93. The Causes of Pleasure: Operation, Motion, and Knowledge

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Eight Questions About Pleasure’s Causes #

Thomas Aquinas investigates eight causes of pleasure systematically. The lecture focuses primarily on the first two articles:

1. Whether operation is the proper cause of pleasure
2. Whether motion is a cause of pleasure

These are examined within the broader framework of pleasure’s structure and dependency on knowledge and suitable goods.

Operation vs. Motion: The Fundamental Distinction #

Operation (operatio): A perfect act that is complete in its very performance

• Examples: seeing, hearing, understanding, loving
• When seeing a beautiful painting, you have already seen it—the act is complete
• When hearing Mozart, you have already heard in the moment of hearing

Motion (motus): An imperfect act that is incomplete by its very nature

• Examples: walking home, cooking, building
• When walking home, you have not yet walked home—the activity remains incomplete
• When cooking a roast, it has not been cooked until completion
• Motion involves both generation and corruption in the process itself

Berquist notes that Thomas uses “operation” for perfect acts and distinguishes it from motion precisely because motion is, by nature, incomplete. Aristotle uses entelecheia and actus to make similar distinctions.

The Two Requirements for Pleasure #

Two things are absolutely required for pleasure to occur:

1. The obtaining of a suitable good - the good must be joined to us (through knowledge, possession, or both)
2. Knowledge of this attaining - we must know that we have obtained it

Berquist illustrates: If you become wealthy in your sleep but do not know it, there is no pleasure. A brilliant idea that solves a problem brings no delight if you don’t recognize its brilliance. The conjunction (joining) of the good and knowledge of that conjunction are both essential.

Operation as the Proper Cause of Pleasure #

Thomas’s Position: Every pleasure is reduced into some operation as its cause.

The objection claims that objects known are causes of pleasure more than operations themselves, since objects are known before operations. However:

• Objects are not delightful except insofar as they are joined to us
• Both the obtaining of suitable good AND knowledge of this attaining consist in operation
• Actual knowledge is itself an operation
• The use of things joined to us is also an operation

Therefore, operation is the proper and first cause of pleasure.

Motion as a Cause Despite Its Imperfection #

The Problem: Motion is imperfect, induces labor and weariness, and introduces novelty (opposed to custom). How can it cause pleasure?

The Resolution: Motion causes pleasure in three distinct ways:

1. On our side (the delighting subject): Our nature is changeable; what is suitable now will not be suitable later

   • Warming oneself by fire is suitable in winter but not in summer
   • Our finite power requires proportionality; exceeding the measure makes operation laborious and wearying

2. On the side of the good joined to us: Continuous action of an agent increases its effect, but this increase must remain within the natural measure

   • Continuous heating increases effect until it exceeds natural condition
   • When the measure is exceeded, the delightful quality is removed
   • Example: eating too much of something good makes it no longer pleasant

3. On the side of knowledge: Man desires to know something whole (totum) and perfect (perfectum)

   • Some things cannot be grasped all at once but require succession
   • A symphony requires movement through its parts; one cannot hear all at once
   • A play unfolds through scenes; a meal progresses from appetizer through dessert
   • Augustine notes: we do not wish a syllable to stand still but to pass so others might come and we might hear the whole

Motion is pleasant not insofar as it is motion, but insofar as it removes things contrary to natural disposition. The physician stressed from patient care relaxes through gardening—not experiencing the labor as labor, but as relief from stress contrary to his natural state.

The Divine Exception #

Berquist emphasizes a profound theological point: God, being unchangeable and possessing all perfection at once, would not find pleasure in motion or change. God’s nature cannot have excess above its natural disposition, and God’s whole is delightful all at once. Therefore, transmutation or change would not be delightful to God—He possesses all perfection simultaneously.

Key Arguments #

Argument 1: For Operation as Proper Cause #

Objection: Objects of operations are known before operations; therefore objects, not operations, are the cause of pleasure.

Response:

• Objects are not delightful except insofar as joined to us through knowledge or possession
• Both the obtaining of suitable good and knowledge of this attaining consist in operation
• Actual knowledge is an operation
• Use of things is an operation
• Therefore every pleasure reduces into operation as its cause

Argument 2: For Motion as Cause Despite Objections #

Objection 1: Motion is imperfect and incomplete (like coming-to-be); therefore it cannot cause pleasure which requires present good.

