Whether Incontinence Pertains to the Soul or to the Body?
Objection 1: It would seem that incontinence pertains not to the soul
but to the body. For sexual diversity comes not from the soul but
from the body. Now sexual diversity causes diversity of incontinence:
for the Philosopher says (Ethic. vii, 5) that women are not described
either as continent or as incontinent. Therefore incontinence
pertains not to the soul but to the body.
Obj. 2: Further, that which pertains to the soul does not result from
the temperament of the body. But incontinence results from the bodily
temperament: for the Philosopher says (Ethic. vii, 7) that "it is
especially people of a quick or choleric and atrabilious temper whose
incontinence is one of unbridled desire." Therefore incontinence
regards the body.
Obj. 3: Further, victory concerns the victor rather than the
vanquished. Now a man is said to be incontinent, because "the flesh
lusteth against the spirit," and overcomes it. Therefore incontinence
pertains to the flesh rather than to the soul.
_On the contrary,_ Man differs from beast chiefly as regards the
soul. Now they differ in respect of continence and incontinence, for
we ascribe neither continence nor incontinence to the beasts, as the
Philosopher states (Ethic. vii, 3). Therefore incontinence is chiefly
on the part of the soul.
_I answer that,_ Things are ascribed to their direct causes rather
than to those which merely occasion them. Now that which is on the
part of the body is merely an occasional cause of incontinence; since
it is owing to a bodily disposition that vehement passions can arise
in the sensitive appetite which is a power of the organic body. Yet
these passions, however vehement they be, are not the sufficient
cause of incontinence, but are merely the occasion thereof, since, so
long as the use of reason remains, man is always able to resist his
passions. If, however, the passions gain such strength as to take
away the use of reason altogether--as in the case of those who become
insane through the vehemence of their passions--the essential
conditions of continence or incontinence cease, because such people
do not retain the judgment of reason, which the continent man follows
and the incontinent forsakes. From this it follows that the direct
cause of incontinence is on the part of the soul, which fails to
resist a passion by the reason. This happens in two ways, according
to the Philosopher (Ethic. vii, 7): first, when the soul yields to
the passions, before the reason has given its counsel; and this is
called "unbridled incontinence" or "impetuosity": secondly, when a
man does not stand to what has been counselled, through holding
weakly to reason's judgment; wherefore this kind of incontinence is
called "weakness." Hence it is manifest that incontinence pertains
chiefly to the soul.
Reply Obj. 1: The human soul is the form of the body, and has certain
powers which make use of bodily organs. The operations of these
organs conduce somewhat to those operations of the soul which are
accomplished without bodily instruments, namely to the acts of the
intellect and of the will, in so far as the intellect receives from
the senses, and the will is urged by passions of the sensitive
appetite. Accordingly, since woman, as regards the body, has a weak
temperament, the result is that for the most part, whatever she holds
to, she holds to it weakly; although in rare cases the opposite
occurs, according to Prov. 31:10, "Who shall find a valiant woman?"
And since small and weak things "are accounted as though they were
not" [*Aristotle, _Phys._ ii, 5] the Philosopher speaks of women as
though they had not the firm judgment of reason, although the
contrary happens in some women. Hence he states that "we do not
describe women as being continent, because they are vacillating"
through being unstable of reason, and "are easily led" so that they
follow their passions readily.
Reply Obj. 2: It is owing to the impulse of passion that a man at
once follows his passion before his reason counsels him. Now the
impulse of passion may arise either from its quickness, as in bilious
persons [*Cf. I-II, Q. 46, A. 5], or from its vehemence, as in the
melancholic, who on account of their earthy temperament are most
vehemently aroused. Even so, on the other hand, a man fails to stand
to that which is counselled, because he holds to it in weakly fashion
by reason of the softness of his temperament, as we have stated with
regard to woman (ad 1). This is also the case with phlegmatic
temperaments, for the same reason as in women. And these results are
due to the fact that the bodily temperament is an occasional but not
a sufficient cause of incontinence, as stated above.
Reply Obj. 3: In the incontinent man concupiscence of the flesh
overcomes the spirit, not necessarily, but through a certain
negligence of the spirit in not resisting strongly.
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