120. Boldness and Drunkenness: Causes and False Estimation

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Problem: Defects Appearing to Cause Boldness #

Thomas addresses three objections claiming that defects cause boldness:

• Drunkenness (ebrietas): Wine-drinkers become “strong, brave, and audacious” (Aristotle, Problems)
• Inexperience: Those without experience of dangers are bolder than the experienced
• Suffering unjustice: Those who have undergone unjust treatment become bolder

Each appears to be a defect, yet each seems to cause boldness. How can defects produce boldness if boldness is a positive passion?

Thomas’s Resolution: Excellence Joined to Defect #

The key insight is that defects cause boldness only per accidens—not insofar as they are defects, but insofar as they involve some excellence (either true or false) joined to them.

Drunkenness (ebrietas):

• Causes boldness not because it is a defect, but because it causes expansion of the heart (dilatatio cordis)
• Heat of the heart repels fear, which is tied to coldness and contraction
• Drunkenness creates a false estimation that one’s power is greater than it actually is
• The excellence here is the expansion itself, though the estimation is mistaken

Inexperience of Dangers:

• Inexperienced persons are bold not from defect, but per accidens
• Per accidens: they neither know their own weakness nor recognize the presence of actual dangers
• By subtraction of the cause of fear (awareness of danger), boldness follows
• The excellence involved is ignorance of one’s limitations—a kind of false hope

Suffering Unjust Treatment:

• Those injured are rendered more bold because they estimate that God will give aid to those who have suffered wrongdoing
• The excellence here is hope (true hope, based on trust in divine justice, not false estimation)
• This is the most genuine form among the three, as it involves true hope in divine providence

The Distinction: Per Se vs. Per Accidens Excellence #

No defect causes boldness per se (essentially). Rather, defects cause boldness only insofar as they accidentally involve some excellence, either:

• On one’s own part: false estimation of one’s power (drunkenness, inexperience)
• On the part of another: hope in external aid (divine justice)

This preserves the principle that boldness follows from hope and is a positive passion, while explaining apparently paradoxical cases where defects seem productive of boldness.

Key Arguments #

Structure of the Objections #

1. First Objection (Drunkenness)

   • Drunkenness is a defect (alcoholic intoxication)
   • Yet drinkers become brave and audacious
   • Therefore, defects cause boldness

2. Second Objection (Inexperience)

   • Inexperience is a defect (lack of knowledge)
   • Yet inexperienced youth are bolder than experienced drivers
   • Therefore, defects cause boldness

3. Third Objection (Suffering Injustice)

   • Suffering unjustly is a defect
   • Yet such persons become bolder (like struck beasts)
   • Therefore, defects cause boldness

Thomas’s Counter-Argument #

From Aristotle’s Rhetoric Book II:

• The cause of boldness is “hope of salvation as being near”
• Fear arises when things are “not” or “far distant”
• What pertains to defect either removes fear or obscures it
• Therefore, defects do not cause boldness; rather, they eliminate fear by obscuring its causes

The Resolution Strategy #

Thomas argues that each defect causes boldness not qua defect but qua joined to some excellence:

• Drunkenness: The defect (intoxication) is inseparable from the excellence (heart expansion and false self-estimation)
• Inexperience: The defect (lack of knowledge) entails the excellence (ignorance of both weakness and danger)
• Injury: The defect (having suffered) is joined to the excellence (hope in divine justice)

Important Definitions #

Ebrietas (Drunkenness): A state of intoxication that expands the heart, repels fear through heat, and creates a false estimation (aestimatio) of one’s power. It produces boldness per accidens through the excellence of expansion, not per se as a defect.

Aestimatio (Estimation/Judgment): The apparent evaluation of one’s own capabilities and the difficulties of the task. In drunkenness and inexperience, this is false; in the injured person hoping for divine aid, it may be true.

Per Se vs. Per Accidens Causation: Per se causation is essential and direct; per accidens is accidental and indirect. Defects cause boldness only per accidens, insofar as they involve accompanying excellences.

Dilatatio Cordis (Expansion of the Heart): The physiological effect of heat on the heart, which repels fear (associated with cold and contraction) and contributes to boldness. This is the excellence accompanying drunkenness.

Examples & Illustrations #

Drunkenness in Practice #

• A man drinking wine becomes argumentative and ready to fight
• After one drink, he confronts a liberal professor with bold remarks
• When sober, the same man would not engage; when drunk, he has false confidence in his ability
• The next day, he discovers the other person was actually larger or stronger than estimated
• The contemporary cultural difference: In Aquinas’s time, wine was drunk daily and in different cultural context; in modern times, drunkenness is more clearly understood as lowering inhibitions and false estimation

Inexperience and Danger #

• Young drivers on icy roads drive too fast because they have no experience with loss of traction
• One driver passes a cautious woman (Berquist’s wife) on ice, speeds up, and goes off the road
• The inexperienced do not know their own weakness (lack of skill) or recognize the actual presence of danger (icy conditions)
• By winter, experienced drivers know they must “learn how to drive again” with snow

Suffering and Divine Hope #

• Those who have been unjustly treated believe God will aid them
• This is evidenced in Washington’s account: after being shot at as a young soldier, he was exhilarated
• Later reflection shows this was youthful boldness; older experience brings caution
• The excellence here is genuine hope in providence, not false self-estimation

Notable Quotes #

“Drunkenness causes boldness, not insofar as it is a defect, but insofar as it makes for the expansion of the heart.”

“Those who are without experience of dangers are more bold, not on account of the defect, but per accidens, because on account of the inexperience, neither do they know their weakness nor do they know the presence of dangers.”

“Those who have undergone something unjust are rendered more bold because they estimate that God will give aid to those who have undergone something unjust.”

Questions Addressed #

Article 3: Is Some Defect the Cause of Boldness? #

Question: How can defects (drunkenness, inexperience, injury) cause boldness if boldness is a positive passion arising from hope?

Resolution: Defects cause boldness only per accidens, insofar as they involve an accompanying excellence (true or false estimation of power, or hope in divine aid). No defect causes boldness per se as a defect.

Implications:

• This protects the principle that boldness follows from hope and reason
• It explains why apparently defective states can produce boldness
• It distinguishes between genuine boldness (grounded in true hope) and apparent boldness (grounded in false estimation or ignorance)

Philosophical Methodology #

Berquist demonstrates Thomas’s method of:

1. Stating apparent contradictions: Defects seem to cause boldness, yet boldness is a positive passion
2. Employing careful distinctions: Per se vs. per accidens causation
3. Consulting authoritative texts: Aristotle’s Rhetoric and Problems to understand the true cause of boldness
4. Resolving through precision: Showing that defects do not cause boldness per se, but only per accidens through accompanying excellence
5. Illustrating with examples: Drunken arguments, young drivers, and soldiers to make the abstraction concrete