200. Passion, Reason, and the Causes of Sin

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

• Passion vs. Reason: Whether passion can cause someone to act against universal knowledge in particular circumstances
• The Socratic Thesis: Knowledge cannot be overcome by passion; all virtues are sciences and all sins are ignorances
• Thomas’s Refinement: The distinction between knowing something universally (in habit) versus applying it in particular circumstances (in act)
• Passion as Cause of Sin: How passion functions as a per accidens cause by removing impediments rather than directly causing sin
• Disordered Self-Love: The root cause of all sin and its relationship to the three concupiscences
• Infirmity of the Soul: When the parts of the soul are not subject to the order of reason

Key Arguments #

Can Passion Overcome Reason Against Knowledge? #

The Socratic Position (Advanced):

• Knowledge is the strongest thing in us and cannot be overcome by weak, passing passions
• Objection: Universal knowledge (no fornication should be done) appears to make particular violation impossible
• Apparent contradiction: If one knows the universal, one should know the particular subsumed under it

Thomas’s Resolution:

• The will is moved toward the good as apprehended by reason
• Passion can draw the will toward an apparent good, but this operates through the apprehension of reason
• Critical distinction: One can know something universally in habit (possession) but fail to consider it in act (application)
• One can have true universal knowledge and false particular opinion simultaneously because universal and particular propositions are not directly opposed as contradictories when one is habitual and the other is actual

Three Ways Passion Impedes Reason:

1. By distraction: When one power of the soul is intensified, others are weakened (all powers share one essence)
2. By contrariety: Passion inclines toward the contrary of what universal knowledge dictates
3. By bodily impediment: Passion can bind the use of reason through physical alteration (sleep, extreme intoxication); reason is not freely going to act

Knowledge in Habit vs. Act:

• One may know something habitually (possessing it in mind) yet not consider it in act (not applying it to the present situation)
• This can happen from mere defect of intention or from some impediment (exterior occupation or bodily weakness)
• Example: A student may know logical forms habitually but fail to apply them when solving a particular argument

Passion as a Cause of Sin #

Per Accidens Causation:

• Passion is not a direct (per se) cause of sin but removes impediments to sin
• The proper cause of sin is on the side of the soul’s turning toward a disordered good (conversio)

The Operative Syllogism of the Incontinent Man:

• Reason operates through two universal propositions: one from right knowledge, one suggested by passion
• Example: “No fornication should be done” vs. “Pleasure should be followed”
• Passion binds reason so it assumes and concludes under the second universal instead of the first
• The man concludes: “This is pleasant; therefore [I should pursue it]”

How Passion Affects Judgment:

• Passion makes an apparent good seem to reason as if it were truly good
• This operates through the imagination and estimative power (senses), not through universal reason
• A drunk man may speak profound truths yet cannot judge them with his mind; similarly, a man in passion may confess something is bad while inwardly sensing it should be done

Disordered Self-Love as the Root of All Sin #

The Ordered vs. Disordered Love of Self:

• Ordered self-love is good and natural (commanded by God: “love your neighbor as yourself”)
• Disordered self-love, proceeding to contempt of God, causes all sin (Augustine, City of God 14)

How Love Causes Desire:

• To love someone is to will good for them
• If one loves oneself, one desires good for oneself
• Every sin proceeds from disordered desire of some temporal good
• Such disordered desire proceeds from disordered love of oneself

The Two Types of Concupiscence:

1. Natural concupiscence (of the flesh): concerning sustenance and sexual reproduction
2. Animated concupiscence (of the eyes): of things delectable to imagination or apprehension—money, honors, beautiful objects; these do not sustain the body but appeal through imagination

The Three Concupiscences (1 John 2:16):

1. Concupiscence of the flesh: disordered desire for food, drink, sexual pleasure
2. Concupiscence of the eyes: disordered desire for things perceived through imagination as desirable (money, beauty, honors)
3. Pride of life: disordered desire for excellence and superiority

Infirmity of the Soul #

Definition:

• The soul is infirm when it is impeded in its proper operation on account of disorder of its parts
• Just as the body is disordered when its humors and members do not follow the ruling and motive powers, so the soul is disordered when its appetitive powers are not subject to the order of reason

