Whether Hope Is the First of the Irascible Passions?
Objection 1: It would seem that hope is not the first of the
irascible passions. Because the irascible faculty is denominated from
anger. Since, therefore, "things are names from their chief
characteristic" (cf. A. 2, Obj. 1), it seems that anger precedes and
surpasses hope.
Obj. 2: Further, the object of the irascible faculty is something
arduous. Now it seems more arduous to strive to overcome a contrary
evil that threatens soon to overtake us, which pertains to daring; or
an evil actually present, which pertains to anger; than to strive
simply to obtain some good. Again, it seems more arduous to strive to
overcome a present evil, than a future evil. Therefore anger seems to
be a stronger passion than daring, and daring, than hope. And
consequently it seems that hope does not precede them.
Obj. 3: Further, when a thing is moved towards an end, the movement
of withdrawal precedes the movement of approach. But fear and despair
imply withdrawal from something; while daring and hope imply approach
towards something. Therefore fear and despair precede hope and daring.
_On the contrary,_ The nearer a thing is to the first, the more it
precedes others. But hope is nearer to love, which is the first of
the passions. Therefore hope is the first of the passions in the
irascible faculty.
_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 1) all irascible passions imply
movement towards something. Now this movement of the irascible
faculty towards something may be due to two causes: one is the mere
aptitude or proportion to the end; and this pertains to love or
hatred; [the other is the presence of good or evil itself,] and this
belongs to sadness or joy. As a matter of fact, the presence of good
produces no passion in the irascible, as stated above (Q. 23, AA. 3,
4); but the presence of evil gives rise to the passion of anger.
Since then in the order of generation or execution, proportion or
aptitude to the end precedes the achievement of the end; it follows
that, of all the irascible passions, anger is the last in the order
of generation. And among the other passions of the irascible faculty,
which imply a movement arising from love of good or hatred of evil,
those whose object is good, viz. hope and despair, must naturally
precede those whose object is evil, viz. daring and fear: yet so that
hope precedes despair; since hope is a movement towards good as such,
which is essentially attractive, so that hope tends to good directly;
whereas despair is a movement away from good, a movement which is
consistent with good, not as such, but in respect of something else,
wherefore its tendency from good is accidental, as it were. In like
manner fear, through being a movement from evil, precedes daring. And
that hope and despair naturally precede fear and daring is evident
from this--that as the desire of good is the reason for avoiding
evil, so hope and despair are the reason for fear and daring: because
daring arises from the hope of victory, and fear arises from the
despair of overcoming. Lastly, anger arises from daring: for no one
is angry while seeking vengeance, unless he dare to avenge himself,
as Avicenna observes in the sixth book of his _Physics._ Accordingly,
it is evident that hope is the first of all the irascible passions.
And if we wish to know the order of all the passions in the way of
generation, love and hatred are first; desire and aversion, second;
hope and despair, third; fear and daring, fourth; anger, fifth; sixth
and last, joy and sadness, which follow from all the passions, as
stated in _Ethic._ ii, 5: yet so that love precedes hatred; desire
precedes aversion; hope precedes despair; fear precedes daring; and
joy precedes sadness, as may be gathered from what has been stated
above.
Reply Obj. 1: Because anger arises from the other passions, as an
effect from the causes that precede it, it is from anger, as being
more manifest than the other passions, that the power takes its name.
Reply Obj. 2: It is not the arduousness but the good that is the
reason for approach or desire. Consequently hope, which regards good
more directly, takes precedence: although at times daring or even
anger regards something more arduous.
Reply Obj. 3: The movement of the appetite is essentially and
directly towards the good as towards its proper object; its movement
from evil results from this. For the movement of the appetitive part
is in proportion, not to natural movement, but to the intention of
nature, which intends the end before intending the removal of a
contrary, which removal is desired only for the sake of obtaining
the end.
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