Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It would seem that an angel does not love another with natural love as he loves himself. For love follows knowledge. But an angel does not know another as he knows himself: because he knows himself by his essence, while he knows another by his similitude, as was said above (Question 56, Articles 1,2). Therefore it seems that one angel does not love another with natural love as he loves himself.

Objection 2: Further, the cause is more powerful than the effect; and the principle than what is derived from it. But love for another comes of love for self, as the Philosopher says (Ethic. ix, 8). Therefore one angel does not love another as himself, but loves himself more.

Objection 3: Further, natural love is of something as an end, and is unremovable. But no angel is the end of another; and again, such love can be severed from him, as is the case with the demons, who have no love for the good angels. Therefore an angel does not love another with natural love as he loves himself.

On the contrary, That seems to be a natural property which is found in all, even in such as devoid of reason. But, "every beast loves its like," as is said, Ecclus. 13:19. Therefore an angel naturally loves another as he loves himself.

I answer that, As was observed (Article 3), both angel and man naturally love self. Now what is one with a thing, is that thing itself: consequently every thing loves what is one with itself. So, if this be one with it by natural union, it loves it with natural love; but if it be one with it by non-natural union, then it loves it with non-natural love. Thus a man loves his fellow townsman with a social love, while he loves a blood relation with natural affection, in so far as he is one with him in the principle of natural generation.

Now it is evident that what is generically or specifically one with another, is the one according to nature. And so everything loves another which is one with it in species, with a natural affection, in so far as it loves its own species. This is manifest even in things devoid of knowledge: for fire has a natural inclination to communicate its form to another thing, wherein consists this other thing's good; as it is naturally inclined to seek its own good, namely, to be borne upwards.

So then, it must be said that one angel loves another with natural affection, in so far as he is one with him in nature. But so far as an angel has something else in common with another angel, or differs from him in other respects, he does not love him with natural love.

Reply to Objection 1: The expression 'as himself' can in one way qualify the knowledge and the love on the part of the one known and loved: and thus one angel knows another as himself, because he knows the other to be even as he knows himself to be. In another way the expression can qualify the knowledge and the love on the part of the knower and lover. And thus one angel does not know another as himself, because he knows himself by his essence, and the other not by the other's essence. In like manner he does not love another as he loves himself, because he loves himself by his own will; but he does not love another by the other's will.

Reply to Objection 2: The expression "as" does not denote equality, but likeness. For since natural affection rests upon natural unity, the angel naturally loves less what is less one with him. Consequently he loves more what is numerically one with himself, than what is one only generically or specifically. But it is natural for him to have a like love for another as for himself, in this respect, that as he loves self in wishing well to self, so he loves another in wishing well to him.

Reply to Objection 3: Natural love is said to be of the end, not as of that end to which good is willed, but rather as of that good which one wills for oneself, and in consequence for another, as united to oneself. Nor can such natural love be stripped from the wicked angels, without their still retaining a natural affection towards the good angels, in so far as they share the same nature with them. But they hate them, in so far as they are unlike them according to righteousness and unrighteousness.

Articulus 4

Argumentum 1

Ad quartum sic proceditur. Videtur quod unus Angelus non diligat naturali dilectione alium sicut seipsum. Dilectio enim sequitur cognitionem. Sed unus Angelus non cognoscit alium sicut seipsum, quia seipsum cognoscit per suam essentiam, alium vero per eius similitudinem, ut supra dictum est.

Ergo videtur quod unus Angelus non diligat alium sicut seipsum.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, causa est potior causato, et principium eo quod ex principio derivatur.

Sed dilectio quae est ad alium, derivatur ab ea quae est ad seipsum; sicut dicit philosophus, IX ethic..

Ergo Angelus non diligit alium sicut seipsum, sed seipsum magis.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, dilectio naturalis est alicuius tanquam finis; et non potest removeri. Sed unus Angelus non est finis alterius; et iterum haec dilectio potest removeri, ut patet in Daemonibus, qui non diligunt bonos Angelos. Ergo unus Angelus non diligit alium naturali dilectione sicut seipsum.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est, quia illud quod invenitur in omnibus, etiam ratione carentibus, videtur esse naturale.

Sed sicut dicitur Eccli. XIII, omne animal diligit sibi simile.

Ergo Angelus diligit naturaliter alium sicut seipsum.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod, sicut dictum est, Angelus et homo naturaliter seipsum diligit. Illud autem quod est unum cum aliquo, est ipsummet, unde unumquodque diligit id quod est unum sibi. Et si quidem sit unum sibi unione naturali, diligit illud dilectione naturali, si vero sit unum secum unione non naturali, diligit ipsum dilectione non naturali. Sicut homo diligit civem suum dilectione politicae virtutis; consanguineum autem suum dilectione naturali, inquantum est unum cum eo in principio generationis naturalis. Manifestum est autem quod id quod est unum cum aliquo, genere vel specie, est unum per naturam.

Et ideo dilectione naturali quaelibet res diligit id quod est secum unum secundum speciem, inquantum diligit speciem suam.

Et hoc etiam apparet in his quae cognitione carent, nam ignis naturalem inclinationem habet ut communicet alteri suam formam, quod est bonum eius; sicut naturaliter inclinatur ad hoc quod quaerat bonum suum, ut esse sursum. Sic ergo dicendum est quod unus Angelus diligit alium naturali dilectione, inquantum convenit cum eo in natura. Sed inquantum convenit cum eo in aliquibus aliis vel etiam inquantum differt ab eo secundum quaedam alia, non diligit eum naturali dilectione.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod hoc quod dico sicut seipsum, potest uno modo determinare cognitionem seu dilectionem ex parte cogniti et dilecti. Et sic cognoscit alium sicut seipsum, quia cognoscit alium esse, sicut cognoscit seipsum esse. Alio modo potest determinare cognitionem et dilectionem ex parte diligentis et cognoscentis. Et sic non cognoscit alium sicut seipsum, quia se cognoscit per suam essentiam, alium autem non per eius essentiam.

Et similiter non diligit alium sicut seipsum, quia seipsum diligit per suam voluntatem, alium autem non diligit per eius voluntatem.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod ly sicut non designat aequalitatem, sed similitudinem. Cum enim dilectio naturalis super unitatem naturalem fundetur, illud quod est minus unum cum eo, naturaliter minus diligit. Unde naturaliter plus diligit quod est unum numero, quam quod est unum specie vel genere. Sed naturale est quod similem dilectionem habeat ad alium sicut ad seipsum, quantum ad hoc, quod sicut seipsum diligit inquantum vult sibi bonum, ita alium diligat inquantum vult eius bonum.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod dilectio naturalis dicitur esse ipsius finis, non tanquam cui aliquis velit bonum; sed tanquam bonum quod quis vult sibi, et per consequens alii, inquantum est unum sibi.

Nec ista dilectio naturalis removeri potest etiam ab Angelis malis, quin dilectionem naturalem habeant ad alios Angelos, inquantum cum eis communicant in natura. Sed odiunt eos, inquantum diversificantur secundum iustitiam et iniustitiam.