off we go
Now that we've established the context, we can get to the details
of Aquinas in his "Theory of Everything." And I do mean
everything. Understanding the actions that best move us
to happiness is a vast and messy undertaking, and Aquinas
tackles it head on, being not only a philosopher and theologian,
but also one of our earliest psychologists and social thinkers.
In the rest of the Summa he describes what makes us tick, including
action, will, passion, morality, habits, virtues, sin, law, and
grace. He then explains the meaning of Jesus, the Incarnation
and the Eucharist, and how the whole business of religion helps
us find and remain in that Trinity-like graced state of delighted
self-awareness with world and God.
And what's at the heart of it all? Action. The heart of being
self-aware is the capacity to reflect, reason and exercise free
will, which gives us, as Aquinas says, the "dignity of being
a cause." And from action flows happiness:
"To become happy, we must act, so now we ask which of
our actions advance happiness and which block the road. This
is the subject of morals."
(1a2ae,6,1)
a morality of happiness
The point of morals is to make us happy! This is the first key
idea of Part Two of the Summa. We must act to become happy, so
morals describe the acts that will ultimately make us happy. As
we have said, it is the purpose of the universe to evolve towards
increasing complexity and consciousness, so at least some of its
little blobs of matter (that would be us) can take in the world
around them, flourish, and seek the ultimate answers, thereby
attaining a happy self-awareness. It therefore stands to reason
that the rules that guide our actions should facilitate this growth.
And this is indeed the case; in the thought of Aquinas, the entire
structure of morality, including behaviors considered virtuous
or sinful, the purpose of law, and the idea of grace, is meant
to do just that. Our primary moral imperative is to recognize
what we are—seekers of happiness via possession of truth
and goodness—and act accordingly. All morality rests on
this understanding of our basic nature. Therefore, actions tend
to be either morally good or morally bad depending upon whether
they help us attain the ultimate good of the graced state. And
since we must act to be happy, we begin, according to Aquinas,
"with a general discussion of action at its most peculiarly
human, namely, voluntary action." (1a2ae,6,1)
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