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==Lecture 6  No alteration in the first species of quality as to habits of the soul ==

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|Lecture 6  No alteration in the first species of quality as to habits of the soul  

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|{{a|lib7l6n1|lib. 7 l. 6 n. 1}} Postquam philosophus ostendit quod non est alteratio in prima specie qualitatis quantum ad dispositiones corporis, hic ostendit idem de habitibus animae. Et primo quantum ad partem appetitivam; secundo quantum ad partem intellectivam, ibi: at vero neque in intellectiva parte et cetera. Circa primum duo facit: primo ostendit quod non est alteratio primo et per se in transmutatione virtutis et malitiae; secundo quod transmutatio virtutis et malitiae consequitur ad quandam alterationem, ibi: fit quidem igitur et cetera.

|919. After showing that alteration does not occur in the first species of quality in respect of dispositions of the body, the Philosopher shows the same about the habits of the soul.  First as to the appetitive part of the soul;  Secondly, as to the intellectual part of the soul, at 923.  About the first he does two things:  First he shows that there is no primary and per se alteration in changes that affect virtues and vices;  Secondly, that changes involving virtue and vice are consequences of other alterations, at 921.  

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|{{a|lib7l6n2|lib. 7 l. 6 n. 2}} Concludit ergo primo ex praemissis quod circa animae virtutes et malitias, quae pertinent ad partem appetitivam, non est primo et per se alteratio. Ideo autem hoc concludendo inducit, quia eisdem rationibus procedit ad probandum sequentia, quibus et priora. Ad hoc autem probandum assumit quandam propositionem, scilicet quod virtus sit perfectio quaedam. Quod quidem sic probat: quia unumquodque tunc est perfectum, quando pertingere potest ad propriam virtutem; sicut naturale corpus tunc perfectum est, quando potest aliud sibi simile facere, quod est virtus naturae. Quod etiam probat per hoc, quia tunc est aliquid maxime secundum naturam, quando naturae virtutem habet; virtus enim naturae est signum completionis naturae: cum autem aliquid habet complete suam naturam, tunc dicitur esse perfectum. Quod non solum in rebus naturalibus verum est, sed etiam in mathematicis, ut eorum forma accipiatur pro eorum natura: tunc enim maxime circulus est, idest perfectus circulus, quando maxime est secundum naturam, idest quando habet perfectionem suae formae. Sic ergo patet, quod cum ad perfectionem formae cuiuslibet rei consequatur virtus eius, quod tunc unumquodque perfectum est, quando habet suam virtutem. Et ita sequitur quod virtus sit perfectio quaedam. Ex hac autem propositione sic probata, Commentator sic argumentandum dicit. Omnis perfectio est simplex et indivisibilis: secundum autem nihil simplex et indivisibile est alteratio, neque aliquis motus, ut supra probatum est: ergo secundum virtutem non est alteratio. Sed iste processus non competit in eo quod subditur de malitia, quod scilicet est corruptio et remotio perfectionis. Etsi enim perfectio sit simplex et indivisibilis, recedere tamen a perfectione non est simplex et indivisibile, sed multipliciter contingens. Neque est etiam consuetudo Aristotelis, ut praetermittat illud ex quo principaliter conclusio dependet, nisi ex iuxta positis intelligi possit. Et ideo melius dicendum est, quod arguendum est hic de virtute, sicut supra argumentatum est de forma et figura. Nihil enim dicitur alterari quando perficitur; et eadem ratione, neque quando corrumpitur. Si igitur virtus est perfectio quaedam, malitia vero corruptio, secundum virtutem et malitiam non est alteratio, sicut neque secundum formas et figuras.

