On Evil by Aquinas Thomas; Regan Richard; Davies Brian

Author:Aquinas, Thomas; Regan, Richard; Davies, Brian
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2003-04-11T04:00:00+00:00

Replies to the Arguments in the Section On the Contrary:

What I have said before makes clear the reply to the arguments in the section On the Contrary.64

Fourth Article

Do Circumstances Make Venial Sins Mortal?

It seems that circumstances do, for the following reasons:

1. Augustine says in his sermon on purgatory that if anger should be retained for a long time, and inebriation is constantly repeated, they become numbered with mortal sins.65 But such sins are venial by reason of their kind; otherwise, they would always be mortal sins. Therefore, venial sins become mortal sins by reason of the circumstance of constant repetition or long duration.

2. Prolonged pleasure in sinful thoughts is a mortal sin, as the Master says in the Sentences.66 But if the pleasure is not prolonged, the sin is venial. Therefore, the circumstance of prolongation makes venial sins mortal.

3. In human acts, good differs from evil more than venial sin differs from mortal sin, since good and evil, inasmuch they are the genera of other things, as the Categories says,67 differ generically. But circumstances make good acts evil. Therefore, much more do circumstances make venial sins mortal.

4. We posit among other circumstances of a human act the reason for which it is done, and this circumstance belongs to the end of the act. But venial sins become mortal sins on account of their ends, as I have said.68 Therefore, circumstances make venial sins mortal.

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