Aquinas for Today: Virtue with the Whole Heart

The chapter's central question

For Thomas, passions are not moral good or evil in themselves, but become part of virtuous action when they participate in the order of reason and will. A man who loves good, grieves appropriately over evil, and hopes for difficult good is more perfect than one who practices justice coldly. Virtue completes the whole of human action without erasing emotions.

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Emotion and reason are not enemies to be fought against. A person who only has reason and is emotionally dry is cold and lethargic and cannot persevere in any noble task. On the contrary, a person who has only emotions and no reason is driven to destruction like a blind runaway locomotive.

When passion combines with the good wisdom of reason, humans finally gain the driving force to accomplish great things.

A reader today can take from this account an invitation to attend to body and relationships together. If you wish, choose something possible now: comfortable rest, a meal, or a conversation with someone you trust. Continuing sadness does not mean you have done anything wrong, and these suggestions are no reason to postpone professional help when needed.

Context and nuance

Thomas Aquinas deals with the passions in the detailed format of question-rebuttal-answer in Summa Theologiae, Part 1, Part 2 (I–II), questions 22-48. By reconstructing Aristotle's theory of the soul and ethics within the Christian understanding of human beings, we see that for humans with bodies, emotions are not accidental defects but natural movements of sensuous desires.

Here, reason does not only mean the ability to calculate, but also includes practical judgment that recognizes the true good of human beings. It is broader in scope than the modern advice to use emotional energy for ‘productivity’. Ultimately, the ethical question of what kind of life and community is good leads to the coordination of passion.

Do not oversimplify it this way

Medieval ‘passion’ does not exactly overlap with the passive passion of modern Korean. Also, the categories of desire and anger should not be treated as if they were two brain circuits or personality types. This is a system that logically divides the movement of desires according to the way good or evil comes to them with ease or difficulty.

Philosophy in life

Have you ever felt guilty because of the emotions rising like fire in your heart, even though your head said, ‘I need to forgive, I need to stay calm’?

Aquinas' bath and sleep: Take a warm shower on a tiring night and sleep for at least 7 hours without a smartphone.

Primary-source guide

Primary guide: Summa Theologiae I–II, qq. 22–48, especially qq. 24, 25, 38, and 40–48.

Pathos Editorial · Reviewed 2026-09-12