162. Infused Virtues and the Mean in Moral Virtue
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Main Topics #
The Necessity of Infused Virtues (Questions 63-64) #
The Problem: If acquired virtues (intellectual and moral) can be developed through our own acts, why do we need infused virtues from God?
Thomas’s Answer: Because effects must be proportioned to their causes. Acquired virtues proceed from natural beginnings in us and are ordered to natural ends. But supernatural ends—ordering us to God and membership in the heavenly community—exceed human natural capacity and require supernatural habits immediately caused by God.
The Principle: Causes and effects must be proportional. Just as the apple comes immediately from the apple tree (while God is the remote cause), so virtues ordered to nature come from natural causes, while virtues ordered to supernature come directly from God.
God’s Economy: God does not multiply causes unnecessarily. However, theological virtues (faith, hope, charity) alone, while ordering us to God as end, are insufficient to perfect the soul regarding “other things” ordered to God. Thus infused moral and intellectual virtues are necessary to complete what theological virtues alone cannot provide.
The Distinction Between Acquired and Infused Virtues #
Objection: Acquired and infused virtues seem to be the same species since they perform the same acts (e.g., both temperance moderates desires of touch).
Thomas’s Response: Species are determined by definition. When the definition differs, the species differs—like changing one letter in a word changes the word entirely.
Key Difference in Definition: Infused virtue includes “God working in us without us” (Deus in nobis sine nobis operatur), which acquired virtue lacks by definition.
Difference in Formal Object and Measure:
- Acquired temperance: measures desires of touch by human reason, maintaining health and use of reason
- Infused temperance: measures the same desires by divine law, requiring mortification and subjection of the body (as per 1 Corinthians)
Difference in Ordering:
- Acquired virtues: order man well to human living and civil society
- Infused virtues: order man well to membership in the heavenly community (civitas sanctorum) and supernatural beatitude
Because they differ in their measure (the formal reason determining the mean) and their end, they are different species entirely.
The Mean in Moral Virtue (Question 64, Article 2) #
The Question: Does moral virtue consist in a mean, or does virtue sometimes lie in extremes (as suggested by magnanimity, magnificence, virginity, and radical poverty)?
Aristotle’s Definition: Moral virtue is “a habit with choice, existing in the middle, determined by right reason” (habitus cum electione medius existens determinatus ratione recta).
The Key Distinction: Virtue is a middle in terms of matter but an extreme in terms of conformity to reason.
How This Works:
- In the matter (the thing affected—anger, food, drink, etc.), virtue lies between excess and defect
- In conformity to the rule of reason, virtue is the best possible state—it is an extreme of goodness and cannot be improved
- As the measure and rule of appetite is reason itself, the good of any appetite-determined thing consists in conformity to reason
- Such conformity lies between the extremes of exceeding and falling short of the measure
Why Extremes Appear Virtuous: Virginity (abstaining from all venereal pleasure) and radical poverty appear to lie in extremes. However, they are actually measured by divine law (not human reason alone) and ordered to supernatural beatitude. In the measure of divine law, they are midpoints; they only appear extreme when measured by human reason.
Examples of the Mean:
- Courage: between cowardice (defect) and recklessness (excess)
- Temperance: between insensibility/frigidity (defect) and intemperance (excess)
- The mean in anger: determined by circumstances—whether the offense was accidental or intentional, careless or deliberate
Key Arguments #
The Proportionality Argument #
- Effects must be proportioned to their causes
- Natural causes produce effects ordered to natural ends
- Supernatural ends exceed natural capacity
- Therefore, supernatural causes (God) must produce supernatural habits (infused virtues)
The Divine Economy Objection and Response #
Objection: God does not do through many what He can do through one. Theological virtues should suffice.
Response: Theological virtues order us to God as the ultimate end. But man needs to be perfected regarding other matters ordered to God. The relationship is analogous to natural virtues: just as intellectual and moral virtues perfect us regarding natural objects while ordered to natural ends, infused moral and intellectual virtues perfect us regarding supernatural objects while ordered to supernatural ends.
