Thursday, February 04, 2010

1a 2ae q14 a4: Whether counsel is about all things that we do? No.

Non oportet in omnibus quae ratione aguntur, esse inquisitionem consilii, quia ratio in rebus manifestis non inquirit, sed statim iudicat.

There is no need of counsel's investigation in all that is done by formal aspect, because in matters that are evident, aspectual apprehension makes no investigation, but judges at once.

Electio praesupponit consilium ratione iudicii vel sententiae. Unde quando iudicium vel sententia manifesta est absque inquisitione, non requiritur consilii inquisitio.

Choice presupposes counsel by aspectual apprehension of its judgment or decision. Consequently when the judgment or decision is evident without investigation, there is no need for counsel's investigation.

De duobus non consiliamur, quamvis ordinentur ad finem; scilicet, de rebus parvis, et de his quae sunt determinata qualiter fieri debent (sicut est in operibus artium, praeter quasdam coniecturales, ut puta medicinalis, negotiativa, et huiusmodi):

There are two things of which we do not take counsel, although they conduce to the end; namely, minute things, and those which have a fixed way of being done (as in works produced by art, with the exception of those arts that admit of conjecture, such as medicine, commerce, and the like):

1. Per determinatas vias proceditur ad determinatos fines, sicut contingit in artibus quae habent certas vias operandi (sicut scriptor non consiliatur quomodo debeat trahere litteras, hoc enim determinatum est per artem).

1. Certain determinate ends are gained by certain determinate means, as happens in the arts which are governed by certain fixed rules of action (thus a writer does not take counsel how to form his letters, for this is determined by art)

2. Non multum refert utrum sic vel sic fiat: et ista sunt minima, quae parum adiuvant vel impediunt respectu finis consequendi; quod autem parum est, quasi nihil accipit ratio.

2. It little matters whether it is done this or that way: this occurs in minute matters, which help or hinder but little with regard to the end aimed at; and aspectual apprehension looks upon small things as mere nothings.