Sunday, February 28, 2010

1a 2ae q18 a3: Whether man's action is good or evil from a circumstance? Yes.

Actiones humanae secundum circumstantias sunt bonae vel malae quia si aliquid desit quod requiratur ad debitas circumstantias, erit actio mala.

Human actions are good or evil according to circumstances because if something be wanting that is requisite as a due circumstance, the action will be evil.

Circumstantiae sunt extra actionem, inquantum non sunt de essentia actionis; sunt tamen in ipsa actione velut quaedam accidentia eius. Sicut et accidentia quae sunt in substantiis naturalibus, sunt extra essentias earum.

Circumstances are outside an action, inasmuch as they are not part of its essence; but they are in an action as certain accidents thereof. Thus, too, accidents in natural substances are outside their essences.

Non omnia accidentia per accidens se habent ad sua subiecta; sed quaedam sunt per se accidentia; quae in unaquaque arte considerantur. Et per hunc modum considerantur circumstantiae actuum in doctrina morali.

Every accident is not accidentally in its subject; for some are proper accidents; and of these every art takes notice. And thus it is that the circumstances of actions are considered in the doctrine of morals.

In rebus naturalibus non invenitur tota plenitudo perfectionis quae debetur rei, ex forma substantiali, quae dat speciem; sed multum superadditur ex supervenientibus accidentibus, sicut in homine ex figura, ex colore, et huiusmodi; quorum si aliquod desit ad decentem habitudinem, consequitur malum.

In natural things, it is to be noted that the whole fullness of perfection due to a thing, is not from the mere substantial form, that gives it its species; since a thing derives much from supervening accidents, as man does from shape, color, and the like; and if any one of these accidents be out of due proportion, evil is the result.

Ita etiam est in actione. Nam plenitudo bonitatis eius non tota consistit in sua specie, sed aliquid additur ex his quae adveniunt tanquam accidentia quaedam. Et huiusmodi sunt circumstantiae debitae.

So it is with action. For the plenitude of its goodness does not consist wholly in its species, but also in certain additions which accrue to it by reason of certain accidents: and such are its due circumstances.