the sources of amor

427 Pages·2013·23.28 MB·English

ABSTRACT
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS'S PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE: A COMMENTARY ON MUTUA
1NHAESI0 AS THE MOST PROPER EFFECT OF LOVE IN IA IIAE, QQ 26-28 OF THE
SUMMA THEOLOGIAE
Basil David Bums, Ph.D.
University of Dallas, 2013
James Lehrberger, O. Cist., Director.
In the Prima Secunda of the Summa Theologiae, qq. 26-28 (the "De Amore”), St.
Thomas Aquinas both analyzes the nature of love in its broadest and most metaphysical
sense while defining it more specifically as a passion. In q26, he reviews the subject,
genus, species and act of love. In q27, he reviews the causes of love as goodness
(bonum), knowledge (cognitio) and likeness (similitudo), while in q28 he provides what
might be called a "phenomenology of love," where he enumerates love's four proximate
effects and five remote effects. This dissertation is a commentary on those three
questions in the order that St. Thomas discusses them. This dissertation argues that
mutua inhaesio is the most proper effect of amor, particularly when amor is dilectio, for
numerous reasons: 1) metaphysically speaking, Thomas argues convincingly that love
itself is a "being-in"; 2) psychologically speaking, mutua inhaesio, or mutual indwelling,
is the only effect that virtually contains all the others; 3) theologically speaking, Thomas
finds in mutua inhaesio an analogue to the supreme completeness and intimacy of the
Trinity, usually referred to as the perichoresis or the circumincession. Over and above
mutua inhaesio, it exists in an even more perfect form in the via redamationis, where
friends love mutually and reciprocally. Chapter One recalls Thomas's sources on love,
particularly Pseudo-Dionysius, St. John the Evangelist, Aristotle, St. Augustine, and the
theological tradition of the peridwresis in the patristic tradition. Chapter Two reviews
some of Thomas's own parallel texts on love as well as some of the literary and
structural elements of the De Amore. Chapter Three begins a formal commentary on q26
on "Love Itself" followed by a commentary on Love's Causes (q27) in Chapter Four.
Chapters Five and Six split the commentary on the effects of love, dealing first with unio
and mutua inhaesio, followed by an analysis of extasis (ecstasy), zelus (zeal),
laesiva/perfective (wounding/perfecting), liquefaction (melting),fruitio (enjoyment), languor
(languor), and fervor (fervor). Finally, Chapter Seven indicates some fruitful avenues of
research on what might be called a Thomistic "philosophy of intimacy."
The Braniff G raduate School
of the
U niversity of D allas
St. Thomas Aquinas's Philosophy of Love:
A C om m entary on M u tu a Inhaesio (M u tu a l In d w e llin g ) as th e M ost
P roper E ffe ct o f Love in IA IIAE, QQ 26-28 o f th e Summa Theologiae
by
Rev. Basil David Bums
B. A., Political Science, Louisiana State University, 1993
M.A. Political Science, Louisiana State University, 1995
M. A., Systematic Theology, Notre Dame Seminary, 2001
M.A., Philosophy, University of Dallas, 2007
A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Dallas in partial
fulfillm ent of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy in the
Institute of Philosophic Studies.
May 10, 2013
Approved by the Examining Committee:
)_____
f^Zt , kJ Q> Ct *
UMI Number: 3570459
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Basil David Bums
St. Thomas Aquinas's Philosophy of Love:
A C om m entary on M utua Inhaesio (M u tu a l In d w e llin g ) as th e M ost
P roper E ffe ct o f Love in IA IIA E , QQ 26-28 o f th e Summa Theologiae
©2013

