Blackwell Reference Online

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E thics [from Latin con , with + cupere , desire] Sexual and other bodily desires, or the human faculty that generates these desires, which are traditionally seen as not being derived from reason. For Augustine , concupiscence is the incentive to sin that baptism cannot take away. Unlike its opposite love or charity , it is something with which we must always struggle. Concupiscence is the first step in the chain of evil, but it will diminish as charity grows. Aquinas used concupiscence as equivalent to epithumia (Greek epi , upon + thumos , desire). He held that these desires are in the part of the soul that we share with other kinds of animals and that this part should be morally subjected to regulation by the rational part of the soul. Because of concupiscence, the incontinent man will act contrary to a decision he had reached through reason about a course of action. “Concupiscence is a general cause of sin.” Aquinas, Summa Theologiae ... log in or subscribe to read full text