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1
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THE METAPHYSICS
OF
THE SCHOOL
VOL. II.
Die
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\ftSK
OXFORD:
BT S. PICKABD HALL, M.A., AND J. H. 8TACT,
PRINTERS TO THB UNIVERSITY.
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THE METAPHYSICS
OF
THE SCHOOL
BY
THOMAS HARPER
s. J.
VOL. IL
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MACMILLAN AND CO.
1881
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PREFACE.
The author thinks it necessary to remind his readers that
ihe Scholastic doctrine touching the genesis and constitution
of material substances necessarily includes a consideration of
the efficient cause, without which it cannot be completely
understood. This important Chapter in the Book on Causes
will occupy the greater part of the next Volume; not only
because it is fruitful of important metaphysical questions, but
likewise because it offers the most appropriate place for con-
sidering the harmony that exists between the metaphysics of
the School and the latest physical discoveries.
He takes occasion to notice an error which has inadvertently
been allowed to appear in the first Volume. It occurs in the
sixty-fifth Proposition, (Book III, Ch. ii, art. 4, p. 347). An
illustration is there given, as foUows: *In like manner, water
is composed of oxygen and hydrogen ; a Mode is, consequently y
required for the combination of these twoy in order to the evolution
of a new siibstantial Form,* The statement in Italics is not
true; since the combination is the evolution of the form of
water and the corruption of the oxygen and hydrogen. A
mode is, therefore, neither necessary nor possible.
There are two clerical errors in the same Volume, which
might cause perplexity. In p. 204, 1. 9, 'perfection' should be
'perception*; and in the same page, 1. 25, 'division' should be
'indivision.'
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CONTENTS.
PAGE
BOOK IV.
Principles of Being.
CHAPTEE I.
Introduction "3J5
CHAPTEE II.
THE TWO KINDS OF SCIENTIEIO PRINCIPLEa
Propofiition Cjlvi. Immediate analytical Judgments
are in themselyes universal 6, 7
Propofiition CXVII. Singular synthetical, or empirical,
Judgments cannot in any way become universal . . 8
Proposition CXVIII. Particular empirical Judgments,
which are the foundation of legitimate induction, are
capable of assuming a sort of moral universality, not on
the strength of the induction, but by virtue of some
analytical Principle 8-10
CHAPTEE III.
ANALYTICAL PRINCIPLES.
Proposition CXIX. The Principle of causality (which may
be thus enunciated : Inceptive or contingent Being neces-
sarily supposes its efficient cause) is analytical. Hence,
the concept of an efficient cause is essentially contained
in the idea of change, or of the possible . . i T-18
Difficulties 19-28
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viii Contents.
PAGE
The ultimate Principle in order of reduction : — Explanation 28
Proposition CXX. The Principle of identity, taken in
its obvious meaning, cannot be a Principle at all . 28-31
Fropoeition CXXI. The Principle of identity, if under-
stood in a sense not tautological, cannot be the ultimate
Principle in order of reduction 3^-37
Difficulties 37-42
Proposition CXXU. The Principle of equality cannot
be the ultimate Principle in order of reduction . . 42-*46
Proposition CXXiy. The so-called Principle, — Being
creates existences, — ^is not the ultimate in order of re-
duction 46-49
Proposition CXXIV. The Principle of contradiction is
the ultimate in order of reduction .... 49-51
Difficulties, chiefly taken from Sir William Hamilton 51-60
CHAPTER IV.
EXPERIMENTAL PRINCIPLES.
Intboductory 61-65
Proposition CXXV. The Judgment which may be thus
expressed : — Those material entities, which act, according
to the same physical law or under the same natural im-
pulsion will ordinarily under similar circumstances and
conditions produce similar effects; — b analytical 65-77
Difficulties 77-85
Proposition CXXVI. By virtue of the Principle of caus-
ality, as supplying a sufficient motive for the application
of the analytical Judgment, announced in the preceding
Thesis, .to specified physical phenomena ; certain empirical
Judgments assume a moral universality which makes them
physically certain, and are thereby elevated to the rank
of experimental axioms 85-89
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Contents, ix
CHAPTER V.
THE SYNTHETICAL i PRIOBI JUDGMENTS OF KANT.
PA6B
The philosophy of Descartes in its relation to the modem
critical philosophy 90-92
The philosophies of Locke and, more particularly, of
Hnme, considered in their bearing on the subsequent
Kantian theory 92-103
Kant*s efforts at reconstruction 103
His doctrine purely subjective 104
Animadversions on his terminology . . ... 104-108
^vjoimaxj o{\i\& Critique of pure reason 108-120
Animadversions on his system 120-125
Proposition CXXVU. Synthetical d, jyriori Judgments
are impossible 125-130
Difficulties, embracing the instances given by Kant . 130-142
BOOK V.
Causes of Being.
CHAPTER I.
CAUSES OF BEING IN GENERAL.
Article I. Frinoipiant and Prinoipiate.
Introductory remarks 1 45-1 50
Proposition CXXVIII. Between the Principiant and
the Principiate there subsists a true relation . . 150
Proposition CXXIX. The Principiant and Principiate
are really distinguished from each other . . . 150
Proposition CXXX. A Principiant has always a priority
of some sort over its Principiate . . .151-153
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X Contents.
PAGE
Article II. Cause.
