118. Effects of Fear: Contraction, Counsel, and Trembling

Subscribe in Podcast App | Download Transcript

Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Fear Causes Contraction #

• Formal aspect: Fear involves a contraction or withdrawal of the appetitive power from something threatening
• Material aspect: Heat and vital spirits withdraw from exterior parts to the interior, a proportional bodily change that follows from the soul’s formal motion
• This differs from anger, which involves an opposite motion: heat and spirits move upward and outward, making the angry person audacious and attacking
• In fear, the coldness that develops (from imaging one’s powerlessness) causes spirits to move downward, toward the lower elements
• Shame (verecundia), a species of fear, produces redness rather than pallor because shame concerns exterior ignominy, so blood moves outward; in fear of death, blood retreats inward (pallor)

Fear and Taking Counsel #

• Moderate fear aids counsel: A small amount of fear induces solicitude and careful deliberation about how to avoid threatened evil
• Excessive fear impedes counsel: When fear becomes very strong, it disturbs reason and prevents one from finding good counsel
• Fear of being mistaken is philosophically beneficial, making thinkers more careful and alert to fallacies
• Example: Socrates in the Phaedo uses measured fear to encourage careful thinking; when students despair, he restores hope, then later increases fear again to prevent overconfidence
• Fear makes one take counsel more than hope because fear addresses something difficult that one is “hardly able” to overcome, whereas hope addresses goods one is able to achieve
• Balance is essential: without some fear, one becomes careless; with too much, one despairs

Fear Causes Trembling #

• Definition: Tremor (trembling) is a shaking, especially in the heart and members connected to it
• Cause: Loss of exterior heat due to the contraction of heat and spirits inward leaves exterior parts cold and weak
• Weakness in members: The defect of heat in members makes them unable to perform their proper motions stably, causing trembling
• This occurs most noticeably in the heart (source of vital heat), vocal cords (causing silence rather than outcry), jaw, and knees
• The body’s loss of heat in extremities parallels the soul’s withdrawal; one without exterior heat cannot act firmly

The Distinction Between Formal and Material Aspects #

• Thomas emphasizes that emotions have both a formal aspect (motion of the appetitive power/soul) and a material aspect (bodily change)
• These two aspects are proportional to one another: the formal appetite contraction produces corresponding bodily changes
• Aristotle discusses this in the De Anima, noting that emotions belong partly to natural philosophy because they involve the body
• When describing anger as “desire for revenge,” one gives only the formal aspect; the bodily aspect includes the heat and elevation of spirits

Key Arguments #

Objections to Fear Causing Contraction #

1. Heat and audacity: When contraction occurs, heat withdraws to interior, yet this multiplies heat internally, which should make one audacious—opposite to fear → Response: The motion differs in anger vs. fear. Anger elevates spirits upward (toward heart); fear depresses them downward (toward lower elements)
2. Voice production: If interior spirits multiply from contraction, men should cry out (as in sadness), but fearful men are taciturn → Response: Different contraction in different passions; fear’s motion prevents voice formation
3. Shame produces redness, not pallor: Shame is a species of fear, yet ashamed persons become red (blood moves outward), not pale → Response: Shame concerns exterior ignominy (not death), so blood moves outward; fear of death causes blood to retreat inward toward the heart (source of life)

Objections to Fear Making One Take Counsel #

1. Passions disturb reason: Passion disturbs the quiet needed for good reasoning → Response: Moderate fear induces solicitude without great disturbance; excessive fear disturbs
2. Fear strikes and removes thought: Some fear is so striking it removes the mind from its proper function → Response: Excessive fear does this; moderate fear does not
3. Hope also makes one take counsel: Why does fear make counsel more than hope? → Response: Fear addresses something difficult one is “hardly able” to overcome; hope addresses goods one is able to achieve. Difficult things require more counsel

