114. Hope and Fear: The Irascible Passions

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Hope as an Aid to Operation #

The Paradox: Objections claim that hope impedes operation because security (a component of hope) causes negligence. However, Thomas argues that hope, per se, aids and intensifies operation through two mechanisms:

1. From the notion of its object: Hope concerns a good that is both difficult (arduum) and possible (possibile). The perception of difficulty arouses attention, while the perception of possibility prevents discouragement—both promote intense operation.
2. From its effect: Hope causes pleasure (delectatio) in anticipating the good, which aids operation.

Security vs. Fear: The objection conflates security (which concerns evil to be avoided) with hope (which concerns good to be obtained). Security relates more properly to fear than to hope.

The Nature of Passion (Passio) #

Three Levels of Definition:

• Most generally: any motion of the appetite
• More properly: motion of the desiring power (appetitus) with a bodily organ
• Most properly: motions implying some harm or undergoing contrary to nature

Fear’s Character: Among all passions, sadness and fear most fully embody the notion of passion because they involve something bad (malum). The word “passion” originally means suffering or undergoing, implying something harmful.

Bodily Dimension: Aristotle emphasizes in the De Anima that emotions cannot be fully understood without knowledge of their bodily changes. Fear involves physical contraction (contractio) and bodily manifestations.

The Structure of the Irascible Passions #

Principal Passions:

• Concupiscible appetite: joy and sadness (six passions total)
• Irascible appetite: hope and fear, plus courage/boldness as contraries (five passions total)

Why the Asymmetry? Hope and despair arise from the concupiscible passion of desire. When a desired good is difficult, irascible emotions emerge. Similarly, fear arises from aversion when an evil to be avoided is difficult. Easy goods/evils require no irascible passions.

Fear as a Special Passion #

Distinction from Other Emotions:

• Unlike simple aversion (turning away from evil)
• Unlike sadness (which concerns present evil)
• Unlike hate (which concerns evil absolutely)

Fear’s Object: A future evil that is difficult and which one cannot resist.

Future vs. Present: Though fear concerns the future, the future evil can be made present to the soul through imagination and apprehension, just as past embarrassing moments can be recalled and cause present emotion.

The Question of Natural Fear #

Definition: Fear can be called natural insofar as nature inclines us to fear evils corruptive of ourselves, though this inclination requires apprehension to be actualized.

Limitation: Natural fear cannot be attributed to inanimate things since fear requires apprehension. We do not say plants fear drought, though they “want” water.

Key Arguments #

Objection 1: Security Causes Negligence #

• Objection: Hope pertains to security, which begets negligence, which impedes operation
• Resolution: Security pertains more to fear (it opposes the evil to be avoided) than to hope (which seeks the good to be obtained). Security only causes negligence insofar as it diminishes the perception of difficulty, which also diminishes the notion of hope itself.

Objection 2: Sadness Impedes Operation #

• Objection: Hope sometimes causes sadness (deferred hope afflicts the soul), and sadness impedes operation
• Resolution: Hope per se causes pleasure, not sadness. Deferred hope causes secondary sadness through prolonged anticipation, but this is accidental, not proper to hope’s nature.

Objection 3: Desperation Aids Operation More Than Hope #

• Objection: Desperation (the contrary of hope) most aids operation, particularly in war, therefore hope should have the opposite effect
• Resolution: This relies on the principle that contraries have contrary effects. However, desperation aids operation in a diminished way by forcing violent effort. Hope aids operation more perfectly by intensifying the appetite through pleasure.

The Future Problem for Fear #

• Objection: How can fear be a passion of the soul when it concerns the future, which is not present to the senses?
• Resolution: Through imagination and apprehension, future evils can be made present to the soul. Just as bodily passion requires bodily presence of an agent, the passion of the soul requires the soulful presence (praesentia animalis) of the agent.

Important Definitions #

• Passio (Passion): An undergoing or being acted upon; most properly, motion of a desiring power with a bodily organ, implying bodily change contrary to one’s nature
• Arduum (Difficult): A quality of hope’s object that arouses the attention and effort of the one pursuing the good
• Possibile (Possible): A quality of hope’s object that prevents discouragement and slowness in attempting the good
• Delectatio (Pleasure/Delight): The effect of hope that aids operation by providing joy in the anticipation of obtaining the good
• Securitas (Security): A state of being without fear of evil; pertains more properly to fear than to hope since it concerns the evil to be avoided
• Contractio (Contraction): The bodily manifestation of fear, as distinguished from purely spiritual passions
• Praesentia animalis (Soulful presence): The presence of something to the soul through apprehension, even without bodily or real presence

Examples & Illustrations #

Personal Anecdotes:

• Berquist’s airplane experience: Asked his guardian angel to watch over the plane; his wife noted her angel does the same. Describes the turbulence and nervous reactions of passengers.
• The friend’s nasty neighbor’s child destroying a potted plant repeatedly, illustrating how an evil that is immediately present and difficult to avoid requires a response.

Philosophical Examples:

• Socrates’ fear of being mistaken: Unlike many who claim knowledge confidently, Socrates maintained both a fear of error and a hope of arriving at truth, recognizing truth as a difficult good.
• The president of TAC (Berquist mentions “Dillon”) noting that Euclid cures people of despair by demonstrating that certain knowledge is possible.
• The study of Euclid: Freshmen struggle with it, but as students progress, they look back and laugh at their former struggles—illustrating how difficulty diminishes as understanding grows.

Literary References:

• Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet prologue: Emphasizes pity (sadness) and fear as the emotions tragedy moves us toward.
• Shakespeare’s Henry VI: “Security is the mortal’s chiefest enemy”—illustrating how false security (diminishing perception of difficulty) leads to negligence.

Questions Addressed #

Article 8: Does Hope Aid or Impede Operation? #

• Question: How can hope aid operation when security (linked to hope) produces negligence, and when hope sometimes causes sadness?
• Answer: Hope per se aids operation by intensifying it through two mechanisms: (1) the object’s perceived difficulty arouses attention while its perceived possibility prevents discouragement, and (2) hope’s effect of pleasure aids operation. Sadness is accidental to hope, arising only from deferred hope. Security impedes operation only by diminishing the perception of difficulty, which also diminishes hope itself.

Introduction to Fear #

• Question: Is fear truly a passion of the soul, given it concerns the future and not the present?
• Answer: Through apprehension and imagination, future evils are made present to the soul, analogous to how bodily passion requires bodily presence of an agent. The soul’s presence of the agent (through apprehension) suffices for the passion.

Connections to Prior Topics #

The Four Principal Passions: Joy and sadness (concupiscible); hope and fear (irascible). These structure the emotional responses to good and evil in present and future tenses.

Desire vs. Aversion: Hope arises from desire when the desired good is difficult. Fear arises from aversion when the evil to be avoided is difficult. This structural parallel shows the unity of the irascible appetite.

Tragedy and the Power of Emotions: Tragedy moves us to pity (sadness) and fear—the two passions that most fully embody the notion of passion and thus have the greatest power over us.