Introduction, i. DefiDition of Ci^uBe, — certain animad-
versions on Balmez. 2 States of Cause. 3. Com-
parison between Principiant and Cause. 4. The relation
of Cause to the Categories 1 53-167
A. What is the nature of a Cause considered with reference
to its Effect? 157
Proposition CXXXI. Between a Cause and its Effect
there exists a relation at least not mutual . . 157, 15'
Fropositibn CXXXTI. Not only is the relation of tlie
Cause really distinguished from the relation which is
in the Eftect ; but in like manner the absolute entity of
the Cause is really distinguished from the absolute entii^
of the Effect 158,159
Proposition CXXXIH. A Cause is prior in order of
nature, but not necessarily in order of time, to its Effect 159-162
Proposition CXXXTV. A Cause in its second act is
simultaneous with its Effect . 162
B. What is the determinate concept of an Effect 1 .162,163
C. What is precisely that which is called the influx, or <
causality of tlie Cause ? 163
Proposition CXXXV. Causality in the Cause is a certain
reality whose existence is either absolutely or conditionally
necessary, as well as sufficient, for the existence of the
Effect 163-166
' Proposition CXXXV 1. Causal influx or causality, con-
sidered as something real in the Effect, is a mode of
imperfect existence or without intrinsic and absolute
necessity, which is called dependence ; by virtue of which
an entity exists after such a manner that it could not
exist without the active influence of a Cause ; but, that
influence of the Cause once given, it not only can, but
does actually exist 167
Proposition CXXXVII. Causality in the Cause is really
distinct from the predicamental relation of the Cause to
its Effect ; and, in like manner, passive causal influx is
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Contents. \\
really distinct from the predicameDtal relation of the
Effect to its Cause 167-169
Summary 169^ 170
Abticle III. Diyision of Causes.
Proposition CXXXVIII. The commonly received divi-
sion of Causes into the Material, Formal, Efficient, Final,
is true and adequate ...... 170-182
CHAPTEK II.
THE MATERIAL CAUSE.
PAGE
Introduction. Modern prejudice against the Scholastic
doctrine touching the essential constituents of material
substances. One reason of this prejudice . . . 183-187
Article I. Primordial Matter.
Prolegomenon i — Nature of the Material Cause. Prole-
gomenon 2 — Division of the same. Prolegomenon 3 —
Subdivision of Matter ovi of which. Prolegomenon 4 —
Meaning of PrtTTionfto/ Matter . . . .187-189
§ I. Existence and characteristics of Primordial Matter.
Proposition CXXXIX. In all bodily Substance there is
a primordial Subject of substantial changes . . 189-195
Proposition CXL. The Material Cause of all bodies is
one only . . . * 195-199
Proposition CXLI. The Primordial Material Cause of
bodily entities is not a complete substance . 199-203
§ 2. Real entity of Primordial Matter.
Proposition CXIiII. It is certain that the Primordial
Material Cause of bodily substance, actually informed,
has a certain real and substantial entity really distinct
from the entity of its substantial form . . 204-206
Proposition CXLIII. The Primordial Material Cause of
bodily substance has its own actual essence ; yet not
without intrinsic and necessary relation to the form 206-208
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xii Contents.
PAGE
Proposition CXLIV. In the substautial composite the
Primordial Matter of bodily subetance has, in and of
itself, an actuality of existence really distinct from the
existence of the substantial form ; nevertheless, it is
essentially dependent on the form for its existence . 208-209
Fropo€dtion CXLV. Although Primordial Matter is
not in such sense a pure potentiality as to exclude meta-
physical, and some sort of entitative act in the composite ;
nevertheless, in respect of the informing act as likewise
in comparison with act simply and absolutely so called,
it is truly and properly denominated a pure potentiality 209-2 1 5
(Prolegomenon i. Division and subdivision, with explana-
tion, of potenticditi/. Prolegomenon 2. The same, as
regards the term act)
§ 3. The doctrine of St. Thomas touching Primordial Matter
as corroborative of the Propositions contained in the
preceding Sections 215-226
§ 4. Difficulties, which are divided into three classes.
A. The principal rival theories.
1. The Atomic 227-233
2. The Elemental 233, 234
3. The Dynamic 234-243
4. The Chemico-elemental (or Chemico-atomic) . 243-248
B. Objections to the doctrine of the School . 248-261
C. Objections to particular Propositions . . . 261-271
Article n. The oausality'of Primordial Matter.
Prefiatory remarks ....... 271-273
§ I. The Effects of the Material Cause.
Propoisdtion CXLVI. Passive generation is caused by the
.Matter as a passage to the Effect rather than as an effect
itself 273-282
Propoisdtion CXLVII. The substantial form, if educed
from the potentiality of Matter, is an effect of the Mate-
rial Cause 282, 283
Proposition CXLVIII. The information of Matter by
the substantial form is an effect of the Material Cause 283, 284
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Contenis. xiii
PAGE
Fropoflition CXLIX. The composite is an effect of the
Material Cause 284
PrppooLtioii CL. The integral composite is the adequate,
and, in order of intention, the information of Matter by
its substantial form the proximate, and (as it were) formal,
effect of the Material Cause. Passive generation and the
educing of the form are prerequisites, though in a dif-
ferent order, of the proximate as well as of the primary
and adequate effect . 284-287
§ 2. By what does Matter cause ?
Prefatory remarks 288, 289
PropoBition CLI. Principally alike and proximately.
Primordial Matter intrinsically causes its effect by virtue
of its own entity 289,290
Propofiition CLII. The existence of the Material Cause
is not a necessary condition of its causality . . 290, 291
Fropoisdtion CI»III. For similar reasons indistance from
the substantial form is not merely a necessary condition
of the actual influx of the Material Cause ; since it is
essential to such influx 291, 292
Fropositioii CLIV. Though it is more probable that
quantity is naturally inseparable from Matter, and al-
though the quantification of Matter is a necessary condi-
tion of generation in order that the agent may be enabled
to communicate the generating motion ; nevertheless,
quantity is not absolutely and formally necessary to the
causality of Matter 292-295
§ 3. What is the causality of Matter 1
Prefatory remarks 295
Fropoflition CLV. The actual causality of the Material
Cause, considered in relation to the generating change, is
simply and exclusively passive generation. It is mme-
diatdy such, in respect of the generating motion itself;
mediately such, relatively to the educing of the Form, the
uniting of form and Matter, as well as the producing of
the composite 296-299
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xiv Contents.
