Whether Passions Existed in the Soul of the First Man?
Objection 1: It would seem that the first man's soul had no passions.
For by the passions of the soul "the flesh lusteth against the spirit"
(Gal. 5:7). But this did not happen in the state of innocence.
Therefore in the state of innocence there were no passions of the
soul.
Obj. 2: Further, Adam's soul was nobler than his body. But his body
was impassible. Therefore no passions were in his soul.
Obj. 3: Further, the passions of the soul are restrained by the moral
virtues. But in Adam the moral virtues were perfect. Therefore the
passions were entirely excluded from him.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xiv, 10) that "in our
first parents there was undisturbed love of God," and other passions
of the soul.
_I answer that,_ The passions of the soul are in the sensual
appetite, the object of which is good and evil. Wherefore some
passions of the soul are directed to what is good, as love and joy;
others to what is evil, as fear and sorrow. And since in the
primitive state, evil was neither present nor imminent, nor was any
good wanting which a good-will could desire to have then, as
Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xiv, 10), therefore Adam had no passion
with evil as its object; such as fear, sorrow, and the like; neither
had he passions in respect of good not possessed, but to be possessed
then, as burning concupiscence. But those passions which regard
present good, as joy and love; or which regard future good to be had
at the proper time, as desire and hope that casteth not down, existed
in the state of innocence; otherwise, however, than as they exist in
ourselves. For our sensual appetite, wherein the passions reside, is
not entirely subject to reason; hence at times our passions forestall
and hinder reason's judgment; at other times they follow reason's
judgment, accordingly as the sensual appetite obeys reason to some
extent. But in the state of innocence the inferior appetite was
wholly subject to reason: so that in that state the passions of the
soul existed only as consequent upon the judgment of reason.
Reply Obj. 1: The flesh lusts against the spirit by the rebellion of
the passions against reason; which could not occur in the state of
innocence.
Reply Obj. 2: The human body was impassible in the state of innocence
as regards the passions which alter the disposition of nature, as
will be explained later on (Q. 97, A. 2); likewise the soul was
impassible as regards the passions which impede the free use of
reason.
Reply Obj. 3: Perfection of moral virtue does not wholly take away
the passions, but regulates them; for the temperate man desires as he
ought to desire, and what he ought to desire, as stated in _Ethic._
iii, 11.
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