This is the Guided Tour of the Summa Theologiae, a project for all paid subscribers of Aquinas and Beyond. In it, we are carefully reading through St. Thomas Aquinas’s masterpiece, with help from experts on Aquinas, to think like the universal doctor of the Church. Stop feeling intimidated by Aquinas, and subscribe so you can read along!
Aside from God’s existence itself, I think that God’s will is maybe the most interesting aspect of all of philosophy of religion. It is also one of the most difficult. On the classical understanding, as you are about to see, God’s will is, of course, infallible. Moreover, God’s will itself causes events to occur.
But, despite those claims, it is also the consistent position of classical theists that free will exists. How to work that out is where the philosophy really gets interesting.
I will spoil it here: I am not going to solve the whole problem today, largely because I do not have a neat, blog-worthy answer. But this question will serve as an introduction to the topic, which will be revisited many times over our Guided Tour of the Summa Theologiae. Because this is one of my favorite topics, I am going to make this edition available to ALL readers, just for a day or two. If you would like to keep reading, make sure to become a paid subscriber!
As always, here are some resources you might find helpful as we move forward:
The Summa Theologiae itself. Buy Prima Pars here, and the whole Summa here. Read it for free here.
If you have never read the Summa, it can be a little intimidating. But I put together a roadmap so that anybody can read it and understand it. Get it here.
Here is the commentary I will be using from Walter Farrell, O.P.
Here is the commentary I will be using from Brian Davies, O.P.
Now, let’s dive into God’s will.
Question 19: The Will of God
1. Does God Have a Will?
Aquinas first has to establish that God does, in fact, have a will at all. Aquinas’s argumentation here is quite interesting: If any being has an intellect, it has a will. God has an intellect, therefore God has a will.
Aquinas’s argument is that intellect is inherently ordered towards some good to the nature of the being. If something has an intellect, that intellect exists to apprehend goods for that being. Therefore an intellect must be accompanied by a will to move the intellect in the direction of the good. To only have an intellect would be only to perceive goods without being moved towards them, which is incoherent, since to perceive something as good just is to view it as desirable, even if you perceive that, in a particular instance, the good would not be good for you.
I like Farrell’s explanation of this reasoning, where he says:
It is true that there can be a driving force without intrinsic knowledge…but it is impossible to to have intelligence without will., as impossible as having being without a goal for its existence. If intellect could be conceived of without will, it would be aloof, cold, futile, sterile, barren; where, in fact, great intelligence is found complemented by a puny will, we find that personification of futility, the timid soul.1
Now in God, He Himself is His own end. God wills that all things would be united with Himself, and Aquinas points out that the will rests in the good it desires once that good is possessed. God always possesses himself, so his will always rests in His own essence.
This is a free preview of the Guided Tour of the Summa. To read the rest, join other premium subscribers who are becoming thoughtful, well-formed Catholic intellectuals through:
A guided tour through the ENTIRETY of Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae, which you are reading right now! Don’t miss out on forming your mind according to the Universal Doctor of the Church!
Founding Members get a FREE copy of my Catholic Philosopher In A Year Reading Plan, my ultimate reading list to get up to speed in Catholic Philosophy.
Blogs on the philosophy of religion (God, evil, free will, etc.) like this one about art and the problem of evil.
Reader’s Guides on the great works of Catholic philosophy, like last month’s guide on Jacques Maritain’s Art and Scholasticism.
Further reading recommendations on many posts, including free posts.
Stop feeling confused in the face of deep Catholic conversations and start thinking like a Catholic philosopher.
