Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgments
- A note on the texts
- Introduction
- Part 1 THE PASSIONS IN GENERAL
- Part 2 PARTICULAR PASSIONS: THE CONCUPISCIBLE PASSIONS
- 5 Love
- 6 Hatred and concupiscence
- 7 Pleasure
- 8 Sorrow
- Part 3 PARTICULAR PASSIONS: THE IRASCIBLE PASSIONS
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - Hatred and concupiscence
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgments
- A note on the texts
- Introduction
- Part 1 THE PASSIONS IN GENERAL
- Part 2 PARTICULAR PASSIONS: THE CONCUPISCIBLE PASSIONS
- 5 Love
- 6 Hatred and concupiscence
- 7 Pleasure
- 8 Sorrow
- Part 3 PARTICULAR PASSIONS: THE IRASCIBLE PASSIONS
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
When he turns to the passion of hatred, Aquinas departs from his usual scheme of treating the essence of the passion first, followed by a consideration of causes and effects. Instead, he begins with the cause of hatred (§6.1), and proceeds to ask what kinds of things qualify as the objects of hatred (§6.2). After examining hatred, Aquinas moves to the passion of “desire or concupiscence.” The treatment of this passion seems abbreviated, since Aquinas chooses to devote only one Question to it – and no Question at all to the passion he had earlier identified as its direct contrary, aversion. Despite its abbreviated character, the treatment of concupiscence is pivotal. After showing why concupiscence does not name the motion of the concupiscible power in general, but picks out a particular passion (§6.3), Aquinas proceeds to illuminate an important distinction between one type of concupiscence that all beings with sensation have, and another type that, while a passion in the proper sense and not a pseudopassion (see §2.2), is possible only for beings with intellect. This Aquinas calls “rational” or “non-natural” concupiscence (§6.4).
THE NON-ESSENCE OF HATRED
Aquinas devotes only one Question to hatred (odium), the second of the eleven primary passions. The same pattern holds for the brief treatments of concupiscence (Question 30), hope/despair (Question 40), and daring (Question 45). In the Questions on hope/despair and daring, Thomas employs the same tripartite scheme that structures the three Questions on love.
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- Thomas Aquinas on the PassionsA Study of Summa Theologiae, 1a2ae 22–48, pp. 140 - 159Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009