Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J.F.

Buch: The Trinune God: Systematics

Titel: The Triune God: Systematics

Stichwort: Sendung (sichtbar, unsichtbar): Sohn, Geist; das Gute - Bestimmung (in sich - durch Teilnahme); partikuläres Gut, Ordnungsgut (5 Elemente)

Kurzinhalt: QUESTION 30/1 - Is it appropriate that the divine persons be sent, the Son visibly and the Spirit invisibly?; Again, five elements come together to constitute the human good of order: ...

Textausschnitt: QUESTION 30 - Is it appropriate that the divine persons be sent, the Son visibly and the Spirit invisibly?
491b We answer that the appropriateness of an action is determined according to its ordination to an end, that an end is a good, and therefore that we must begin from the notion of the good, so that we may then have a clearer knowledge of the end of the divine missions and, third, have some understanding of their aptness for this end. (Fs)

(1) 'Good' refers to two different things: the first is good by its very essence, and this is the divine perfection itself; in this life we do not know this good except analogically. The second is good by participation, and this in turn has a twofold division. For as we said above,1 in the one divine perfection there are two formalities of perfection, one that concerns act and the other that concerns order; and similarly among created things there is a twofold participation in the one divine perfection, one concerning act and the other concerning order. On this basis we distinguish particular goods, by which particular beings are perfected in themselves, and goods of order, which are certain concrete, dynamic, and ordered totalities of desirable objects, of desiring subjects, of operations, and of results. So, for example, there is a distinction between the particular economic goods of a certain region and, on the other hand, the economic order of the region as a whole. It is quite clear that this order is a supreme good, since particular economic goods are greatly increased or diminished according to whether the overall economy is becoming better ordered or is deteriorating. (Fs)

493a Similarly, the good of order itself is appropriately divided as follows: there is the good of order that is found in inanimate things, in plants, and in animals; and there is the human good of order, which is produced by people understanding and willing. Thus, there are produced domestic, technological, economic, political, cultural, scientific, and religious organizations. (Fs)

493b Again, five elements come together to constitute the human good of order: (1) a certain number of persons, (2) cognitive and appetitive habits, (3) many coordinated operations among many persons, (4) a succession and series of particular goods, and (5) interpersonal relationships. For since every individual needs many things in a more or less steady stream, a succession and series of particular goods are required for living well. Since each person alone is hardly self-sufficient, many coordinated operations on the part of many individuals are required to produce a series of particular goods. Since human beings are potential and, by nature, indeterminate,1 cognitive and appetitive habits are required in order to have many coordinated operations involving many persons. Lastly, since persons who know and will acquire habits, perform coordinated operations, and distribute among themselves the particular goods being produced, they will the good of order itself both for themselves and for others; but to will good to someone is to love,2 and the effect of love is that union and mutual intimacy3 which is the most excellent of personal relationships, and so the human good of order leads to interpersonal relationships. (Fs)

493c However, since every good of order is something intelligible, something that is not knowable by the senses, and since human beings are rather slow to understand, it cannot be thought strange that we only gradually arrive at understanding and willing the good of order. For as infants we want particular goods; as children we turn our attention to a series of particular goods (whereby life becomes good), and so we gladly learn practical skills; as adolescents we see the need for cooperation, and consciously enter into new personal relationships; as young men and women we conceive the goods of order, we think of better orders, we protest against abuses and disorder, and we long for reform and perhaps even for revolution. Finally, philosophers reach the point where, besides recognizing particular goods that are appropriate for particular persons, they also recognize the good of order, which is good on account of its own intelligibility and its participation in the divine good, which is desired by the will because the will is an appetite that follows the intellect, and which can be desired by the will even when the good of order produces particular goods not for the one desiring them but for others only.1

495a Furthermore, although the five elements we have listed all mutually cohere, as it were, organically, nevertheless interpersonal relationships claim a certain priority. For we want to communicate what is good to those whom we love; we gladly cooperate with them to bring about what is good; to make our cooperation more effective, we acquire the necessary habits and detest the contrary defects; and so, supposing the union of love, all the other things follow that make for the good of order, as is most plainly seen in marriage. In addition to this there is the fact that, besides a rational intellect and will, there is in our very sensibility an intersubjectivity that disposes us to interpersonal relationships, as is clearly evident from the phenomena of presence, sympathy, transference, and the like. (Fs)