Whether the Will Is Moved, of Necessity, by the Lower Appetite?
Objection 1: It would seem that the will is moved of necessity by a
passion of the lower appetite. For the Apostle says (Rom. 7:19): "The
good which I will I do not; but the evil which I will not, that I do":
and this is said by reason of concupiscence, which is a passion.
Therefore the will is moved of necessity by a passion.
Obj. 2: Further, as stated in _Ethic._ iii, 5, "according as a man is,
such does the end seem to him." But it is not in man's power to cast
aside a passion at once. Therefore it is not in man's power not to
will that to which the passion inclines him.
Obj. 3: Further, a universal cause is not applied to a particular
effect, except by means of a particular cause: wherefore the
universal reason does not move save by means of a particular
estimation, as stated in _De Anima_ iii, 11. But as the universal
reason is to the particular estimation, so is the will to the
sensitive appetite. Therefore the will is not moved to will something
particular, except through the sensitive appetite. Therefore, if the
sensitive appetite happen to be disposed to something, by reason of a
passion, the will cannot be moved in a contrary sense.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Gen. 4:7): "Thy lust [Vulg. 'The
lust thereof'] shall be under thee, and thou shalt have dominion over
it." Therefore man's will is not moved of necessity by the lower
appetite.
_I answer that,_ As stated above (Q. 9, A. 2), the passion of the
sensitive appetite moves the will, in so far as the will is moved by
its object: inasmuch as, to wit, man through being disposed in such
and such a way by a passion, judges something to be fitting and good,
which he would not judge thus were it not for the passion. Now this
influence of a passion on man occurs in two ways. First, so that his
reason is wholly bound, so that he has not the use of reason: as
happens in those who through a violent access of anger or
concupiscence become furious or insane, just as they may from some
other bodily disorder; since such like passions do not take place
without some change in the body. And of such the same is to be said
as of irrational animals, which follow, of necessity, the impulse of
their passions: for in them there is neither movement of reason, nor,
consequently, of will.
Sometimes, however, the reason is not entirely engrossed by the
passion, so that the judgment of reason retains, to a certain extent,
its freedom: and thus the movement of the will remains in a certain
degree. Accordingly in so far as the reason remains free, and not
subject to the passion, the will's movement, which also remains, does
not tend of necessity to that whereto the passion inclines it.
Consequently, either there is no movement of the will in that man,
and the passion alone holds its sway: or if there be a movement of
the will, it does not necessarily follow the passion.
Reply Obj. 1: Although the will cannot prevent the movement of
concupiscence from arising, of which the Apostle says: "The evil
which I will not, that I do--i.e. I desire"; yet it is in the power
of the will not to will to desire or not to consent to concupiscence.
And thus it does not necessarily follow the movement of concupiscence.
Reply Obj. 2: Since there is in man a twofold nature, intellectual
and sensitive; sometimes man is such and such uniformly in respect of
his whole soul: either because the sensitive part is wholly subject
to his reason, as in the virtuous; or because reason is entirely
engrossed by passion, as in a madman. But sometimes, although reason
is clouded by passion, yet something of this reason remains free. And
in respect of this, man can either repel the passion entirely, or at
least hold himself in check so as not to be led away by the passion.
For when thus disposed, since man is variously disposed according to
the various parts of the soul, a thing appears to him otherwise
according to his reason, than it does according to a passion.
Reply Obj. 3: The will is moved not only by the universal good
apprehended by the reason, but also by good apprehended by sense.
Wherefore he can be moved to some particular good independently of a
passion of the sensitive appetite. For we will and do many things
without passion, and through choice alone; as is most evident in
those cases wherein reason resists passion.
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