164. Kinds of Opposition and the Mean in Theological Virtues

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Four Kinds of Opposition #

• Contradiction (ἀντίφασις): Being and non-being; man and not-man. One negates what the other affirms. No middle ground possible; one must be true.
• Contrariety: Both poles are something positive; represent contrary habits or dispositions (e.g., virtue and vice). Contrary habits are opposed but share a common subject and genus. More opposed than contradictories in reality but less opposed in how we understand them.
• Privation and Having: Absence of a quality in something capable of possessing it (e.g., blindness and sight). An intermediate state possible (neither seeing nor blind; neither knowing nor ignorant).
• Relatives: Things defined by relation to each other (e.g., double and half). Neither eliminates the other; a distinct kind of opposition.

Application to the Trinity #

• The Father and Son are relatives in their opposition—this is the type of formal distinction found in the Trinity
• Contradiction, contrariety, and privation/having work differently and do not apply to Trinitarian persons in the same way

Application to Christology #

• Truth: One person, two natures (the Catholic position)
• Nestorian heresy: Two persons, two natures (false affirmation—saying what is not, is)
• Eutychian heresy: One person, one nature (false negation—saying what is, is not)
• Truth explains falsehood: both heresies contain partial truths. Because there are actually two natures, one might mistakenly infer two persons. Because there is actually one person, one might mistakenly infer one nature.

Ignorance vs. Mistake (Deception) #

• Ignorance: Mere lack of knowledge; no positive false belief held
• Mistake: Positive false belief held; a contrary opinion, not merely a privation
• The ignorant person has nothing in place of truth; the mistaken person has falsehood in place of truth
• Politically and pedagogically: easier to persuade the ignorant (they lack firm opposition) than the mistaken (they actively resist)

The Mean in Statements vs. Things #

• When two statements contradict (e.g., “Two is half of four” / “Two is not half of four”), the statements themselves are contraries, not contradictories
• Both statements are positive affirmations or denials about a thing
• Contradiction applies to being and non-being (the things signified)
• Contrariety applies to affirmations and denials (both are acts of the mind making statements)

Divine Attributes: Simplicity, Perfection, Infinity, Immutability #

• God is simple, perfect, infinite (unlimited), unchanging
• Unlimited/Infinite: In God, this is not a privation (lacking a boundary) but pure negation. No subject in common with finite things. Cannot be understood as lacking something God should have.
• Contrast with unlimited line: a line that extends infinitely still “lacks” what a line could have (an endpoint), so it is unlimited through privation
• Knowledge of God: Even imperfect knowledge of God is better than nothing, though we can never know Him as fully as He deserves to be known

The Mean in Theological Virtues #

• With respect to God (ex parte Dei): Theological virtues cannot have excess. One cannot love God too much, believe too much, or hope too much in God.
• With respect to us (ex parte nostra):
  • Hope: The mean between despair (failing to trust in God’s mercy and power) and presumption (hoping for what exceeds one’s condition)
  • Faith: The mean between contrary heresies (as illustrated in Christology), where truth lies between false affirmations and false negations
• The measure of theological virtues is God Himself, whose goodness and infinity exceed all human capacity
• Thomas cites Ecclesiasticus 43: “Exalt him as much as you are able, for he is greater than all praise”

Hope and Fear Together #

• Hope corresponds to God’s mercy; fear corresponds to God’s justice
• Both are necessary: hope without fear leads to presumption; fear without hope leads to despair
• Thomas comments on the Psalms regarding the proper balance of hope and fear
• The Magnificat speaks of mercy to those who fear Him (combining both virtues)

Key Arguments #

The Structure of Opposition #

• Contradiction involves pure negation; one side is being, the other is pure non-being
• Contrariety involves opposing positive realities in the same genus/subject
• Privation involves the absence of a quality in something capable of it
• Relatives involve mutual dependency without elimination

Why Truth Explains Falsehood in Theological Matters #

• If the true statement contains multiple distinct elements (e.g., one person AND two natures), then partial focus on one element can generate contrary false opinions
• Each heresy takes hold of one true aspect while denying or misunderstanding another
• The falsity is explicable because the truth is complex

On the Mean in Theological Virtues (Against Initial Objection) #

• Objection: If theological virtues are superior to moral virtues, they should “more” consist in the mean
• Response: Theological virtues cannot consist in a mean with respect to their divine object, but they do consist in a mean with respect to human acts and dispositions
• One can have presumption (hoping for too much) or despair (hoping for too little), but these are disorders in the human will, not in relation to God’s infinite goodness

Important Definitions #

• ἀντίφασις (Contradiction): The opposition between being and non-being, where one completely negates the other with no middle ground
• Contrariety (Contrarietas): Opposition between two positive realities in the same subject or genus (e.g., virtue and vice as contrary habits)
• Privation (Privatio): The absence of a quality in a thing capable of possessing it (e.g., blindness in a creature capable of sight)
• Relatives (Relativa): Things defined essentially by their relation to another (e.g., father/son, double/half)
• ex parte Dei: From God’s perspective or in relation to God
• ex parte nostra: From our perspective or in relation to us
• Heresy: A false opinion about a theological truth; often contains partial truth mixed with falsity
• Hope (Spes): The theological virtue by which we trust in God’s mercy and power for our salvation; a mean between despair and presumption