|920. He concludes therefore first (702 {{physics|7|bk246b3|246 b3}}) from the foregoing that with respect to virtues and vices which pertain to the appetitive part of the soul there is no primary and per se alteration. And he mentions this as a conclusion, because he will proceed to prove it with the same arguments as he proved the previous points.  Accordingly, in order to prove this he makes the assumption that virtue is a kind of perfection. And this he proves in the following manner: A thing is perfect when it can attain to its own virtue (or power); for example, a natural body is perfect when it can make something like unto itself, and this is a virtue (or power) of the nature. He also proves this by the fact that a thing is most according to nature when it has the virtue of its nature (for virtue in a nature is a sign that the nature is complete), and when a thing has its nature completely, it is said to be perfect. And this is true not only in natural things, but also in mathematical, where their form is taken as the nature, for it is then that a figure is a perfect circle, namely, when it is most according to nature, i.e., when it has the perfection of that form. In this way, then, it is evident that since the virtue of a thing follows upon the perfection of its form, a thing is perfect when it possesses its virtue. Consequently, virtue is a kind of perfection.  With the premise proved thus, the Commentator says that the full argument will be this: Every perfection is simple and indivisible; but no alteration or motion can affect what is simple and indivisible; therefore, in respect of virtue there can be no alteration,  But this reasoning will not apply to what Aristotle adds about vices, which are the removal and ceasing-to-be of a perfection. For although a perfection is simple and indivisible, yet the departure from perfection is not simple and indivisible, but occurs in many different ways. Again, it is not the custom of Aristotle to ignore a fact on which the conclusion chiefly depends, unless that fact is implied by something else he mentions.  Therefore, it is better to say that the argument here must be like the one used above for form and figure. For nothing is said to be altered, when it is being made perfect, and for the same reason, when it is being corrupted. Hence, if virtue is a perfection and vice a corruption, there will be no alteration in respect of them any more than there is in respect of forms and figures.  

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|{{a|lib7l6n3|lib. 7 l. 6 n. 3}} Deinde cum dicit: fit quidem igitur etc., ostendit quod transmutatio virtutis et malitiae consequitur aliquam alterationem. Et primo proponit quod intendit: et dicit quod acceptio virtutis et remotio malitiae, aut e contrario, fit cum aliquid alteratur, ad cuius alterationem consequitur acceptio et remotio virtutis et malitiae: sed tamen neutrum horum est alteratio primo et per se. Deinde cum dicit: quod autem alteretur etc., probat propositum: et dicit manifestum esse ex sequentibus, quod oporteat aliquid alterari ad hoc quod accipiatur et removeatur virtus vel malitia. Et hoc videtur probare dupliciter. Primo quidem secundum duas opiniones hominum de virtute et malitia. Stoici enim dixerunt virtutes esse impassibilitates quasdam, nec posse esse virtutem in anima, nisi remotis omnibus passionibus animae, quae sunt timor, spes, et huiusmodi. Huiusmodi enim passiones dicebant esse quasdam animae perturbationes sive aegritudines: virtutem autem esse dicebant quandam quasi tranquillitatem animae et sanitatem. Unde e contrario malitiam dicebant esse omnem animae passibilitatem. Opinio vero Peripateticorum ab Aristotele derivata, est quod virtus consistat in aliqua determinata moderatione passionum. Constituit enim virtus moralis medium in passionibus, ut dicitur in II Ethicorum. Et secundum hoc etiam malitia virtuti opposita non erit qualiscumque passibilitas, sed quaedam habilitas ad passiones contrarias virtuti, quae scilicet sunt secundum superabundantiam et defectum. Utrumlibet autem verum sit, oportet ad acceptionem virtutis, quod fiat aliqua transmutatio secundum passiones; scilicet vel quod passiones totaliter removeantur, vel quod modificentur. Passiones autem, cum sint in appetitu sensitivo, secundum eas contingit alteratio. Relinquitur ergo quod acceptio et remotio virtutis et malitiae sit secundum aliquam alterationem.

