Authors/Thomas Aquinas/metaphysics/liber8/lect5

Lecture 5

Latin	English
lib. 8 l. 5 n. 1 Postquam philosophus determinavit de principio materiali et formali, nunc intendit determinare de unione eorum adinvicem; et circa hoc tria facit. Primo enim movet dubitationem. Secundo solvit, ibi, palam itaque, quia sic quidem acceptantibus. Tertio excludit falsas opiniones circa praedictam quaestionem, ibi, propter hanc vero dubitationem. Circa primum duas ponit rationes, ex quibus ostenditur quaestio esse dubitabilis; dicens, quod circa hanc quaestionem, quae superius tacta est circa definitiones et numeros, quid faciat utrumque esse unum, hoc considerandum est, quod omnia, quae habent plures partes, et totum in eis non est solum coacervatio partium, sed aliquid ex partibus constitutum, quod est praeter ipsas partes, habent aliquid, quod facit in eis unitatem. In quibusdam enim corporibus sic unitatem habentibus, causa unitatis est contactus, in quibusdam viscositas, aut aliquid aliud huiusmodi.	1755. Having dealt with the material and formal principles, Aristotle now intends to settle the question about the way in which they are united to each other; and in regard to this he does three things. First (733)C 1755), he raises the question. Second (735:C 1758), he answers it (“It is evident”). Third (739:C 1765), he rejects the false opinions about this question (“And it is because”). In regard to the first, he gives two reasons for saying that this question involves a difficulty. He says (733) that, in regard to the question which was touched on above about definitions and numbers as to what makes each of them one, it must be noted that all things which have several parts (and of which the whole is not merely a heap of parts but is something constituted of parts and is over and above the parts themselves) have something that makes them one. For in some bodies which have unity in this way, contact is the cause of their unity, and in others stickiness or something else of this kind.
lib. 8 l. 5 n. 2 Manifestum autem est quod definitiva ratio est una ex pluribus constans. Nec est una per solam coacervationem partium sicut Ilias, idest poema factum de historia Troiana, quod per solam aggregationem est unum. Definitio autem est unum simpliciter. Est enim significativa unius. Unde merito dubitatur quid est quod faciat definitionem hominis esse unam, et hominem cuius ratio est definitio. Cum enim homo sit animal et bipes, quae videntur esse duo, merito dubitatur quare homo est unum et non plura.	1756. Now it is evident that, while a defining concept is one thing composed of many parts, it is not one thing merely by the addition of its parts, “like the Iliad,” i.e., the poem written about the history of the Trojans, which is one thing only by way of aggregation. But a definition is one thing in an absolute sense, for it signifies one thing. It is reasonable, then, to ask what makes both the definition of man to be one thing, and man himself, whose intelligible structure is the definition. For since man is animal and two-footed, and these seem to be two things, it is reasonable to ask why man is one thing and not many.
lib. 8 l. 5 n. 3 Secundo ibi, aliterque et ponit secundam rationem, quae quaestionem reddit dubitabilem; dicens, quod alia ratio dubitationis accidit praedictae quaestioni. Si enim est verum, quod quidam dicunt, si hoc ipsum quod est animal sit aliquod per se existens et separatum, et similiter hoc ipsum quod est bipes, quod Platonici posuerunt: si enim sic est, merito quaeritur quare homo non est illa duo aggregata, ita quod homines particulares non sunt homines nisi per participationem hominis, nec per participationem alicuius unius, sed per participationem duorum, quae sunt animal et bipes. Et secundum hoc homo non erit unum, sed duo, scilicet animal et bipes.	1757. And if, in a different way (734). Then he gives the reason why this question is a problem. For if what some men claim is true, i.e., if animal itself is a particular thing which exists of itself and is separate, and the same is true of two-footed, as the Platonists held, then it is reasonable to ask why man is not these two things connected together, so that particular men are such only by participating in man, and not by participating in one thing but in two, animal and two-footed. And according to this man will not be one thing but two, namely, animal and two-footed.
