Monday, June 07, 2010

1a 2ae q34 a3: Whether any pleasure is the greatest good? Yes.

Aliqua delectatio hominis potest dici optimum inter bona humana quia ultimus finis hominis dici potest vel ipse Deus, qui est summum bonum simpliciter, vel fruitio ipsius, quae importat delectationem quandam in ultimo fine.

A certain delight of man may be said to be the greatest among human goods because man's last end may be said to be either God Who is the Supreme Good simply, or the enjoyment of God, which implies a certain delight in the last end.

Plato non posuit omnes delectationes esse malas, sicut Stoici, neque omnes esse bonas, sicut Epicurei; sed quasdam esse bonas, et quasdam esse malas; ita tamen quod nulla sit summum bonum, vel optimum.

Plato held neither with the Stoics, who asserted that all delights are evil, nor with the Epicureans, who maintained that all delights are good; but he said that some are good, and some evil; yet, so that no pleasure be the sovereign or greatest good.