39. The Will's Motion: Exterior Principles and Divine Causality

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Article 4: Whether the Will is Moved by Something Outside #

The Central Problem: How can something exterior move the will while preserving the will’s nature as voluntary (having an intrinsic source)?

Thomas’s Key Distinction:

• The will’s proximate motion (immediate source) is intrinsic—the will moves itself
• The will’s first motion (ultimate source) must come from an exterior principle
• This parallels natural motion: a stone’s nature causes it to fall downward (intrinsic), but the stone’s nature itself was caused by the generator (exterior)

The Infinite Regress Argument:

• If the will moves itself, it must first will the end
• But to move from potency to act regarding means requires already being in act regarding the end
• This cannot proceed infinitely; there must be a first mover
• Therefore, God (as exterior principle) must initiate all voluntary motion

Article 5: Whether Celestial Bodies Move the Will #

Three Ways Celestial Bodies Can Influence the Will:

1. Through the object: exterior bodies proposed to the senses (e.g., cold weather makes us want to make a fire)
2. Through bodily disposition: celestial bodies affect the organs, which affects what seems suitable to us
3. Through sense appetite: passions arising from bodily condition can incline the will toward apparent goods

What Celestial Bodies Cannot Do:

• Directly act upon the will itself
• The will is immaterial (follows reason, which is immaterial)
• No body can act directly upon what is immaterial
• Only what is more formal and immaterial can act upon what is less formal

Why Astrologers Can Make Predictions:

• Most people follow their passions, which are influenced by celestial bodies
• The wise man “dominates the stars” through reason and free will—he can resist passions
• Predictions are generally true “for the most part” (ut pluribus) but not universally
• Augustine suggests some predictions may involve demonic deception

Article 6: Whether God Alone Moves the Will as Exterior Principle #

Central Thesis: Only God can move the will as a first exterior principle.

Why Not Angels?

• Angels can move the understanding through enlightenment (presenting intelligible objects)
• But they cannot be the cause of the will itself
• The will’s existence comes only from God through creation
• Only what causes a thing’s nature can cause its natural motion

Two Reasons God Alone Moves the Will:

1. The will is a power of the rational soul, which only God creates through creation (creatio)
2. The will is ordered to the universal good; only God (who is universal good itself) can be its ultimate cause

• Every other good is particular, deriving goodness by participation
• A particular cause cannot produce universal inclination

The Analogy with First Matter:

• First matter (materia prima) is in potency to all forms
• It cannot be caused by a particular agent
• It requires creation—causation of being itself
• Similarly, the will requires God as its cause

Key Arguments #

The Problem of Intrinsic vs. Exterior Motion #

Statement: The voluntary requires an intrinsic source, yet seems to require an exterior mover.

Solution Structure:

• Proximate ≠ Ultimate: The will can have an intrinsic proximate source while requiring an exterior ultimate source
• The distinction parallels natural motion: nature is intrinsic, but nature itself is caused externally
• This avoids violence (which requires exterior source AND unwilling resistance) while preserving voluntary character

The Comparison with Natural Motion #

Parallel Structure:

• A stone’s nature causes it to fall downward (intrinsic principle)
• But the stone’s nature was caused by the generator (exterior principle)
• Therefore: the will’s nature causes it to will (intrinsic principle), but the will’s nature was caused by God (exterior principle)

The Aristotelian Citation: “The one generating things moves according to place, the heavy and the light things”

• The generator causes the nature, thus is responsible (in a sense) for the motion that follows from that nature

The Immateriality Argument (Against Celestial Bodies) #

Premises:

1. The will is immaterial (follows reason, which is immaterial)
2. No body can act upon what is immaterial
3. What is more formal acts upon what is less formal

Conclusion: Celestial bodies cannot directly move the will

Historical Note: Aristotle refutes those who held the opposite (that understanding is like sensation and hence bodily)

The Actuality Principle #

Key Principle: Everything acts insofar as it is in act

• More formal things (immaterial) act upon less formal things (material)
• Material things cannot act upon immaterial things
• This establishes a hierarchy of causality

Important Definitions #

Voluntary (voluntarium): That which has its source in an intrinsic principle (the will itself)

Natural (naturale): That which has its source in an intrinsic principle (nature), but whose nature itself is caused externally

Violent (violentum): Motion whose source is exterior and to which the thing undergoing it does not consent