PAOI
Proposition CI»VI. The caasality of the Material Cause,
considered in relation to the complete union of form and
Matter as well as to the composite in its perfected consti-
tution, is its sustenance of the form as informing 299, 300
Difficulties ........ 300-303
Article IU. The Material Cause of Aooidents.
Prefatory remarks 303-306
§ I. Is there a Material Cause of accidents ? If so, in what
sense 1
Proposition CLVII. There is a Material Cause of acci-
dents . . . 306-310
Proposition CLVIII. Accident, considered in the ab-
stract, does not admit of a Material Cause in its own
essential constitution ; but, considered in the concrete, it
postulates a Material Cause with which it enters intrin-
sically into composition . 310-312
Difficulties 3»3-3iS
Proposition CLIX. Accident, by virtue of its own entity
considered apart and in the abstract, postulates a Material
Cause, in order that it may be sustained in its being.
Such Material Cause is equally requisite for the pro-
ducing, as for the perfected production of accident; though
it is extrinsic to the entity of accident itself . . 318-320
§. 2. What is the Material Cause of accidents, and what the
nature of its causality?
Proposition CLX. Substance is the primary and funda-
mental Material Cause of accident . . . 320
Proposition CLXI. Any integrating part of bodily sub-
stance can separately be the Material Cause of accident 320-322
Proposition CLXII. Substance in virtue of its own
potentiality, without the addition of any accidental or
modal entity really distinct from itself, is the Material
Cause of accident. Otherwise : Substance receives acci-
dent immediately in itself 322-324
Difficulty 324-334
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Contents. xv
PAOB
§ 3. Since corporal substance is a Material Cause of acci-
dents; what relation does the accidental form bear to
the two substantial components. Matter and form 1
Intboductiox 334-336
Fropositioii CI»XIII. In the physical order Primordial
Matter, the primary substantial forms, with the quantity
and qualities connatural with each composite substance,
were concreated in actual union ; and thus constituted
the elementary bodies, out of the various combinations of
which all other material substances have been formed . 336, 337
Proposition CLXIV. Primordial Matter cannot solely
or exclusively be the Material Cause of quantity, which is
no other than the complete substance . . 33^-343
Difficulties 343-362
Proposition CLXV. Though the human soul, as such,
in its own essential nature is incapable of being informed
by quantity; yet, as form or act of the body, — that is to
say, as united with the body, — it is both virtually, and in
part potentially, dependent upon quantity and informed
by it . 352-357
Difficulties 358-362
Proposition CLXVI. Though the complete composite
is the Material Cause of both quantity and qualities ; yet
quantity is with reason said to follow the Matter rather
than the form, while quality is said to follow the form
rather than the Matter 362
Proposition CLXVII. No accident remains numerically
the same in the generated, as in the corrupted substance ;
although accidents may remain specifically and sensibly
the same, provided that their entity is connatural with
the newly generated substance 363
Proposition CLXVIII. In substantial transformations
and generations, the quantity of the corrupted substance
does not pass away, but receives a new actuation with the
generation of the new composite. The same is true of
connatural qualities ....... 363
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xvi Contents.
PAGE
Fropofiitioii CLXIX. The doctrine embodied in the
preceding Propositions of this Section is confirmed by the
authority of the Angelic Doctor .... 363-380
§ 4. Can one accident be the Material Cause of another %
Proposition CLXX. One accident can be the proximate
Subject of another accident and, consequently, can exercise
a proper material causality in relation to it . . 381-383
§ 5. Can simple or spiritual substance be Material Cause of
accidents 1
Propositioii CLXXT. It is not in the i^ture of spiritual
substance to admit a Material Cause of which itself is in-
trinsically composed 383
Fropoisdtion CLXXII. Spiritual subsisting, or complete,
substance can be the Material Cause of accidents propor-
tioned to its nature 383, 384
Fropoisdtion CLXXTTI. Spiritual form, though an in-
complete substance, is capable of being the Material Cause
of accidents proportioned to its nature . . . 384
CHAPTER III.
THE FORMAL CAUSE.
Article I. Form in general and its divisions.
Introduction 385-390
Proposition CLXXIV. Every Form is an act . . 390-397
Proposition CLXXV. Every Form is properly a Cause,
but proportioned to the nature of the composite ■ 397-401
Division of Forms 401, 402
Synopsis of the questions to be discussed . . 402
Article II. The existence of material sub-
stantial Forms.
Introduction 403~405
Proposition CLXXVI. Substantial Forms exist in
nature . . 405""423
Difficulties 423""468
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PAGE
Article III. The eduction of bodily substan-
tial Forms out of the potentiality of
matter.
Prefatory remarks 458, 459
Proposition CLXXVII. Since the substantial Forms of
bodies are acts of primordial matter and have no inde-
pendent existence ; it is metaphysically impossible that
they should become the single term of either creative or
productive action 459-4^3
Proposition CLXXVTII. Since the substantial Forms
of bodies are exclusively acts of matter and have no inde-
pendent subsistence of their own ; they are not, absolutely
speaking, beings in themselves, but are rather causes of
being in .another 4^3-47'
Proposition CLXXTX. A substantial bodily Form exists
for the first time in the instant of passive generation ; but
this newness of existence is absolutely and adequately pre-
dicated of the integral composite, only relatively and
inadequately of the Form 47^-473
Proposition CLXXX. The educibility of the substantial
Form from the potentiality of matter consists, on the part
of the material cause, in a priority of nature relatively to,
a natural aptitude for, and a virtual, or potential, inclusion
of, such Form in the matter itself .... 473-483
Proposition CLXXXI. The educibility of the Form
from the potentiality of matter designates, on the part of
the Form, an essential dependence upon the matter for
its so-called production as well as for its partial sub-
sistence 483-485
Corollaries, (i) touching the creation of the elements. (2)
touching the relation of matter to its substantial ForniP.
