96. The Effects of Pleasure: Dilation, Desire, and Reason

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Four Effects of Pleasure #

Thomas investigates pleasure through four articles examining its effects:

1. Whether pleasure dilates (expands) the soul
2. Whether pleasure causes thirst or renewed desire
3. Whether pleasure impedes the use of reason
4. Whether pleasure perfects human operation

Article 1: Dilation Through Pleasure #

Core Issue: How does pleasure dilate when it seems to involve grasping/constriction?

• Dilation operates metaphorically in the soul, not literally as bodily expansion
• Functions through two powers:
  • Knowing power: Grasping union with a suitable good creates spiritual magnitude—the soul is said to be “magnified” (cf. Magnificat: “My soul magnifies the Lord”)
  • Desiring power: The appetite rests in and embraces the delightful thing inwardly
• Love vs. Pleasure: Both dilate but differently
  • Love dilates through extension—the affection reaches out to others’ goods, not merely one’s own
  • Pleasure dilates through capacity—making oneself more capable of receiving good
• Objection overcome: Pleasure involves constriction (grasping), yet can still dilate in a different sense

Article 2: Pleasure Causing Renewed Desire (Thirst) #

Core Issue: How can pleasure cause desire when it is the rest/end of desire?

Two modes of considering pleasure:

1. Pleasure in act:

   • Perfect pleasure: Ceases desire entirely (has complete rest)
   • Imperfect pleasure: Received successively (bit by bit), allows both pleasure and desire simultaneously
     • Example: Listening to music—delighting in one verse creates desire for the next part
     • Most bodily pleasures cause thirst until fully consumed (e.g., eating ice cream)

2. Pleasure in memory:

   • Memory of past pleasure naturally excites desire to return to that state
   • Example: “The longer they’re gone, the more I miss them” (anecdote about deceased parents)

Bodily vs. Spiritual Pleasures:

• Bodily pleasures: Cause fastidium (disgust, loathing, repulsive feeling) when excessive—diminishing returns
  • Excess leads to aversion (too much pizza, ice cream)
  • John 4:13: “Whoever drinks this water will thirst again”—signifies bodily pleasure’s insufficiency
• Spiritual pleasures: Do not exceed natural disposition; they perfect nature
  • Continue to cause desire without disgust (e.g., divine knowledge)
  • Even angels desire to look upon God (1 Peter 1:12), despite perfect knowledge
  • Secundum quid distinction: Imperfect possession (even of spiritual goods) allows both pleasure and renewed desire

Article 3: Pleasure and the Use of Reason #

Core Issue: Does pleasure impede or aid reason? Rest seems to aid understanding.

Three ways bodily pleasure impedes reason:

1. By distraction (distractio):

   • Intense pleasure draws the soul’s attention vehemently to itself
   • De Tocqueville: Distraction is the greatest danger to the mind in democratic times (due to social instability and competition)
   • Modern example: Advertisements and constant competing stimuli fragment attention
   • Principle: Intention strongly adhering to one thing is debilitated about others or wholly called away from them

2. By contrariety (contrarietas):

   • Excessive pleasures contrary to reason corrupt practical prudence (phronesis)
   • Does NOT corrupt speculative reason (e.g., mathematical truths remain unaffected)
   • Example: Alcoholics deny they drink too much rather than denying the principle against excess

3. By bodily transformation (transmutatio):

   • Bodily disturbances bind or impede reason (vinolenti—drunkards exemplify this)
   • The appetite is more vehemently affected by present things than absent things
   • Extreme example: Sins of the flesh can blind the mind so completely that even knowledge of damnation doesn’t stop the act

Contrast—Intellectual Pleasures Aid Reason:

• Pleasures proper to an operation (e.g., delight in understanding) increase that operation
• One who delights in contemplation or reasoning operates more attentively and vehemently
• Example: Students who take no pleasure in learning have difficulty

Resolution: Bodily pleasure’s rest is sometimes contrary to reason; from the body’s side it always involves some change that impedes reason.

Note on Imagination and the Sensitive Powers #

• Use of reason requires suitable use of imagination
• Imagination depends on bodily organs; bodily changes impede imaginative power, thus indirectly impeding reason
• Fiction and other imaginative works refresh and aid the imagination (reason’s servant)

Key Arguments #

Against Dilation (Objections) #

• Dilation pertains to desire (of absent goods) more than pleasure (of present goods)
• Constriction (grasping firmly to retain) seems more proper to pleasure
• Thomistic Response: Different metaphorical similitudes; love and pleasure use the term differently—love dilates through extension, pleasure through increasing the soul’s capacity

Against Renewed Desire from Pleasure (Objections) #

• Motion ceases when reaching rest; pleasure is rest of desire, so shouldn’t cause new desire
• Pleasure and desire are opposites (present vs. absent good)
• Excess pleasure causes disgust (fastidium), not desire
• Thomistic Response: Imperfect possession allows both simultaneously (secundum quid); spiritual pleasures avoid disgust entirely; bodily pleasures cause thirst proportionally to their successive reception