The Species Distinction through Definition #
- Species are diversified by differences in definition
- Infused virtue’s definition includes divine causation; acquired virtue’s does not
- Infused and acquired virtues differ in their formal measure and ordering principle
- Therefore, they are different species, not the same virtue acquired vs. infused
The Mean as Conformity to Reason #
- The rule of appetite is reason
- The good of anything measured and ruled consists in conformity to its rule
- Conformity to rule lies between excess and defect
- Therefore, moral virtue—which perfects the desiring part through conformity to reason—consists in a mean
Important Definitions #
Infused Virtue (virtus infusa): A supernatural habit immediately caused by God in the soul, ordered to supernatural ends, measured by divine law, exceeding what natural human causation can produce.
Acquired Virtue (virtus acquisita): A habit caused through repeated human acts proceeding from natural beginnings, ordered to natural ends, measured by human reason.
The Mean (medium): In moral virtue, the conformity of the desiring part of the soul to the measure and rule of reason regarding a determined matter; it lies between excess and defect in the passions or operations.
The Measure of Virtue (mensura): For acquired virtue, human reason; for infused virtue, divine law. The measure determines what counts as the middle in the particular matter of the virtue.
Divine Working in Us Without Us (Deus in nobis sine nobis operatur): The characteristic mark of infused virtue—God produces the habit immediately, without our acts being the cause (though our receptivity is necessary).
Examples & Illustrations #
Infused vs. Acquired Temperance #
In the matter of food: acquired temperance eats enough to maintain health and function of reason; infused temperance may require additional mortification of the body for spiritual purposes. Same matter, different measures, different species.
The Mean in Eating #
One should eat neither too much nor too little. The measure is not “half the turkey” (middle of the thing) but “what is appropriate for me considering my health, my use of reason, and my circumstances” (middle towards us, determined by reason).
Tea Steeping #
Tea should steep 3-4 minutes. Too little leaves a weak taste; too much releases bitter chemicals. The virtue (proper tea-making) consists in the right measure, determined by the nature of tea and reason’s understanding of how to bring out its proper qualities.
Saint Scholastica and Saint Benedict #
When Benedict insisted on following the rule despite Scholastica’s desire to stay together, he acted according to acquired virtue (observing the monastic law measured by human institutional reason). Scholastica’s prayer for a storm that kept them together suggests supernatural ordering—her infused virtue ordered her to familial love within the context of divine providence, a measure beyond the monastic rule alone.
Virginity as an Extreme Determined by Divine Law #
Virgin consecrated to God abstains from all venereal pleasure. This appears to be an extreme (defect in the matter), but it is actually determined by divine law as a mean when ordered to supernatural beatitude and intimate union with Christ. It would be vicious excess if done from superstition or vanity; it is virtuous when divinely commanded and rightly motivated.
Questions Addressed #
Q: Why are infused virtues necessary if we can develop acquired virtues through practice? A: Acquired virtues are proportioned only to natural ends. Supernatural ends (beatitude, membership in the heavenly community) exceed human natural capacity and require supernatural habits immediately caused by God. The principle of proportionality ensures that causes must match the ends they produce.
Q: Are acquired and infused virtues the same species? A: No. Although they may concern the same matter (e.g., desires of touch in temperance), they differ in their formal object (the measure determining the mean: human reason vs. divine law) and in their definition (infused virtue includes divine causation). Definitions determine species; a difference in definition diversifies species.
Q: If moral virtue consists in a mean, how can virginity and radical poverty be virtuous? Don’t they lie in extremes? A: They appear extreme only when measured by human reason. When measured by divine law and ordered to supernatural beatitude, they are actually midpoints between vicious extremes. Virtue is a middle in matter but an extreme in conformity to its proper measure and rule.
Q: How can the mean be “in the middle” if virtue is described as an extreme? A: The distinction is between two dimensions. In terms of conformity to reason, virtue is an extreme—the best possible state, incapable of improvement. In terms of the matter affected (anger, food, pleasure), virtue lies in a mean between too much and too little. Both formulations are correct; they refer to different aspects of the same habit.