Whether the Will Is a Higher Power Than the Intellect?
Objection 1: It would seem that the will is a higher power than the
intellect. For the object of the will is good and the end. But the
end is the first and highest cause. Therefore the will is the first
and highest power.
Obj. 2: Further, in the order of natural things we observe a progress
from imperfect things to perfect. And this also appears in the powers
of the soul: for sense precedes the intellect, which is more noble.
Now the act of the will, in the natural order, follows the act of the
intellect. Therefore the will is a more noble and perfect power than
the intellect.
Obj. 3: Further, habits are proportioned to their powers, as
perfections to what they make perfect. But the habit which perfects
the will--namely, charity--is more noble than the habits which
perfect the intellect: for it is written (1 Cor. 13:2): "If I should
know all mysteries, and if I should have all faith, and have not
charity, I am nothing." Therefore the will is a higher power than
the intellect.
_On the contrary,_ The Philosopher holds the intellect to be the
higher power than the intellect.
_I answer that,_ The superiority of one thing over another can be
considered in two ways: "absolutely" and "relatively." Now a thing is
considered to be such absolutely which is considered such in itself:
but relatively as it is such with regard to something else. If
therefore the intellect and will be considered with regard to
themselves, then the intellect is the higher power. And this is clear
if we compare their respective objects to one another. For the object
of the intellect is more simple and more absolute than the object of
the will; since the object of the intellect is the very idea of
appetible good; and the appetible good, the idea of which is in the
intellect, is the object of the will. Now the more simple and the
more abstract a thing is, the nobler and higher it is in itself; and
therefore the object of the intellect is higher than the object of
the will. Therefore, since the proper nature of a power is in its
order to its object, it follows that the intellect in itself and
absolutely is higher and nobler than the will. But relatively and by
comparison with something else, we find that the will is sometimes
higher than the intellect, from the fact that the object of the will
occurs in something higher than that in which occurs the object of
the intellect. Thus, for instance, I might say that hearing is
relatively nobler than sight, inasmuch as something in which there is
sound is nobler than something in which there is color, though color
is nobler and simpler than sound. For as we have said above (Q. 16,
A. 1; Q. 27, A. 4), the action of the intellect consists in
this--that the idea of the thing understood is in the one who
understands; while the act of the will consists in this--that the
will is inclined to the thing itself as existing in itself. And
therefore the Philosopher says in _Metaph._ vi (Did. v, 2) that "good
and evil," which are objects of the will, "are in things," but "truth
and error," which are objects of the intellect, "are in the mind."
When, therefore, the thing in which there is good is nobler than the
soul itself, in which is the idea understood; by comparison with such
a thing, the will is higher than the intellect. But when the thing
which is good is less noble than the soul, then even in comparison
with that thing the intellect is higher than the will. Wherefore the
love of God is better than the knowledge of God; but, on the
contrary, the knowledge of corporeal things is better than the love
thereof. Absolutely, however, the intellect is nobler than the will.
Reply Obj. 1: The aspect of causality is perceived by comparing one
thing to another, and in such a comparison the idea of good is found
to be nobler: but truth signifies something more absolute, and
extends to the idea of good itself: wherefore even good is something
true. But, again, truth is something good: forasmuch as the intellect
is a thing, and truth its end. And among other ends this is the most
excellent: as also is the intellect among the other powers.
Reply Obj. 2: What precedes in order of generation and time is less
perfect: for in one and in the same thing potentiality precedes act,
and imperfection precedes perfection. But what precedes absolutely
and in the order of nature is more perfect: for thus act precedes
potentiality. And in this way the intellect precedes the will, as the
motive power precedes the thing movable, and as the active precedes
the passive; for good which is understood moves the will.
Reply Obj. 3: This reason is verified of the will as compared with
what is above the soul. For charity is the virtue by which we love
God.
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