Lecture 213

213. Pride and Cupidity as Beginnings of Sin

Summary
This lecture examines the foundational roles of pride and cupidity in the genesis of sin, distinguishing how they function differently in the order of intention versus execution. Berquist works through Thomas Aquinas’s careful analysis of how ‘beginning’ and ‘root’ apply analogically to sin, explaining why pride represents the formal origin of sin (as disordered desire for excellence) while cupidity provides the material means (as universal faculty to perpetrate sin). The lecture also introduces the concept of capital vices and prepares for their enumeration.

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Root and Beginning Distinguished #

  • Cupidity (Avarice) as Root: Provides the universal faculty to perpetrate and fulfill any sinful desire; wealth enables all sins
  • Pride as Beginning: Operates in the order of intention as the disordered desire for one’s own excellence; all temporal goods are sought for perfection/excellence
  • Key Distinction: Root operates in the order of execution (carrying out sins); beginning operates in the order of intention (the end sought)
  • In voluntary acts, a twofold order exists: order of intention (where end has the notion of beginning) and order of carrying out/execution (where what facilitates fulfillment is root)

Pride and Its Threefold Sense #

  1. Disordered desire for one’s own excellence (special sin)
  2. Actual contempt of God in refusing to be subject to His precepts (general vice like a genus)
  3. Inclination from corrupt nature to this contempt (beginning of all sin)

Thomas clarifies that Scripture (Ecclesiasticus 10) speaks of pride according to the first sense—as disordered desire for excellence—which is nonetheless the beginning of every sin in order of intention.

The Nature of ‘Beginning’ and ‘Root’ #

  • Both are ‘beginnings’ but in different ways: root and beginning need not be synonymous
  • Cupidity regards sin from the side of conversion (turning toward commutable good), nourishing and fostering sin
  • Pride regards sin from the side of aversion (turning away from God), formally initiating the notion of evil
  • These distinctions reflect Augustine’s definition of evil as lack of mode, species, and order

Key Arguments #

Against Pride as Beginning (Objections) #

  1. Root vs. Beginning Problem: If cupidity is the root of sin, it should also be the beginning
  2. Apostasy Priority: Some sin (apostasy from God) is the beginning of pride, not pride itself
  3. Disordered Self-Love: The disordered love of oneself (not pride specifically) is the beginning of all sin

Thomas’s Resolution #

  • Pride is the beginning in the order of intention because all sins seek some perfection/excellence, which pride pursues
  • Apostasy from God is the beginning of pride as aversion; it is the first species of pride (refusing to be subject to God)
  • Disordered love of oneself is essentially the same as wishing good (i.e., excellence) to oneself, which is precisely pride
  • In seeking any temporal good, one implicitly seeks it under the notion of perfecting oneself, which is pride’s formal object

Important Definitions #

Cupiditas (Cupidity/Avarice) #

  • Disordered desire for wealth or temporal goods
  • Root of all sins because wealth provides universal means to perpetrate and fulfill any sinful desire
  • Distinguished from cupidity as a genus (disordered desire for any temporal good) and cupidity as inclination of corrupt nature

Superbia (Pride) #

  • Disordered desire for one’s own excellence
  • Beginning of every sin in the order of intention (final cause)
  • Formally initiates the notion of evil through aversion from unchangeable good (God)

Beginning (Principium) #

  • Multiple meanings: source, principle, commencement
  • In the context of sin, refers to the formal origin according to final cause
  • The end has the notion of beginning in voluntary acts

Root (Radix) #

  • Source in the order of execution (carrying out of acts)
  • Provides the material means or faculty for sin’s perpetration
  • Distinguished from formal/final causality

Examples & Illustrations #

Cupidity Enabling Sin #

  • Reference to wealthy individuals whose riches provide faculty to commit extensive sexual sins and other vices
  • Berquist notes that “all things obey money”—wealth removes practical obstacles to sinning

The Order of Intention vs. Execution #

  • Berquist illustrates using common experience: all acts have both an intentional ordering (why one acts, the goal) and an executive ordering (how one carries it out)
  • Pride initiates the intentional desire for some excellence; cupidity facilitates the execution

Questions Addressed #

Question 84, Article 2: Is Pride the Beginning of Every Sin? #

Resolution: Yes, in the sense that pride represents the formal, intentional beginning of sin. All sins implicitly seek some perfection or excellence for oneself, which pride pursues. This distinguishes it from cupidity, which is root in the order of execution.

Key Distinctions:

  • Pride as special sin vs. pride as inclination from corrupt nature
  • Order of intention vs. order of execution
  • Final cause (formal origin) vs. material faculty

Unresolved Tensions and Transitions #

The lecture sets up the enumeration of capital vices by establishing that pride and cupidity, though foundational, may not exhaust the origin of all sins. Objections are raised suggesting other sins might arise from different sources or conditions, which leads naturally to the question of whether multiple capital vices should be enumerated beyond pride and avarice.