lib. 8 l. 5 n. 4 Deinde cum dicit palam itaque solvit praedictam dubitationem: et circa hoc duo facit. Primo proponit unde appareat via ad solutionem dubitationis; dicens, manifestum esse quod si aliqui acceptent quod dictum est de positione Platonis, et transmutent sic naturas rerum, quod ponant universalia separata, sicut Platonici determinare et dicere consueverunt, non contingit reddere causam unitatis hominis, et solvere dubitationem praedictam. Sed, si ponatur, sicut dictum est supra, quod in definitionibus sit unum sicut materia, aliud sicut forma; unum sicut potentia, aliud sicut actus: quaestio tam facilis est ad solvendum, quod dubitationem non videtur habere.	1758. It is evident (735). He solves the above problem; and in regard to this he does two things. First, he offers an explanation that seems to provide a solution to the problem. He says that, if some men accept the things which have been said about Plato’s position, and change the natures of things in this way because they hold that universals are separate as the Platonists were accustomed to define and speak of them, it will evidently be impossible to give the cause of a man’s unity or solve the foregoing problem. But if, as is stated above (706:C 1700), one holds that in definitions one part is as matter and the other as form, i.e., one as potentiality and the other as actuality, then it will be easy to solve the question, because there does not seem to be a problem.
lib. 8 l. 5 n. 5 Est enim secundo secundum viam praemissam solvit propositam dubitationem. Et primo solvit eam in naturalibus, quae generantur et corrumpuntur; dicens quod praedicta dubitatio est eadem ac si quaeratur quare aes est rotundum? Ponamus enim, quod definitio huius nominis, vestis, sit aes rotundum, et quod hoc nomen significet istam definitionem: cum quaeritur quae est causa quare ista definitio, aes rotundum, sit unum, non videtur esse dubitabilis, eo quod aes est sicut materia, et rotundum sicut forma. Nulla enim alia causa est quare ista sunt unum, nisi illa, quae facit id quod est in potentia esse actu. Et hoc est agens in omnibus in quibus est generatio. Unde, cum hoc sit quod quid erat esse significatum per definitionem, scilicet id quod est in potentia fieri actu, manifestum est quod agens est causa in rebus generabilibus et corruptibilibus, quare quod quid erat esse, una est definitio.	1759. For this problem (736). Second, he solves this problem in the aforesaid way. First, he solves it in the case of natural substances which are generated and corrupted. He says that this problem would be the same as if we were to ask why bronze is round. For let us assume that the definition of the term cloak is round bronze, and that this term signifies this definition. Then when one asks why the definition round bronze is one, there does not seem to be any problem, because bronze is as matter and round as form. For there is no other cause of these being one except that which makes what is in potency to become actual. And in everything in which there is generation this is the agent. Hence, since this (what is in potentiality to become actual) is the essence signified by the definition, then in the case of things subject to generation and corruption it is evidently the agent which causes the definition of the essence to be one.
lib. 8 l. 5 n. 6 Deinde cum dicit est autem solvit praedictam dubitationem in mathematicis: et dicit quod duplex est materia: scilicet sensibilis et intelligibilis. Sensibilis quidem est, quae concernit qualitates sensibiles, calidum et frigidum, rarum et densum, et alia huiusmodi, cum qua quidem materia concreta sunt naturalia, sed ab ea abstrahunt mathematica. Intelligibilis autem materia dicitur, quae accipitur sine sensibilibus qualitatibus vel differentiis, sicut ipsum continuum. Et ab hac materia non abstrahunt mathematica.	1760. Further, some matter (737). Then he solves the above problem in regard to the objects of mathematics. He says that matter is of two kinds, sensible and intelligible. Sensible matter is what pertains to the sensible qualities, hot and cold, rare and dense and the like; and with this matter natural bodies are concreted. Now the objects of mathematics abstract from this kind of matter. But intelligible matter means what is understood without sensible qualities or differences, for example, what is continuous. And the objects of mathematics do not abstract from this kind of matter.
lib. 8 l. 5 n. 7 Unde, sive in sensibilibus, sive in mathematicis, semper oportet quod sit in definitionibus aliquid quasi materia et aliquid quasi forma. Sicut in hac definitione circuli mathematici, circulus est figura superficialis, superficies est quasi materia, et figura quasi forma. Eadem enim est ratio quare definitio mathematica est una, et quare definitio naturalis (licet in mathematicis non sit agens, sicut in naturalibus), quia utrobique alterum est sicut materia, et alterum sicut forma.	1761. Hence, whether in the case of sensible things or in that of the objects of mathematics, their definitions must always contain something as matter and something as form; for example, in the definition of a mathematical circle, a circle is a plane figure, plane is as matter and figure as form. For a mathematical definition and a natural definition are each one thing on the same grounds (even though there is no agent in the realm of mathematical entities as there is in the realm of natural entities), because in both cases one part of the definition is as matter and the other as form.
