Whether All Sorrow Is Contrary to All Pleasure?
Objection 1: It would seem that all sorrow is contrary to all
pleasure. Because, just as whiteness and blackness are contrary
species of color, so pleasure and sorrow are contrary species of the
soul's passions. But whiteness and blackness are universally contrary
to one another. Therefore pleasure and sorrow are so too.
Obj. 2: Further, remedies are made of things contrary (to the evil).
But every pleasure is a remedy for all manner of sorrow, as the
Philosopher declares (Ethic. vii, 14). Therefore every pleasure is
contrary to every sorrow.
Obj. 3: Further, contraries are hindrances to one another. But every
sorrow hinders any kind of pleasure: as is evident from _Ethic._
x, 5. Therefore every sorrow is contrary to every pleasure.
_On the contrary,_ The same thing is not the cause of contraries. But
joy for one thing, and sorrow for the opposite thing, proceed from
the same habit: thus from charity it happens that we "rejoice with
them that rejoice," and "weep with them that weep" (Rom. 12:15).
Therefore not every sorrow is contrary to every pleasure.
_I answer that,_ As the Philosopher says (Metaph. x, 4), contrariety
is a difference in respect of a form. Now a form may be generic or
specific. Consequently things may be contraries in respect of a
generic form, as virtue and vice; or in respect of a specific form,
as justice and injustice.
Now we must observe that some things are specified by absolute forms,
e.g. substances and qualities; whereas other things are specified in
relation to something extrinsic, e.g. passions and movements, which
derive their species from their terms or objects. Accordingly in
those things that are specified by absolute forms, it happens that
species contained under contrary genera are not contrary as to their
specific nature: but it does not happen for them to have any affinity
or fittingness to one another. For intemperance and justice, which
are in the contrary genera of virtue and vice, are not contrary to
one another in respect of their specific nature; and yet they have no
affinity or fittingness to one another. On the other hand, in those
things that are specified in relation to something extrinsic, it
happens that species belonging to contrary genera, are not only not
contrary to one another, but also that they have a certain mutual
affinity or fittingness. The reason of this is that where there is
one same relation to two contraries, there is contrariety; e.g. to
approach to a white thing, and to approach to a black thing, are
contraries; whereas contrary relations to contrary things, implies a
certain likeness, e.g. to recede from something white, and to
approach to something black. This is most evident in the case of
contradiction, which is the principle of opposition: because
opposition consists in affirming and denying the same thing, e.g.
"white" and "non-white"; while there is fittingness and likeness in
the affirmation of one contrary and the denial of the other, as, if
I were to say "black" and "not white."
Now sorrow and pleasure, being passions, are specified by their
objects. According to their respective genera, they are contrary to
one another: since one is a kind of _pursuit,_ the other a kind of
_avoidance,_ which "are to the appetite, what affirmation and denial
are to the intellect" (Ethic. vi, 2). Consequently sorrow and
pleasure in respect of the same object, are specifically contrary to
one another: whereas sorrow and pleasure in respect of objects that
are not contrary but disparate, are not specifically contrary to one
another, but are also disparate; for instance, sorrow at the death of
a friend, and pleasure in contemplation. If, however, those diverse
objects be contrary to one another, then pleasure and sorrow are not
only specifically contrary, but they also have a certain mutual
fittingness and affinity: for instance to rejoice in good and to
sorrow for evil.
Reply Obj. 1: Whiteness and blackness do not take their species from
their relationship to something extrinsic, as pleasure and sorrow do:
wherefore the comparison does not hold.
Reply Obj. 2: Genus is taken from matter, as is stated in _Metaph._
viii, 2; and in accidents the subject takes the place of matter. Now
it has been said above that pleasure and sorrow are generically
contrary to one another. Consequently in every sorrow the subject has
a disposition contrary to the disposition of the subject of pleasure:
because in every pleasure the appetite is viewed as accepting what it
possesses, and in every sorrow, as avoiding it. And therefore on the
part of the subject every pleasure is a remedy for any kind of
sorrow, and every sorrow is a hindrance of all manner of pleasure:
but chiefly when pleasure is opposed to sorrow specifically.
Wherefore the Reply to the Third Objection is evident. Or we may say
that, although not every sorrow is specifically contrary to every
pleasure, yet they are contrary to one another in regard to their
effects: since one has the effect of strengthening the animal nature,
while the other results in a kind of discomfort.
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