15. Beatitude: Bodily Goods and Pleasure as False Ends

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Article 5: Whether Beatitude Consists in Bodily Goods #

The Question: Can health, strength, longevity, and other bodily goods constitute beatitude?

Apparent Arguments for Bodily Goods:

• Scripture (Ecclesiastes 30): “There is no riches above the riches of the health of the body”
• Dionysius (Divine Names, Book 5): “To be is better than to live, and to live better than other things” - but to be and live require bodily health
• The principle that what is most common depends on a higher cause, and the most desired thing is ordered to by all

Thomas’s Refutation: Two Key Reasons

1. The Ordering Principle: What is ordered to another as to an end cannot have its own conservation as the last end. The helmsman does not intend the conservation of the boat as a last end, but sailing (to which the boat is ordered). Similarly, man is ordered to something beyond mere existence; therefore, bodily conservation cannot be the ultimate end.

2. The Composition of Man: Man consists of soul and body. While the body’s being depends on the soul, the soul’s being does not depend on the body. The body exists for the sake of the soul as matter for the sake of form. Therefore, all bodily goods are ordered to goods of the soul as to an end.

The Animal Argument: Man excels all other animals in beatitude, yet is overcome by many in bodily goods:

• Elephant in longevity
• Lion in fortitude
• Deer in speed

If beatitude consisted in bodily goods, a healthy animal would be superior to an unhealthy man, which is absurd. Therefore, beatitude cannot consist in what man shares with beasts.

Article 6: Whether Beatitude Consists in Pleasure #

The Question: Is pleasure (delectatio, gaudium) the ultimate end of man?

Apparent Arguments for Pleasure:

• Pleasure seems desired for its own sake, not for something else; it would be ridiculous to ask “why do you want to be delighted?”
• Pleasure moves the will most vehemently; the end is defined as that which most moves desire
• All creatures—wise and foolish, rational and irrational—desire pleasure; therefore it appears to be the highest good
• Pleasure absorbs the will and reason, making man hold other goods in contempt

Thomas’s Response: Pleasure as Proper Accident, Not Essence

The Distinction Between Essence and Property: Just as “two is more two than half of four” (even though they are equal), a thing is defined by its essence, not by its properties. Man is essentially “a reasonable mortal animal”; laughter is a proper accident. Similarly:

• Beatitude is a perfect good that brings desire to rest
• Pleasure is a proper accident (per se accidens) that follows upon beatitude or upon some part of beatitude

The Nature of Pleasure: Pleasure is nothing other than a resting of desire in the good—just as a heavy object naturally moves downward and rests when reaching the ground. From the same natural power comes both the movement toward the good and the rest in the good.

Why Bodily Pleasure Cannot Be Beatitude:

• The reasonable soul exceeds the proportion of bodily matter
• The soul has operations not dependent on the body: understanding and willing
• Understanding is not in the body (Aristotle, De Anima, Book 3):
  • Whatever is received in the body is individualized by matter, but we understand universals
  • We understand the continuous in an uncontinuous way (as definition with distinct parts), which cannot occur in a continuous body
• The universal contains an infinity of particulars under itself
• Bodily goods apprehended by sense are minimal compared to goods of the soul
• As stated in the Book of Wisdom (7): “All gold, in comparison to wisdom, is as great sand”

The Relationship Between Good and Pleasure:

• Pleasure is desired for its own sake in the same way the good is desired for its own sake
• This is because pleasure is a resting in the good
• But pleasure is a formal consequence (motive consequence, as a property), not the ultimate end itself
• The good is the object and formal cause; pleasure is what follows upon it
• All creatures desire pleasure by reason of the good, not the reverse

Key Arguments #

Argument from Ordering (Against Bodily Goods) #

Structure:

• Premise 1: Whatever is ordered to another as to an end does not have its own conservation as the last end
• Premise 2: The body is ordered to the soul as matter to form
• Conclusion: Therefore, bodily goods cannot be the ultimate end

Illustration: The helmsman does not aim at preserving the boat for its own sake, but at sailing (the true end). Similarly, the body’s preservation is not man’s ultimate end.

Argument from Superiority Over Animals (Against Bodily Goods) #

Structure:

• Premise 1: Man excels all other animals in beatitude
• Premise 2: In bodily goods, man is overcome by many animals
• Conclusion: Therefore, beatitude cannot consist in bodily goods

Pedagogical Application: Berquist uses two inductive arguments for students less familiar with matter and form:

1. Exterior goods serve interior goods (chair serves body, food serves body, books serve mind); the end is always better than means; therefore interior goods are better than exterior
2. Goods shared with beasts cannot be man’s best goods (or beasts would be as good as men); therefore goods unique to man (of the soul) are superior

Argument Against Pleasure as Ultimate End #

The Apparent Strength: Pleasure seems unique in being desired for its own sake, suggesting it is the ultimate end.

