126. The Causes and Effects of Anger

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Primary Cause of Anger: Contempt (Parvipensio) #

Thomas argues that all causes of anger reduce to thinking little of someone (parvipensio), which has three species:

1. Despising (contemnere) - directly regarding someone as worthless
2. Blocking one’s will (impedire voluntatem) - impeding fulfillment of what someone desires
3. Insulting (contumulatio) - treating someone with disrespect

All other apparent causes of anger—forgetfulness, exultation in misfortune, denunciation of bad things, impediment of one’s will—are ultimately signs of contempt.

Excellence vs. Defect in Anger (Article 3) #

Thomas resolves an apparent contradiction: does excellence or defect make one more prone to anger?

Excellence as cause of anger: Those who possess excellence (wealth, wisdom, nobility) become angry more easily when despised in that which they excel. The slight is greater precisely because it is unworthy—a noble person despised by a rustic commits a greater injury.

Defect as cause of anger: Those with defects (sickness, infirmity, poverty) become angry more easily in general because they are more easily saddened, and sadness predisposes to anger. However, defect diminishes the unworthiness of being despised, so it can actually reduce anger in specific cases.

Resolution: The two perspectives address different aspects:

• From the motive side: excellence increases anger (the injury is more unworthy)
• From the disposition side: defect increases anger (it increases sadness, which predisposes to anger)

Smallness/Defect and Anger (Article 4) #

Thomas addresses why the smallness of an offender does not automatically diminish our anger:

• Humility and confession of wrongdoing decrease anger because they show the offender does not despise us
• However, when a small/inferior person despises a great/superior person, this constitutes an especially unworthy despising, which increases anger
• Example: Nobles become angry at rustics who despise them; the wise become angry at the foolish who despise them
• Death ceases anger both because the dead cannot experience punishment and because they have already arrived at “the last of all evils,” exceeding just recompense

The Paradox of Pleasure in Anger (Question 48, Article 1) #

The Problem: Anger involves sadness (from injury), yet Aristotle says “anger is much sweeter than honey.” How can anger produce pleasure?

Thomas’s Solution:

• The angry person is simultaneously saddened about the injury and delighted about the revenge (hoped for and contemplated)
• Pleasure follows upon anger as an effect (not something that eliminates it)
• The pleasure is imperfect because revenge is not yet really present, only hoped for and imagined
• When real revenge is present, it produces perfect pleasure, which then eliminates both sadness and anger
• The pleasure serves as a remedy for the sadness that causes anger, just as water is more delightful to the thirsty

Two modes of presence of revenge:

1. Through hope - expecting vengeance to come
2. Through continual thinking - dwelling mentally on contemplated revenge (as in dreams)

Key Arguments #

On Whether Thinking Little Is the Sole Motive of Anger (Article 2) #

Objection 1: Damascene says anger comes from undergoing injury. A person can be injured without being despised. Therefore, not only thinking little causes anger.

Objection 2: Brute animals do not desire honor, yet they become angry when injured. Therefore injury, not thinking little, causes anger.

Objection 3: Aristotle lists many causes of anger (forgetfulness, exultation, denunciation, impediment of will). Therefore, thinking little is not the sole cause.

Thomas’s Resolution:

• All other causes are signs of contempt rather than independent causes
• Forgetfulness of someone shows we think little of them
• Exultation in misfortune shows we care little about the person
• From “ignorance” or “passion,” harm is inflicted, which diminishes the notion of injury; only from choice/malice does contempt appear
• Animals desire excellence even if not honor; they become angry at those who fail to respect their territory/superiority

On Excellence vs. Defect as Cause of Anger (Article 3) #

Objection 1: Aristotle says anger most easily arises in those saddened—the infirm, needy, those lacking what they desire. These pertain to defect, not excellence.

Objection 2: People become angry when despised in things they suspect they lack. Suspicion arises from defect. Therefore defect, not excellence, causes anger.

Objection 3: Excellence produces joy and good hope. Aristotle says those in play, laughter, festival, prosperity, and good hope do not become angry. Therefore excellence is not a cause of anger.

Against this: Aristotle also says men become indignant (angry) on account of excellence.

Thomas’s Resolution:

• From the side of the motive: Excellence is a cause. The more excellent someone is, the more unjustly they are despised in their excellence. Therefore those possessing excellence become angry when thought little of.
• From the side of the disposition: Defect is a cause. Those with defects are more easily saddened, and sadness predisposes to anger.
• The apparent contradiction disappears when we recognize these address different causal aspects.