|921. Then at (703 {{physics|7|bk246b10|246 b10}}) he shows that a change in virtue and vice is a result of some alteration. And first he proposes what he intends and says that the receiving of virtue and the removal of a vice, or vice versa, take place when something is altered in such a way that on the occasion of that alteration, there follows the receiving and loss of virtue and vice. Nevertheless, neither of these is a primary and per se alteration.  Then at (704 {{physics|7|bk246b12|246 b12}}) he proves the proposition and says that it is clear from the following that something must be altered in order that it receive or lose a vice or a virtue.  This is seen to be proved in two ways. First, according to two opinions that men have about virtue and vice. For the Stoics declared that virtues are impassibilities and that no virtue can exist in the soul unless all the passions of the soul are first removed, i.e., fear, hope, and so on, For they said that such passions are disturbances and ailments of the soul, whereas virtue is a peaceful and healthy state of soul. Accordingly, they said that the very capacity to undergo emotion is an evil or vice of the soul.  However, the opinion of the Peripatetics, derived from Aristotle, is that virtue consists in a defined control of the passions. For a moral virtue establishes a mean in the passions, as is said in Ethics II. And according to this, even the vice opposed to a virtue is not any kind of passibility at all, but a certain inclination to the passions contrary to the virtue, which are reckoned in terms of excess and defect.  Now, whichever may be true, the reception of virtue depends on some modification in the realm of the passions, i.e., either that the passions be entirely removed or that they be controlled. But the passions themselves, since they exist in the sense appetite, are subject to alteration. What remains, therefore, is that the receiving and loss of virtue and vice occur as a result of an alteration.  

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|{{a|lib7l6n4|lib. 7 l. 6 n. 4}} Secundo ibi: et totam moralem etc., probat idem sic. Omnis virtus moralis consistit in aliqua delectatione et tristitia: non enim est iustus, qui non gaudet iustis operationibus et tristatur de contrariis, et simile est in aliis virtutibus moralibus. Et hoc ideo, quia omnis appetitivae virtutis, in qua est virtus moralis, operatio terminatur ad delectationem et tristitiam; cum delectatio consequatur ex adeptione eius in quod appetitus fertur, tristitia vero ex superventione eius quod appetitus refugit. Unde concupiscens vel sperans delectatur, quando consequitur quod concupiscit vel sperat; et similiter iratus quando punit; timens vero et odiens tristatur, quando supervenit malum quod refugit. Omnis autem tristitia et delectatio vel est secundum actum de re praesenti, vel per memoriam de re praeterita, vel per spem de futuro. Si ergo sit delectatio secundum actum, huius delectationis causa est sensus: non enim conveniens coniunctum delectationem faceret, si non sentiretur. Similiter autem si sit delectatio per memoriam vel per spem, hoc a sensu procedit, dum vel reminiscimur quales voluptates passi sumus secundum sensum in praeterito, vel dum speramus quales patiemur in futuro. Ex quo patet quod delectatio et tristitia secundum partem sensitivam est, in qua alteratio accidit, ut supra dictum est. Si ergo virtus moralis et malitia opposita in delectatione et tristitia est; secundum delectationem autem et tristitiam alterari contingit: sequitur quod acceptio et remotio virtutis et malitiae sit consequenter ad aliquam alterationem. Sed notandum, quod signanter dixit totam virtutem moralem in delectationibus et tristitiis esse, ad differentiam intellectualis virtutis, quae etiam suam delectationem habet: sed illa delectatio non est secundum sensum; unde nec contrarium habet, nec secundum eam alterari contingit, nisi metaphorice.

|922. Then at (705 {{physics|7|bk246b20|246 b20}}) he proves the same thing in this way: Every moral virtue consists in some delight or sadness—for a person is not just unless he enjoys just works and becomes sad at their contrary; and the same is true of the other moral virtues. The reason for this is that the activity of every appetitive power, in which moral virtue exists, is terminated at delight or sadness, since delight follows upon the attainment of what the appetite seeks and sorrow upon the attainment of what the appetite dislikes. Hence, a person who desires or hopes is delighted when he attains what he desires or hopes. In like manner, the angry person is delighted, when he punishes. On the other hand, one who fears or hates something becomes sad when the evil he sought to escape occurs. But all sadness and delight are caused either by the actual presence of a thing or by the memory of a past thing or by hope of a future thing. Therefore, if delight concerns an actual present thing, the cause of this delight is a sense, for an agreeable thing does not delight unless it be sensed. Likewise, if the delight is based on memory or on hope, it proceeds from a sense, as when we remember sense pleasures we experienced in the past, or ones we hope to experience in the future. From which it is clear that delight and sadness are based on the soul’s sensitive part, in which alteration occurs, as was said above. If, therefore, delight and sadness are involved in moral virtue and moral vice and it is possible to undergo alteration in respect of delight and sadness, then it follows that the reception and loss of virtue and vice are consequent upon some alteration.  It is significant that he said the whole of moral virtue consists in delights and sadnesses, in order to distinguish it from intellectual virtues, which also have their own delight. But that delight is not according to sense. Consequently, it has no contrary, nor can there be alteration in respect to it, except in a metaphorical sense.  

