3. Love as Undergoing and the Conformity of the Heart

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Love as Undergoing vs. Giving #

• The Apparent Paradox: Love seems to be both a giving (e.g., Juliet’s “the more I give to thee, the more I have”) and an undergoing (being wounded, transformed)
• Aristotle’s Resolution: Truth is primarily in the mind (knowing is a taking/grasping), while goodness is primarily in things (loving is a going-out toward)
• Why Love is Said to Be Giving: Because its object is in things rather than in the mind; the lover’s heart goes toward the beloved
• Why Love is Also an Undergoing: The heart is originally acted upon by the desirable object; the heart is impressed and conformed to the beloved

Love as Conformity and Transformation #

• Love fundamentally consists in the conformity of the heart (desiring power) with its object
• The desirable object acts upon the heart, conforming it to itself—like a seal pressing into wax
• This conformity is the “first change” of the desiring power by the desirable
• The conformity is an undergoing; the movement that follows from it is not
• From this conformity arise the subsequent movements: desire (if the object is not possessed) and joy/rest (if it is possessed)

The Two Kinds of Love #

Sense Love (Amor) - Love as Emotion #

• Follows upon sensing or imagining a sensible good
• An emotion (passio) involving bodily change
• Limited to sensible, material goods
• Examples: desire for food, sexual attraction
• The concupiscible appetite is involved when the good is regarded absolutely (without difficulty)
• The irascible appetite is involved when there is difficulty in obtaining the good

Chosen Love (Dilectio) - Love as Act of Will #

• Follows upon reason and deliberate judgment
• An act of the will, not an emotion
• Immaterial, involving no bodily change
• Can extend to immaterial goods (wisdom, God)
• Unique to rational creatures
• Named from the Latin dilectio (choice, election)

The Emotions Distinguished by Difficulty #

• Concupiscible emotions (good regarded absolutely):
  • Love: the initial conformity of the heart to the good
  • Desire/wanting: the motion toward the good when not possessed
  • Joy: rest in the good when possessed
• Irascible emotions (good or bad regarded as difficult):
  • Hope and despair: dealing with difficulty in obtaining good
  • Fear and boldness: dealing with difficulty in avoiding bad
  • Anger: the difficult removal of what is harmful
• The irascible emotions arise when the good becomes difficult to obtain or when there is opposition

Key Arguments #

Against Love Being an Undergoing #

Objection 1: Love is said to be a virtue (Dionysius), and virtue is a power that acts, not undergoes

• Response: Love is called a virtue because it is the source of the desiring power’s movement, but this is a secondary effect. Primarily, love is the conformity itself (an undergoing), from which the active movement follows.

Objection 2: Union or binding follows from love (Augustine), and union is a relation, not an undergoing

• Response: Union pertains to love insofar as the lover becomes united to the beloved through the agreement of his heart. But union itself is an effect of love, not love itself. Love is the power that unites.

Objection 3: Love names the origin of motion (desire), not motion itself; desire is the motion of the desiring power

• Response: Love, although it does not name the motion toward the desirable, names the motion of the desiring power by which it is changed by the desirable. The desirable first impresses itself on the heart; from this impression follows the desire to pursue it.

Thomas’s Resolution: The Two-fold Effect #

• A natural agent produces a two-fold effect: (1) it gives the form, and (2) it gives the motion that follows upon the form
• Example from physics: the generator gives weight to the body; from this weight follows the motion toward its natural place
• Similarly, the desirable gives conformity (love) to the heart; from this conformity follows the motion (desire) toward the desirable
• The desirable is an “unmoved mover”—it acts upon the heart without itself being moved

The Circular Nature of Love #

• The desirable acts upon the heart, conforming it
• The heart then moves toward the desirable
• The motion ends where it began (with the object)
• This mirrors reality: God is both the beginning of all things (as maker) and the end (as good/purpose)
• “I am the alpha and the omega”

Important Definitions #

Passion (Passio) #

• From Latin, originally meaning “suffering” or “undergoing”
• Extended to mean any reception or being acted upon
• In the context of emotions, involves both bodily change and being acted upon by an object
• Distinguished from actio (action), where the power acts

Conformity (Conformitas) #

• The agreement or fitting of the heart with its object
• The heart takes on the form of what it loves
• Described through the wax metaphor: like wax receiving the impression of a seal
• The fundamental constitutive element of love itself

Desiring Power (Appetitus) #

• The faculty or power of desiring
• Includes both sense appetite (in animals) and rational appetite/will (in humans)
• Named from its most characteristic act: desire, which involves motion
• Also called the heart colloquially

Natural Love #

• The inclination of all things toward what suits their nature
• Found in all things: plants, animals, rational creatures, and even inanimate bodies
• Example: a heavy body naturally tends toward its natural place (the center)
• Based on connaturality—the fitting of a thing to what is suitable to its nature
• All other kinds of love are elaborations of this fundamental principle