lib. 8 l. 5 n. 8 Deinde cum dicit quaecumque vero solvit praedictam dubitationem quantum ad ea quae sunt omnino a materia separata; dicens, quod quaecumque non habent materiam intelligibilem, ut mathematica, nec sensibilem, ut naturalia, sicut sunt substantiae separatae, statim unumquodque eorum est unum aliquid. In his enim quae habent materiam, non statim unumquodque est unum, sed unitas eorum est ex hoc quod unitas advenit materiae. Sed si aliquid sit quod sit forma tantum, statim est unum; quia non est in eo ponere aliquid quocumque ordine, prius quam expectet unitatem a forma.	1762. He solves the above problem in regard to the things that are wholly separate from matter. He says that in the case of all those things which do not have intelligible matter, as the objects of mathematics have, or sensible matter, as natural bodies have, that is to say, in the case of the separate substances, each one of these is at once one thing [individuated by form]. For each of those things which have matter is not at once one thing, but they are one because unity comes to their matter. But if there is anything that is only a form, it is at once one thing, because it is impossible to posit in it anything prior in any order whatever that must await unity from a form.
lib. 8 l. 5 n. 9 Et ponit exemplum: quia cum decem praedicamenta non hoc modo se habeant ex additione ad ens, sicut species se habent ex additione differentiarum ad genera, sed hoc ipsum quod est ens, manifestum est quod ens non expectat aliquid additum ad hoc quod fiat hoc, idest substantia, vel quantum, vel quale; sed statim a principio est vel substantia, vel quantitas, vel qualitas. Et haec est causa quare in definitionibus non ponuntur nec unum nec ens, ut genus; quia oporteret quod unum et ens se haberent ut materia ad differentias, per quarum additiones ens fieret vel substantia vel qualitas.	1763. He gives this example: the ten categories do not derive being by adding something to being in the way that species are established by adding differences to genera, but each is itself a being. And since this is true, it is evident that being does not await something to be added to it so that it may become one of these, i.e., either a substance or quantity or quality; but each of these from the very beginning is at once either a substance or quantity or quality. This is the reason why neither unity nor being is given as a genus in definitions, because unity and being would have to be related as matter to differences, through the addition of which being would become either substance or quality.
lib. 8 l. 5 n. 10 Et similiter id quod est separatum omnino a materia, quod est suum quod quid erat esse, ut supra dictum est, statim est unum, sicut et statim est ens: non enim est in eo materia expectans formam, a qua habeat unitatem et esse; et ideo in talibus non est aliqua causa movens ad hoc quod sint unum. Habent tamen quaedam eorum causam substituentem substantias sine motu substantiarum earum, et non sicut in generabilibus quae per motum fiunt. Statim enim unumquodque eorum est aliquod ens et aliquod unum, non ita quod ens et unum sint genera quaedam, aut singillatim existentia praeter singularia, quae Platonici ponebant.	1764. Similarly, that which is wholly separate from matter and is its own essence, as was stated above (1708), is at once one thing, just as it is a being; for it contains no matter that awaits a form from which it will derive being and unity. In the case of such things, then, there is no cause that makes them one by means of motion. However, some of them have a cause which supports their substances without their substances being moved [separate simple substances depend on God for existence], and not as in the case of things subject to generation, which come to be through motion. For each of them is at once a particular being and a one, but not so that being and unity are certain genera or that they exist as individuals apart from singular things, as the Platonists held.