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|{{a|lib7l6n5|lib. 7 l. 6 n. 5}} Deinde cum dicit: at vero neque etc., ostendit quod alteratio non est in parte animae intellectiva. Et primo probat hoc in generali; secundo in speciali, ibi: neque igitur actus et cetera. Circa primum inducit talem rationem. Sciens maxime dicitur ad aliquid, scilicet ad scibile, cuius assimilatio in sciente, scientia est. Hoc autem sic probat. In nullo alio genere contingit quod aliquid de novo adveniat alicui absque eius mutatione, nisi in ad aliquid: fit enim aliquid aequale alicui, ipso non mutato, sed altero. Videmus autem quod nulla mutatione facta in potentia intellectiva, fit scientia, sed solum existente quodam in sensitiva parte: quia scilicet ex experientia particularium, quae pertinent ad sensitivam partem, accipimus scientiam universalis in intellectu, ut probatur in I Metaphys. et in II posteriorum. Cum igitur in ad aliquid non sit motus, ut supra probatum est, sequitur quod non sit alteratio in acceptione scientiae.

|923. Then at (706 {{physics|7|bk247b1|247 b1}}) he shows that alteration is not found in the intellectual part of the soul.  First he proves this in general;  Secondly, more in detail, at 924.  In regard to the first (706 {{physics|7|bk247b1|247 b1}}) he gives this argument. Knowing is especially spoken of as in relation “to something else,” i.e., to the knowable, the likeness of which, existing in the knower, is science. This he now proves: It is only in “to something” (relation), and in no other genus, that something happens to a thing without its being changed; for something can become “equal” to something else without itself being changed, the other alone having been changed. Now we can see that even though no change occurs in the intellectual power, knowledge begins to exist in it—for merely on the occasion of something existing in the sensitive part science comes to be. In effect, from experiencing particular things, which pertain to the sensitive part, we receive knowledge of the universal in the intellect, as is proved in Metaphysics I and in Posterior Analytics II. Therefore, since there is no motion in “to something,” as was proved above, it follows that there is no alteration involved in receiving science.  

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|{{a|lib7l6n6|lib. 7 l. 6 n. 6}} Deinde cum dicit: neque igitur actus etc., ostendit quod non sit in parte intellectiva alteratio, in speciali. Et primo quantum ad considerationem iam habentis scientiam, quae est scientiae usus; secundo quantum ad primam scientiae acceptionem, ibi: quae autem ex principio et cetera. Dicit ergo primo, quod ex quo in parte intellectiva non est alteratio, non potest dici quod ipse actus scientiae, qui est consideratio, sit generatio, nisi etiam aliquis dicat quod exterior inspectio oculi, et ipsum tangere, sint generationes quaedam. Sicut enim visio est actus visivae potentiae, et tangere est actus tactivae potentiae, ita et consideratio est actus potentiae intellectivae. Actus autem non dicit generationem alicuius principii, sed magis processum a principio activo. Unde ipsum intelligere non est generatio vel alteratio. Tamen nihil prohibet aliquem actum consequi generationem vel alterationem; sicut ad generationem ignis sequitur quod calefaciat. Et similiter ad immutationem sensus a sensibili sequitur ipsum videre vel tangere.

|924. Then at (707 {{physics|7|bk247b7|247 b7}}) he shows in detail that there is no alteration in the intellectual part.  First in the case of one who already has science and speculates upon it, which is to use science;  Secondly, in the case of one who receives fresh science, at 925  He says therefore first that, although there is no alteration in the intellectual part of the soul, it cannot be said that the use of science, which is to consider, is a type of generation, any more than we can say that when the eye externally regards an object or when one touches, there is generation. For just as seeing is the act of the visual, and touching is the act of the tactual, potency, so to consider is an act of the intellectual potency. Now, act does not imply that a principle is being generated, but rather that there is a proceeding from some active principle. Consequently, to understand is neither generation nor alteration. However, there is nothing to prevent an act from following upon generation and alteration, as, subsequent to its generation, fire heats, In like manner, on the occasion of a sense being altered by the sensible, the act of seeing or touching occurs.  

