I. The view of others
Ordinatio II, d. 43, q. un.
"Can a created will sin ex malitia?"
Concerning distinction 43 I ask whether a created will can sin ex malitia,1 by willing something not presented to it either as a genuine good (as unqualifiedly good) or as an apparent good (as good in a certain respect).
I. The view of others
The usual answer2 is no, on the authority of Dionysius, On the Divine Names 4:
"No one acts with a view toward evil."
But on the contrary: it seems that if this were true, a created will would not be able to tend toward an object under an aspect under which the divine will would not be able to tend toward it. For the divine will can tend toward any good that underlies a deformity, although it cannot tend toward the aspect of evil that is concomitant with that good. One might concede that whatever can be willed by one will can be willed by any other will, since every will has an equally general object, but not concede that what is ordinately willed by one will is ordinately willed by another, since willing is not ordinate because of the object alone, but because of the suitability of the act and the object to that power. For a given act concerning a given object can be suitable to one will but not suitable to another.
1 ex malitia: translators almost always render this phrase as "from malice," but that is a mistake. 'Malice' in English means "the intention or desire to do evil or cause injury to another person" (OED), but to sin ex malitia is not (necessarily) to sin from such a desire. Malitia is simply the abstract noun formed from malus, "bad," and thus means "badness, evil." Thus, to sin ex malitia is to sin "in virtue of evil" or "on the basis of evil." In this question Scotus considers two possible senses of sinning ex malitia: sinning by choosing what is evil qua evil, and sinning by choosing evil (though not qua evil) without any passion or ignorance prompting one to choose it. We have no expression in English that can do duty for both of these possibilities, so I have left the phrase untranslated. ("From badness" would preserve the desired parallel with "from weakness" and "from ignorance," but I can't convince myself that "a sin from badness" has any identifiable meaning in English.) 2 Bonaventure, Sent. II d. 34 a. 1 q. 3 arg. 2 and in corp.; Thomas Aquinas, ST I-II q. 78 a. 1 arg. 2 and in corp., De malo q. 3 a. 12 arg. 1 and in corp. and ad 1, Sent. II d. 43 q. 1 a. 1 arg. 1 and ad 1; Richard
Middleton, Sent. II d. 34 princ. 2 q. 3 in corp.