Thomas Aquinas Argument Analysis

In Summa Theologiae (selection 6), Thomas Aquinas argues that perfect happiness can only be achieved once a person dies and enters heaven. One of the strongest arguments that Aquinas gives for this argument relies on the claim that this world is too plagued with unsatisfied desires to achieve the ultimate good which we all seek by nature. Since happiness on Earth is not perfect, only heaven can provide true happiness. In this paper, I will argue that this argument succeeds because true happiness requires something more than what this existence provides, while a sort of imperfect happiness can be found after this life. In “Fifth Article: Whether the Body is Necessary for Human Happiness?,” Aquinas argues that happiness consists of two parts:

Aquinas argues that certain concepts in this life cannot possibly provide human happiness. I do not have space to address each and every one of Aquinas’ arguments on the study of what happiness consists in, but some examples are wealth, honor, fame, glory, power, bodily and created goods, and pleasure. Instead, I will examine what I take him to believe is the main point of his studies: the fact that Earthly concepts and goods cannot provide human happiness, but only God alone constitutes human

Although the argument is valid and the premises may look true, looking at many realistic examples can disprove this argument easily. For example, some of the most powerful people in history, such as Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Hitler, never achieved imperfect happiness through their power. Julius Caesar had great power within the Roman empire, but as time went on, Caesar began to want more and more power, and this eventually led to his death by conspirators. Napoleon Bonaparte was the Emperor of the French and treated his people cruelly as he began to acquire more and more power. He was eventually sent into exile where he later died. As for Adolf Hitler, he used his power over Germany to kill millions of people and eventually committed suicide. As you can see from these examples, people who are powerful are not always happy. Power can lead to destruction if used for evil and cannot possibly lead to imperfect happiness because happiness is the perfect, complete