209. The Essence of Original Sin: Nature, Unity, and Concupiscence

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Original Sin as Habit vs. Disposition #

• Original sin is not a habit in the strict sense of an operative habit (an inclination of a power to act)
• Rather, it is a disordered disposition of nature itself, analogous to bodily sickness
• It consists in both a privation (lack of original justice) and a positive disorder in the parts of the soul
• This distinguishes it from mere ignorance, which is a pure privation
• Unlike actual sin (which is a disordered act), original sin is a disordered state or disposition of human nature

The Unity of Original Sin #

• Original sin is one in number within each individual person
• It is one in species across all humans because it has a single formal cause: the lack of original justice
• The biblical language using plural forms (e.g., “iniquities” in Psalm 50) reflects Hebrew linguistic convention of using plural for singular or indicating the manifold effects of one sin
• Original sin virtually pre-exists all actual sins as their principle, which explains the plural language

Formal and Material Aspects #

• Formally: Original sin consists in the defect of original justice—the loss of the will’s subjection to God
• Materially: Original sin manifests as concupiscence, the disordered turning of the soul’s powers toward changeable goods
• Original justice ordered all the soul’s powers through the will’s subjection to God; its loss leaves these powers in disorder
• This distinction allows Thomas to say original sin is both the defect of original justice (formal) and concupiscence (material)

Concupiscence as the Material Aspect #

• Concupiscence (disordered desire) becomes sinful when it exceeds the limits of reason
• In the state of original justice, desire was naturally governed by reason; its loss removes this governance
• Concupiscence is not sinful per se (desire itself is natural and good), but becomes material to sin through lack of original justice
• Various passions (anger, despair, presumption, etc.) follow from concupiscence indirectly, through the removal of what would prohibit them

The Role of Original Justice #

• Original justice was a supernatural gift given to Adam, ordering the will to God and all other powers according to reason
• Its transmission to posterity was part of the natural order before the Fall
• The formal cause of original sin is precisely this loss of original justice

Key Arguments #

Against Original Sin Being a Habit (First Objection) #

• Objection: Original sin is a privation (lack) of original justice; privation is opposed to habit; therefore original sin is not a habit
• Response: Original sin is not a pure privation but a corrupt disposition. Like bodily sickness, it has both negative (lack of health) and positive (humors disorderly disposed) aspects. This is a disordered disposition of nature itself, which is a second meaning of “habit” distinct from operative habit.

Against Original Sin Being a Habit (Second Objection) #

• Objection: Actual sin does not have the character of guilt if the person is asleep; but habitual sin would; therefore no habit can be original sin (which does have guilt)
• Response: The distinction between operative habit and dispositional habit is key. Original sin as a disordered disposition retains the aspect of guilt because it derives from Adam’s voluntary act, even though it becomes a state or condition of nature.

Against Original Sin Being a Habit (Third Objection) #

• Objection: Bad habits are always acquired, never infused; but some act must precede original sin; therefore it is not a habit
• Response: In the first parents (Adam and Eve), original sin resulted from their voluntary act. In subsequent generations, it is not infused as a habit in the strict sense but rather comes with the nature received through generation.

Against Original Sin Being One (First Objection) #

• Objection: Psalm 50 uses the plural “iniquities”; sin in which man is conceived is original sin; therefore there are multiple original sins
• Response: Hebrew Scripture frequently uses plural for singular (cf. the plural Elohim for God). Alternatively, the plurality reflects the manifold effects or the multiple disordered dispositions of the soul’s parts, though the sin itself is one.

Against Original Sin Being One (Second Objection) #

• Objection: One habit cannot incline to contrary things; original sin inclines to diverse and contrary sins (despair and presumption); therefore original sin is not one but many
• Response: One disordered disposition can indirectly incline to contraries through the removal of what prohibits them. Just as dissolution of bodily harmony causes elements to tend in opposite directions, dissolution of original justice causes the soul’s powers to be carried in different directions.

Against Original Sin Being One (Third Objection) #

• Objection: Original sin infects diverse parts of the soul; diverse subjects cannot share one sin; therefore original sin is not one but many
• Response: The parts of the soul are parts of one whole. Original justice unified all parts; its dissolution creates one disordered disposition throughout the whole, just as one fever affects diverse parts of one body.

Against Original Sin Being Concupiscence (First Objection) #

• Objection: Every sin is against nature; concupiscence is according to nature (as the act proper to the concupiscible power); therefore concupiscence is not sin
• Response: Concupiscence becomes against nature when it exceeds the limits of reason. In the state of original justice, desire was naturally covered (governed) by reason. The loss of original justice leaves concupiscence disordered and thus contrary to man’s nature.

Against Original Sin Being Concupiscence (Second Objection) #

• Objection: Original sin produces multiple passions (anger, etc.), not only concupiscence; therefore original sin is not concupiscence
• Response: Concupiscence is the general name for disordered desire toward changeable goods. Other passions follow from it as effects or as manifestations of the same root disorder.

Against Original Sin Being Concupiscence (Third Objection) #

• Objection: The understanding is the highest part of the soul; therefore original sin should be ignorance rather than concupiscence
• Response: The formal aspect of original sin is the defect of original justice (which is in the will). The material aspect is concupiscence. Since the formal aspect determines the species of sin, and since ignorance is an effect rather than the root, original sin is not essentially ignorance.