Response: That which is moved does not yet have perfectly that to which it is moved, but it begins to have something of it. Motion itself has something of pleasure but falls short of perfection. Motion is also delightful insofar as through it something becomes suitable that before was not suitable.

Objection 2: Motion induces labor and weariness; therefore it cannot cause pleasure.

Response: Motion causes weariness insofar as it transcends natural disposition. Motion is not delightful insofar as it induces labor, but insofar as it removes things contrary to natural disposition.

Objection 3: Motion introduces novelty opposed to custom; but customary things are pleasant to us.

Response: Custom is a second nature and makes things natural. Motion is delightful not through becoming customary, but through being imputed to correct the natural disposition through some operation. Both custom and motion are delightful from the same cause: naturality.

Important Definitions #

Operation (operatio): A perfect act that is complete in its very performance; not moved toward completion but already complete. Distinguished from motion by its perfection and immediacy.

Motion (motus): An imperfect act by its very nature; always in process toward completion; involves both generation and corruption.

Pleasure (delectatio): Rest of the appetitive power in a suitable good that is both obtained and known to be obtained. Requires conjunction and knowledge.

Conjunction (coniunctio): The joining of the delectable good to oneself, occurring through knowledge alone, through actual possession, or through both.

Natural disposition: The measure and proportion appropriate to a being’s nature. Excess beyond this measure removes pleasure; deficiency creates weariness.

Examples & Illustrations #

The Distinction Through Common Experience #

Playing baseball as a child: Running around, catching the ball, wearing yourself out—yet you enjoy it. This shows motion can cause pleasure despite inducing weariness, because it removes the contrary state (idleness, confinement) to natural youthful disposition.

Reading: The most important part of reading is often when you stop and think about what you’ve read. This demonstrates the difference between motion (turning pages) and operation (understanding).

The physician’s relaxation: A physician exhausted from patient care (much sitting and data work) relaxes through gardening. Gardening appears laborious but actually removes things contrary to his natural disposition; it is not pleasant as labor but as relief.

Objects and Knowledge #

Mozart’s music: Is it the music itself that pleases, or my hearing the music? Both in order—the music (object) is delightful only insofar as it is joined to me through hearing (operation).

Wealth while sleeping: Becoming wealthy while asleep with no knowledge brings no pleasure. Both the obtaining and the knowledge are required.

Brilliant idea: Having a solution to a problem brings no pleasure if you don’t recognize its brilliance—the knowledge must accompany the good.

Whole and Perfect Knowledge #

A symphony: One cannot hear all the notes at once; the symphony unfolds through succession. Yet the pleasure lies in grasping the whole through this movement.

A play: Shakespeare speaks of plays as plays (understood as activities for their own sake). We must move through scenes, one after another, to grasp the whole.

Augustine on the syllable: “You do not wish the syllable to stand but to pass, that others might come, that you might hear the whole.”

The Divine Nature #

Unlike creatures who need variety and succession to grasp wholes, God possesses all perfection at once. This is why motion and change cannot cause pleasure in God—God is unchangeable and His whole is delightful to Him all at once.

Questions Addressed #

Question 1: Is Operation the Proper Cause of Pleasure? #

Difficulty: If objects are known before operations are performed, shouldn’t objects rather than operations be the cause of pleasure?

Resolution: Objects are not delightful except insofar as joined to us. The joining occurs through operation (knowledge or use). Both obtaining suitable good and knowing this attaining consist in operation. Therefore operation is the proper cause.

Question 2: Is Motion a Cause of Pleasure? #

Difficulty: Motion is imperfect and induces labor and weariness. It introduces novelty opposed to custom. How can it cause pleasure?

Resolution: Motion causes pleasure in three ways: (1) through variety suited to our changeable nature; (2) through removal of contrary states from our natural disposition; (3) through allowing us to grasp wholes that cannot be perceived all at once. Motion is pleasant not as motion, but insofar as it corrects or relieves natural disposition.

Notable Quotes #

“Pleasure is an operation that is connatural and not impeded.” — Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics VII and X (cited by Thomas as foundational)

“When I’m seeing the beautiful painting, have I seen it yet? Yes, see, it’s already complete in a way.” — Berquist, illustrating operation’s perfection

“God, Lord my God, when you are eternal to yourself and you are joy, things about yourself, they always rejoice. But this part of things, that is alternating between defect and progress, rejoices.” — Augustine, Confessions VIII (regarding why motion cannot cause pleasure in God)