Connaturality (Connaturalitas) #

• The natural fitness or suitability of one thing to another
• The ground of natural love
• A thing has connaturality to what is suitable to it according to its nature
• In sense love, the sense appetite has connaturality to sensible goods
• In chosen love, the will has conformity to intelligible goods

Examples & Illustrations #

Natural Examples #

• Heavy body: Weight naturally inclines it downward; the weight itself can be called natural love
• Plant seeking water: Plants naturally tend toward what is suitable to them
• Square peg and square hole: Even in common parlance, we say the peg “wants” to go into the square hole because it fits (conforms to) that hole; we don’t say this of a square peg and a round hole

Animal Examples #

• Dogs fighting over food: When food is available without difficulty, there is no irascible emotion. When another dog appears and makes obtaining the food difficult, the irascible emotion (anger) arises and they fight
• Animals fighting over mates: Similarly in reproduction, difficulty in obtaining the desired mate triggers the irascible emotions

Personal Anecdote #

• Berquist’s philosophy professor: A Polish professor asked Berquist, “Do you have an emotional attachment to the syllogism?” Berquist replied that one could have an emotional attachment to a girl but not to a syllogism. His reason respects the syllogism because it is a form of argument whose conclusion follows necessarily.
• Childhood experience in church: Hearing the priest speak of the love of God, Berquist confused this with romantic love (emotion) because he had not yet distinguished between sense love and chosen love (the love of the will)

Musical Examples (from Mozart) #

• Mozart’s representation of anger: In the D minor and C minor concertos, Mozart represents anger through music
• Letter from Mozart: Mozart wrote to his father about his opera Abduction from the Seraglio, explaining that when a man gets angry like Osmond, he loses control of himself. The music must represent this, but in a way that is pleasing to the ear and remains truly music
• Sadness in music: Even Mozart’s representation of sadness is pleasing to the ear

Literary Examples #

• Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream: “Reason and love keep little company together nowadays” — illustrates how romantic love often bypasses cool reason
• Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream: “Lovers and madmen have such shaping fantasies, that apprehend more than cool reason ever comprehends” — showing that imagination grasps things beyond rational comprehension
• Shakespeare, Hamlet: Hamlet’s choice of Horatio as his closest friend is based on chosen love (dilectio), not sense love. He chose Horatio because of his virtue: “Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice… her election has sealed thee for herself,” and because Horatio is “one in suffering all that suffers nothing” (one who stands firm in adversity)

Notable Quotes #

“We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.” — Goethe (cited by Berquist)

“Thou hast made us for thyself, and thy hearts are restless until they rest in thee.” — Augustine (cited by Berquist)

“Where your treasure is, there your heart shall be.” — Christ, Matthew 6:21 (cited by Berquist)

“The desirable moves the desiring power, putting itself in the other’s aim. And the desiring power tends towards really achieving the desirable, so that there is the end of the motion, where was its beginning.” — Thomas Aquinas

“A man that can stand up in adversity, right, huh? Most men go to pieces, right, under adversity” — Berquist, describing Horatio as an example of virtue

Questions Addressed #

Is Love a Giving or an Undergoing? #

• Apparent Contradiction: Love seems to involve giving oneself to the beloved, yet it also involves being wounded, transformed, and impressed by the beloved
• Resolution: Love is fundamentally an undergoing of the heart by the beloved object. However, we speak of it as a giving because the good (the object of love) is primarily in things, not in the mind. The lover’s heart goes out to the beloved; it is more true to say the heart is in the beloved than that the beloved is in the heart. This contrasts with knowing, where the object is received into the mind.

Why Is Love Rather Than Desire the Primary Emotion? #

• Question: If desire is the pursuit of what is lacking, why is love (not desire) the first or primary emotion?
• Answer: Love is the conformity of the heart itself to the object; it is the initial impression made by the desirable upon the heart. Desire is the subsequent motion that arises from this conformity. Love is therefore prior and more fundamental.

What Distinguishes Concupiscible from Irascible Emotions? #

• Concupiscible: Concerns the good regarded absolutely, without reference to difficulty. Includes love, desire, and joy
• Irascible: Concerns difficulty in obtaining good or avoiding evil. Includes hope, despair, fear, boldness, and anger
• Practical Test: If something is easily obtainable, no irascible emotion (such as anger) arises. If it becomes difficult (another dog wants the same meat), the irascible emotion appears

Is Love an Emotion or Not? #

• Apparent Problem: When we hear “love of God” or “love of wisdom,” we might expect an emotional experience like romantic love, yet theologians and philosophers distinguish these from mere emotion
• Resolution: There are two kinds of love. Sense love (amor) is an emotion involving bodily change and following upon imagination or sensation. Chosen love (dilectio) is an act of the will, immaterial, and not necessarily accompanied by emotional feeling. We use the word “love” for both because of their similarity in structure, but they differ fundamentally in nature.