Whether Sorrow Is to Be Shunned More Than Pleasure Is to Be Sought?
Objection 1: It would seem that sorrow is to be shunned more than
pleasure is to be sought. For Augustine says (QQ. 83, qu. 63): "There
is nobody that does not shun sorrow more than he seeks pleasure." Now
that which all agree in doing, seems to be natural. Therefore it is
natural and right for sorrow to be shunned more than pleasure is
sought.
Obj. 2: Further, the action of a contrary conduces to rapidity and
intensity of movement: for "hot water freezes quicker and harder," as
the Philosopher says (Meteor. i, 12). But the shunning of sorrow is
due to the contrariety of the cause of sorrow; whereas the desire for
pleasure does not arise from any contrariety, but rather from the
suitableness of the pleasant object. Therefore sorrow is shunned more
eagerly than pleasure is sought.
Obj. 3: Further, the stronger the passion which a man resists
according to reason, the more worthy is he of praise, and the more
virtuous: since "virtue is concerned with the difficult and the good"
(Ethic. ii, 3). But the brave man who resists the movement of
shunning sorrow, is more virtuous than the temperate man, who resists
the movement of desire for pleasure: since the Philosopher says
(Rhet. ii, 4) that "the brave and the just are chiefly praised."
Therefore the movement of shunning sorrow is more eager than the
movement of seeking pleasure.
_On the contrary,_ Good is stronger than evil, as Dionysius declares
(Div. Nom. iv). But pleasure is desirable for the sake of the good
which is its object; whereas the shunning of sorrow is on account of
evil. Therefore the desire for pleasure is more eager than the
shunning of sorrow.
_I answer that,_ The desire for pleasure is of itself more eager than
the shunning of sorrow. The reason of this is that the cause of
pleasure is a suitable good; while the cause of pain or sorrow is an
unsuitable evil. Now it happens that a certain good is suitable
without any repugnance at all: but it is not possible for any evil to
be so unsuitable as not to be suitable in some way. Wherefore
pleasure can be entire and perfect: whereas sorrow is always partial.
Therefore desire for pleasure is naturally greater than the shunning
of sorrow. Another reason is because the good, which is the object of
pleasure, is sought for its own sake: whereas the evil, which is the
object of sorrow, is to be shunned as being a privation of good: and
that which is by reason of itself is stronger than that which is by
reason of something else. Moreover we find a confirmation of this in
natural movements. For every natural movement is more intense in the
end, when a thing approaches the term that is suitable to its nature,
than at the beginning, when it leaves the term that is unsuitable to
its nature: as though nature were more eager in tending to what is
suitable to it, than in shunning what is unsuitable. Therefore the
inclination of the appetitive power is, of itself, more eager in
tending to pleasure than in shunning sorrow.
But it happens accidentally that a man shuns sorrow more eagerly than
he seeks pleasure: and this for three reasons. First, on the part of
the apprehension. Because, as Augustine says (De Trin. x, 12), "love
is felt more keenly, when we lack that which we love." Now from the
lack of what we love, sorrow results, which is caused either by the
loss of some loved good, or by the presence of some contrary evil.
But pleasure suffers no lack of the good loved, for it rests in
possession of it. Since then love is the cause of pleasure and
sorrow, the latter is the more shunned, according as love is the more
keenly felt on account of that which is contrary to it. Secondly, on
the part of the cause of sorrow or pain, which cause is repugnant to
a good that is more loved than the good in which we take pleasure.
For we love the natural well-being of the body more than the pleasure
of eating: and consequently we would leave the pleasure of eating and
the like, from fear of the pain occasioned by blows or other such
causes, which are contrary to the well-being of the body. Thirdly, on
the part of the effect: namely, in so far as sorrow hinders not only
one pleasure, but all.
Reply Obj. 1: The saying of Augustine that "sorrow is shunned more
than pleasure is sought" is true accidentally but not simply. And
this is clear from what he says after: "Since we see that the most
savage animals are deterred from the greatest pleasures by fear of
pain," which pain is contrary to life which is loved above all.
Reply Obj. 2: It is not the same with movement from within and
movement from without. For movement from within tends to what is
suitable more than it recedes from that which is unsuitable; as we
remarked above in regard to natural movement. But movement from
without is intensified by the very opposition: because each thing
strives in its own way to resist anything contrary to it, as aiming
at its own preservation. Hence violent movement is intense at first,
and slackens towards the end. Now the movement of the appetitive
faculty is from within: since it tends from the soul to the object.
Consequently pleasure is, of itself, more to be sought than sorrow is
to be shunned. But the movement of the sensitive faculty is from
without, as it were from the object of the soul. Consequently the
more contrary a thing is the more it is felt. And then too,
accidentally, in so far as the senses are requisite for pleasure and
pain, pain is shunned more than pleasure is sought.
Reply Obj. 3: A brave man is not praised because, in accordance with
reason, he is not overcome by any kind of sorrow or pain whatever,
but because he is not overcome by that which is concerned with the
dangers of death. And this kind of sorrow is more shunned, than
pleasures of the table or of sexual intercourse are sought, which
latter pleasures are the object of temperance: thus life is loved
more than food and sexual pleasure. But the temperate man is praised
for refraining from pleasures of touch, more than for not shunning
the pains which are contrary to them, as is stated in _Ethic._ iii,
11.
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