According to the ‘2023 Suicide Survey’ published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of people who took their lives was the highest in 10 years. In particular, in middle age, debt, unemployment, stress due to decreased income, and bankruptcy were the leading causes of suicide in middle age.
If the reason for a good job is high income, and when not achieved, becomes sufficient to give up on life, isn’t ‘wealth’ or ‘material goods’ considered the most important criterion for happiness? This was the thinking in the time of St. Thomas, who lived 800 years ago. Therefore, Thomas begins: "Is the strongest candidate for happiness material things?" “Is human happiness in wealth?” Caravaggio’s “The Calling of St. Matthew” depicts Jesus calling Matthew, who is looking down at money.
Aristotle argued that money is only a means because it has exchange value and that what we buy with money is actually of greater value. Therefore, according to him, money can never be the ultimate goal in life.
To answer this question clearly, Thomas first distinguishes between “natural wealth” and “artificial wealth.” The former helps humans eliminate natural deficiencies (food, drink, clothing, housing, etc.). However, it is also required for other purposes, namely, maintaining a decent human life. Therefore, natural wealth cannot be humans' ultimate goal; it is a means to an end —purchasing goods necessary for life. Therefore, happiness, the ultimate goal of humans, cannot be found in goods. Furthermore, in the case of natural goods, just as one cannot eat more food when one is full, one instinctively no longer desires more once satisfied. Still, it is difficult to find people satisfied with artificial goods even after sufficient amounts.
Then, why do people who pursue happiness become so obsessed with goods? According to St. Thomas, 'Foolish people only know material goods and are obsessed.' Behind this obsession is the idea that “everything can be bought with money.” However, Thomas criticizes this idea by pointing out that there are “spiritual things that cannot be bought.” We know of many things that can't be bought with money.
Michael Sandel, famous for “Justice: What Is the Right Thing to Do?”, published a follow-up book titled “What Money Can’t Buy.” In this book, he criticizes 'market thinking' that has infiltrated areas traditionally not subject to the market, such as gender, school qualifications, the environment, and education. St.Thomas also explicitly argues that “judgments about human good should be taken from wise people”. Therefore, rather than uncritically entrusting ourselves to 'market thinking', which can even create false demands, we need the power of critical thinking to reflect on what should not be traded in the market and make our own judgments.
However, St. Thomas did not unconditionally denigrate property ownership but justified private property rights on various grounds. First, everyone works hardest to obtain what is not used by everyone but only by oneself. Second, if each is assigned to care for his own, there will be more order. Third, if each has his own property, the state will be more peaceful because there will be less strife than when goods are owned in common.
According to St. Thomas, the desire for everything that brings happiness is natural, so possessing wealth is also justified. However, all-natural inclinations must be regulated by reason. “To go beyond this standard, that is, to acquire or preserve wealth beyond the established limit, is sin.”
Thomas calls the “disordered love of wealth” 'avaritia' and criticizes that other vices arise from this sin. For example, greed for money and “stubbornness” that does not know how to sympathize with the plight of others arise. From this comes “anxiety,” which drives people into endless worry and useless concern. Some do not care about the means, such as violence, fraud, and betrayal, to obtain wealth. Thomas firmly condemns the internal state of exploiting, instrumentalizing, and commodifying other persons as property.
Thomas distinguishes between the possession and use of goods to prevent this unjust attachment to goods. Even if natural or artificial goods are private, their use must be open to the needs of others. Everyone can possess and use goods necessary for themselves and their family. However, beyond what is necessary, the surplus must be used for the needier or society according to the duty of justice. Thomas even argued that ‘in cases of extreme need, it is right for the needy to take the goods of others as their own.’ Because the right to life is more important than the right to possessions.
A culture that forces those who lack wealth to make extreme choices never brings true happiness to humans. Thomas invites us to prepare for true happiness by properly possessing and using wealth that can be used as a means to achieve happiness, even if it is not the ultimate goal.
