Does Ignorance Cause Voluntary Aquinas Summary

Aquinas is a well-known philosopher and theologian of all time. In the Summa question 6, article 8 talks about whether ignorance cause voluntary. Involuntariness is an acting against one’s will. Also, Ignorance is the lack of knowledge. Aquinas questions that if ignorance causes voluntary? Aquinas spends most or all eighth article explaining this. Ignorance can occurred because the person does not realize about his ignorance or does not realize his ignorance but his effort to obtain the knowledge are of no advantage. In article two, objection two claims that sins implies ignorance and ignorance causes involuntariness. This lead that every sin is involuntary. The second objection claims that sin infers ignorance and it causes involuntariness.

The second objection states that every sin a person makes concludes ignorance. Ignorance causes involuntariness, it would follow that every sin is involuntary. The reply states” If ignorance causes involuntariness, it is in so far as it deprives one of knowledge, which is a necessary condition of voluntariness…But it is not every ignorance that deprives one of this knowledge.” The reply gives us there are ways that not every ignorance removes our knowledge. Since not every ignorance removes our knowledge meaning it is not a sin. Aquinas gives us three ways that ignorance has relationship to the act of will: concomitantly, consequently, and antecedently. These three ways are the exception of objective two. Concomitantly is when there is ignorance of that which is done, and yet, if it were thoroughly understood, it would still be done. Ignorance is not the cause of the act of will, but is, as it were, accidental to it. So some one wishes, indeed, to kill his enemy, but ignorantly shoots him while aiming at a deer. Such ignorance produces not the involuntary, but the not-voluntary. That is, the act is neither voluntary nor