Passion and Infirmity:

• The vehemence of passion does not contradict infirmity; when motion stronger than nature occurs in the body outside the order of nature, there is greater infirmity
• Similarly, when passion is stronger outside the order of reason, there is more infirmity of the soul
• Comparison to the paralytic: whose parts move contrary to his own disposition; internal warfare

Important Definitions #

• Passio (passion): A vehement motion of the sense-desiring power; emotions or motions of the concupiscible and irascible appetites
• In habitue vs. in actu: In habit = possession of knowledge; in act = application or consideration of that knowledge in a particular situation
• Conversio: The turning toward a disordered good; the positive aspect of sin
• Aversio: The turning away from God; the negative aspect of sin (follows per accidens from conversio)
• Per se causa: A direct cause; directly productive of the effect
• Per accidens causa: An indirect cause; produces the effect by removing impediments (remotio prohibentis)
• Infirmitas: Weakness of the soul when its parts are not subject to the order of reason
• Cupidity (cupiditas): Disordered desire, especially of temporal goods; root of all evils
• Opiniones contrariae: Two opinions are contraries when the propositions are contradictories; one cannot hold both simultaneously

Examples & Illustrations #

• David and Bathsheba: Must have known adultery is wrong universally, yet committed mortal sin in particular because he deliberated and planned (sent for her, arranged her husband’s death)
• The Drunk Man: May confess that something should not be done while inwardly sensing it should be done; knowledge in words but not in judgment
• Geometry and Habit: One who knows geometry may fail to consider geometric conclusions unless he intends to do so; knowledge exists habitually but not in act
• Coriolanus: Under intense anger approaches insanity, illustrating how extreme passion can totally intercept the use of reason
• Sleep as Bodily Impediment: Dreams show how bodily transmission binds the use of reason; one is often deceived in dreams
• Cherry Sours Candy: Illustration of concupiscence of the eyes and flesh working together—the candy is beautiful to see and pleasant to taste, leading to disordered desire to consume the whole package
• The Mule: If one knows the mule to be sterile, one knows this animal to be sterile (so long as one knows it to be a mule)—illustration of how particular knowledge should follow from universal
• Money and Imagination: Money is not pleasant in itself (like food) but becomes desirable through imagination and the estimative power
• The Oktoberfest Example: Young men passing beer forward, one unable to finish a second liter—illustration of how appetites can exceed reason’s prudential limits

Questions Addressed #

Article 2: Can Passion Overcome Reason Against Its Knowledge? #

Resolution: Passion does not overcome universal knowledge directly. Rather, it impedes the application of universal knowledge to particular circumstances by:

• Distracting reason from consideration of the particular
• Making an apparent good seem truly good to reason
• Binding reason through bodily impediment

One can have knowledge in habit (possession) that one does not consider in act (apply), especially when passion impedes that consideration.

Article 3: Is Sin from Passion a Sin of Infirmity? #

Resolution: Yes, because infirmity of the soul consists in the parts of the soul not being subject to the order of reason. The vehemence of passion does not contradict this infirmity; rather, greater passion outside the order of reason indicates greater infirmity of the soul.

Article 4: Is Disordered Self-Love the Cause of All Sin? #

Resolution: Yes, because every sin proceeds from disordered desire of some temporal good, and such disordered desire proceeds from disordered love of oneself. The distinction must be made between ordered self-love (good and commanded by God) and disordered self-love (leading to contempt of God).

Article 5: Are the Three Concupiscences Adequate? #

Resolution: All passions reduce to these three. The concupiscences of the flesh and eyes are of the concupiscible appetite; the pride of life is of the irascible. Flight from evil is caused by desire of good, so only positive desires need enumeration.

Notable Quotes #

“For reason is directive according to a two-fold knowledge of human acts: to wit, according to universal knowledge and according to particular knowledge.”

“It is manifest that a disordered love of oneself is the cause of every sin.”

“A friend is, as it were, another self.” (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics IX)

“I see another law in my members, repugnant to the law of my mind.” (St. Paul, Romans 7:23)

“Nothing prevents something that is known in habit that is not considered in act.” (Thomas, on why knowledge doesn’t prevent sin)