Thomas’s Resolution:

• The good is also desired for its own sake
• Pleasure is a resting in the good, not the good itself
• Just as the good is the formal cause of pleasure, pleasure is a proper consequence of the good
• All creatures desire pleasure by reason of desiring the good, not vice versa
• Therefore, pleasure cannot be the ultimate end, though it necessarily accompanies it

Important Definitions #

Beatitude (Beatitudo): The perfect good of man; that which wholly fills and brings the appetite/will to rest; the last end, not desired for the sake of something else; distinguished from mere happiness (felicitas) as involving a divine blessing.

Pleasure (Delectatio; Gaudium): A resting of desire (quies appetitus) in a suitable good; a proper accident (per se accidens) that follows upon the possession or operation of a good. Can be bodily (sensible) or spiritual (intellectual/volitional).

Per Se Accidens (Proper Accident): A property that necessarily follows upon the essence of a thing but is not part of its definition. As laughter is a proper accident of man (he alone laughs) but is not part of what makes him human.

Matter and Form:

• Matter exists for the sake of form
• The body (matter) exists for the sake of the soul (form)
• The form is the principle of being (forma est principium essendi)
• The body has being through the form, but the form does not have being through the body
• This is demonstrated in the Prima Pars of the Summa

The Hierarchy of Goods:

1. Exterior goods (wealth, honor, power) ordered to
2. Bodily goods (health, strength, life) ordered to
3. Goods of the soul (virtues, knowledge, love)

Examples & Illustrations #

The Helmsman and the Boat #

The helmsman does not intend the conservation of the boat as the last end. The boat is ordered to sailing, which is the true end. Similarly, man is ordered to something beyond his mere being or conservation.

Parents and Children #

Parents care for children, especially when young. Yet parents do not exist for the sake of children remaining children. The parents’ activity serves the children’s development to adulthood, which is a better state. Adulthood is better than childhood precisely because the higher faculties (mature reason) are not for the sake of the lower (bodily pleasure).

The Chair and the Good of the Body #

A chair has internal order (proportions of angles, parts fitting together), but this internal order is not the chair’s true end. The chair exists for sitting, which is the true end. The arrangement of parts serves the final purpose. Similarly, the universe has internal order, but is ordered to God as its ultimate end.

Bodily vs. Spiritual Pleasure #

Most people think of pleasure as bodily (food, drink, sensory delight) because bodily pleasures are most commonly known. However, there are other, more potent pleasures (intellectual joy, the delight of understanding). Yet beatitude consists chiefly neither in bodily nor even in these higher pleasures, but in the reality itself that causes the pleasure.

Emily Dickinson on Books #

Berquist quotes Dickinson: “He ate and drank the precious words / His spirit grew robust, / And he knew no more that he was poor, / Nor that his frame was dust… What liberty a loosened spirit brings!” This illustrates that books and intellectual understanding serve the good of the soul (spirit), not the body.

Questions Addressed #

Q: If health is the greatest bodily good, why isn’t beatitude the same as health?

A: Because the body itself is ordered to the soul. The body exists as matter for the sake of the soul as form. What is ordered to another as to an end cannot have its own conservation as the last end. Just as the helmsman does not aim at preserving the boat but at sailing, man does not aim at mere bodily preservation but at something higher.

Q: Don’t all creatures, wise and foolish alike, desire pleasure?

A: Yes, but they desire pleasure by reason of desiring the good, not the reverse. All creatures recognize and pursue a suitable good when they encounter it; pleasure naturally follows from resting in that good. This universal desire for pleasure does not make pleasure the greatest good; it shows that pleasure is a natural consequence of attaining good.

Q: If pleasure is desired for its own sake and not for something else, isn’t it the ultimate end?

A: Pleasure is desired for its own sake in exactly the same sense that the good is desired for its own sake—because pleasure is a resting in the good. But this does not make pleasure the ultimate end. The good is the formal cause; pleasure is the motive consequence that follows upon possessing the good. The good is desired first; pleasure follows naturally from that desire being satisfied.

Q: Why can’t bodily pleasure be beatitude if it seems so desirable to everyone?

A: Bodily pleasure follows upon goods apprehended by sense, which is a bodily power. But the good apprehended by sense cannot be the perfect good of man. The reasonable soul exceeds the proportion of bodily matter—it has operations (understanding, willing) not dependent on any bodily organ. Since understanding can grasp universals and infinities, which the body cannot, a finite bodily good cannot satisfy the infinite appetite of the will for the universal good.

Connected Arguments from Class Discussion #

The Mathematician’s Illustration: Between any two cube numbers, there exist exactly two mean proportionals. For example, between 8 and 27 (which are 2³ and 3³), we have 12 and 18. This geometric truth illustrates that the infinite appetite of the intellect can always comprehend more: just as numbers extend infinitely, and the mind can always think of higher numbers, the will naturally tends toward the infinite good.

Why Number Mysticism Matters: The 8th book of Euclid contains exactly 27 theorems—both cube numbers (8 = 2³, 27 = 3³)—because the famous theorem (attributed to Plato) that between any two cube numbers there are two mean proportionals appears in this book. This shows how the ancients understood the structure of reality to reflect deeper mathematical and metaphysical truths.