(3) touching retrograde generation and the meaning of
the phrase that a Form recedes into the potentiality of
the matter. (4) touching the human soul . . 485-487
DiPFiciTLTiKS 487-490
VOL. II. b
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xviii Conleuts.
FACE
Proposition CLXXXTI> The eduction of the Form from
the potentiality of matter is due to the action of some
efficient cause 490, 491
Proposition CLXXXIII. The eduction of the Form out
of the potentiality of matter does not necessitate a pri-
ority of matter over the Form in order of time ; since it
suffices that there should be a priority of nature . 492-495
Proposition CLXXXTV, In the creation of the pri-
mordial elements the Form was educed from the potenti-
ality of matter. Hence, the infinitely simple Operation
by which these elements were created was equivalent to
that which may be considered as two partial actions, one
of which we may conceive as terminated to the concre-
ation of matter, the other to a concreative eduction of the
Form 496-503
Proposition CLXXXV. The action by which the Form
is educed from the potentiality of matter and that by
which the composite is constituted are essentially one and
the same; whether the substance has been Divinely
created, or produced by the natural operation of secondary
causes 503, 504
SuMMABY 504, 505
Article IV. Substantial bodily Forms in their
relation to the order of nature.
Prefatory remarks 505-507
Proposition CLXXXVI. According to the teaching of
St. Thomas the final cause of the visible creation postu-
lates a diversity in material substances . . . 507-514
Proposition CLXXXVII. The specific diversity to be
found in material substances is essentially due to the
respective substantial Forms which determine the specific
nature of the composites 5i4'5i7
(Corollary i. On the Form as determinative of the indivi-
dual. Corollary 2. On the defect in modem zoological
classifications.)
Proposition CLXXXVm. From the diversity of Forms,
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Contents. xix
PAOX
considered in their relation to the final cause of material
substances, there necessarily flows a cosmic order . 518-520
Fropofiitioii CLXX2JX. From a diversity of Forms
there follows a diversity of natural operations . . 520-523
Fropo€dtion CXC. Diversity in the substantial Forms
postulates a parallel diversity in the material cause . 523-525
Proposition CXCI. From the diversity of Fottns there
follows a diversity in the properties and accidents of the
composite substance 525^531
Corollary. Hints towards a scientific classification in zoology
and kindred physical disciplines . . . - 531^534
Propositioii CXCII. Within the periphery of the entire
cosmic order there are four primary gradations of sub-
stantial bodily Forms. In the lowest grade are such as
constitute inanimate, in the second such m constitute
vegetable, in the third such as constitute animal, sub-
stances. The fourth and highest grade embraces the
created soul of man 534^540
Proposition CXCHI. Wit}iin each of the first three afore-
said principal gradations of Forms there are specific
diversities discoverable in ascending degrees . 541
Proposition CXCIV. From the truths enunciated in the
preceding Propositions it is reasonable to conclude, as
conducing to the completeness of cosmic unity, that there
may be substantial Forms which may serve to unite the
highest Forms of one division with the lowest Forms of
the division immediately above it, by embracing certain
characteristics of both 54I-S53
Proposition CXCV. St. Thomas teaches that in embryos
generally there is a progressive development of being ; so
that each embryo passes through the gradations of life
inferior to its own by virtue of successive Forms which
are provisional and transitory. In particular, such is his
explicit teaching with regard to the human embryo. This
theory, which is not unsupported by facts of physical ex-
perience, serves to throw fresh light on the perfection of
cosmic order as well as on the unity of the Subject . 653-5^'
b 2
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PAGE
Article V. The causality of the substantial
Form.
Intboduction 561, 562
§ I. The formal principiant of the causality of the subBtantial
Form.
Proposition CXCVI. The formal principiant of the
causality of the substantial Form is the nature of the
Form itself 562-564
§ 2. Conditions of the causality of the Form.
Proposition CXCTVU. The actual existence of the Form
cannot be reckoned among the mere necessary conditions
of its causality 564-566
Proposition CXVCni. Intimate nearness of the sub-
stantial Form to the matter is not a mere condition of the
causality of the former 566-568
Proposition CXCIX. The dispositions of the matter,
more especially those that are quantitative, are a necessary
condition of the actual causality of the substantial Form 568, 569
Difficulty 569-573
§ 3. The nature of the causality of the substantial Form.
Propo€dtion CC. There is a metaphysical distinction be-
tween the entity and the causality of the substantial Form 57 3-57 5
Difficulty 575-588
Proposition CCI. The causality of the substantial bodily
Form consists in the actual information of the matter . 588, 589
§ 4. The effects of formal causality.
Proposition CCII. The primary effect of the substantial
bodily Form is the composite 589
Difficulties 589, 590
Proposition CCIH. Matter depends upon the Form in
such wise that it cannot naturally exist without the in-
formation of the Form 590-592
Difficulty 592
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Contents, xxi
PAGB
Propofiitioii CCIV. Such natural dependence of matter
on the Form is not a mere necessary condition^ but is truly
causal 692-594
Difficulties 594-605
Fropofiitioii CCV. The existence of matter is an effect
of formal causality 606
Difficulties - 606-608
Proposition CCVI. The entity of primordial matter is
such, that not even the Divine Omnipotence could pre-
serve it in existence apart from some Form . 608-611
Difficulties 61 1-6 16
Article VI. The immediate information of
matter by the substantial Form.
Proposition CCVII. In the composition of complete
material substances, whether by Creation or by natural
generation, it is of necessity that the substantial Form
should immediately actuate the matter, — in other words,
that there should be no medium, accidental or other, be-
tween the informing Form and the informed matter . 616-627
Abticle VII. The unicity of the substantial
Form.