"...the lover is not satisfied with a superficial apprehension of the beloved, but strives to
gain an intimate knowledge of everything pertaining to the beloved, so as to penetrate
into his very soul."
St. Thomas Aquinas - ST la Ilae, q28, a2, c
"For by the fact that love transforms the lover into the beloved, it makes the lover enter
into the interior of the beloved and vice versa, so that nothing of the beloved remains
not united to the lover, just as a form reaches to the innermost recesses of that which it
informs and vice versa."
St. Thomas Aquinas - In III Sent., d27, ql, al, ad4
"Because the love which a man has for others arises from his love for himself, inasmuch
as a man looks upon his friend as his other self."
St. Thomas Aquinas - SCG Illb, cap. 153
T able of C o n ten ts
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...........................................................................................................i
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................ii
The Problem of Intimacy in Aquinas...................................................................................vi
The State of the Question.................................................................................................xviii
The Dubitabilia of Love.................................................................................................xxv
The Dissertation's relation to the Modem Thought on Amor
in the Thought of Aquinas.................................................xxxi
CHAPTER 1: THE SOURCES OF AMOR...............................................................................1
The Perichoresis....................................................................................................................15
The Indwelling of All in All: The Dionysian Transformation of Love..........................24
The Augustinian Inheritance...............................................................................................35
Aristotelian Friendship........................................................................................................41
St. John the Evangelist, Caritas, and Mutua Inhaesio..........................................................49
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................57
CHAPTER 2: "DEUS CARITAS EST':...................................................................................59
The Commentary on the Sentences....................................................................................60
Preludes to the De Amove in the Summa..............................................................................63
"De Cavitate," Ha Ilae, qq23-46.............................................................................................72
The De Amove in its Structural Context...............................................................................78
CHAPTER 3: "DE IPSO AMORE".........................................................................................91
la Ilae, q26, A l: Is Love in the Concupiscible Power? or "What is the Subject of
Love?".....................................................................................................................................98
The Meaning of Subject (Subiectum)............................................................................102
The Corpus......................................................................................................................106
Natural Love....................................................................................................................112
Connaturality..................................................................................................................115
The Good..........................................................................................................................119
la Ilae, Q26, A2: Is Love a Passion?.................................................................................122
la Ilae, Q26, A3: Is Amor the Same As Dilectio?..............................................................135
la Ilae, Q26, A4: Amor Amicitiae and Amor Concupiscentiae..........................................143
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................153
CHAPTER 4: THE CAUSES OF LOVE................................................................................158
la Ilae, Q27, A l: The Good as Cause of Love.................................................................165
la Ilae, Q27, A2: Knowledge as a Cause of Love...........................................................169
la Ilae, Q27, A3: Similitude as a Cause of Love.............................................................178
la Ilae, Q27, A4: Love as the Preeminent Passion..........................................................194
Conclusion: The "Missing" Material Cause?..................................................................197
CHAPTER 5: THE EFFECTS OF LOVE 1............................................................................203
la Ilae, Q28, A l: Union as an Effect of Love....................................................................210
Ia Ilae, Q28, A2: Mutual Indwelling as an Effect of Love..............................................223
Mutua Inhaesio Itself......................................................................................................227
Objection 1: The Idea of Mutual Containment...........................................................231
Objection 2: The Comparative Functions of Intellect and Apprehension..............242
Objection 3: Introducing the Via Redamationis..........................................................248
Sed Contra.......................................................................................................................249
Substantial Union: The Subject of Mutua Inhaesio....................................................254
The Corpus......................................................................................................................260
The Intellective Inhaesio of the Beloved in the Lover................................................261
The Intellective Inhaesio of the Lover in the Beloved................................................263
The Appetitive Inhaesio of the Beloved in the Lover.................................................268
The Appetitive Inhaesio of the Lover in the Beloved.................................................275
The Via Redamationis....................................................................................................276
IA IIAE, Q28, A3: Ecstasy as an Effect of Love...............................................................287
CHAPTER 6: The Effects of Love II......................................................................................302
IA IIAE, Q28, A4: Zeal as an Effect of Love....................................................................303
IA IIAE, Q28, A5: The Wounding of the Lover and the Proximate Effects of Love ...309
IA IIAE, Q28, A6: Whatever the Lover Does as an Effect of Love...............................319
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................328
CHAPTER 7: SELF-POSSESSION AND SELF-GIVING:...................................................333
Conclusions about Intimacy in Dissertation....................................................................337
The Meaning of Intimacy...................................................................................................339
Amor Amicitiae & Substantial Union...............................................................................344
"To Be" Is "To Be Interior"................................................................................................348
Self-Possession.....................................................................................................................355
The Perichoretic Analogy of God and Man......................................................................361
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................366
Table of Contents.....................................................................................................................382
ABBREVIATIONS
CT Compendium theologiae
DDN In Librum Beati Dionysii De divinis nominibus
De Vir. Quaestiones disputatae De virtutibus
DP Quaestiones disputatae De potentiae Dei
DV Quaestiones disputatae De veritate
Ethic. Commentaria Sententia Ethicorum
In Metaphys. In duodecim libros Metaphysicorum Aristotelis expositio
PG Patrologia Graeca
PL Patrologia Latina
Quodl. Quaestiones quodlibetales
SCG Summa Contra Gentiles
ST Summa Theologiae