1. The Four Orders of Reason and Division of Sciences

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Wisdom and the Nature of Order #

• Wisdom as perfection of reason: Thomas Aquinas opens with Aristotle’s principle sapienti est ordinare (it belongs to the wise to order things)
• Reason’s essential characteristic: Reason is fundamentally the ability to discern order; it “looks before and after,” meaning it perceives relations between things
• Sense vs. reason: Sense powers can know things in themselves (absolutely), but only reason/understanding can know the order of one thing to another

The Hierarchical Nature of Order #

• Two fundamental distinctions in order:
  1. Order of parts to each other
  2. Order of the whole to its end (purpose)
• The principle: The order of parts to one another exists because of the order of the whole to its end
• Examples: In a chair, the arrangement of legs to seat exists for the sake of the chair’s order to sitting; in an army, soldiers’ order to each other exists for the sake of the army’s order to victory

Four Types of Order and Corresponding Sciences #

Thomas divides all human knowledge by the order it considers:

1. Order not made by reason (Natural Philosophy and Metaphysics/Wisdom)

• The order found in nature itself, ultimately ordered by God
• Natural philosophy considers the order of natural things (e.g., seasons following in sequence)
• Metaphysics considers the highest order, including how parts of the universe are ordered to God as their end

2. Order made by reason in its own acts (Logic/Rational Philosophy)

• The ordering of thoughts to one another
• The assignment of thoughts to vocal sounds (words)
• The ordering of premises to conclusions in syllogisms
• Greek term: logica; Latin: ratio

3. Order made by reason in the acts of the will (Moral/Practical Philosophy)

• The ordering of voluntary (chosen) acts
• This subdivides into three parts based on different social contexts and ends:

4. Order made by reason in exterior matter (Mechanical Arts)

• The ordering of material things constructed by human reason (boxes, houses, chairs)
• Medieval distinction between mechanical/servile arts and liberal arts

The Definition of Human Acts #

• Human acts: Acts that proceed from the will according to the order of reason
• Not human acts: Natural acts not subject to will and reason (digestion, growth, reproduction)
• Importance for moral philosophy: Only human acts are properly subject to moral philosophical consideration; natural acts that occur in man are not

The Division of Practical Philosophy #

Why three parts? Man is naturally a social animal (zoon politikon) with needs at multiple levels:

Ethics (Monastic philosophy)

• Considers the acts of one individual man ordered to his own end
• Focuses on what one person should do to achieve his proper human flourishing

Domestic Philosophy

• Considers the acts of the domestic household ordered to the family’s end
• The family provides for necessities of life: generation, nourishment, discipline
• The family is necessary for mere living (esse)

Political Philosophy

• Considers the acts of the civil multitude (the city) ordered to the city’s common good
• The city provides for complete sufficiency of life—not just living, but living well (bene vivere)
• Without the city, one cannot have Shakespeare, Mozart, Thomas Aquinas, wine, or other goods that enable human flourishing

Unity of Order vs. Unity of Being #

Critical distinction for understanding the three parts:

• Unity of being (e.g., the human body): All parts are bound together in one substance; therefore every act of a part is an act of the whole

  • If I hit someone with my fist, it is my act; my jaw doesn’t need to hit back separately
  • Therefore, the consideration of a whole with unity of being and its parts belongs to one science

• Unity of order (e.g., family, city): Parts are ordered to each other but are not bound together in one substance

  • A soldier in an army has acts that are not acts of the whole army
  • If one city harms another city, it does not follow that all citizens of the harmed city should harm all citizens of the other city
  • A father’s personal act (reading Shakespeare) is not an act of the family
  • Therefore, different sciences must consider the whole and its parts separately

Key Arguments #

Thomas’s Comparative Method in His Premium #

• Difference from Aristotle’s premium: Aristotle’s premium is directed to the specific book at hand, establishing its subject matter and method; Thomas’s premium stands back to see the broader picture
• Pedagogical purpose: Thomas places the Nicomachean Ethics within the whole structure of human knowledge and reason
• The structural insight: By showing how practical philosophy fits into the four-fold division of sciences based on orders, Thomas prepares students to understand why ethics is structured as it is

The Argument for Three Parts of Practical Philosophy #

1. Man is naturally a social animal who cannot provide for himself alone
2. Therefore, he is naturally part of multitudes at different levels
3. The domestic multitude (family) meets the need for necessities of life
4. The civil multitude (city) meets the need for living well (complete sufficiency)
5. Different ends require different philosophical considerations
6. Therefore, practical philosophy must have three distinct parts

