19. Beatitude, Intellect, and the Vision of God

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Infinite Distance Principle #

• Even when an angel knows God, there remains an infinite distance between the angel’s knowledge and God’s knowledge of Himself
• This infinite distance is transposed from substance to knowledge: just as there is infinite distance between creature and Creator in being, so too in knowledge
• God is infinitely more knowable and lovable than any creature can know or love Him
• Only God can know God as much as He is knowable; only God can love God as much as He is lovable

Knowledge vs. Love in Achieving the End #

• The end (beatitudo) is first grasped by the understanding (apprehensio in Latin)
• The motion toward the end begins in the will, but the will is not the achievement itself
• Love (charity) excels knowledge in moving, but knowledge is prior in attaining the end
• Something is not loved unless it be first known
• One must taste before one can delight: sensible knowledge precedes enjoyment

Why Beatitude Cannot Consist in the Practical Intellect #

• The practical intellect is ordered to action and good outside itself
• Acts of the practical intellect are not sought for their own sake but for the sake of action
• The last end cannot consist in the act of life (which pertains to practical intellect)
• The practical intellect is a disposition for higher beatitude, not beatitude itself

Why Beatitude Consists in the Speculative Intellect #

• The speculative intellect operates on the best object: divine things themselves
• Contemplation is sought for its own sake (per se), unlike practical acts which are sought for action
• In the contemplative life, man communicates with higher things (God and angels), whereas in practical matters man shares with animals
• Perfect beatitude (in the future life) consists wholly in contemplation; imperfect beatitude (in this life) consists first and chiefly in contemplation, secondly in prudence

The Role of Proportion in Understanding God #

• A proportion (proportio) shows likeness between things far apart: as A is to B, so C is to D
• We reason from the ratio more known to us to the ratio less known
• Example: Just as the man who does not see God cannot will anything unless it appears good to him, so the one who sees God as He is cannot choose anything except in reference to God
• The principle of the good: we cannot will the bad as bad, only under the appearance of good

The Distinction Between Likeness and Assimilation #

• Practical intellect is likened to God according to proportionality (ratio) because both are productive
• Speculative intellect is assimilated to God according to union or informing, which is greater assimilation
• When reason knows itself, it is like God (who knows Himself) but this is a more distant likeness
• When reason knows God, it is more like God because it knows the same object God knows—a much greater assimilation

Key Arguments #

The Proportion of Divine and Human Knowledge (Article 5, Reply 1) #

Form of the argument:

• God’s knowledge is primarily of Himself (His own essence), not practical knowledge
• God does not have practical knowledge of Himself (He cannot “make” or “do” Himself)
• Therefore, contemplative (speculative) knowledge of the divine is more like God’s own knowledge than practical knowledge
• Hence beatitude consists more in speculative than practical intellect

The Principle that All Wanting Presupposes Apparent Good #

Form of the argument:

• All creatures want things because those things appear good to them
• No one can will the bad as bad; we only will it under some appearance of goodness
• The thief steals because it seems good to have money; the murderer kills because it seems good to eliminate an annoyance
• Therefore, the one who sees God as He is—seeing Him as the supreme Good and seeing all other things only as ordered to God—cannot choose anything except in reference to God
• Conclusion: The blessed cannot sin

The Mistake of Confusing “Simply” (simpliciter) with “In Some Way” (secundum quid) #

• Something can be good simpliciter (absolutely) and bad in some way, or vice versa
• Example: Killing an annoying person is bad simpliciter but good in some way (removes annoyance)
• Example: Rising early for Mass is good simpliciter but bad in some way (loss of sleep)
• Those who sin commit the mistake of Minos: choosing what is bad simpliciter because it is good in some way

Important Definitions #

Beatitudo (Beatitude, Happiness) #

• The last end of man; the ultimate perfection and fulfillment of human nature
• Essentially consists in knowledge (vision), not in an act of will
• The will desires the end when absent and delights (gaudium) when present, but neither is the achievement itself
• Perfect beatitude: vision of God as He is (in the future life)
• Imperfect beatitude: what can be attained in this life through contemplation and ordering of human actions

Apprehensio (Grasping, Apprehension) #

• The Latin term for how the end is first grasped by the understanding
• The intellect must grasp the end before the will can move toward it
• Used of sensible grasping as well: one must taste before one can enjoy