Intboduction 628, 629
§ I. The possibility in general of a multiplication of sub-
stantial Forms in the same substance.
Proposition CCVIII. It is naturally impossible that
more than one substantial Form should exist simultane-
ously in one and the same bodily substance . . 629-632
§ 2. The possibility of a multiplication of substantial Forms
with a subordination of the rest to one dominant Form.
Proposition CCIX. It is neither necessary nor possible
that the body-Form should co -exist actually with the
specific substantial Form in the same composite . 632, 633
Difficultihb 633, 638
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xxii Contents.
PAGE
Proposition CCX. It is neither necessary nor possible
that lower Forms of life should actually co-exist with a
higher Form of life in the same composite . . 638-640
§ 3. The posBibility of a multiplication in the same body of
substantial Forms, the rest of which are dispositions for the
principal Form.
Introductoby 640, 641
Proposition CCXI. All substantial bodily Forms in
their own partial entity are simple and unextended . 641, 642
Proposition CCXII. All material composites, constituted
by a living Form, haye parts and organs proportioned to
the natural operation and faculties of their respective
Forms 642-645
(Three Corollaries touching the relation of organization in
the body to the perfectness of the substantial Form).
Proposition CCXm. No substantial bodily Form is ab-
solutely capable of quantitative totality; although all
such Forms are presentially and functionally determined
by the quantity of the composite substance either wholly
or in part, according to the specific nature of each . 645-649
(Three Prolegomena, explaining the meaning of the terms,
quantitative totality, preserUial and functixmai determi-
nation, and absolutely, as employed in the Enunciation).
Note on the difference between entitaiive and local eoDr-
tension 649
Proposition CCXIV. That retention of life after physical
division of the organized body, which is observable in
plants and in certain lower grades of animal life, is due,
on the part of the Form, to the paucity of its faculties
and, on the part of the body, to a corresponding paucity
of its parts and organs ^49*^55
(Prolegomenon touching the question whether substantial
Forms in the composite are subject to quantitative
division).
Proposition CCXV. The teaching of St. Thomas confirms
the truth of the preceding Theses .... 655-672
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PAGB
Proposition CCXVI. The formal co-existence witb the
principal and adequate Form of certain partial substantial
Forms in one and the same body, which correspond with
the partial functions of the principal Form and are sub-
seryient to it, would be useless and is, at the least
naturally, impossible .672-674
Proposition CCXVII. The substantial Forms of the
elements do not actually remain in mixed, or compound,
substances 674-677
(Prolegomenon. Explanation of the term, mixed bodies).
§ 4. The possibility of a multiplication, in the same com-
posite, of substantial Forms which are independent of each
other.
Proposition OCX V ill. It is impossible that two or
more substantial Forms should simultaneously actuate
one and the same portion of matter . . . . 677
Article VIII. The metaphysioal Form.
Introductory explanation of t^hat is meant by mciopAy-
iical Formi 677, 678
Proposition CCXIX. The metaphysical Form is two-
fold, in accordance with a twofold metaphysical composi-
tion 678-680
Proposition CCXX. Substance is metaphysically com-
posed of its integral essence and supposit; and in such
composition the integral essence is the metaphysical Form,
while the supposit may be considered as the integral cause 680-688
Corollary. A metaphysical Form predicable, in a way, of
Accident 688
Proposition CCXXI. The metaphysical Form as consti-
tutive of an essence is the specific difference . . 688-692
Proposition CCXXII. Though the metaphysical com-
position of the essential nature with its supposit ap-
proaches more nearly to a real composition than that
which is constituted by the union of the material with
the formal part in a specific nature ; yet the specific dif-
ference approaches more nearly to the true nature of a
Form than the integral essence 692, 693
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xxiv Contents.
TAGR
Proposition CCXXIII. The nietaphyBical Form, under-
stood in either of tliese ways, exercises no formal causality 693, 694
Article IX. Accidental Forms.
§ I. The real formal causality of accidents.
Proposition CCXXIV. Accidents which have a true en-
tity of their own, distinct from that of their substantial
Subject, and intrinsically determine the latter, exercise a
true formal causality ...... 694-696
Proposition CCXXV. Accidents which only denominate
their Subject extrinsically do not exercise a true formal
causality . 697-703
(Prolegomenon on the Categories).
§ 2. The nature of the formal causality of an accident.
Proposition CCXXVI. In accidents which exercise a
real causality, the formal and proximate principiant of
causality is the entity itself of such accidental Form, as
exhibiting an essential disposition for informing its
Subject 703, 704
Proposition CCXXVII. The causality of quantity is its
actual inherence in its Subject 704
Proposition CCXXVIII. The causality of a qualitative
Form is the Form itself as essentially inherent in its im-
mediate Subject 704-707
§ 3. Effects of the formal causality of accidental Forms.
Proposition CCXXIX. The primary and adequate effect
of the formal causality of accidents is the accidental
composite 707, 708
Proposition CCXXX. The formal and proximate effect
of the causality of the accidental Form is the actuation
of the accidental potentiality of its Subject . . 708, 709
Difficulties ........ 710-714
Proposition CCXXXI. From accidental composition
there does not result an entity simi)ly or absolutely one,
for two reasons ; fir^jt, because such composition presup-
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PAOK
poses the integral constitution of the Subject that is therein
informed/ and secondly because no essential native is
capable of being perfected in itself by any whatsoever
entity of another Category 7i4» 7^5
Proposition CCXXXII. Although there can be but one
accidental Form to each accidental composite; never-
theless, many accidental Forms can actuate one and the
same substantial Subject, because by their information
they do not give absolute being to the Subject, but only
additional and adventitious being .... TiS^T^Q
(Corollary on the similarity and the dissimilarity existing
between a substantial and an accidental Form).
4. The eduction of accidental Forms out of the potentiality
of their Subject.
