KEVIN E. O’REILLY OP, Recognition of the Existence of God and the Experience of Beauty according to St. Thomas Aquinas

SUMMARY

Central to understanding St. Thomas’s definition of beautiful things as those which, when seen, give pleasure (pulchra enim dicuntur quae visa placent) is a grasp of the dynamic interaction between intellect, on the one hand, and affectivity (the will and the emotions), on the other hand. This article focuses on the nature of the interaction between intellect and will, since this consideration is sufficient to secure its argument, namely that a necessary — albeit not sufficient — condition for the optimal experience of beauty possible in this life is that the will be duly fixed on God as its final end. This point is established with reference to natural beauty in particular since this kind of beauty relates directly to God as its creative cause.