Whether the Intellect Understands the Act of the Will?
Objection 1: It would seem that the intellect does not understand the
act of the will. For nothing is known by the intellect, unless it be
in some way present in the intellect. But the act of the will is not
in the intellect; since the will and the intellect are distinct.
Therefore the act of the will is not known by the intellect.
Obj. 2: Further, the act is specified by the object. But the object
of the will is not the same as the object of the intellect. Therefore
the act of the will is specifically distinct from the object of the
intellect, and therefore the act of the will is not known by the
intellect.
Obj. 3: Augustine (Confess. x, 17) says of the soul's affections that
"they are known neither by images as bodies are known; nor by their
presence, like the arts; but by certain notions." Now it does not
seem that there can be in the soul any other notions of things but
either the essences of things known or the likenesses thereof.
Therefore it seems impossible for the intellect to known such
affections of the soul as the acts of the will.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (De Trin. x, 11), "I understand
that I will."
_I answer that,_ As stated above (Q. 59, A. 1), the act of the will
is nothing but an inclination consequent on the form understood; just
as the natural appetite is an inclination consequent on the natural
form. Now the inclination of a thing resides in it according to its
mode of existence; and hence the natural inclination resides in a
natural thing naturally, and the inclination called the sensible
appetite is in the sensible thing sensibly; and likewise the
intelligible inclination, which is the act of the will, is in the
intelligent subject intelligibly as in its principle and proper
subject. Hence the Philosopher expresses himself thus (De Anima iii,
9)--that "the will is in the reason." Now whatever is intelligibly in
an intelligent subject, is understood by that subject. Therefore the
act of the will is understood by the intellect, both inasmuch as one
knows that one wills; and inasmuch as one knows the nature of this
act, and consequently, the nature of its principle which is the habit
or power.
Reply Obj. 1: This argument would hold good if the will and the
intellect were in different subjects, as they are distinct powers;
for then whatever was in the will would not be in the intellect. But
as both are rooted in the same substance of the soul, and since one
is in a certain way the principle of the other, consequently what is
in the will is, in a certain way, also in the intellect.
Reply Obj. 2: The "good" and the "true" which are the objects of the
will and of the intellect, differ logically, but one is contained in
the other, as we have said above (Q. 82, A. 4, ad 1; Q. 16, A. 4, ad
1); for the true is good and the good is true. Therefore the objects
of the will fall under the intellect, and those of the intellect can
fall under the will.
Reply Obj. 3: The affections of the soul are in the intellect not by
similitude only, like bodies; nor by being present in their subject,
as the arts; but as the thing caused is in its principle, which
contains some notion of the thing caused. And so Augustine says that
the soul's affections are in the memory by certain notions.
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