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|{{a|lib7l6n7|lib. 7 l. 6 n. 7}} Deinde cum dicit: quae autem ex principio etc., ostendit quod in acceptione scientiae non est generatio vel alteratio. Quidquid enim advenit alicui per solam quietationem et residentiam aliquarum perturbationum vel motionum, non advenit per generationem et alterationem: sed scientia, quae est cognitio speculativa, et prudentia, quae est ratio practica, adveniunt animae per quietationem et residentiam corporalium motionum et sensibilium passionum: non ergo scientia et prudentia adveniunt animae per generationem vel alterationem. Ad huius autem rationis manifestationem subiungit exempla. Ponatur quod aliquis habens scientiam dormiat vel inebrietur aut infirmetur, manifestum est quod non potest uti scientia et operari secundum eam: sed manifestum est quod quando perturbatio praedicta quiescit, et mens redit ad statum suum, tunc potest uti scientia, et secundum eam agere. Et tamen non dicimus quod cum dormiens excitatur, aut ebrius quiescit, aut animus infirmantis ad debitum ordinem per sanitatem reducitur, quod tunc factus sit sciens, quasi scientia de novo generata sit in ipso; quia inerat ei potentia habitualis ad congruitatem scientiae, idest ut reduceretur ad congruum statum quo uti scientia posset. Dicit autem quod tale aliquid contingit cum aliquis a principio acquirit scientiam. Videtur enim hoc fieri per hoc quod fit quaedam quietatio et residentia turbationis, idest inordinatarum motionum; quae pueris insunt, tum secundum corpus, quia natura tota est in mutatione propter augmentum; tum etiam secundum partem sensitivam, quia in eis passiones dominantur. Unde hoc quod dicit quies, potest referri ad turbationem corporalis motus, quae quiescit natura veniente ad statum: quod autem dicit residentia, potest referri ad passiones partis sensitivae, quae non totaliter quiescunt, sed resident; ex hoc scilicet quod deprimuntur sub ratione, non autem usque ad perturbandam rationem ascendunt; sicut dicimus residentiam in liquoribus, quando id quod est faeculentum descendit inferius, et id quod est superius remanet purum. Haec est igitur causa quare iuvenes non possunt addiscere, capiendo ea quae ab aliis dicuntur; neque per interiores sensus possunt iudicare de auditis aut de quibuscumque eorum cognitioni occurrentibus, ita bene sicut seniores vel presbyteri (quod idem est: nam presbyter in Graeco idem est quod senior in Latino). Et hoc ideo, quia multa perturbatio et multus motus est circa ipsos iuvenes, ut dictum est. Sed huiusmodi turbatio totaliter tollitur, vel etiam mitigatur, aliquando quidem a natura, sicut quando pervenitur ad statum senectutis, in quo huiusmodi motus quiescunt; aliquando autem ab aliquibus aliis causis, sicut ab exercitio et consuetudine: et tunc possunt bene addiscere et iudicare. Et inde est quod exercitium virtutum moralium, per quas huiusmodi passiones refraenantur, multum valet ad scientiam acquirendam. Sive ergo per naturam, sive per exercitium virtutis turbatio passionum quiescat, attenditur in hoc quaedam alteratio, cum passiones huiusmodi sint secundum partem sensitivam; sicut etiam est aliqua alteratio corporalis, cum dormiens surgit et fit vigilans, procedens ad actum. Ex quo patet quod acceptio scientiae non est alteratio, sed sequitur alterationem. Ex hoc autem ulterius universaliter concludit, quod alteratio est in sensibus exterioribus, et in sensibilibus, et in tota parte animae sensitiva (quod dicit propter passiones interiores): sed in nulla alia parte animae est alteratio, nisi per accidens.

