Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologiae 1a2ae 22-48

By: Robert Miner

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Synopsis: Thomas Aquinas's Questions on the passions form part of the Summa Theologiae, Aquinas's best-known work. This first standalone edition shows, through a translation that is both rigorously accurate and mirrors the rapid tempo of Aquinas's Latin, what Aquinas says in his landmark treatment of the passions. Aquinas sets the parameters and terms of debate for numerous later theorists of the passions, including Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza and Hume. Some have alleged that Paul and later Christians have (in Nietzsche's words) “an evil eye for the passions,” judging them as 'dirty, disfiguring and heartbreaking'. Yet readers of the present translation will perceive that Aquinas regards the passions as part of created nature, and thereby good in their essence. As they encounter Aquinas's treatment, they will also deepen their knowledge of particular passions-including love, hatred, desire, aversion, pleasure, sorrow, hope, despair, fear, and anger.