On Smallness/Defect and Anger (Article 4) #

Objection 1: Aristotle says we do not become angry at those who confess, are penitent, and humble themselves. These pertain to smallness/defect. Therefore smallness diminishes anger.

Objection 2: No greater defect exists than death, yet we do not become angry at the dead. Therefore defect is not a cause of anger.

Objection 3: No one regards a friend as small. Yet we become more angry if friends offend us. Therefore defect is not a cause of anger.

Thomas’s Resolution:

• Defect/smallness increases anger insofar as it increases the unworthiness of being despised
• When someone great is despised by someone small, this is especially unworthy despising
• Defect/smallness decreases anger insofar as it diminishes the unworthiness of being despised
• When a penitent confesses and humbles himself, he shows he does not despise us; this shows respect (not contempt), so anger decreases
• Regarding the dead: anger ceases because (1) they cannot experience punishment and (2) they have arrived at the greatest evil, exceeding just recompense
• Regarding friends: the injury from a friend seems greater precisely because the friendship relationship makes the betrayal more unworthy

Important Definitions #

Parvipensio (Thinking Little/Contempt) #

The perception that one is being despised or valued below one’s worth. The primary and universal motive of anger. Manifests in three species: despising, blocking one’s will (impedimentum voluntatis), and insulting (contumulatio).

Vindicta (Vengeance/Revenge) #

Punishment or requital of an injury. What the angry person desires, but specifically under the aspect of something just (as vindictive/corrective rather than merely harmful). The contemplation and hope of vengeance produces the pleasure that accompanies anger.

Fervor #

The intense heat or boiling of blood around the heart caused by anger. Proceeds from the evaporation of bile (choler). A bodily manifestation proportional to the motion of the appetitive power toward repelling injury.

Examples & Illustrations #

Personal Anecdotes #

• A young boy at a friend’s house broke a plant; the injury itself was not the source of anger but the apparent contempt in breaking it carelessly
• A high school friend who would introduce people but pretend to forget their names, then propose to girls with a tin ring on the roof—examples of contempt through forgetfulness
• When a wine list is unavailable at a restaurant, someone becomes angry not at the defect itself but at what it suggests about being disregarded

Animal Behavior #

• A bull in Spain becomes angry when pricked with pins
• Dogs do not bite those who sit down (submitting shows lack of contempt)
• A cat’s territory: when one cat claims a spot and another dares to lay there, the owner cat immediately drives the intruder out with clear anger (not indifference)
• Dogs and cats tolerate people with “temper” (passion) more readily than deliberate malice, because passion (not choice) diminishes the notion of contempt

Literary Examples #

• Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: Cassius and Brutus’s conflict; Brutus must account for Cassius’s inherited choleric temperament rather than regarding it as contempt
• Shakespeare’s Coriolanus: Reference to the magnanimous soldier denied honor, unable to conceal his manifest anger
• Churchill’s observation on animals: “The dog fawns upon you like a slave; the cat looks down upon you; the pig treats you like an equal.” These reflect different understandings of superiority and social hierarchy

Notable Quotes #

“Anger, much sweeter than honey dropping honey, increases in the hearts of men” — Aristotle, Rhetoric Book 2 (on the sweetness of contemplated revenge)

“A soft response breaks anger” — Proverbs 15 (cited on how humility and penitence mitigate anger)

“If my enemy had cursed me, I could have sustained it; but you, my friend” — Psalm 54 (on why injury from friends is harder to bear)

“They do not get angry, for anger does not come about from what is just” — Aristotle, Rhetoric Book 2 (on why just punishment does not provoke anger)

“For to do something from ignorance or from passion diminishes the notion of injury” — Thomas Aquinas (distinguishing harm from choice/malice from harm from other causes)

Questions Addressed #

Is Thinking Little the Only Motive of Anger? #

Answer: Yes, all causes of anger reduce to thinking little/contempt in one of its three forms. Other apparent causes (injury, forgetfulness, misfortune) are signs of contempt but not independent causes. Even animals who do not desire honor become angry when their natural excellence is not respected.

Does Excellence or Defect Make One More Prone to Anger? #

Answer: Both, but in different ways. From the motive side, excellence increases anger (despising someone excellent is more unworthy). From the dispositional side, defect increases anger (defect increases sadness, which predisposes to anger). The excellent become angriest when despised in their excellence; the defective are more easily angered in general but less angered when the offense is small.

Does Smallness/Defect Diminish Anger? #

Answer: Not always. Smallness diminishes anger when it shows lack of contempt (as in confession and humility). But smallness increases anger when the small person commits the unworthy act of despising a great person. Anger ceases toward the dead not because of their defect but because they cannot experience punishment and have already suffered the greatest evil.