May 24 2007
Answer 3
The answer is his happiness consists in retaining it. It should be noted that Aquinas is responding to the idea that happiness consists in wealth.
_On the contrary,_ Man’s good consists in retaining happiness ratheRthan in spreading it.
“When St Thomas ssays that happiness, unlike wealth, is good when possessed, not when spread, he does not mean that our happiness is not in fact increased when we
make others happy, but that the essential meaning of “happiness” is the satisfaction of an individual’s desires. These may and should include the desire to make
happy too. (Peter Kreeft A SUMMA OF THE SUMMA)
