20. Beatitude in Speculative Sciences and Knowledge of Angels

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Article 6: Beatitude in the Speculative Sciences #

Arguments That Beatitude Consists in Speculative Sciences #

• Aristotle defines happiness (φιλικιτάσεν/hedamonia) as operation according to perfect virtue
• The three speculative virtues of the intellect: epistemia (science/reasoned-out knowledge), sophia (wisdom/savory knowledge), and intellectus (natural understanding)
• All men by nature desire to understand (the opening of Aristotle’s Metaphysics)
• Speculative sciences are sought for their own sake, not for utility
• The human understanding is perfected through reduction from potency to act by contemplation of speculative sciences (geometry, arithmetic, natural philosophy, first philosophy)

Thomas’s Resolution: Imperfect, Not Perfect Beatitude #

• The fundamental limitation: Consideration of speculative sciences cannot extend beyond knowledge of sensible things
• The principles of science are contained in potency (in seed form); the whole science unfolds from these beginnings
• Speculative science derives from the senses and cannot transcend what sensible knowledge can attain
• A thing is not perfected by something lower than itself except insofar as the lower thing participates in something higher
• Sensible forms are lower than man; therefore, the intellect is not perfected by sensible forms unless those forms participate in something superior
• The form of sensible things partakes of the divine insofar as form is a kind of act, and God is pure act (actus purus)
• Therefore: Speculative sciences constitute imperfect beatitude—a participation in and likeness of true beatitude, not true beatitude itself
• Berquist’s reflection: “I wasn’t pursuing true and perfect beatitude all my life, but I’ve been pursuing a partaking of that”

The Principle of Per Se and Per Alli #

• Everything that is through another (per alli) is reduced to what is through itself (per se)
• Creatures have being through participation (per alli); God alone has being through Himself (per se) — “I am who I am”
• This principle applies universally: movers that are moved (moventes mota) must be reduced to an unmoved mover (motor immotus)
• Example: Coffee is not sweet through itself but through participation in sugar (which is sweet through itself)

Article 7: Beatitude in Knowledge of Angels (Separated Substances) #

Arguments That Beatitude Consists in Knowledge of Angels #

• Gregory: Nothing fitting for men exists if they cannot be among the feasts (festivities) of the angels, where our final beatitude is designed
• The principle of return to beginning: The beginning of human knowledge is from the angels (who enlighten men); therefore, perfection consists in being joined to that beginning
• Each nature is perfected when joined to a higher nature; thus human mind is perfected when joined by contemplation to angels
• Berquist notes: “I’m convinced now. I’m on the right track here. To be honest with the angels.”

Thomas’s Resolution: Higher Imperfect Beatitude, Not Perfect #

• The crucial distinction: Thomas is speaking of knowledge of angels in the afterlife (after the soul is separated from the body), not knowledge available in this life
• Angels are creatures, not God; they partake of truth rather than being truth itself
• Only God is being itself (sum qui sum); therefore, only God is truth essentially (essentialiter)
• Axiom from Metaphysics II: The same disposition holds in being as in truth; whatever things have being by participation also have truth by participation
• Two-fold attainment of higher nature:
  1. According to the grade of participating power (man contemplates God as angels do, though imperfectly)
  2. According to the object itself attained (the proper object of intellect is the essence (quidditas); perfect attainment requires full possession of the object)
• The angel serves as minister, not object: Angels enlighten man only as servants/ministers, not as the ultimate object of beatitude
• The corrected view of creation: The human soul is created by God (not by angels, contrary to Avicenna), so God—not angels—is the true beginning to which man must return for perfect beatitude
• Therefore: Knowledge of angels constitutes imperfect beatitude, higher than speculative sciences, but not perfect beatitude

Key Arguments #

The Argument from Participation and Perfection #

• A lower thing cannot perfect a higher thing except insofar as the lower participates in something higher
• Sensible things are lower than human understanding
• Therefore, sensible knowledge cannot constitute perfect beatitude unless it leads to knowledge of what is not merely sensible
• The principle extends to all creatures: they are true only by participation in God who is truth itself

The Argument from the Object of the Intellect #

• The proper object of intellect is truth (veritas)
• The proper perfection of a power is measured by its object
• Only what is truth itself—not truth by participation—can constitute perfect beatitude of the intellect
• God alone is truth essentially; therefore, vision of God constitutes perfect beatitude

The Argument from the Axiom of Being and Truth #

• From Aristotle’s Metaphysics II: The same disposition of things in being as in truth
• If something is a being by participation, it is also true by participation
• Angels have being by participation (they are created); therefore, they are true by participation
• Only God has being essentially; therefore, only God is truth essentially

Important Definitions #

Speculative Sciences (Scientia Speculativa) #

• Latin speculari = to look, to consider; Greek word is theōrein (theoretical)
• Sciences ordered to understanding (intelligentia), not to doing (agere)
• Include: geometry, arithmetic, natural philosophy (scientia naturalis), first philosophy (metaphysica)
• Sought for their own sake, not for utility

Perfect vs. Imperfect Beatitude #

• Perfect beatitude: Essentially ordered to the ultimate object (God); achieved only in the afterlife; complete and unchanging
• Imperfect beatitude: Participates in or resembles true beatitude; achievable in this life; partial and subject to disturbance

Separated Substances (Substantiae Separatae) #

• Beings separated from matter (separatae a materia)
• Specifically: angels, who are incorporeal creatures
• Distinguished from material substances by their immateriality

