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Quotation from Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas
“Hence a captain does not intend as a last end, the preservation of the ship entrusted to him, since a ship is ordained to something else as its end, viz. to navigation.”
Summa Theologica, I-II, Q. 2, Art. 5, I answer that, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province
Aquinas argues that man's happiness cannot consist in goods of the body, because a thing ordained to another end does not have its own preservation as its last end. The popular saying "If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever" is a modern paraphrase, not Aquinas's words.
Citation: "Hence a captain does not intend as a last end, the preservation of the ship entrusted to him, since a ship is ordained to something else as its end, viz. to navigation." — Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I-II, Q. 2, Art. 5, I answer that, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province. (id summa-theologica-q13)
Portrait: Saint Thomas Aquinas, Carlo Crivelli, Public domain.
