more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
The passions may incite us to something against reason, and so we need a curb, which we name 'temperance'.
Gist of Idea
Temperance prevents our passions from acting against reason
Source
Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologicae [1265], Ia 2ae Q61 a.3), quoted by Philippa Foot - Virtues and Vices II
Book Ref
Foot,Philippa: 'Virtues and Vices' [Blackwell 1981], p.9
A Reaction
I am increasingly unclear what 'reason' means in contexts like these. It seems to mean no more than the awareness of greater goods than the indulgence of passion. Without that awareness, high intelligence couldn't produce temperance.
| 131 | If absence of desire is happiness, then nothing is happier than a stone or a corpse [Plato] |
| 140 | Self-indulgent desire makes friendship impossible, because it makes a person incapable of co-operation [Plato] |
| 254 | Excessive laughter and tears must be avoided [Plato] |
| 23908 | If someone just looks at or listens to beautiful things, they would not be thought intemperate [Aristotle] |
| 2813 | It is quite possible to live a moderate life and yet be miserable [Aristotle] |
| 13312 | Excessive curiosity is a form of intemperance [Seneca] |
| 13308 | It's no good winning lots of fights, if you are then conquered by your own temper [Seneca] |
| 13552 | Anger is an extreme vice, threatening sanity, and gripping whole states [Seneca] |
| 13553 | Anger is a vice which afflicts good men as well as bad [Seneca] |
| 22399 | Temperance prevents our passions from acting against reason [Aquinas] |
| 22403 | Temperance is not a virtue if it results from timidity or excessive puritanism [Foot] |