Acts Proper to Different Levels #

• Not every act of an individual is an act of his family or city
• Example: If President Obama reads Shakespeare for relaxation, this is not an act of the United States government or the Obama family as such
• But when a father buys a house in a safer neighborhood for his family’s good, this is an act of the father-as-part-of-the-family
• When voting, one acts as a citizen, not as an individual or as a family member

Important Definitions #

• Premium (Preamble): From the Greek proemion—“paving the way”; an introductory section that establishes the subject matter, its importance, importance, and method of proceeding in a work
• Wisdom (Sapientia): The greatest perfection of reason; characterized by the ability to order and arrange all things according to their proper ends
• Order (Ordo): The relation and proper arrangement of one thing to another; can be between parts and other parts, or between a whole and its end
• Human acts (Actus humani): Acts that proceed from the will according to the order of reason; the proper subject of moral philosophy
• Practical philosophy (Philosophia practica): The consideration of human acts as ordered to an end; divided into ethics, domestic philosophy, and political philosophy
• Unity of order (Unitas ordinis): A kind of unity where parts are arranged in relation to each other but do not constitute a single substance (e.g., family, army, city)
• Unity of being (Unitas essentiae): A kind of unity where parts are bound together in one substance (e.g., the human body)

Examples & Illustrations #

Examples of Order in Practical Affairs #

• Chair: The legs, seat, and back are ordered to each other (at proper angles) because the whole chair is ordered to sitting
• House: The arrangement of parts exists because the whole house is ordered to dwelling and protecting inhabitants from elements
• Army: Soldiers are ordered to each other because the whole army is ordered to its leader and to victory
• Universe: The parts of the universe are ordered to each other because the whole universe is ordered to God as its end

Examples of Acts at Different Levels #

• Individual level: A man studying geometry, listening to Mozart, drinking wine—ordered to the perfection of his own mind and person
• Familial level: A father choosing to read fairy tales to his children (as father, not as individual); a wife making pie, a man grilling steak and shoveling snow
• Political level: A citizen voting in an election (as citizen); a president making decisions for the country’s good

Contrast Examples (Acts Not Proper to Higher Levels) #

• If a student from Holy Cross fights a student from Assumption, it does not follow that another Assumption student should fight any Holy Cross student
• If an Italian kills an Irishman, it does not follow that an Irishman should kill any Italian
• These would be unjust because they confuse individual acts with acts of the community as a whole

Natural Acts vs. Human Acts #

• Natural acts (not subject to will and reason): Digestion, growth, nourishment, reproduction
• Example: A child grows while sleeping; he did not choose to grow, so this is not a human act
• Example: A man digesting food; not a human act in itself, though eating too much food could be (since eating is chosen)

Notable Quotes #

“Sapienti est ordinare” (It belongs to the wise to order things) — Aristotle, cited by Thomas Aquinas

“The ability for large discourse looking before and after” — William Shakespeare, on the nature of reason (cited by Berquist)

“I call acts human which proceed from the will of man according to the order of reason” — Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

“The order of the parts of an army to each other is because of the order of the whole army to its leader” — Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book 12

Questions Addressed #

How does reason relate to order? #

• Reason’s fundamental characteristic is the perception and establishment of order
• All human knowledge can be classified and organized according to the type of order it considers
• Wisdom, as the perfection of reason, is most fundamentally concerned with order

What is the relationship between a part’s order and a whole’s order? #

• The order of parts to one another exists for the sake of the order of the whole to its end
• This applies at every level: chairs, armies, families, cities, even the universe
• Understanding this relationship is crucial for understanding why different sciences are needed

Why does practical philosophy need three parts rather than one? #

• Because man participates in different communities with different ends
• The family addresses existence itself (necessities of life)
• The city addresses living well (complete sufficiency of life)
• Each different end requires separate philosophical consideration
• But all three are united by being concerned with human acts ordered to ends

How do we distinguish acts of an individual from acts of a family or city? #

• An act belongs to a whole only if it is an act proper to that whole’s end
• Not every action of a member is an action of the body to which he belongs
• Example: Obama’s private reading of Shakespeare is not an act of the U.S. government
• Example: A father’s choice to buy a safer house is an act of the family (ordered to family’s good)
• The key is whether the act is done qua member of that community (as father, as citizen)