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The University of Notre Dame Australia ResearchOnline@ND Theses 2013 A Thomistic Understanding of Happiness Christian Stephens University of Notre Dame Australia Follow this and additional works at: https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses Part of the Religion Commons COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Copyright Regulations 1969 WARNING The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further copying or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Do not remove this notice. Publication Details Stephens, C. (2013). A Thomistic Understanding of Happiness (Master of Philosophy (MPhil)). University of Notre Dame Australia. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/79 This dissertation/thesis is brought to you by ResearchOnline@ND. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of ResearchOnline@ND. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Thomistic Understanding of Happiness Master of Philosophy Thesis Christian Stephens th 8 August 2013 Feast of St Mary of the Cross I am deeply grateful to the Fathers at the Seminary of the Good Shepherd, especially Fr Bernard Gordon, for helping me to discover the genius of St. Thomas. I would also like to thank the Staff at the School of Philosophy and Theology, Notre Dame, Sydney, for their constant support. Most especially, Dr Angus Brook, whose wisdom, patience and encouragement forged my love of St Thomas and made this work possible. To Chloe, whose faith, hope and love sustained the man behind this work so that it could come to completion. Finally, to St. Thomas Aquinas, from the least of his disciples, for the greater glory of God. 2 Contents Introduction........................................................................................................................5 Brief Historical Considerations………….………………………...…………………...7 The Thomistic Revival.............................................................................................15 The Approach Taken By This Work...................................................................18 Chapter 1: Criteria For The Ultimate Good..................................................................22 First Criteria: Fulfil All Desire......................................................................................24 Second Criteria: Self-Sufficient...............................................................................27 Third Criteria: Entire Rule Of Life......................................................................29 Fourth Criteria: Desired For Its Own Sake Alone..........................................35 Fifth Criteria: Contains No Defect............................................................40 Sixth Criteria: Perfect operation...........................................................41 Seventh Criteria: Achievable & Suitable To All Men....................43 Chapter 2: What the Ultimate End Is Not.....................................................................45 External Goods..............................................................................................................47 Goods of the Body....................................................................................................57 Goods of the Soul................................................................................................65 Chapter 3: The Essence of Happiness............................................................................72 Approaching via Man’s Ultimate Operation.................................................................73 Approaching via the Highest Object of Speculation................................................79 Approaching via Metaphysics.............................................................................84 Fulfilling the Criteria of Happiness................................................................87 Chapter 4: Imperfect Happiness.....................................................................................96 Perfect Happiness Is Not Possible In This Life.............................................................96 Degrees of Imperfect Happiness............................................................................101 Lowest Level: Any Satisfaction Of The Will.....................................................103 Second Level: That Which Is Proportionate To Natural Powers..................104 Third Level: That Which Is Proportionate To Grace................................113 A Natural Supernatural Clarification.................................................121 Chapter 5: Antecedents, Concomitants & Consequences of Happiness...................125 Happiness & The Body...............................................................................................128 Happiness & Non-Ultimate Goods........................................................................134 Happiness & The Active Life............................................................................136 Happiness & Friendship...............................................................................143 Happiness & Delight...............................................................................145 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................148 3 Reference List.................................................................................................................152 Bibliography...................................................................................................................158 4 Introduction An Interesting Consideration Imagine that extra-terrestrial researchers land on Earth with the mission of studying humanity. As part of their expedition they wish to sit in on one University Degree, but are unsure of which degree to choose. So they decide to carry out a survey, asking each individual human what it is they want in life. Based on the results, the aliens will then study the appropriate field. After conducting the survey and processing the data, they come to the conclusion that humans highly regard this thing called happiness.1 The Head Researchers unanimously decide that a ‘degree in happiness’ is in order. As they begin to search through the tertiary educational institutions of the world, they are amazed to find that there are little to no degrees in happiness. How could this possibly be? Did they misread the results of the survey? No. Were the humans deceiving them in their answers? No. How is it then that there is no degree in happiness? Of course, one can find thousands of courses about achieving happiness: there are many self-help manuals, positive-thinking guides, ‘ten-step’ programs, but in all cases, the word ‘happiness’ is taken for granted as understood. But should this be assumed? Imagine a group of three friends, trying to have a discussion about happiness - one takes ‘happiness’ to mean having no obligations and restraints, another takes happiness as being married with a family, and another takes it as meeting any goals you have. While we may understand where each is coming from, we are also confronted with the contradictory nature of their answers: Isn’t starting a family, the quickest way to create more obligations? Isn’t one restraining themselves by limiting happiness to achieving these particular goals? Is it possible to achieve one’s goals and not be happy? Wouldn’t it be freeing to not have goals? All of these are valid questions which members of the group could raise to each other. After minimum reflection one realises that ‘(happiness) seems at one and the same time an assumption about what all men actually do seek and something about which we should become clear in order to seek it.’2 In other words, what is happiness must come before any ‘how-to’ program can be set. 1 For the sake of demonstrating the point, we will ignore the fact that as intelligent creatures, they too would be in the pursuit of happiness. 2 Ralph McInerny, Ethica Thomistica, 26. 5 The question then arises, as was the concern of our intergalactic scientists, which field of study owns the question, ‘What is the nature of happiness,’ the very topic of the thesis at hand. In an age such as ours where the enormous sum of human knowledge is often splintered into isolated fields of specialisation, experts in one field tend to interpret areas exclusively through the lens of their particular field, while it never completely finds itself home in any of them. Since happiness is such a holistic or ultimate concept, members from the various professions are left to define happiness in their own inadequate terms. The physician and psychologist may define it as absence of illness or ‘positive psychology’, the lawyer as rights or freedom and the businessman as wealth. While all would rigorously claim their piece as a necessary component, very few if any would describe it as the very nature of happiness. The first hint in the search for the field in which the nature of happiness is truly studied, is to notice the intimate relationship between goodness and happiness in the mind of all persons. In the same way that all persons wish to be happy, they all wish for the good. They believe they will be happy if they have what is good. This is further enforced when one realises that the concept of the good, as opposed to concepts of health, freedom or money, is universal or ultimate enough to match the concept of happiness itself. Since it is the fields of
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