Examples & Illustrations #

The Four Oppositions Illustrated #

• Contradiction: “You are sitting” / “You are not sitting”—one must be true
• Contrariety: Virtue and vice are both real habits, both in the same subject, but opposed (e.g., courage and cowardice)
• Privation/Having: Blindness and sight; ignorance and knowledge
• Relatives: Double and half (neither eliminates the other; 2 is half of 4, and 4 is double of 2, simultaneously)

Ignorance vs. Mistake: The Slave Boy in Plato #

• When asked how to double a square, the slave boy answers “double the side”—a false belief actively held
• This is mistake, not ignorance; he thinks something false rather than merely lacking knowledge
• If he had said “I don’t know,” he would be ignorant

Political Application: Persuasion #

• In campaigning: easier to persuade someone undecided (ignorant) than someone committed to the opposite candidate (mistaken)
• “Low-information voters” are more persuadable because they lack firm contrary conviction
• Those with false beliefs actively resist persuasion

Christological Heresies #

• Nestorius: Seeing two distinct natures, inferred two distinct persons (false affirmation—adding extra persons)
• Eutychus: Seeing one person, inferred one nature (false negation—denying the second nature)
• Catholic truth: One person in two natures—which makes both heresies partially intelligible

God’s Infinity #

• A line extending infinitely still “lacks” an endpoint, so it is unlimited through privation
• God’s infinity is not a privation but pure negation—He lacks nothing because He is not subject to the categories of lack and having
• Infinite knowledge of God is better than finite knowledge, though we can never know Him as He deserves

Hope Between Despair and Presumption #

• Despair: The father whose son died in suffering might despair, thinking the soul is lost to purgatory
• Presumption: Assuming one ranks above the apostles or even above Mary in salvation
• Hope: Trusting in God’s infinite mercy while acknowledging one’s unworthiness and human condition

Personal Reflection on Prayer #

• Berquist reflects on a funeral where the son advised praying for the deceased father, acknowledging uncertainty about the state of the soul
• His own response: hope tempered by honest acknowledgment that the father may be in purgatory, not immediately in heaven

Notable Quotes #

“The Father and the Son… but in the case of relatives, double doesn’t eliminate half… it’s a different kind of opposition.”

“To be blind and to have sight, right, this is an opposition of having and lacking, right? But they have something in common.”

“Ignorance is really the non-being of knowledge and something able to know.”

“It’s very subtle, right… The opposition of being and non-being is contradiction, right? But the statement whereby I say this is, and you say it is not, they are contrary.”

“If you’re voting Republican or Democrat… the man who’s ignorant will resist me less than the man who’s mistaken.”

“In the case of lack and having… they are not as opposed as contradictory… Either you see or you don’t see.”

“Unlimited in the case of God is a pure negation, right? Pure negation. So even if you had a line going on forever, that would be unlimited in the sense that it doesn’t have what a line could have.”

“You can kind of see this in the two greatest mysteries of the faith, are the Trinity, right? And the incarnation.”

“Truth lies in the mean, saying that there’s one nature and three persons… In the incarnation, there’s one person and [two natures].”

“If one virtue one confesses you not to have, it’s necessary for you to have none of them.” (Cicero)

“For he is greater than all praise.” (Ecclesiasticus 43)

“The measure of a theological virtue is God himself.”

“One can’t love God too much, believe too much, or hope too much in God.”

Questions Addressed #

What are the four kinds of opposition, and how do they differ? #

• Contradiction: Pure negation; no middle ground; one is being, the other pure non-being
• Contrariety: Both are positive realities; share a subject and genus; most opposed in reality but less opposed conceptually
• Privation/Having: Absence of quality in something capable of it; intermediate state possible
• Relatives: Defined by relation to each other; neither eliminates the other

How does understanding opposition illuminate the Trinity and Incarnation? #

• The Trinity involves relative opposition (persons are relatives to each other) rather than contradiction or contrariety
• Christology involves avoiding two contrary heresies: the truth (one person, two natures) lies between false affirmations (two persons) and false negations (one nature)

What is the difference between ignorance and mistake? #

• Ignorance is a privation—mere lack of knowledge
• Mistake is a contrary opinion—a false positive belief
• The mistaken person actively opposes truth; the ignorant person simply lacks it

Do theological virtues consist in the mean? #

• With respect to God: No excess possible. One cannot love or hope too much in God’s infinite goodness.
• With respect to human acts: Yes, in a qualified sense. Hope is a mean between despair and presumption; faith is a mean between contrary heresies.
• The measure of theological virtues is God Himself, not human reason or natural capacity.