Wednesday, January 13, 2010

1a 2ae q11 a2: Whether to enjoy belongs to the rational creature alone? No.

Rationali naturae convenit fruitio secundum rationem perfectam; brutis autem animalibus secundum rationem imperfectam; aliis autem creaturis nullo modo; quia appetitus sensitivus consequitur aliquam cognitionem.

Enjoyment belongs to the rational nature under a perfect formal aspect; to irrational animals, under an imperfect aspect; to other creatures, not at all; because the sensitive appetite follows some knowledge.

Frui non est actus potentiae pervenientis ad finem sicut exequentis, sed potentiae imperantis executionem; dictum est enim quod est appetitivae potentiae.

To enjoy is not the act of the power that achieves the end as executor, but of the power that commands the achievement; for it has been said to belong to the appetitive power.

Sed cognitio finis est duplex: perfecta, et imperfecta. Perfecta quidem, qua non solum cognoscitur id quod est finis et bonum, sed universalis ratio finis et boni, et talis cognitio est solius rationalis naturae.

Now knowledge of the end is twofold: perfect and imperfect. Perfect knowledge of the end, is that whereby not only is that known which is the end and the good, but also the universal formal aspect of the end and the good, and such knowledge belongs to the rational nature alone.

Imperfecta autem cognitio est qua cognoscitur particulariter finis et bonum, et talis cognitio est in brutis animalibus. Quorum etiam virtutes appetitivae non sunt imperantes libere, sed secundum naturalem instinctum ad ea quae apprehenduntur, moventur.

On the other hand, imperfect knowledge is that by which the end and the good are known in the particular. Such knowledge is in irrational animals, whose appetitive powers do not command with freedom, but are moved according to a natural "Umwelt" to whatever they apprehend.