• Note: The will can be moved externally without violence because the will itself consents (through its own nature)

Proximate Cause (causa proxima): The immediate source of an effect (in will’s case, the will itself)

First Cause (causa prima): The ultimate source required to avoid infinite regress (God)

Universal Good (bonum universale): The good as such; only God is truly universal good itself—all others are particular goods by participation

Immaterial (immaterialis): Not dependent on bodily organs; what can exist and act independently of matter

Exercise of Act (exercitium actus): The actual willing or not willing (contrasts with specification—which good is willed)

Examples & Illustrations #

Celestial Influence on Human Behavior #

• Cold weather: When it gets cold, we naturally begin to want to make a fire or put on a hat
• Spring: “Spring comes, young man’s thoughts turn to love” (the poet’s observation)
• Bodily disposition: Some people become lustful when drinking; others become irascible and prone to fighting
• Birth conditions: Scientists observe correlations between astrological conditions at birth and later human traits

The Drunkard’s Judgment #

• A drunkard admits the principle “Nothing too much” (in the middle)
• But he doesn’t judge that he has had too much
• His bodily disposition makes excess seem suitable to him
• This illustrates how bodily condition affects what appears good to us

The Wise Man and the Stars #

• Ptolemy’s maxim: “The wise man dominates the star”
• The wise man resists passions that celestial bodies incline him toward
• Through free will and reason, he acts contrary to what his bodily disposition suggests
• This distinguishes human freedom from mere natural determination

The Stone and Natural Motion #

• A stone naturally falls downward (its nature causes this motion intrinsically)
• But the stone’s nature was caused by the generator (an exterior principle)
• The stone’s intrinsic principle (its nature/form) is itself caused externally
• Application: Similarly, the will’s intrinsic principle (the will itself) is caused by God

Morning Dependence on God #

• Berquist reflects: “I get up in the morning, and I’m not thinking about, not willing to get out of bed.”
• “I must depend upon God to eventually issue this command to me: time to get up now.”
• This illustrates the hidden divine motion that initiates all willing

Puritan Social Control #

• In Puritan New England, someone was appointed to monitor drinkers at taverns
• Official allowance was half a pint; excess was cut off
• Historical example of external influence on appetitive inclination (via law and social pressure)

Notable Quotes #

“It is of the notion of the voluntary that its beginning be within; but it is not necessary that this intrinsic beginning be the first beginning that is not moved by another.”

“Just as the first beginning of natural motion is from the outside, which moves nature… God is the unmoved mover behind all natural motion, but also the unmoved mover behind voluntary motion.”

“The motion of the will is from within just as the natural motion is from within. Now, though something is able to move which is not a cause of the nature of the thing moved, nevertheless, the natural motion is not able to be caused except by what is in some way the cause of the nature.”

“The will is a power of the rational soul, which by God alone is caused through creation.”

“Nothing is able to be the cause of the will, except God himself, who is the universal good.”

“The wise man dominates the star.” (Ptolemy, Centiloquium)

“God it is who works in us to will and to perfect him.” (St. Paul, Philippians 2:13)

“The celestial bodies are not the causes of our acts.” (John of Damascus)

Questions Addressed #

Q: How can the will be voluntary if moved by something exterior? #

A: The will’s proximate motion is intrinsic (from the will itself), but its first motion comes from an exterior principle. This is analogous to natural motion: a stone’s motion derives from its nature (intrinsic), but its nature was caused externally (by the generator).

Q: Can celestial bodies move the will directly? #

A: No. The will is immaterial; no material body can act directly upon what is immaterial. Celestial bodies influence the will only indirectly through effects on the body and sense appetites.

Q: Why can astrologers predict human behavior if the will is free? #

A: Most people follow their passions, which are influenced by celestial bodies. The wise man, however, resists these influences through reason and free will. Predictions are true “for the most part” but not universally.

Q: Can angels move the will as an exterior principle? #

A: No. Angels can move the understanding by presenting objects (enlightenment), but they cannot be the cause of the will itself. Only God, who creates the soul and its will, can move the will as a first exterior principle.

Q: If God alone moves the will, doesn’t this make God the cause of sin? #

A: God moves the will universally toward the good. Man, through reason, determines himself to particular goods (or apparent goods). God is not the cause of the determination to evil; man is—through the privation of right reason.