Proposition CCXXXIIL It is evident that accidents
which only extrinsicaUy denominate their Subject are not
educed out of the potentiality of the latter . . 7 19, 720
Proposition GCXXXIV. All accidents that in the order
of nature exercise real formal causality in their Subject
are educed out of the potentiality of that Subject . 720, 72 1
Proposition GCZXZV. Intentional qualities are educed
out of the potentiality of the Subject . . . . 721-724
(Prolegomenon, explaining what is meant by intentiondl
qualities).
DiFFiGui/nES • • 724-726
\ 5 Modes.
Proposition CCXXjlvi. Accidental modes exercise real
formal causality in their Subject . . . .726,727
(Prolegomenon touching the nature of auhstanHai and acci-
dental modes).
Proposition CCXXjlvu. Accidental modes are educed
out of the potentiality of their Subject . . . 728
Proposition CCXXXVm. Artificial Forms are simply
accidental modes. Wherefore, they exercise a real formal
causality and are educed out of the potentiality of their
Subject 728, 729
TOL. n. c
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xxvi Contents.
APPENDIX A.
PAGK
The teaching op St. Thomas touching the Genesis op the
MATE&IAL UnIYEBSE . ...... 73O-748
i. The primordial Creation terminated in three creatures, —
to wit^ spiritual Intelligences, the celestial bodies, the
elements (or simple bodies).
ii. At the same time there was concreated in matter a poten-
tiality for all subsequent bodily Forms.
iii. Divine addition of %em,inaL forces,
iy. The rest, the result of natural evolution under the Divine
Administration.
v. Two points on which Latin and Greek Fathers were agreed
in their interpretation of the Mosaic Cosmogony; — first,
That primordial matter was concreated with the elemental
Forms; secondly, that plants and animals were not
created in act, but only virtually, in those six days, or
epochs.
vi. Chemical compounds, not created but generated according
to natural operation after the six days of Creation.
vii. Distinction drawn by St. Thomas between chemical com-
pounds and mechanical mixtures.
(The teaching of the Allelic Doctor concerning the nature
and constitution of chemical compounds summarized
under nine headings).
yiii. Minerals included under the elements in the Mosaic record,
— ^the reason.
ix. Plants generated after the creation of the simple bodies,
and previous to the generation of animals. In what sense
created, — viz. virtwUly, not actually. What is meant by
the Divine Administration.
X. How the various species of living things are interchained.
xi. Doctrine of St. Thomas in relation to botanical and zoolo-
gical classification.
xii. Progression of Forms in the development of the human
embryo.
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PAGH
xiii. Hhafrincipie of natural evolution taught by the Qreek and
Latin Fathers of the primitive Church as well as by the
Angelic Doctor.
ziv. According to the same authorities, the simple bodies were
alone created, in the strict sense of the term ; the rest of
nature, a natural evolution.
XY. Modem exaggerations of the principle of evolution.
xtL In particular, the erroneous identification of Ontogeny with
Phylogeny.
APPENDIX B.
Significations of the terms, Form and Matter, — Formal ^and
Material f — Formally and Materially . . 749-754
Glossary 755-757
c 2
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CORRIGENDA,
p. 175, 1. 8, /or intrinncally read eztrinaically.
P- 50# 1. '5»/<w' ^^ «»<^ o*"-
p. 601, L 3, for on recul in.
p. 605, 1. 2^, for that read J
p. 634, L 37,/or every wheii
p. 706, 1. 2g, for infleparable
p. 708, L 7, for material sub
p. 75 a, L 38, for advene read <
material lubiitaiioea, (which
Harper's Metaphysics, Vol. II.
VOL. II.
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BOOK IV.
THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF BEING.
VOL. II.
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CHAPTER I.
INTBODUCTION.
By Principles of Being are understood those universal Judgments,
by which Being and its notes are represented. They are the
foondation upon which the Metaphysical Science depends. All
the sciences have their respective First Principles, which are the
foundation of subsequent demonstration within the sphere of the
proper subject matter ; it is natural, then, that the queen of sciences
should likewise have her First Principles, which assume the widest
extension in accordance with the extension of the formal object,
and afford an ultimate basis for those of the other sciences.
SCHOLION.
In order that the subsequent investigation may be better under-
stood by the reader, it will be necessary to borrow from applied
logic certain elementary truths touching demonstration, the
different species of judgments and their respective natures.
i. The demonstrative syllogism presupposes, in order that it
may be enabled to draw its conclusion, three elements (as it were),
of which two are explicitly, one implicitly, contained in its constitu-
tion. The two explicitly contained in the syllogism are the
premisses ; the one implicitly and virtually contained is the
Dignitif (or Dignities) on which demonstration depends.
a. The Digniiies, as they are called in the School, never enter
actually into the syllogism; but they virtually impart to it a
cogency and evidence in such wise that, unless their truth be
admitted, all demonstration becomes impossible. Thus, to take
an example : that Two and two make four is a self-evident truth ;
but it would be utterly valueless, save for the Principle of Contra-
diction. Let us suppose for one moment that this Principle is
false. In such case it might be true that Two and two make
four, and at the same time that Two and two do not make four.
B %
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4 Principles of Being.
