128. Emotions, Rhetoric, Music, and the Obedience of Appetites to Reason

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Four Arts and Sciences Concerned with Emotions #

Emotions are matter for four disciplines:

• Ethics: Virtues have emotions as their matter (courage concerns fear and boldness; temperance concerns hunger, thirst, and pleasure; mildness concerns anger; magnanimity concerns hope and despair)
• Rhetoric: The second means of persuasion involves moving the emotions of the audience (fear and boldness in political assemblies; anger and pity in courtrooms)
• Poetic Science: Represents people under various emotions and moves emotions in the audience to a better or worse state
• Music: Both moves emotions and represents them, especially by imitating the natural signs of emotions in the human voice

Music and the Representation of Emotions #

Musicians, especially in the 18th century, use keys and tonality to represent different emotional states:

• Major keys: joy, hope, boldness, magnanimity
• Minor keys: sadness, despair, fear, anger
• Different composers show preferences for specific keys for specific emotions (e.g., Mozart uses C major or D major for marches and magnanimity; D minor for anger in his 20th and 24th piano concertos)
• Good music represents emotions in a state of harmony with reason, respecting the nature of emotions rather than suppressing them despotically

The Division of Emotions and Their Names #

Emotions involve both a formal aspect and a bodily aspect:

• The formal aspect can be carried over to acts of the will (which are not bodily)
• The bodily aspect must be dropped when speaking of the will or of God
• Names of emotions become equivocal by reason (ἀνομωνυμία) when transferred from emotions to acts of will and finally to God

Which Emotions Can Be Attributed to God #

Properly: Only love and joy can be attributed to God properly

• Love is for a good; this can apply to God who loves His own goodness and creation
• Joy (or pleasure) applies to God’s perfect knowledge and enjoyment of Himself

Metaphorically: Some emotions can be applied to God through metaphorical likeness

• Anger: Metaphorically applies to God’s divine justice and will to punish (though arising from sadness in humans, it can represent God’s firm will to punish)
• Pity/Mercy: Metaphorically applies to God’s will to relieve misery
• Boldness: Could be applied metaphorically, as God approaches and overcomes all difficulties

Cannot be applied at all:

• Fear: No real likeness exists between fear and God’s nature
• All irascible passions (generally): Because they presuppose difficulty (arduum), and nothing is difficult for God
• Desire: Would imply God lacks some good
• Any emotion involving the experience of evil inflicted on the subject

The Question: Do the Irascible and Concupiscible Appetites Obey Reason? #

The Problem:

• Objection 1: The irascible and concupiscible are parts of sensuality (signified by the serpent), and sensuality does not obey reason
• Objection 2: What obeys does not fight against what it obeys, but appetites fight against reason (Romans 7:23; Matthew 26:41)
• Objection 3: The sensing power does not obey reason (we cannot see or hear when we wish), so sense desire similarly does not obey reason

Thomas’s Answer: The irascible and concupiscible obey reason in two ways:

1. Through Reason Itself:

   • In animals, sense desire is moved by the estimative power (instinct)
   • In humans, in place of instinct is the cogitative power (particularar reason), which perceives singular things under universal concepts
   • The cogitative power is “naturally apt to be moved and directed by the universal reason”
   • Reason commands sense desire by applying universal principles to singular cases (syllogistic reasoning applied to action)
   • Example: “All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore Socrates is mortal” applied to oneself
   • Sense desire is said to obey reason more than simple understanding, because applying universals to singulars is an act of reasoning, not mere understanding

2. Through the Will:

   • Unlike other animals, humans are not immediately moved from appetite to bodily motion
   • The will (superior appetite) commands the execution of actions, preventing immediate passage from emotion to bodily act
   • Other animals move immediately from appetite to motion (a sheep flees the wolf at once)
   • Humans expect the command of the will before executing action

The Two Types of Rule #

Despotic Rule: The soul dominates the body absolutely; bodily members cannot resist

Political or Paternal Rule: Reason rules the appetites, but:

• The appetites retain capacity to resist
• The appetites can be moved by imagination and sense apart from reason
• The appetites must be consulted and trained
• This is analogous to how a man (reason) rules a horse (appetites)—the horse retains some capacity for resistance

Experience and Habituation #

Emotions can be mitigated or instigated through:

• Universal considerations applied to particular situations
• Experience: We learn through repeated practice whether anger can be calmed, whether lust can be resisted
• Early formation: If one does not learn to say “no” to lawful pleasures, one cannot say “no” to unlawful ones
• Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics emphasizes that ethics requires experience; those without experience are not in position to learn ethics

The Role of Music and Literature in Emotional Formation #

• Music is the most persuasive thing to move our emotions; poetic science is second
• Good music and fiction move emotions toward virtue; bad music and fiction move them toward vice
• Music can bypass reasoning somewhat, but good 18th-century music respects the natural operation of emotions while keeping them subordinate to reason
• Romantic music (19th century) rejects the subordination of emotions to reason, making it less healthy for emotional formation
• Young people formed on bad music find it very difficult to change their emotional habits, whereas literature (being more intellectual) is easier to redirect

Key Arguments #

Argument 1: How Sense Desire Obeys Reason #

1. In animals, sense desire is moved by the estimative power (instinct)
2. In humans, the cogitative power (particular reason) replaces instinct
3. The cogitative power perceives singular things under universal concepts
4. The cogitative power is naturally apt to be moved and directed by universal reason
5. Universal reason commands sense desire through the application of universal principles to singular cases
6. Therefore, sense desire obeys reason (through the cogitative power and by syllogistic reasoning)

