|
Objection 1: It would seem that happiness consists in an act of the
will. For Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xix, 10,11), that
man's happiness consists in peace; wherefore it is written (Ps.
147:3): "Who hath placed peace in thy end". But peace
pertains to the will. Therefore man's happiness is in the will.
Objection 2: Further, happiness is the supreme good. But good is
the object of the will. Therefore happiness consists in an operation
of the will.
Objection 3: Further, the last end corresponds to the first mover:
thus the last end of the whole army is victory, which is the end of the
general, who moves all the men. But the first mover in regard to
operations is the will: because it moves the other powers, as we shall
state further on (Question 9, Articles 1,3). Therefore
happiness regards the will.
Objection 4: Further, if happiness be an operation, it must needs
be man's most excellent operation. But the love of God, which is an
act of the will, is a more excellent operation than knowledge, which
is an operation of the intellect, as the Apostle declares (1 Cor.
13). Therefore it seems that happiness consists in an act of the
will.
Objection 5: Further, Augustine says (De Trin. xiii, 5)
that "happy is he who has whatever he desires, and desires nothing
amiss." And a little further on (6) he adds: "He is most happy
who desires well, whatever he desires: for good things make a man
happy, and such a man already possesses some good---i.e. a good
will." Therefore happiness consists in an act of the will.
On the contrary, Our Lord said (Jn. 17:3): "This is
eternal life: that they may know Thee, the only true God." Now
eternal life is the last end, as stated above (Article 2, ad 1).
Therefore man's happiness consists in the knowledge of God, which is
an act of the intellect.
I answer that, As stated above (Question 2, Article 6) two
things are needed for happiness: one, which is the essence of
happiness: the other, that is, as it were, its proper accident,
i.e. the delight connected with it. I say, then, that as to the
very essence of happiness, it is impossible for it to consist in an act
of the will. For it is evident from what has been said (Articles
1,2; Question 2, Article 7) that happiness is the attainment
of the last end. But the attainment of the end does not consist in the
very act of the will. For the will is directed to the end, both
absent, when it desires it; and present, when it is delighted by
resting therein. Now it is evident that the desire itself of the end
is not the attainment of the end, but is a movement towards the end:
while delight comes to the will from the end being present; and not
conversely, is a thing made present, by the fact that the will
delights in it. Therefore, that the end be present to him who desires
it, must be due to something else than an act of the will.
This is evidently the case in regard to sensible ends. For if the
acquisition of money were through an act of the will, the covetous man
would have it from the very moment that he wished for it. But at the
moment it is far from him; and he attains it, by grasping it in his
hand, or in some like manner; and then he delights in the money got.
And so it is with an intelligible end. For at first we desire to
attain an intelligible end; we attain it, through its being made
present to us by an act of the intellect; and then the delighted will
rests in the end when attained.
So, therefore, the essence of happiness consists in an act of the
intellect: but the delight that results from happiness pertains to the
will. In this sense Augustine says (Confess. x, 23) that
happiness is "joy in truth," because, to wit, joy itself is the
consummation of happiness.
Reply to Objection 1: Peace pertains to man's last end, not as
though it were the very essence of happiness; but because it is
antecedent and consequent thereto: antecedent, in so far as all those
things are removed which disturb and hinder man in attaining the last
end: consequent inasmuch as when man has attained his last end, he
remains at peace, his desire being at rest.
Reply to Objection 2: The will's first object is not its act:
just as neither is the first object of the sight, vision, but a
visible thing. Wherefore, from the very fact that happiness belongs
to the will, as the will's first object, it follows that it does not
belong to it as its act.
Reply to Objection 3: The intellect apprehends the end before the
will does: yet motion towards the end begins in the will. And
therefore to the will belongs that which last of all follows the
attainment of the end, viz. delight or enjoyment.
Reply to Objection 4: Love ranks above knowledge in moving, but
knowledge precedes love in attaining: for "naught is loved save what
is known," as Augustine says (De Trin. x, 1). Consequently
we first attain an intelligible end by an act of the intellect; just as
we first attain a sensible end by an act of sense.
Reply to Objection 5: He who has whatever he desires, is happy,
because he has what he desires: and this indeed is by something other
than the act of his will. But to desire nothing amiss is needed for
happiness, as a necessary disposition thereto. And a good will is
reckoned among the good things which make a man happy, forasmuch as it
is an inclination of the will: just as a movement is reduced to the
genus of its terminus, for instance, "alteration" to the genus
"quality."
|
|