Consequently, it would not be possible to deduce any certain
conclusion from the proposition. These Dignities are the First
principles of science.
h. The first Premisses of perfect demonstration must be true,
necessary, essential^ primary, proper, convertible, self-evident, im-
mediate, and causes of the conclusion ^ By essential is meant,
that they must have for middle term the formal and material
cause of the subject; the material and efficient cause of the pre-
dicate, or passion. In other words, the middle term must be the
definition of the subject, and must enter into the definition of the
Predicate. Judgments are said to be proper^ when they are not
extraneous to the subject; as also when they are limited to the
subject, affecting it alone and no other. By convertible is to be
understood, that nothing in the periphery of the subject is outside
the periphery of the predicate ; and, conversely, that there is
nothing within the periphery of the predicate which is outside the
periphery of the subject. Thus, for instance, let it be a true con-
vertible proposition that All m^n are capable of laughter ; then it
is true, vice versa^ that All beings capable of laughter are men. By
immediate is meant, that there is no middle term discoverable, by
which such Judgments can be demonstrated. All ftien are capable
of laughter is not an immediate Judgment; because it can be
deduced from the middle term, Rational animal. Lastly, when it
is said that these first premisses must be causes of the conclimon^ it
means that they must be causes of the conclusion not only logically^ or
conceptually, but materially likewise, i. e. that the objective relation
of the subject to its predicate must be causal.
ii. Judgments are either analytical or synthetical. An analytical
Judgment is representative of a composition or of a division which
is of the essence of the subject, and is discoverable by simple
analysis in the concept of the latter. Hence the name. Thus, for
instance, the attribute, rational or intellectual, is essentially con-
tained in the idea of man. A synthetical Judgment is representative
of a composition or of a division which is not of the essence of the
subject, but is added to it, — objectively by the fact, subjectively by
observation or experiment. It is for this reason that they are called
synthetical; because they join together with the subject a predi-
cate, or attribute, extraneous to that subject's essence. Thus,
> See St. Thomae, Opusculo XLVIIJ {alitcr XLIV), c, a;
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Introduction, 5
Somie men are bfindy — Men are subject to fever ^ — The 'planets move in
Heir orbits round tie sun, — are instances of synthetical Judgments.
It is plain then that analytical Judgments are necessary, universal,
immutable ; whereas synthetical Judgments are contingent, parti-
cular, mutable. The former have been likewise called identical ;
because there is an objective identity between subject and predicate
in themselves.
In the present Book four ^questions will occupy our attention,
touching
I. The two kinds of Principles generally.
II. Analytical Principles, in particular, and their reduction.
III. Experimental or synthetical Principles, their formation and
certitude.
rV. The a priori synthetical Principles of Kant.
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CHAPTER II.
THE TWO KINDS OP SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES.
Scientific Principles are certain universal Judgments from which
demonstration ultimately proceeds. They are of two kinds, viz.
analytical and synthetical.
PROPOSITION CXVI.
Immediate analytical Judgments are in themselves universal.
The following are the proofs :
I. Those Judgments which represent the essence of their subject,
abstraction made of its actual existence, wherein, consequently, the
nexus between subject and predicate is essential, are in themselves
universal ; even though the subject should be singular, or indi-
vidual. But such is the nature of immediate analytical Judgments.
The Major is plain. For the essences of things, as we have already
seen, are immutable and eternal ; while the contingency of finite
Being is exclusively connected with its existence. On the other
hand, even though de facto the subject should be the only one of
its species ; nevertheless^ its essence can be truly conceived as
capable of indefinite multiplication in possible entities, of each and
all of which that same specific essence (or essential note or notes)
would, as a consequence^ be predicable. Nothing can be more
patent than that all inference from fact to possibility (i.e. from
actual to possible Being) is valid ; according to that adage of the
Schools, Ab ease ad posse valet illatio. If, therefore, there is one of
a kind, there can be no sufficient reason why there should not be
indefinitely more of the same species, according to the good
pleasure of the Efficient Cause ; unless, indeed, there should be an
essential impediment, in any given case, to such multiplication.
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The two kinds of Scientific Principles. 7
Note. The above arg^ument evidently applies only to finite
e^ence ; the infinite Essence, by virtue of its Infinity, necessarily
excludes all^ even metaphysical, possibility of multiplication.
II. All analytical Judgments are either affirmative or negative,
i. e. they either compose the predicate essentially with the subject
or divide essentially the one from the other. In either case they
are in themselves universal. For, i. All affirmative analytical
Judgments are of this nature, according to the definition of them
already given. A/brtiari, therefore, immediate analytical Judgments
mast be such ; since they are simple intuitions of the intellect.
(The term, immediate, has been inserted into the enunciation of the
Thesis, because it is only analytical Judgments of this kind that
can claim the dignity of Principles ; seeing that mediate Judgments
are dedoctions, or conclusions, from Principles, and cannot, therefore,
be themselves Principles.) The Major of the above argument is
thus declared : Whensoever there is an essential objective identity
between the subject and predicate in any given Judgment, so that
by simple analysis the predicate is discoverable in the essential
concept of the subject, it is metaphysically impossible that, within
the actual or possible periphery of the subject, there should be any
single entity to which the predicate does not necessarily belong.
Thus, All men have the faculty of locomotion, is a Judgment that is
in itself universal. For, any entity that should be without this
faculty, {the faculty, be it observed, not the act), would not, could
not, be a man, since locomotion is an essential property of the
hnman race. ii. Similarly, in analytical Judgments that are nega-
tive, since the subject excludes the predicate by virtue of its
essential nature, it is metaphysically impossible that, within the
actual or conceivable periphery of the subject, there should be any
one entity in which such predicate could be found. Thus, for in-
stance. No plants have free-will, is a negative Judgment that is in
itself universal. For, in the hypothesis that a given entity should
have this gift, by the mere fiarct it could not possibly be a plant ;
since the nature of a plant essentially excludes volition, free or
otherwise. Hence, therefore, we conclude that all analytical Judg-
ments, whether affirmative or negative, (and a fortiori those which
are immediate), are in themselves universal.
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8 Principles of Being.
PROPOSITION CXVII.
Singular synthetical, or empirical Judgments cannot in any-
way become universal.
Note. Synthetical Judgments are often designated empirical^
because they are the result of experience, observation, or experiment.
