Article V. On Temperament, Disposition, and Character

Temperament, disposition, and character influence the voluntary-free more remotely. Concerning these, the following things should be noted:

I. Temperament. According to the opinion of Galen, temperament was formerly thought to arise from the prevalence of one of the four humors which were said to exist in the human body: namely blood, bile, black bile, and phlegm. According to modern psychophysiologists, it is more rightly said to have its origin from the prevalence of one of the systems from which the principal physiological functions in the human body proceed. This prevalence causes special dispositions and affections to arise in individual persons. The complex of these dispositions and affections is called temperament. But authors do not agree on how many temperaments ought to be distinguished. Since, however, three systems of functions can be prevalent, three types of temperaments are conveniently distinguished, though they admit some subdivisions. They are: 1. the sanguine temperament; 2. the nervous temperament; 3. the lymphatic temperament.

1. The sanguine temperament arises from the prevalence of the circulatory system and the suitable development of the organs of respiration. If you seek the characteristic marks of this temperament: sanguine persons usually enjoy an easy intelligence; they feel promptly and vividly, but not in an intense or constant way; they are lively, prone to amusements, even carnal ones; they are courteous, easily indulge affections, and are liberal and beneficent; their face is ruddy, cheerful, and animated.

2. The nervous temperament arises from the prevalence of the nervous system, highly sensitive, to which all operations are subjected. Nervous persons feel more intensely and more constantly than sanguine persons, although from the diversity of their emotions they display a certain instability. Excessive sensitivity renders them restless; and they are rather easily disgusted if the matter does not proceed prosperously. They are prone to sensual pleasures; their love sometimes turns into aversion. Persons who show this temperament are usually thin, slender, and stirred by continuous motions of the muscles. It can be varied in three ways.

a) By the bilious temperament, which is named from the great activity of the hepatic gland. Persons endowed with it usually show a yellowish face, lively eyes, and a grave and severe appearance. As regards psychological marks, irritability, ambition, and desire of ruling are especially enumerated. They usually enjoy a lively and reflective intelligence, and show a firmer spirit than nervous persons.

b) By the erotic temperament, when the sexual apparatus manifests great vitality and irritability. What the specific characters are is rather difficult to say; a lascivious appearance not rarely reveals it sufficiently. It can be received by heredity from parents; often it is developed more from other external causes, such as readings of depraved books, immodest scenes, and insane loves.

c) By the melancholic temperament, which usually displays a pale face, an anxious and sad appearance, and a slow gait. The nervous system is especially affected by sad affections, which take their origin from depressing thoughts. They are complacent in this sense of sadness, and therefore seek solitude, and are misanthropic and intractable. Yet they sometimes allow themselves to be swept away by vehement passions which they had previously concealed. Besides, they are usually endowed with the good qualities which the nervous temperament carries with it, such as lively intelligence and warmth of speech.

3. The lymphatic temperament, which seems opposed to the nervous temperament and in many respects also to the sanguine, is often recognized from a white or slightly red face, from blue eyes, and still more from a slow gait and difficult motion. They are agitated by no vehement passions, and when they grow angry, anger is easily restrained. Generally, lymphatic persons feel less intensely and act slowly but with unconquered constancy.

It is worthy of note that temperament is almost always constituted in an individual from the mixture of one with another, or even that different temperaments are mixed in equal proportion. From this arise, for example, the sanguine-nervous temperament and the sanguine-bilious temperament. Namely, since the nervous system and other organs continually have various relations with surrounding things, the changes of these must necessarily exercise corresponding changes upon constitution and temperament. Moreover, excessive elements, which are in unstable equilibrium among themselves, exercise influence on the development of a certain complexion and temperament; hence mixed temperaments, as they are called, arise.¹

¹ Antonelli, Medicina pastoralis, I, n. 328.

II. Disposition. Disposition seems to be constituted by native inclinations, and especially by those arising from temperament.¹

From disposition, human beings can be distinguished especially into three types, that is, into the sensitive, the temperate, and the cold. The sensitive are those in whom the passions rule more than reason, so that they are usually directed by the former rather than by the latter. The temperate are those in whom reason moderates and rules the passions, although they are intense. The cold are those who are scarcely subject to the more vehement passions.

¹ "From birth there follows in the body of the one born some disposition, both from the power of the heavenly bodies and from lower causes, which are the seed and the matter conceived, through which the soul is in some way made prone toward choosing something, according as the choice of the rational soul is inclined by the passions which are in the sensitive appetite, which is a bodily power following the dispositions of the body. But from this no necessity is induced upon it for choosing, since it is in the power of the rational soul to accept or even to reject the passions that have arisen" (St. Thomas, De veritate, q. 24, a. 1, ad 19; cf. Quaestiones disputatae de Potentia, q. III, a. 9, ad 7).

III. Character.

1. Character is called disposition insofar as, strengthened or modified by frequency of acts, it has acquired a certain stability.

2. The formation of character consists in this: that a certain stable direction toward good is impressed upon the soul and is fostered more and more. Concerning the manner of forming character, certain special things are to be noted both with respect to children and with respect to others.¹

a) With respect to children. For forming the character of children, not only children themselves, but even more parents and teachers, should cooperate. To this belong: 1. care of health, by which the nervous system is strengthened; 2. development of the moral sense, by which the child is spontaneously drawn toward honorable things and turns away from dishonorable things. This development should be made both by little exhortations and by the narration of those things which were done by Christ and the saints; 3. instruction in matters of faith and morals; 4. cultivation of study and of diligence in religiously fulfilling duty, by which the will is especially strengthened; 5. removal of those things which expose faith or morals to danger; 6. use of supernatural means, especially prayer and the sacraments, by which the will is strengthened more and more.

b) With respect to others. For forming character, the following especially conduce:

a) Knowledge of oneself, that is, of good and depraved inclinations, to be obtained both by examination of conscience and by the counsel of faithful friends, especially of a spiritual director.

b) The fight against disordered motions, and the practice, even in time of peace, of those acts which oppose depraved inclinations. By this it comes about that the energy of the will, which languishes in so many persons, is exercised, sharpened, and increased; that man learns to bring force upon himself and either to block the way to disordered motions or most strongly restrain them once they have arisen. This violence the demons dread, as the Apostle says: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."²

c) Supports of moral vigor, which are: repeated meditation, even if briefer; prayer; frequenting of the sacraments; the choice and use of a wise spiritual director; finally, a daily order of living well arranged and, as far as can be done, fixed, by which equilibrium of soul is fostered and the vigor of the will is strengthened.

¹ Cf. Guibert, Le Caractere; Dupanloup, De l'Education; Martin, Education du caractere; Spencer, Education.

² Jas. 4:7.