|925. Then at (708 {{physics|7|bk247b9|247 b9}}) he shows that there is not generation and alteration when science is newly received.  For whatever accrues to a thing solely through the subsiding of certain disturbances and motions does not accrue through generation and alteration. But science, which is speculative knowledge, and prudence, which is practical reason, accrue to the soul through the subsiding of bodily motions and sensible passions. Therefore, neither science nor prudence accrue to the soul through generation and alteration.  To elucidate this argument he gives examples. For let us suppose that some person who possesses science is asleep or drunk or sick. It is clear that he cannot at such a time use his science and act according to it. But it is also clear that, when the disturbance subsides and the mind returns to its normal state, he can then use his science and act according to it, Yet, we do not say that when a sleeping person is awakened, or someone drunk becomes sober, or when the life of a sick person is restored to due order by health, that he then becomes a knower as though science were newly generated in him, for there already existed in him a habitual potency “to the congruousness of science,” i.e., to be restored to a congruous state in which he could use his science.  Now, he says that something like that happens when a person newly acquires science. For this seems to take place on account of a certain quieting and subsiding of “turbulence,” i.e., of disordered motions, which are present in boys both in respect of their bodies, because their whole nature is undergoing change by reason of growing, and in respect of their sensitive part, because in them the passions rule.  Hence when he says “quieting,” he seems to be referring to disturbances of the body, which are calmed when nature arrives to full estate; and when he rays “subsiding,” he seems to refer to the passions of the sensitive part, which are not completely at rest but subside by reason of their being controlled by reason to the extent that they do not disturb the reason. It is in this way that we say that certain liquids have subsided when the dregs descend to the bottom and what is pure remains at the top.  Why is it that youths cannot learn by taking in what is said by others, and why is it they cannot with their internal senses judge about what they hear or somehow comes to their knowledge, as well as older persons can? It is because the former are subject to many disturbances and many commotions, as we said. But disturbances of this sort can be entirely removed or at least mitigated, sometimes by nature, as when a person reaches old age, in which motions of this kind are put to rest, and sometimes by other causes such as by training and habit. It is then that they can learn and judge well. That is why the exercising of the moral virtues, through which passions of this kind are bridled, is of great value in acquiring science.  Therefore, whether the passions are made to subside by the exercise of virtue or by nature, an alteration is involved, since these passions are located in the sensitive part, just as an alteration takes place in the body when a sleeping person arises, and becomes awake, and starts to act.  From this it is clear that newly to acquire science is not an alteration but is a consequence of an alteration.  From this, however, he further concludes universally that alteration can occur in the external senses, in sensible bodies, and in the entire sensitive part of the soul (which he says on account of the interior passions), but in no other part of the soul, except per accidens.  

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|{{a|lib7l6n8|lib. 7 l. 6 n. 8}} Quod autem Aristoteles hic de acceptione scientiae dicit, videtur esse secundum Platonicam opinionem. Posuit enim Plato quod sicut formae separatae sunt causae generationis et existentiae rerum naturalium, per hoc quod materia corporalis participat aliqualiter huiusmodi formas separatas; ita etiam sunt causa scientiae in nobis, per hoc quod anima nostra eas aliqualiter participat; ita quod ipsa participatio formarum separatarum in anima nostra est scientia. Sic enim verum erit quod accipitur scientia a principio, non per generationem alicuius scientiae in anima, sed solum per quietationem corporalium et sensibilium passionum, quibus impediebatur anima scientia uti. Sic etiam verum erit quod nulla mutatione facta in intellectu, ad solam praesentiam sensibilium quorum experientiam accipimus, fit homo sciens, sicut de relativis accidit; quia sensibilia secundum hoc non sunt necessaria ad scientiam, nisi ut ab eis quodammodo anima excitetur. Aristotelis autem opinio est, quod scientia fit in anima per hoc quod species intelligibiles, abstractae per intellectum agentem, recipiuntur in intellectu possibili, ut dicitur in III de anima. Unde et ibidem dicitur quod intelligere est quoddam pati; licet alia sit passibilitas sensus et intellectus. Nec est inconveniens quod Aristoteles hac opinione Platonis utatur. Est enim suae consuetudinis quod antequam probet suam sententiam, utatur sententia aliorum; sicut in tertio usus est quod omne corpus sensibile habet gravitatem vel levitatem, secundum opinionem Platonis; cuius contrarium ipse ostendet in I de caelo.

