists Premise: But even plants are said to “like” water and sunlight Premise: Plants possess no knowledge Conclusion: Therefore knowledge is not the cause of love

Thomistic Response:

• Natural love in non-knowing things is caused by knowledge—but by the knowledge existing in God (the creator), not in the things themselves
• This was established previously

Important Definitions #

Knowledge in the Context of Love #

• Perfect knowledge (simpliciter): complete understanding of all parts, powers, and properties; this is what it means to have something
• Imperfect knowledge (secundum quid): partial grasping through effects, reports, or general understanding; what allows us to seek what we do not yet possess

The Good as Known #

• Not the abstract good, but the good as it presents itself to a knowing power
• Can be sensed, imagined, or understood depending on the level of the knowing power involved

Likeness #

• A sameness in form or quality between two beings
• Operates as its own cause of love, distinct from knowledge and goodness, though these may work together

Examples & Illustrations #

Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream #

• Oberon’s love potion makes the eyes the object of transformation
• “Having once this juice… drop the liquor of it in her eyes”
• Even with magic, love must pass through the knowing power (the eyes)
• Demonstrates that knowledge (sight) is essential to love, even in supernatural contexts
• Puck’s mistake shows how the wrong knowledge produces the wrong love

Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet #

• Romeo on first seeing Juliet: “Did my heart love till now? Forswear its sight, for I ne’er saw true beauty till this night”
• Beauty (light, visual splendor) rouses the love through knowing
• Juliet’s mother: “I’ll look to like if looking liking move”—showing progression from looking (knowing) to liking (loving)
• Benvolio’s remedy: “By giving liberty unto thine eyes, examine other beauties”
• New knowledge (of other beauties) can displace old love
• Lysander, under the potion, rationalizes his new love: “The will of man is by his reason swayed”
• Shows how the will follows reason in matters of love

Shakespeare: Twelfth Night #

• Olivia on seeing Cesario: “How now! Even so quickly may one catch the plague?”
• “Methinks I feel this use perfections… creep it in mine eyes”
• Love at first sight caused by the perfections (good) as known (seen)
• She fears her eye is “too great a flatter for my mind”

Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice #

• Portia reasoning about Antonio: She has never met him, but because he is “the intimate friend of [her] lord”
• She reasons backward from the effect to the cause: “In companions… whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love, there must needs a like proportion of lineaments of manners and of spirit”
• Therefore, Antonio must be like her husband, and she would love him too
• Calls Antonio “the semblance of my soul”—the likeness of her soul in her husband
• Illustrates how likeness is a cause of love, and how reason can discern it from effects

Shakespeare: Richard III #

• Richard, deformed and unlike other men: “I have no brother… This word love… is resident in men like one another… and not in me. I am myself alone.”
• Illustrates the opposite principle: lack of likeness prevents the natural love of friendship
• His unlikeness isolates him from the bonds that unite other men

Shakespeare: The Taming of the Shrew #

• Lucentio on first seeing Bianca: “All the famous examples in fiction… because I often heard men say this about their wife… our eyes just locked”
• “Oh yes I saw true beauty in her face… Sacred and sweet was all I saw in her”
• Beauty moving to love through sight (knowledge)
• The two causes (good and knowledge) working together

Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights #

• Cathy loves Linton because he is good (wise, fair, true)—but he is not like herself
• Cathy loves Heathcliff because he is like herself—“He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same”
• Shows the distinction between loving for goodness and loving for likeness
• Raises the question: which cause is stronger when they come into conflict?

Notable Quotes #

“The good is a cause of love by way of an object. But the good is not an object of desire except insofar as it is grasped or known in some way. And therefore love requires some grasping of the good that is loved.” — Thomas Aquinas

“Bodily sight is the beginning of sense love; likewise, contemplation of spiritual beauty, or goodness, is the beginning of spiritual love.” — Thomas Aquinas

“The will of man is by his reason swayed.” — Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (quoted in Lysander’s rationalization of his new love)

“For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” — Romeo, Romeo and Juliet

“In companions that do converse and waste the time together, whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love, there must needs a like proportion of lineaments of manners and of spirit.” — Portia, The Merchant of Venice

“Sacred and sweet was all I saw in her.” — Lucentio, The Taming of the Shrew

“I am myself alone.” — Richard III (expressing his isolation due to unlikeness)

Questions Addressed #

Can We Desire and Love What We Don’t Know? #

Question: If knowledge is a cause of love, how can we seek science we don’t possess, or love something unknown?

Answer: We know it imperfectly—through general knowledge, through effects, or through hearing of it. Perfect knowledge means possessing; imperfect knowledge means being able to possess. This distinction allows us to seek and love what we have not yet fully grasped.

Why Do We Love God More Than We Know Him? #

Question: If knowledge causes love, why does charity (love of God) exceed faith (knowledge of God) in this life?

Answer: Knowledge requires distinguishing and analyzing all parts; love grasps the whole undivided. Therefore perfect love doesn’t require perfect knowledge. The washerwoman may love God more than the theologian.

What’s the Difference Between Knowing and Loving? #

Question: How do knowledge and love differ in their operation?

Answer: Knowledge belongs to reason, which divides, distinguishes, and analyzes. Love belongs to the will (desiring power), which regards the thing as a whole in itself. Perfect knowledge requires knowing all parts; perfect love requires only grasping the thing as a unified whole. This is why something can be loved more than it is known.