Important Definitions #

Habit (δυα ἕξις, habitus) #

1. Operative Habit: An inclination of a power to its act (e.g., science, virtue, skill). This is not what original sin is.
2. Dispositional Habit: A disordered or ordered disposition of composed nature according to which something has itself well or badly to something. Original sin is this kind—a corruption of the natural state, like sickness is to health.

Original Justice #

• A supernatural gift given to Adam, consisting in the subjection of the human will to God and the ordering of all lower powers according to reason
• Not intrinsic to human nature but added to perfect it
• Its loss is the formal cause of original sin

Concupiscence (Latin concupiscentia) #

• Disordered desire or appetite directed toward changeable goods
• Becomes sinful when it exceeds the bounds of reason
• The material aspect of original sin, as opposed to its formal aspect (defect of original justice)

Privation vs. Corruption #

• Privation: A pure lack of something that should be present (e.g., ignorance is the privation of knowledge)
• Corruption: A lack combined with positive disorder (e.g., sickness combines lack of health with disorderly disposed humors)
• Original sin is corruption, not mere privation, because it involves both the absence of original justice and the positive disorder of the soul’s powers

Original Sin (formally and materially) #

• Formally: The defect or privation of original justice
• Materially: The disordered disposition of the soul’s parts toward changeable goods (concupiscence)

Examples & Illustrations #

Bodily Sickness #

• Sickness is a disordered disposition of the body combining lack of health and disorderly humors
• Different causes produce different species of sickness (superabundance of heat, superabundance of cold, injury to organs like the liver)
• Yet one kind of sickness in one man has one numerical subject (the man’s body)
• This parallels original sin: it has one formal cause (lack of original justice) making it one in species, and one subject (the individual soul)

The Tangent Line and Circle (Euclid, Book III) #

• A tangent line touches a circle at only one point; above that point is open space
• One would expect to be able to insert another line, but this is impossible
• This arouses wonder not merely because we are ignorant, but because we expect the opposite—error rather than mere ignorance
• Illustrates how wonder begins philosophy through recognition of what contradicts expectation

The Rectangle and the Square (Euclid, Book II, Theorem 5) #

• When a line is divided into equal and unequal segments, the rectangle from the unequal segments is always smaller than the square from the half-line
• Precisely by the square of the distance between the division points
• Illustrates that greater perimeter does not entail greater area—a principle contrary to initial expectation

The Russian Farmer’s Land #

• A man is offered all the land he can run around in a day
• He dies from overexertion trying to maximize gain
• Illustrates that pursuing too large a perimeter results in nothing
• Shows the principle that maximizing one quality (perimeter) does not maximize another (area)

The Father and Son #

• A father sees his son as a continuation of himself; the son naturally likes to imitate his father
• When told “that’s just like your father,” there is pleasure in the resemblance
• The father is the active, moving principle; the son participates in the father’s form
• Illustrates why Adam’s nature and its corruption are transmitted to posterity through generation

The Neighbor and Daughter #

• A neighbor without a son plays catch with his daughter
• She takes on something of the role of a son
• Yet they both enjoy the activity
• Shows that the natural love and activity between parent and child can transcend biological gender roles

Notable Quotes #

“Original sin is a certain disordered disposition, arriving or coming about from the dissolution of that harmony in which consists the notion of original justice. Just as the sickness of the body is a disordered disposition of the body, according to which equality is untied, and which consists the ratio of health.”

“Original sin is not a pure privation, just a lack, but it is a corrupt act.”

“The formal aspect of original sin is the defect of original justice, but the material aspect is concupiscence.”

“In every disordered disposition, the unity of the species is considered on the side of the cause. The unity, according to number, on the side of the subject.”

“No bad habit is infused, but acquired. Here’s a crap. But some act does not but precede original sin.”

Questions Addressed #

First Question: Is original sin a habit? #

• Answer: Yes, but in the sense of a disordered dispositional habit (like sickness), not an operative habit (like knowledge or virtue)
• Reasoning: Original sin is a corruption of nature combining privation and disorder, properly analogous to bodily sickness rather to operative habits

Second Question: Is there one original sin or many in one man? #

• Answer: One in number in one man, one in species across all men, but diverse in number across diverse men
• Reasoning: Original sin has one formal cause (lack of original justice) making it one in species. Each person receives it numerically through their own nature, making it numerically distinct in each person. But all share it proportionally as derived from Adam.

Third Question: Is original sin concupiscence? #

• Answer: Materially yes (concupiscence is the material aspect), but formally no (the formal aspect is the defect of original justice)
• Reasoning: Concupiscence is the disordered desire toward changeable goods that results from the loss of original justice’s governance of the passions. The formal cause (what makes it a sin) is the privation of original justice; the material cause (how it manifests) is concupiscence.

Fourth Question: Is concupiscence natural to man? #

• Answer: Desire itself is natural and good when governed by reason; concupiscence becomes sinful when it exceeds reason’s limits
• Reasoning: In the state of original justice, concupiscence was naturally covered or governed by reason. The loss of original justice removes this governance, leaving desire disordered—thus concupiscence becomes against man’s nature as ordered to reason.