The virtue of understanding is not to be confused with the gift of the Holy Ghost by the same name, which is to penetrate into the very heart of things, especially those higher truths that are necessary for our eternal salvation.
By contrast, understanding is one of the intellectual virtues, and like memory, is ordered to the virtue of Prudence.
- Definition of the Virtue of Understanding
- An explanation based on the teaching of Thomas Aquinas
- Meditation and Colloquy on Prudent Judgement, an application of this virtue
Definition of the Virtue of Understanding
The speculative intellectual virtues are wisdom, science, and understanding.
Wisdom is the knowledge of conclusions through their highest causes.
Science is the knowledge of conclusions acquired by demonstration through causes or principles which are final in one class or other.
Understanding is defined as the habit of first principles; as habit or virtue it is to be distinguished, at least logically, from the faculty of intelligence. It is also called intuition, as it has for its object truths that are self-evident, the perception of which requires no discursive process. Taken from New Advent
Explanation of the Virtue of Understanding based on Aquinas
Now, read this excerpt from article on the Virtue of Understanding by philosopher, Aaron Mead. [The entire article can be found here]
Understanding is what Aquinas calls an “intellectual” virtue, i.e., an excellent quality of the thinking part of our minds that allows us to think or reason well in a particular sense. As Aquinas puts it, understanding allows us to grasp “self-evident principles both in speculative and in practical matters” (Summa Theologica I-II, Question 58, Article 4). This dense statement needs some unpacking.
Aquinas distinguishes, here, between “speculative” matters and “practical” matters. Practical matters are matters related to what we should do. For example, since I want to keep my job, I should show up to work every day on time. This is a principle governing what I should do, and so it is a practical principle—a principle about a certain practical matter.
In contrast, speculative matters are matters related to the way things are. Consider the following version of a famous argument:
- Socrates is a human.
- All humans are mortal.
- Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
This argument makes use of a principle in line 2: “All humans are mortal.” But, this is not a principle about what any of us should do. Rather, it is a general claim about the way things are: human beings are mortal, i.e., we all die. So, it is a speculative principle. The most obvious examples of speculative principles are principles of science, such as Newton’s law of gravity or the laws of electromagnetism.
Now, in Aquinas’s statement above, he says that understanding is the virtue that helps us grasp “self-evident” practical and speculative principles. What does that mean? To say that a principle is “self-evident” is to say that we don’t need any proof to know that it is true. From this definition, we can see pretty quickly that Aquinas would not think Newton’s law of gravity or the laws of electromagnetism are self-evident. Indeed, those require proof by way of experiments and complicated mathematical reasoning.
What then does Aquinas have in mind? Some examples will help. Aquinas thinks the virtue of understanding helps us grasp the following self-evident practical principle: “Good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided” (Summa Theologica I-II, Question 94, Article 2). In other words, do good and don’t do bad. If, after reading that principle, you said to yourself, “Duh!”, then you have the virtue of understanding (whew!). Aquinas thinks this is the first principle of all practical reasoning—all other practical principles derive from it or depend upon it in some way—and he thinks it is self-evident: its truth is clear without any sort of proof. (He also refers to it as the first principle of the “natural law”.)
Meditation and Colloquy on Prudent Judgement
This meditation is taken from Divine Intimacy #274 on Prudent Judgement. Having settled in our minds that the virtue of understanding allows us to habitually consider the first principles in any given situation, we are now in a position to proceed with making judgements in a virtuous way.
In order that our judgments and choices may be prudent, we must know how to free them from elements which are too subjective, such as our personal attractions and interests, our natural likes and dislikes. Sometimes we can deceive ourselves into thinking that we are judging a situation or deciding to do something solely for the glory of God or for the good of our neighbour, when in fact, if we examined ourselves thoroughly, we would perhaps see that the motives which prevailed in our judgment or in our deliberations were egoistic and dictated by our own personal interests.
Hence, even prudence requires that we cleanse our hearts from all these human motives, and that we practice detachment and renunciation. After Jesus had spoken of the prudence necessary for the man who wished to build a tower, and for the king who was about to make war against another king, He said: “So likewise everyone of you doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be My disciple.” (Lk 14,33).
In other words, the prudence needed by one who wishes to be a true follower of Christ, consists in the renunciation of all that can be an obstacle to the attainment of eternal life; it consists in that renunciation of self which frees the heart from selfish personal impulses. Only this renunciation will permit the soul to triumph over the spontaneous reactions of self-love, the impulses of egoism, thus allowing it to form right judgments and impartial decisions.
Above all, in the case of important judgments or decisions which would affect our neighbour or about which we have a personal bias, prudence requires a conscientious examination as to whether we are really moved by supernatural motives, independent of human considerations. Finally, when something has greatly disturbed us, prudence will teach us to suspend all judgment and deliberation until calm has returned; otherwise, we would be exposing ourselves to act by passion rather than by a sincere love of the good.
“Love is prudent, circumspect, upright,” says the Imitation of Christ (III, 5,7), which means that prudence is the indispensable characteristic of all genuine virtue.
COLLOQUY
O God, one work performed with prudence is more pleasing to You than many done carelessly and imprudently, for this virtue thoroughly examines and weighs every action so that it turned to Your honor and glory.
“True and supernatural prudence belongs to You and is in You O Lord. Few there are in whom we find it, because many seek it through cunning, using their own wisdom to scrutinize Your designs; thus they lose their time and find nothing. Anyone who really desires to possess prudence must come to You, the Incarnate Word; he will find it in You, together with all the other virtues, but vastly different from human prudence, which tends to what exalts and not to what abases.
“In You he will find the prudence which teaches us to humble and abase ourselves, as You willed to humble and abase Yourself, in order to show us the way which leads to salvation. You, O Lord, have said: ‘If you wish to be My disciple, renounce yourself, take up your cross and follow Me.’
“Oh! this is prudence in the highest degree! Yet to human prudence it looks like utter madness. For, O crucified Christ, to the wise ones in this world it is the height of madness to take up one’s cross and follow You! But You teach me that the foolishness of the cross is supreme wisdom, and to deny oneself is supreme prudence. What wiser folly can there be than to take up the cross with You and follow in Your footsteps? And what greater prudence can there be than to die to self in order to find life in You, from whom everything receives life?” (St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi).
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