82. The Nature and Causation of Hatred
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Lecture Notes
Main Topics #
- The Object of Hate: Whether the bad (malum) is the proper object of hate, paralleling the good as object of love
- Love as Foundation of Hate: How all hatred necessarily proceeds from some prior love
- Comparative Strength of Passions: Whether hate can overcome love, and the conditions under which one passion appears stronger than another
- Perceptibility of Passions: Why hate appears more sensible or perceptible than love, despite love being fundamentally stronger
Key Arguments #
Article 1: The Bad as Object of Hate #
Objection: Everything that exists is good as such (Augustine: sin is nothing); therefore nothing can truly be hated.
Response: Being in itself (secundum se) is always good. However, a particular being can be repugnant to another particular being. Thus something is hateable not in itself but in comparison to another thing.
- Natural Harmony and Dissonance: Just as natural love is a harmony between appetite and what is suitable to it, natural hate is a dissonance toward what is repugnant or harmful
- Example: Heat is good for fire but repugnant to water; rough soil is loved by grapevines but unsuitable to other plants
- Conclusion: The bad is that which is repugnant or harmful to a thing according to its nature
Article 2: Hate Caused from Love #
Objection: Love and hate are contraries. Things divided as opposites are naturally together (simul). Therefore love cannot be the cause of hate.
Response: The objection confuses two different senses of “together” (simul). Thomas provides a three-fold distinction:
Things together both in reality and in reason: e.g., different species of animals or colors—they are coordinate with each other
Things together in reason but ordered in reality: e.g., numbers (2 and 3 are equal as numbers, but 2 is prior to 3 in being), geometric figures (triangle and quadrilateral are equal figures, but triangle is prior in simplicity and composition), and motions (locomotion, alteration, growth)
- Although all are equally species of motion, change of place is prior because change of quality requires spatial proximity
- This is the proper category for love and hate
Things not together in either way: e.g., substance and accident—substance really causes accident, and being is attributed to substance before accident
Critical Principle: Love and hate are simul secundum rationem (together in reason/definition) but not simul secundum rem (together in reality). Love is prior causally.
Reasoning: Something is only repugnant insofar as it impedes what is suitable. What is suitable is what is loved. Therefore hate necessarily presupposes love as its cause.
Practical Application: One hates vice because one loves virtue; one hates ugliness because one loves beauty. The hatred is not contrary to the love but consequent upon it.
Article 3: Whether Hate is Stronger than Love #
Objections:
- People flee pain more than they pursue pleasure (Augustine)
- Love is conquered when love turns into hate
- People act more intensely to repel what they hate than to pursue what they love (animals cease from delights when struck)
Response:
Fundamental Principle: Effects cannot be stronger than their causes. Since all hate proceeds from love, hate cannot be simply (simpliciter) stronger than love.
Why Hate Appears Stronger:
Sensibility/Perceptibility: Hate is more sensible than love
- Sense perceives change; what is already changed (habituated) is less noticed
- The hectic heat, though perhaps greater, is not felt as much as the tertian heat (which is acute)
- Love is more felt in absence; hate in presence
- The repugnance of what is hated is more sensibly perceived than the agreement of what is loved
Comparison Error: People compare hate to a lesser corresponding love, not the greater love
- Flight from pain corresponds to love of self-preservation (which is greater than love of pleasure)
- Therefore people flee pain more strongly than they pursue pleasure
- A man more intensely defends himself (hating what threatens him) because he loves himself more than his friend
Conclusion: Love is simply stronger than hate because the good is stronger than the bad, and the bad acts only by virtue of the good (Dionysius).
Important Definitions #
- Odium (Hate): A dissonance or repugnance (repugnantia) of the appetite toward what is apprehended as repugnant or harmful
- Malum (The Bad): That which is repugnant or corruptive to a thing according to its nature; it has the ratio (character) of badness
- Simul (Together/Simultaneously): Said of things that exist or are understood together in a given respect
- Simul secundum rationem: together in reason/definition; equal in the division of a genus
- Simul secundum rem: together in reality; existing or caused together in the actual order of things
- Prius (Before/Prior): One thing is prior to another according to different senses of “before” (from Aristotle’s Categories, chapters 12-13)
- Ratio (Character/Nature/Formal Aspect): The defining character or formal aspect under which something is understood
Examples & Illustrations #
Natural Examples:
- Heat is naturally loved by fire but naturally hated by water
- Grapevines thrive in rough soil (love it) but suffer in rich soil (hate it)
- Stone naturally descends (loves its proper place) and resists upward motion (hates it)
Sensory Perception:
- Hectic heat (chronic fever), though perhaps greater, is less felt than tertian heat (acute/cyclical fever)
- Absence makes the heart grow fonder: one feels love more acutely when separated from the beloved
- An unwanted object in a comfortable bed (pin, needle) is noticed immediately, whereas a comfortable pillow is not
- A radio with a jarring theme song produces immediate hate-reaction; Mozart appreciated gradually over time
Passion and Motivation:
- Flight from pain appears stronger than pursuit of pleasure, but this is because self-preservation (corresponding to pain-flight) is loved more than pleasure
- A dog separated from delights by a stick: the fear/hate overcomes the appetite
- Neighbor with two contrasting reactions to same event (ball crossing fence): disposition (prior love or hate) determines the response
Questions Addressed #
Q1: Is the bad the object of hate? Yes, just as the good is the object of love. However, “bad” does not mean evil in itself, but rather what is repugnant or harmful to a particular nature in relation to that nature.
Q2: Is hate caused by love? Yes, necessarily. All hate proceeds from love because something is only apprehended as repugnant insofar as it impedes what is suitable and therefore loved. Love is both the formal and efficient cause of hate.
Q3: Is hate stronger than love? No. Love is simply stronger. Hate appears stronger only because: (a) it is more perceptible to sense, and (b) people compare hate to a lesser love rather than its corresponding greater love.
Q4: Can the same thing be both lovable and hateable? Yes, to diverse things (ad diversa). What is suitable to one nature according to its natural appetite is repugnant to another. Salmon can be lovable to one person and hateable to another; heat is loved by fire and hated by water.