Proportio (Proportion) #

• A likeness of ratios: as A is to B, so C is to D
• Enables reasoning from what is more known to us to what is less known
• Allows us to see likeness between things infinitely far apart
• Distinguished from ratio (which became confusingly used for both ratio and proportion in later language)

Secundum quid vs. Simpliciter (In Some Way vs. Simply) #

• Secundum quid: in some respect, partially, in a limited sense
• Simpliciter: absolutely, without qualification, in an unqualified sense
• Critical distinction in ethics: what is bad simpliciter may be good secundum quid

Examples & Illustrations #

Reasoning About Angels and Sin #

• The question: Can an angel who sees God face to face still sin?
• Expected answer: No, it is impossible
• Thomas’s explanation uses the proportion of the good as more known to establish the less known
• Just as the thief cannot steal unless theft appears good to him, so the blessed cannot sin unless sin appeared good to them
• Since the blessed see God as supreme Good, nothing else appears good except in reference to God

The Problem of Burnt-Out Taste Buds #

• If you eat something spicy before tasting a really good meal, your taste buds are burned out
• You cannot enjoy the good meal as much as it is enjoyable
• Similarly, we cannot love God as much as He is lovable; we want someone to who could
• Applied to Mozart: sometimes hearing a piece moves you to want to pull over and listen with full attention
• Illustration of proper disposition being necessary for full appreciation

False Loves and Apparent Goods #

• The young man pursuing another man’s wife (Bathsheba) sees adultery as good because it enables him to enjoy her
• But this is good only secundum quid (in some way), not simpliciter (absolutely)
• The thief stealing money sees it as good because he now has more money
• But this confuses what is good in one respect with what is simply good
• This is the error Aristotle identifies as the “mistake of Minos”

The Shepherd and the Flock #

• Lord’s example: Just as a good father gives good things to his children, so God gives good things to us
• Uses proportion: As earthly father is to children, so God is to us
• The more known ratio (earthly fatherhood) illuminates the less known ratio (God’s providential care)
• Shows how proportion enables us to know God despite infinite distance

Parallel Proportions in Parables #

• The parable of the unforgiving servant shows continuous proportion
• As master is to higher servant, so higher servant is to lower servant
• Forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us (three terms in continuous proportion)
• These proportions are based on Our Lord’s teaching method

Questions Addressed #

Does the end consist in an act of the will? #

Resolution: No. The will’s motion toward the end and delight in the end are not the achievement of the end itself. Rather, the intellect must first grasp the end, then the will moves toward it. When the end is present (attained), the will delights in it, but this delight follows upon and does not constitute the achievement. Something other than the will’s act—namely, knowledge—must make the end present.

How can there be an infinite distance between an angel’s knowledge and God’s knowledge if the angel knows God? #

Resolution: The infinite distance is transposed from the order of substance to the order of knowledge. Just as the angel’s being is infinitely distant from God’s being, so the angel’s knowledge of God is infinitely distant from God’s knowledge of Himself. God is infinitely more knowable than even the highest creature can know Him; only God can know God as much as He is knowable.

Is reason more like God when it knows itself or when it knows God? #

Resolution: Reason is like God when it knows itself (since God knows Himself), but this is a more distant likeness of proportionality. Reason is more like God when it knows God because it then knows the same object that God knows—a much greater assimilation. However, knowing oneself still reflects something God-like and is not a matter of pride to pursue self-knowledge.

Why cannot the blessed in heaven sin? #

Resolution: Because the blessed see God as He is—the supreme Good—and see all other things only as ordered to God. Since all creatures must will something under the appearance of good, and the blessed see all things only as good in relation to God, they cannot choose anything except in reference to God. Therefore, sin (which turns away from God) is impossible for them. This reasoning moves from the more known principle (that all willing presupposes apparent good) to the less known (that the blessed cannot sin).

Why is knowing God more important than loving God for achieving beatitude? #

Resolution: Knowledge is prior in attaining the end because something must be known before it can be loved. Love excels knowledge in moving toward the end, but knowledge is necessary first. Just as one must taste food before delighting in it, one must know God before loving and delighting in Him. However, once the end is attained, love/delight follows and remains, but knowledge is what achieves the end itself.