|926. What Aristotle says here about receiving science seems to agree with Plato’s opinion. For Plato taught that just as separated forms are the cause of the generation and existence of natural things, in the sense that corporeal matter participates these separated forms in some way, so also they are the cause of science in us, for our soul somehow participates of them, in such a way that it is the very participation of separated forms in our soul which is science. In this way, it will be true that science is newly acquired, not by its being generated in the soul, but merely by the subsiding of bodily and sensitive passions, which prevented the soul from using its science. And in this way it will also be true that even though no change occurs in the intellect, a man becomes a knower by the mere presence of the sensible things of which he has experience, as occurs in relative things. This means that sensible things are not required for knowledge except for the purpose of arousing the soul.  However, Aristotle’s opinion is that science comes to be in the soul through the intelligible species, abstracted by the agent intellect, being received in the possible intellect, as is said in On the Soul III. For which reason, he says in the same place that to understand is certain “undergoing” (passio), although the way the intellect “undergoes” differs from the way the senses do.  It is not unfitting that Aristotle should here make use of the opinion of Plato. For it is his custom to make use of the opinions of others before giving his own, just as in Book III he used Plato’s opinion that every sensible body has heaviness or lightness, the contrary of which he will prove in On the Heavens I.  

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|{{a|lib7l6n9|lib. 7 l. 6 n. 9}} Salvantur tamen et hae rationes secundum opinionem Aristotelis. Ad cuius evidentiam considerandum est, quod susceptivum aliquod tripliciter potest se habere ad formam suscipiendam. Quandoque enim est in ultima dispositione ad susceptionem formae, nullo impedimento existente nec in ipso nec in alio: et tunc statim ad praesentiam activi, susceptivum recipit formam absque aliqua alteratione, sicut patet in aere illuminato ad praesentiam solis. Aliquando autem susceptivum non est in ultima dispositione ad susceptionem formae: et tunc per se requiritur alteratio, secundum quam materia dispositionem acquirat ut sit propria huic formae, sicut cum de aere fit ignis. Aliquando vero susceptivum est in ultima dispositione ad formam, sed adest aliquod impedimentum, sicut cum aer impeditur ad susceptionem luminis, vel per clausionem fenestrae, vel per nebulas: et tunc requiritur alteratio vel mutatio per accidens, quae removeat prohibens. Intellectus ergo possibilis secundum se consideratus, semper est in ultima dispositione ad recipiendam speciem intelligibilem. Si ergo non sit impedimentum, statim ad praesentiam obiectorum per experimentum acceptorum, advenit ei species intelligibilis, sicut speculo forma specularis ad praesentiam corporis; et secundum hoc procedit prima eius ratio, qua dixit scientiam esse ad aliquid. Si vero sit impedimentum, sicut in iuvenibus accidit, oportet huiusmodi impedimenta auferri ad hoc quod species intelligibilis in intellectu recipiatur; et sic per accidens necessaria est alteratio.

|927. Nevertheless, these arguments based on the opinion of Aristotle are saved. To make this clear it must be considered that a receiver can be related in three ways to a form that is to be received.  For sometimes the receiver is in the final disposition for the reception of the form and no impediments exist either in it or in anything else. Under these conditions, as soon as the active principle is present, the receiver accepts the form without any further alteration, as is evident when air is illumined, the sun being present,  But sometimes the receiver is not in the final disposition required for receiving the form. In that case a per se alteration is required to put into the matter a disposition for this particular form, as, for example, when fire comes to be from air.  Sometimes the receiver is in the final disposition for the form but an obstacle is present, as when air is prevented from receiving light either by closing a shutter, or by the presence of clouds. In these cases, an alteration or changed is required per accidens, i.e., the removal of the obstacle.  Now the possible intellect, considered in itself, is always in the final disposition for receiving the intelligible species. Therefore, if there be no obstacle, then, whenever there are present objects received through experience, there will arise in the intellect an intelligible species, just as an image will appear in a mirror when a body is present. It was on this basis that Aristotle took his first argument, in which he said that science is “to something.” However, if there be an obstacles as happens in youths, then these obstacles must be removed in order to allow the intelligible species to be received in the intellect. In this case an alteration is necessary per accidens.  

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==Notes==
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