(_b_) We have described the good as the term or object of natural tendency or appetite. In the domain of beings not endowed with the power of conscious apprehension, determinism rules this natural tendency; this latter is always oriented towards the _real_ good: it never acts amiss: it is always directed by the Divine Wisdom which has given to things their natures. But in the domain of conscious living agents this natural tendency is consequent on apprehension: it takes the form of instinctive animal appetite or of rational volition. And since this apprehension of the good may be erroneous, since what is not really good but evil may be apprehended as good, the appetite or will, which follows this apprehension—_nil volitum nisi praecognitum_—may be borne towards evil _sub ratione boni_. Hence the obvious distinction between _real good_ and _apparent good_—_bonum verum_ and _bonum apparens_. (_c_) In reference to any individual subject—a man, for instance—it is manifest that _other_ beings can be good for him in so far as any of them can be his end or a means to the attainment of his end. They are called in reference to him _objective goods_, and their goodness _objective goodness_. But it is equally clear that they are good for him only because he can perfect his own nature by somehow identifying or uniting himself with them, possessing, using, or enjoying them. This possession of the objective good constitutes what has been already referred to as _formal_ or _subjective goodness_.(180) (_d_) We have likewise already referred to the fact that in beings endowed with consciousness and appetite proper, whether sentient or rational, the function of possessing or attaining to what is objectively good, to what suits and perfects the nature of the subject, has for its natural concomitant a feeling of pleasure, satisfaction, well-being, delight, enjoyment. And we have observed that this pleasurable feeling may then become a stimulus to fresh desire, may indeed be desired for its own sake. Now this subjective, pleasure-giving possession of an objective good has been itself called by scholastics _bonum delectabile_—delectable or delight-giving good. The objective good itself considered as an end, and the perfecting of the subject by its attainment, have been called _bonum honestum_—good which is really and _absolutely_ such _in itself_. While if the good in question is really such only when considered as a means to the attainment of an end, of something that is good in itself, the former is called _bonum utile_—useful good.(181)