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Objection 1: It would seem that a man can hate himself. For it is
written (Ps. 10:6): "He that loveth iniquity, hateth his own
soul." But many love iniquity. Therefore many hate themselves.
Objection 2: Further, him we hate, to whom we wish and work evil.
But sometimes a man wishes and works evil to himself, e.g. a man who
kills himself. Therefore some men hate themselves.
Objection 3: Further, Boethius says (De Consol. ii) that
"avarice makes a man hateful"; whence we may conclude that everyone
hates a miser. But some men are misers. Therefore they hate
themselves.
On the contrary, The Apostle says (Eph. 5:29) that "no man
ever hated his own flesh."
I answer that, Properly speaking, it is impossible for a man to hate
himself. For everything naturally desires good, nor can anyone desire
anything for himself, save under the aspect of good: for "evil is
outside the scope of the will," as Dionysius says (Div. Nom.
iv). Now to love a man is to will good to him, as stated above
(Question 26, Article 4). Consequently, a man must, of
necessity, love himself; and it is impossible for a man to hate
himself, properly speaking.
But accidentally it happens that a man hates himself: and this in two
ways. First, on the part of the good which a man wills to himself.
For it happens sometimes that what is desired as good in some
particular respect, is simply evil; and in this way, a man
accidentally wills evil to himself; and thus hates himself.
Secondly, in regard to himself, to whom he wills good. For each
thing is that which is predominant in it; wherefore the state is said
to do what the king does, as if the king were the whole state. Now it
is clear that man is principally the mind of man. And it happens that
some men account themselves as being principally that which they are in
their material and sensitive nature. Wherefore they love themselves
according to what they take themselves to be, while they hate that
which they really are, by desiring what is contrary to reason. And in
both these ways, "he that loveth iniquity hateth" not only "his own
soul," but also himself.
Wherefore the reply to the First Objection is evident.
Reply to Objection 2: No man wills and works evil to himself,
except he apprehend it under the aspect of good. For even they who
kill themselves, apprehend death itself as a good, considered as
putting an end to some unhappiness or pain.
Reply to Objection 3: The miser hates something accidental to
himself, but not for that reason does he hate himself: thus a sick man
hates his sickness for the very reason that he loves himself. Or we
may say that avarice makes man hateful to others, but not to himself.
In fact, it is caused by inordinate self-love, in respect of which,
man desires temporal goods for himself more than he should.
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