Argument 2: How the Will Commands Bodily Execution #

1. Other animals move immediately from appetite to bodily motion
2. Humans do not move immediately from appetite to bodily motion
3. Humans have a superior appetite: the will
4. The will commands the execution of action, preventing immediate passage from appetite to motion
5. In all ordered moving powers, the second mover does not move except in the power of the first mover
6. Therefore, the lower desire (sense appetite) does not suffice to move unless the superior desire (will) consents
7. Thus the irascible and concupiscible obey the will’s command over bodily execution

Important Definitions #

• Sensuality (sensualitas): The power of sense appetite; signified in Scripture by the serpent
• Irascible appetite (appetitus irascibilis): The power to resist and overcome difficulties in pursuing good or avoiding evil
• Concupiscible appetite (appetitus concupiscibilis): The power to pursue what is pleasant and avoid what is painful
• Estimative power (vis aestimativa): The instinctive power in animals that judges the good or evil of sensible objects
• Cogitative power (vis cogitativa): The “particular reason” in humans that perceives singular things under universal concepts, allowing reason to influence sense appetite
• Despotic rule (principalitas despotalis): Complete domination without resistance (soul over body)
• Political rule (principalitas politalis): Authority exercised over free subjects who retain some capacity for resistance (reason over appetites)
• Equivocal by reason (aequivocatio per rationem): A name becomes equivocal when part of its meaning is dropped but the formal aspect remains
• Formal aspect: The rational meaning of an emotion (e.g., anger as moving against evil that caused sadness)
• Bodily aspect: The physical/emotional component of passion (e.g., the bodily agitation of anger)

Examples & Illustrations #

The Stone-Damaged Car #

Berquist was driving through Maine on a poorly maintained road with potholes. A French driver behind him, impatient with Berquist’s braking, roared past and his car kicked up a stone that hit Berquist’s new car. Rather than becoming angry, Berquist applied the universal principle: “I am a philosopher; philosophers don’t get excited about such things.” This illustrates how universal considerations can mitigate anger.

Brother Richard’s Candy Advice #

When young Berquist was eating too much candy, his older brother Richard (four years older) told him that while eating candy is not sinful, if he cannot say “no” to something lawful, he will end up unable to say “no” to something unlawful. This shows the importance of habituation and early formation.

The Advisor’s Laughter #

When Berquist made a mistake in his senior year regarding school requirements, his academic advisor laughed rather than scolding him. Berquist reflected: “I couldn’t possibly get angry at this man” because he owed the advisor so much. This illustrates how gratitude (a universal consideration) can prevent anger.

Mozart’s 24th Piano Concerto #

When Beethoven heard Mozart’s 24th piano concerto, he said: “We shall never equal that.” This reflects Mozart’s supreme mastery and the power of his music.

The Heavenly Twins #

Mozart’s two quintets K. 515 (in C major, representing joy) and K. 516 (in G minor, representing sadness) are called the “heavenly twins.” K. 516, though in a minor key representing sadness, somehow occupies a middle ground between major and minor, showing the complexity of emotional representation in music.

Tchaikovsky and Mozart #

Tchaikovsky, despite his own disordered life (including attempted suicide), devoted himself to listening to Mozart because Mozart’s music represented harmony and order—the opposite of his own life. He sought to flee disorder and find peace through Mozart’s orderly emotional representation.

The Sheep and the Wolf #

A sheep flees a wolf not because the wolf’s shape causes pain to the eyes, but because the estimative power judges the wolf as an enemy. This shows how instinct operates in animals, different from human reason.

Notable Quotes #

“Music is the most persuasive thing.” — Referenced in lecture on emotional formation

“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41) — Christ, cited to show how appetites can fight against reason even in the virtuous

“I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind.” (Romans 7:23) — St. Paul, cited as objection to whether appetites obey reason

“We shall never equal that.” — Beethoven, on hearing Mozart’s 24th piano concerto

“Mozart found it. Beethoven made his music.” — Albert Einstein, contrasting Mozart’s discovery of pre-existing musical forms with Beethoven’s creative construction

“If writing music doesn’t come to you like [natural bodily function]… then writing music is not for you.” — Mozart (paraphrased), on the natural flow of musical composition

“A soft word turns away anger.” (Proverbs 15:1) — Scripture, cited to show how universal considerations can mitigate emotions

Questions Addressed #

Primary Question #

Do the irascible and concupiscible appetites obey reason?

Answer: Yes, but not despotically. They obey reason through two modes:

1. Through reason itself, via the cogitative power applying universal principles to singular cases
2. Through the will, which as a superior appetite commands the execution of bodily action

This is political rule, not despotic rule. The appetites retain some capacity for resistance and must be trained through experience and habituation.

Secondary Questions #

How does reason move the appetites? Reason moves sense appetite through the cogitative power (particular reason), which perceives singular objects under universal concepts. When one applies a universal principle to a particular situation (“This is adultery; adultery is forbidden; therefore I should not do this”), one is reasoning and the appetite can thereby be moved or mitigated.

What role does experience play? Experience is essential. One learns through practice whether emotions can be calmed, whether one can resist temptation. If formed properly in youth to say “no” to lawful pleasures, one develops the capacity to say “no” to unlawful ones. This is why those without experience cannot properly engage in ethics.

How do music and literature move emotions? Music directly moves emotions by imitating the natural signs of emotions in the human voice and by association with certain keys and modes. Literature appeals to imagination while also engaging reason. Good 18th-century music represents emotions in harmony with reason; bad music (e.g., excessive Romantic music) moves emotions despotically, divorced from reason.

Can emotions be completely suppressed? No. Emotions can be mitigated or instigated through universal considerations, but they are natural to us as embodied creatures. The goal is not suppression but ordering toward virtue—bringing emotions into harmony with reason.