Objections to Fear Causing Trembling #

1. Trembling comes from cold, but fear causes heat/drying: Those fearing become thirsty, suggesting interior heat/drying, not coldness → Response: Interior heat increases toward lower parts (causing dryness); exterior parts lose heat (causing trembling)
2. Heat causes emission, not tremor: Hot laxatives cause bodily emissions; fear causes emissions; therefore fear causes heat, not coldness → Response: Fear causes heat to withdraw inward, leaving exterior parts cold and trembling
3. Heat withdrawal should cause trembling in all exterior members equally: Why only in some members? → Response: Trembling occurs primarily where vital heat is most present and most needed for firm action (heart, vocal cords, lower jaw, knees)

Important Definitions #

• Contraction (contrahis/contractio): A withdrawal or gathering inward of heat and spirits; formally in the appetite (fleeing from something threatening), materially in the body
• Sistole (σύστολη): Greek term from Damascene meaning contraction; describes the formal aspect of fear
• Tremor (trembling): Instability of bodily members due to weakness and defect of heat, especially in the heart and connected parts
• Solicitude (sollicitudo): Careful concern and deliberation; induced by moderate fear
• Material disposition vs. Efficient cause: Fear has defect as its material disposition (on the side of the one fearing) but efficient cause on the side of the threatening agent

Examples & Illustrations #

Bodily Effects Illustrated #

• Pallor vs. redness: In fear of death, blood retreats to heart (paleness); in shame, blood goes to face (redness)
• Trembling in specific parts: Charles I wanted a coat before execution so observers wouldn’t think his shivering proved he was afraid (might just be cold)
• Vocal effects: Young girls freezing on stage during public speaking, becoming silent; dogs and animals cry out in pain but silence in extreme fear
• Interior vs. exterior heat: Fear concentrates heat inward (causing thirst/dryness) while exterior parts lose heat (causing trembling)

Examples of Fear and Counsel #

• Socrates in Phaedo: Introduces objections to his arguments, causing students to despair; then restores hope by answering them; later introduces new difficulties to prevent overconfidence
• Monsignor Dion’s teaching method: Encourages students in class but questions them in office to cultivate carefulness (fear); progresses from Kisurik (encouraging) to De Kahnik (more cautious) to Dion (most careful)
• Sports teams: Team that beat opponent 40 points gets overconfident, loses next week by 10 points; moderate fear makes teams take counsel and prepare better
• Political campaigns: Candidate must balance hope of winning with fear of losing; too much hope leads to carelessness, too much fear to despair
• Pro-life movement: State-level victories give hope; without hope would despair; without some fear of losing ground, wouldn’t maintain vigilance

Other Illustrations #

• Charles Atlas advertisement: Weak man gets sand kicked in his face; develops strength; eventually defeats aggressor—fear of weakness motivated counsel and action
• Fear of fallacies: Knowing types of fallacies (equivocation, accident) makes philosophers more alert; fear of being mistaken is good for intellectual work
• Natural contraction: When dying, nature withdraws heat to interior (toward heart as source of bodily life)
• City analogy: When citizens fear, they withdraw from the perimeter to the interior, just as heat withdraws inward in fear

Questions Addressed #

Question 44, Article 1: Does fear cause contraction? #

• Answer: Yes, both formally (in the appetite) and materially (bodily withdrawal of heat and spirits)
• Key distinction: Fear’s contraction differs from anger’s; anger elevates (fire/air elements), fear depresses (water/earth elements)

Question 44, Article 2: Does fear make one take counsel? #

• Answer: Moderate fear induces solicitude and good counsel; excessive fear disturbs reason and impedes it
• Reason: Fear addresses difficult things one is “hardly able” to overcome, which require more deliberation than hoped-for goods

Question 44, Article 3: Does fear cause trembling? #

• Answer: Yes, trembling follows from the loss of exterior heat due to inward contraction
• Mechanism: Heat withdrawing inward leaves exterior members weak and unable to perform firmly, causing instability

Pedagogical Context #

Berquist emphasizes:

• The importance of understanding both formal (soul) and material (body) aspects of passions
• How balanced emotional responses (moderate fear, neither excessive nor deficient) support both reason and virtue
• The connection between philosophical carefulness and the fear of being mistaken
• How teachers must sometimes encourage (give hope) and sometimes caution (give fear) depending on student need
• The practical relevance of medieval emotion theory to contemporary life (sports, politics, teaching, spiritual direction)