lib. 8 l. 5 n. 11 Deinde cum dicit propter hanc vero excludit quorumdam falsam opinionem circa praedictam quaestionem: et circa hoc tria facit. Primo ponit eorum positiones: et dicit: propter praedictam dubitationem quidam, scilicet Platonici, posuerunt participationem, qua scilicet inferiora participant superiora, ut hic homo, hominem; et homo, animal et bipes. Et inquirebant quid est causa participationis, et quid participare; ut eis innotesceret quare est unum, hoc quod dico animal bipes. Alii vero ponunt causam unitatis hominis quamdam consubstantialitatem sive coexistentiam animae cum corpore; sicut si significaretur in abstracto anima cum corpore; quasi diceremus animationem, sicut Lycophron dixit, quod scientia est medium inter animam et scire. Alii autem dixerunt quod ipsum vivere est medium, per quod coniungitur anima corpori.	1765. And it is because (739). Then he rejects the false opinion which some men held about this question; and in regard to this he. does three things. First, he states their position. He says that it is because of this problem that some, namely, the Platonists, posited participation, by which inferior beings participate in superior ones; for example, this particular man participates in man, and man in animal and two-footed. And they asked what the cause of participation is and what it is to participate, in order that it might become clear to them why this thing which I call two-footed animal is one thing. And others held that the cause of a man’s unity is a certain consubstantiality or coexistence of the soul with the body, as if soul’s being with body were signified in the abstract; as if we were to speak of animation as Lycophron said that knowledge is a mean between the soul and the act of knowing; and others said that life itself is the mean whereby soul is joined to body.
lib. 8 l. 5 n. 12 Deinde cum dicit equidem eadem excludit dictas positiones; dicens, quod si hoc bene dicitur de anima et corpore, quod sit aliquod medium uniens, eadem ratio erit in omnibus, quae se habent ut forma et materia; quia secundum hoc, convalescere erit medium quasi quaedam consubstantialitas, aut quaedam coniunctio sive vinculum inter animam, per quam subsistit animal, et sanitatem. Et esse trigonum erit quoddam medium componens figuram trigoni. Et esse album erit quoddam medium, quo componitur albedo superficiei. Quod est manifeste falsum. Unde falsum est, quod vivere sit medium, quo componitur anima corpori; cum vivere nihil aliud sit quam esse animatum.	1766. The same argument (740). He rejects these positions. He says that if the statement made about the soul and the body is correct, i.e., that there is some mean uniting them, the same argument will apply in all things which are related as form and matter. For, according to this, being healthy will be a mean as a kind of consubstantiality or a kind of connection or bond between the soul, by which the animal subsists, and health. And being a triangle will be a mean combining figure and triangle. And being white will be a mean by which whiteness is connected with surface. This is obviously false. Hence it will be false that animation is a mean by which the soul is joined to the body, since animation means merely being ensouled.
lib. 8 l. 5 n. 13 Deinde cum dicit causa vero assignat causas erroris praedictorum; dicens, quod causa quare talia posuerunt, est, quia inquirebant quid faciens unum potentiam et actum, et inquirebant differentias eorum, quasi oporteret eas colligari per aliquod unum medium, sicut ea quae sunt diversa secundum actum. Sed sicut dictum est, ultima materia, quae scilicet est appropriata ad formam, et ipsa forma, sunt idem. Aliud enim eorum est sicut potentia, aliud sicut actus. Unde simile est quaerere quae est causa alicuius rei, et quae est causa quod illa res sit una; quia unumquodque inquantum est, unum est, et potentia et actus quodammodo unum sunt. Quod enim est in potentia, fit in actu. Et sic non oportet ea uniri per aliquod vinculum, sicut ea quae sunt penitus diversa. Unde nulla causa est faciens unum ea quae sunt composita ex materia et forma, nisi quod movet potentiam in actum. Sed illa quae non habent materiam simpliciter, per seipsa sunt aliquid unum, sicut aliquid existens. Et haec de octavo libro dicta sufficiant.	1767. Now the reason (740). He gives the reasons for the error in the above positions. He says that the reason why these thinkers held such views is that they sought for some principle which makes potentiality and actuality one thing, and looked for the differences of these as though it were necessary for them to be brought together by some one mean like things which are actual and diverse. But, as has been stated, both the ultimate matter, which is appropriated to a form, and the form itself are the same; for one of them is as potentiality and the other as actuality. Hence to ask what causes a thing is the same as to ask what causes it to be one, because each thing is one to the extent that it is a being. And potentiality and actuality are also one in a certain respect, for it is the potential that becomes actual; and thus it is not necessary for them to be united by some bond like those things which are completely different. Hence there is no other cause that produces the unity of things which are composed of matter and form except that cause which moves things from potentiality to actuality. But those things which simply do not have matter are some one thing of themselves just as they are something existing. These explanations will suffice for Book VIII.