Whether an Irresistible Power Is a Cause of Sorrow?
Objection 1: It would seem that a greater power should not be
reckoned a cause of sorrow. For that which is in the power of the
agent is not present but future. But sorrow is for present evil.
Therefore a greater power is not a cause of sorrow.
Obj. 2: Further, hurt inflicted is the cause of sorrow. But hurt can
be inflicted even by a lesser power. Therefore a greater power should
not be reckoned as a cause of sorrow.
Obj. 3: Further, the interior inclinations of the soul are the causes
of the movements of appetite. But a greater power is something
external. Therefore it should not be reckoned as a cause of sorrow.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (De Nat. Boni xx): "Sorrow in the
soul is caused by the will resisting a stronger power: while pain in
the body is caused by sense resisting a stronger body."
_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 1), a present evil, is cause of
sorrow or pain, by way of object. Therefore that which is the cause
of the evil being present, should be reckoned as causing pain or
sorrow. Now it is evident that it is contrary to the inclination of
the appetite to be united with a present evil: and whatever is
contrary to a thing's inclination does not happen to it save by the
action of something stronger. Wherefore Augustine reckons a greater
power as being the cause of sorrow.
But it must be noted that if the stronger power goes so far as to
transform the contrary inclination into its own inclination there
will be no longer repugnance or violence: thus if a stronger agent,
by its action on a heavy body, deprives it of its downward tendency,
its consequent upward tendency is not violent but natural to it.
Accordingly if some greater power prevail so far as to take away from
the will or the sensitive appetite, their respective inclinations,
pain or sorrow will not result therefrom; such is the result only
when the contrary inclination of the appetite remains. And hence
Augustine says (De Nat. Boni xx) that sorrow is caused by the will
"resisting a stronger power": for were it not to resist, but to yield
by consenting, the result would be not sorrow but pleasure.
Reply Obj. 1: A greater power causes sorrow, as acting not
potentially but actually, i.e. by causing the actual presence of the
corruptive evil.
Reply Obj. 2: Nothing hinders a power which is not simply greater,
from being greater in some respect: and accordingly it is able to
inflict some harm. But if it be nowise stronger, it can do no harm at
all: wherefore it cannot bring about that which causes sorrow.
Reply Obj. 3: External agents can be the causes of appetitive
movements, in so far as they cause the presence of the object: and it
is thus that a greater power is reckoned to be the cause of sorrow.
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