Participation (Participatio) #

• The mode by which creatures relate to God
• Creatures have truth, being, goodness, etc., by participation (per participationem)
• God alone possesses these qualities essentially and through Himself (per se)

Per Se and Per Alli #

• Per se (through itself): A thing has a quality or attribute essentially, as part of its very nature
• Per alli (through another): A thing has a quality or attribute by participation in something else
• Example: God is being per se; creatures have being per alli
• Principle: Everything that is per alli is reduced to what is per se

Examples & Illustrations #

The Form of Sensible Things #

• A stone has a form (sensible form); this form participates in act (actus)
• Since God is pure act, form is divine insofar as it is act
• Therefore, sensible form can perfect the intellect, but only insofar as it participates in the divine
• Aristotle notes in Physics I that sensible form is “something divine,” like God, because God is pure act

Reproduction and Immortality #

• Both plants and animals seek to reproduce: they cannot be immortal as individuals, so they seek immortality of their kind
• This reflects the natural desire to be like God (who is eternal) insofar as possible
• Etymology of “reproduce” (re-): being produced again, since the individual cannot endure
• Shakespeare’s example: “When thou art old and see thy blood warm when thou feelest it cold… Thou art thy mother’s glass and she in thee calls back the lovely April of her prime”

Tabitha the Cat #

• Left in house with door closed to her litter box, Tabitha jumped into the bathtub over the drain
• Shows foresight (providentia): she knew “who’s going to get it if she gets caught”
• Illustrates imperfect prudence in animals—particular instincts to specific deeds
• Thomas parallels this to the distinction between perfect and imperfect beatitude: animals have something like foresight, but imperfectly

Coffee and Sugar #

• Coffee is sweet not through itself but through sugar
• Sugar is sweet through itself (essentially)
• Example of the per se / per alli distinction applied to sensible qualities

The Mirror and the Sun #

• When a mirror reflects the sun into your eyes, can you distinguish the mirror from the sun itself?
• Applied to seeing angels versus seeing God: We would be so overwhelmed by the angel’s beauty that it might seem like God, but the angel must say, “I am not God”

Notable Quotes #

“All men by nature desire to understand” — Aristotle, Metaphysics, opening line

“Let the wise man not glory in his wisdom” — Jeremiah 9:23 (cited against beatitude in speculative sciences)

“I am who I am” — God to Moses, Exodus 3:14 (God’s self-revelation as pure being)

“In this, let him glory who glories in knowing me” — Jeremiah (cited against beatitude in angels, in favor of beatitude in God)

“Call no man happy till he be dead” — Solon (cited by Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics)

“Let’s call him happy, but happy as men” — Aristotle’s modification of Solon’s dictum

“I would have you converse with angels and not with men” — Christ to St. Teresa of Avila

“The same disposition of things in being as in truth” — Aristotle, Metaphysics II (axiom used to prove only God is truth itself)

Questions Addressed #

Can Beatitude Consist in Speculative Sciences? #

• Objection: Aristotle defines happiness as operation according to virtue; speculative sciences involve the highest virtues of intellect; all men naturally desire to understand; therefore, beatitude consists in speculative sciences
• Thomas’s Answer: No, essentially. Speculative sciences constitute imperfect beatitude only. They cannot extend beyond sensible knowledge, which is lower than man. Man is not perfected by what is lower unless the lower participates in something higher. Speculative sciences thus provide a participation in true beatitude but not true beatitude itself.

Can Beatitude Consist in Knowledge of Angels? #

• Objection: Angels are the beginning of human knowledge (they enlighten men); perfection is return to the beginning; human mind is perfected when joined to a higher nature (angels); therefore, beatitude consists in knowledge of angels
• Thomas’s Answer: No, essentially. Angels are creatures and have truth only by participation, not essentially. Only God is truth itself. Moreover, God—not angels—is the true creator and beginning of the human soul. Angels serve as ministers directing man to God, not as the ultimate object of beatitude. Knowledge of angels provides imperfect beatitude, higher than speculative sciences, but still less than perfect beatitude.

What Is the Relationship Between Perfect and Imperfect Beatitude? #

• Aristotle seemed to recognize this distinction when he modified Solon’s “call no man happy till he be dead” to “let’s call him happy, but happy as men”
• Perfect beatitude is what man’s last end truly is (achieved only in the afterlife)
• Imperfect beatitude is what man can achieve in this life by participation and likeness
• The speculative sciences and knowledge of angels are forms of imperfect beatitude, higher or lower depending on their object’s proximity to God

Connections to Major Themes #

The Principle of Return (Reditio) #

• Beatitude as return to one’s beginning
• Thomas clarifies: The true beginning of the human soul is God (Creator), not angels (ministers)
• This principle explains why some thought angels were the end, but properly understood, God alone is the true end

Natural Desire and Supernatural Fulfillment #

• All men naturally desire to understand
• This natural desire is satisfied only supernaturally: by vision of God’s essence in heaven
• Speculative sciences satisfy the desire to understand imperfectly; only God’s vision satisfies it perfectly

The Hierarchy of Goods #

• Sensible goods → intelligible goods (through speculative sciences) → knowledge of angels → vision of God
• Each level participates in the perfection of the next higher level
• Each level is a type of imperfect beatitude except the last

Note: Article 8, which presumably addresses what beatitude truly consists in (the vision of God’s essence), is announced but not yet covered in this lecture. Berquist notes: “We’ve got to wait until the eighth article, I guess, to find out what it does consist of, huh?”