Friday, October 02, 2009

1a 2ae q4 a3: Whether comprehension is necessary for happiness? Yes.

Comprehensio requiritur ad beatitudinem quia ea quae requiruntur ad beatitudinem sunt consideranda ex ipso ordine hominis ad finem.

Comprehension is necessary for Happiness because those things that are required for Happiness must be gathered from the way in which man is ordered to an end.

Ad finem autem intelligibilem ordinatur homo partim quidem per intellectum, partim autem per voluntatem. Per intellectum quidem, inquantum in intellectu praeexistit aliqua cognitio finis imperfecta. Per voluntatem autem, primo quidem per amorem, qui est primus motus voluntatis in aliquid, secundo autem, per realem habitudinem amantis ad amatum, quae quidem potest esse triplex.

Now man is ordered to an intelligible end partly through his intellect, and partly through his will: through his intellect, in so far as a certain imperfect knowledge of the end pre-exists in the intellect: through the will, first by love which is the will's first movement towards anything; secondly, by a real relation of the lover to the thing beloved, which relation may be threefold.

Et ideo necesse est ad beatitudinem ista tria concurrere, scilicet visionem, quae est cognitio perfecta intelligibilis finis; comprehensionem, quae importat praesentiam finis; delectationem, vel fruitionem, quae importat quietationem rei amantis in amato.

And therefore these three must concur with Happiness; to wit, vision, which is perfect knowledge of the intelligible end; comprehension, which implies presence of the end; and delight or enjoyment, which implies repose of the lover in the object beloved.

Comprehensio non est aliqua operatio praeter visionem, sed est quaedam habitudo ad finem iam habitum.

Comprehension is not a distinct operation from vision, but a certain relation to the end already gained.