Whether, If Happiness Is in the Intellective Part, It Is an Operation
of the Intellect or of the Will?
Objection 1: It would seem that happiness consists in an act of
the will. For Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xix, 10, 11), that man's
happiness consists in peace; wherefore it is written (Ps. 147:3):
"Who hath placed peace in thy end [Douay: 'borders']". But peace
pertains to the will. Therefore man's happiness is in the will.
Obj. 2: Further, happiness is the supreme good. But good is the
object of the will. Therefore happiness consists in an operation of
the will.
Obj. 3: Further, the last end corresponds to the first mover: thus
the last end of the whole army is victory, which is the end of the
general, who moves all the men. But the first mover in regard to
operations is the will: because it moves the other powers, as we
shall state further on (Q. 9, AA. 1, 3). Therefore happiness regards
the will.
Obj. 4: Further, if happiness be an operation, it must needs be man's
most excellent operation. But the love of God, which is an act of the
will, is a more excellent operation than knowledge, which is an
operation of the intellect, as the Apostle declares (1 Cor. 13).
Therefore it seems that happiness consists in an act of the will.
Obj. 5: Further, Augustine says (De Trin. xiii, 5) that "happy is he
who has whatever he desires, and desires nothing amiss." And a little
further on (6) he adds: "He is most happy who desires well, whatever
he desires: for good things make a man happy, and such a man already
possesses some good--i.e. a good will." Therefore happiness consists
in an act of the will.
_On the contrary,_ Our Lord said (John 17:3): "This is eternal life:
that they may know Thee, the only true God." Now eternal life is the
last end, as stated above (A. 2, ad 1). Therefore man's happiness
consists in the knowledge of God, which is an act of the intellect.
_I answer that,_ As stated above (Q. 2, A. 6) two things are needed
for happiness: one, which is the essence of happiness: the other,
that is, as it were, its proper accident, i.e. the delight connected
with it. I say, then, that as to the very essence of happiness, it is
impossible for it to consist in an act of the will. For it is evident
from what has been said (AA. 1, 2; Q. 2, A. 7) that happiness is the
attainment of the last end. But the attainment of the end does not
consist in the very act of the will. For the will is directed to the
end, both absent, when it desires it; and present, when it is
delighted by resting therein. Now it is evident that the desire
itself of the end is not the attainment of the end, but is a movement
towards the end: while delight comes to the will from the end being
present; and not conversely, is a thing made present, by the fact
that the will delights in it. Therefore, that the end be present to
him who desires it, must be due to something else than an act of the
will.
This is evidently the case in regard to sensible ends. For if the
acquisition of money were through an act of the will, the covetous
man would have it from the very moment that he wished for it. But at
the moment it is far from him; and he attains it, by grasping it in
his hand, or in some like manner; and then he delights in the money
got. And so it is with an intelligible end. For at first we desire to
attain an intelligible end; we attain it, through its being made
present to us by an act of the intellect; and then the delighted will
rests in the end when attained.
So, therefore, the essence of happiness consists in an act of the
intellect: but the delight that results from happiness pertains to
the will. In this sense Augustine says (Confess. x, 23) that
happiness is "joy in truth," because, to wit, joy itself is the
consummation of happiness.
Reply Obj. 1: Peace pertains to man's last end, not as though it were
the very essence of happiness; but because it is antecedent and
consequent thereto: antecedent, in so far as all those things are
removed which disturb and hinder man in attaining the last end:
consequent inasmuch as when man has attained his last end, he remains
at peace, his desire being at rest.
Reply Obj. 2: The will's first object is not its act: just as neither
is the first object of the sight, vision, but a visible thing.
Wherefore, from the very fact that happiness belongs to the will, as
the will's first object, it follows that it does not belong to it as
its act.
Reply Obj. 3: The intellect apprehends the end before the will does:
yet motion towards the end begins in the will. And therefore to the
will belongs that which last of all follows the attainment of the
end, viz. delight or enjoyment.
Reply Obj. 4: Love ranks above knowledge in moving, but knowledge
precedes love in attaining: for "naught is loved save what is known,"
as Augustine says (De Trin. x, 1). Consequently we first attain an
intelligible end by an act of the intellect; just as we first attain
a sensible end by an act of sense.
Reply Obj. 5: He who has whatever he desires, is happy, because he
has what he desires: and this indeed is by something other than the
act of his will. But to desire nothing amiss is needed for happiness,
as a necessary disposition thereto. And a good will is reckoned among
the good things which make a man happy, forasmuch as it is an
inclination of the will: just as a movement is reduced to the genus
of its terminus, for instance, "alteration" to the genus "quality."
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