Against Pleasure Impeding Reason (Objections) #

• Rest contributes to reason (“in calming down and coming to rest, the soul becomes knowing and prudent”)
• Pleasure in desiring power, reason in knowing power—different parts shouldn’t impede
• Thomistic Response: Bodily pleasure has both appetitive rest and bodily change; when intention is vehemently applied to one act, it’s impeded from another; pleasure proper to an operation aids it

Important Definitions #

• Dilation (dilatatio): Metaphorical expansion of the soul’s capacity through pleasure, functioning through both knowing and desiring powers
• Fastidium: Disgust, loathing, squeamishness, or repulsive content; results from excessive bodily pleasure
• Thirst (sitis): Properly, desire of a thing not yet had; commonly, exclusion of disgust or boredom—can be caused by pleasure even when the good is present
• Secundum quid: “In a certain respect”; imperfect possession allows both pleasure and desire simultaneously
• Simpliciter: “Simply” or “absolutely”; perfect possession ceases desire entirely
• Distraction (distractio): Withdrawal of attention from other matters toward an intense pleasure
• Contrariety (contrarietas): Opposition of a pleasure to reason’s order, corrupting practical judgment
• Bodily transformation (transmutatio): Physical changes accompanying bodily pleasure that impede reason’s use
• Prudence (phronesis): Practical wisdom; right reason in action regarding particular goods (distinct from speculative reason)

Examples & Illustrations #

Personal Anecdotes #

• Parting and memory: Witnessing a father’s barely-contained tears at his daughter’s departure; memory of pleasure causes renewed desire
• Deceased parents: “The longer they’re gone, the more I miss them”—illustrates how memory of pleasure excites desire
• Rome residence: Reference to a location where something significant occurred
• Paul VI and universal fatherhood: When made pope, he noted getting “a sense of universal fatherhood”—the heart must expand for such responsibility

Philosophical/Literary Examples #

• Ice cream and satisfaction: Cannot consume an entire sundae at once; successive reception causes renewed thirst
• Music appreciation: Listening to a verse and delighting in it creates desire for the next part (Augustine, Confessions IV)
• Excessive consumption: Too much pizza or ice cream leads to disgust rather than continued desire
• Distraction in learning: A student paying attention to a beautiful girl rather than the lecture—an extraneous pleasure impeding reason
• De Connick and the Physics: A professor who taught physics since the 1930s still finding new insights in the text after 20 years—pleasure in understanding can sustain ongoing desire
• Artists in perception: Visual artists noticing minute shades of color; entirely in their eyes—illustrates focused attention and heightened operation
• Solid geometry visualization: Using physical cutouts to aid imagination in understanding three-dimensional figures

Theological/Scriptural References #

• Isaiah 60: “You will see and become affluent…your heart will…dilate”
• Psalm 118: “Your commandment is wide, exceedingly so” (relating width/dilation to charity’s precept)
• Ecclesiasticus 24:29: “Who drinks me will still thirst”—spiritual pleasure causes continued desire
• John 4:13: “Whoever drinks this water will thirst again”—bodily pleasure’s insufficiency
• Luke 1:46: “My soul magnifies the Lord”—exemplifies dilation through pleasure
• Psalms of thirst: Three penitential psalms of thirst distributed throughout the Psalter
• 1 Peter 1:12: Angels desire to look upon God despite perfect knowledge

Notable Quotes #

“That which is vehemently adhering to one thing is debilitated about other things, or even wholly called back from them.” (Thomas Aquinas, on distraction’s mechanism)

“The longer they’re gone, the more I miss them.” (Personal anecdote illustrating memory’s role in exciting desire)

“You get this sense of universal fatherhood.” (Paul VI, on becoming pope—illustrating how pleasure/responsibility expands the heart)

“How could I have taught this 20 years and not seen that?” (De Connick, on continued discovery in familiar texts—illustrating sustained desire from spiritual pleasure)

Questions Addressed #

Does Pleasure Dilate the Soul? #

• Objections: Seems to involve constriction; pertains more to love and desire than pleasure
• Resolution: Dilation operates metaphorically through both knowing power (creating spiritual magnitude through grasping union with good) and desiring power (appetite embracing the delightful thing). Love and pleasure dilate differently: love through extension to others’ goods, pleasure through increased capacity in oneself.

Does Pleasure Cause Renewed Desire/Thirst? #

• Objections: Pleasure is rest of desire; they are opposites; excess causes disgust not desire
• Resolution: Perfect pleasure ceases desire; imperfect pleasure (received successively) allows both simultaneously. Bodily pleasures cause thirst until consumed; spiritual pleasures cause continued desire without disgust. Memory of pleasure naturally excites desire to return to that state.

Does Bodily Pleasure Impede Reason? #

• Objections: Rest aids reason; pleasure and reason are in different soul powers
• Resolution: Bodily pleasure impedes through three mechanisms: distraction (drawing attention away), contrariety (corrupting practical judgment), and bodily transformation (physical disturbances binding reason). Intellectual pleasures proper to an operation aid reason by increasing attention and vehemence.