This Proposition is so evident as scarcely to stand in need of
proof. For those Judgments, wherein the subject is assumed as
formally singular by virtue of their composition or division, cannot
■in the nature of things become universal. But singular synthetical
Judgments are of this category. The declaration of the Minor is
as follows. Seeing that^ in synthetical Judgments, the predicate
is not essentially included in, or excluded from, the subject, but is
purely adventitious to it; it follows, as a necessary consequence,
that the predication of the predicate must be limited to the formal
periphery of the subject. If, then, the subject is singular, the
attribution of the predicate will be verified of the singular subject,
only, a% a singular. It can never, therefore, assume the proportions
of a universal. To take an instance : In the following synthetical
Judgment, The sun exists, existence is predicated of the sun acci-
dentally. For, evidently, existence is no part of the sun's essence ;
otherwise, the sun would be no longer contingent but necessary
Being, and could not but exist. Therefore, existence is predicated
of the sun formally as a singular, and could not be extended in pre-
dication to all possible suns. In like sort, / am ihinking, is a
synthetical Judgment, in which the act of thinking (not the
faculiy) is predicated of myself. Now, a particular train of think-
ing Mc et nunc is not contained in my essence (i. e. in the nature of
man), but is accidental to it. Consequently, the attribution of
that particular act is confined to me personally, and could never be
truly extended to the whole human race.
PROPOSITION cxvm.
Particular empirical Judgments, which are the foundation of
legitimate induction, are capable of assuming a sort of moral
universality, not on the strength of the induction, but by
virtue of some analytical Principle.
Lemma. The fundamental Principle, or dictum, of induction, as
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The two kinds of Scientific Prituiples. 9
we learn in Logic is this : That which is predicated of each and all
the individuals contained under a whole, is predicated of the whole
itself. The following may be given as the formula of induction :
ayhyCyd^ a?, are Ay
ayh,e,d, i», = i^,
.-. AllWuA.
In this formula, a^ b, c^ . . . «, represent each and all the indi*
viduals of a given whole ; A stands for the attribute predicated ;
W symbolizes the whole. In. purely logical induction, therefore,
there is really no middle term, as the Philosopher has pointed out;
for the middle term is identical with the minor. But in physical
induction (i.e. in induction as applied to physical investigation)
the formula never is, never can be, verified. Hence, all the in-
ferential conclusions of experimental Physics are logically (so to say)
informal; for there is always what would be called in deductive
reasoning an undistriiuied middle. The following is the reason
why the formula never is, never can be, verified. It ia joAysicaliy
impossible that all the actual individuals of any given physical
whole should be subjected to the personal observation or experiment
of any one individual ; it is metaphysically impossible that either
past, future, (relatively to the supposed experimentalist), or purely
possible individuals of the same whole, should be subjected to
similar observation or experiment. To illustrate this assertion by
an example or two : It has been ascertained, by chemical analysis,
that wa/er is composed of oxygen and hydrogen according to a fixed
ratio of their respective equivalents. Now, how much of all the
water, past, present, and iiiture, has been submitted to such
analysis by all physical experimentalists^ taken in a body ? What
is more to the point, how much has one individual so analyzed ?
The proportion to the whole must of necessity be so infinitesimally
small as to amount to all but nothing. In like manner, as touching
the order of superposition in the geological strata, how much of
the earth's crust has been personally examined by the most ardent of
geologists, or even by all geologists put together ? Then it must be
remembered that the experiments of others (the accounts of which
we receive on faith) afford morale but not physical^ evidence ; and
though the former under certain circumstances may prove to be as
cogent as the latter, still it is not equal to the weight of a scientific
conclusion. Therefore, experimental inferences always go beyond
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TO Principles of Being,
the logical virtue of their premisses. Nevertheless, these conclusions,
in the greater number of instances, are accepted as at least
physically scientific. Hence arises the question; How is it that
logically informal conclusions can be elevated, and that too with
reason, to the rank of a physical Principle or Law ? In the present
Proposition the logical insufficiency of these conclusions, or infer-
ences, is declared ; and a general sort of answer is given to the
question just proposed. The complete solution will occupy our
attention in a subsequent Chapter.
I. The first membeu of the Thesis^ in which it is asserted
that particular empirical dudgmenU^ which are live foundation of
legitimate induction^ are capable of assuming a sort of moral uni-
versality^ is obvious to common sense, and accepted by the general
verdict of mankind. As a fact, we exclusively base experimental
Physics on Judgments of this description. We may be well spared,
therefore, the labour of proof.
It may be observed that the clause, which are the foundation of
legitimate induction^ has been inserted in the Enunciation, for the
purpose of excluding all Judgments of a similar kind which give
occasion to rash and hasty inferences, not to legitimate inductions.
By moral universality is meant such a universality as is not wholly
absolute, but in some way conditioned according to the free-will of
another; just as moral evidence depends on the free-will of the
witnesses.
II. The second member declares that such universality accrues
to these Judgments, not on the strength of the induction^ hut by
virtue of some analytical Principle ; which is proved in this wise.
i. It cannot be the result of induction; because physical in-
duction, as has been already explained in the Lemma^ is founded in
the particular and confined to its limits. But the Universal can
never be inferred from the particular ; otherwise, the effect would
be nobler than its cause.
ii. It must, consequently, be due to some analytical Principle.
For, seeing that neither the particular nor, a fortiori^ the singular
can of itself generate the universal, nothing remains save that
such universality should be the result of a universal. Now this
universal must of its own nature be a universal ; otherwise, the
same question would recur as to its universality. But a universal
in its own right, as has been already stated^ is an analytical
Judgment.
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CHAPTER III.
ANALYTICAL PRINCIPLES.
As many as are the Judgments which admit of being formed
from a simple analysis of the concepts that represent Being and its
attributes, or again, that represent the primary and more general
determinations of Being with their respective attributes ; so many
analytical Principles may there obviously be. Furthermore ; any
Judgments that admit of being formed from a simple analysis of
the formal object of any particular science, (however inferior this
latter may be in the hierarchy of sciences), will serve as an analy-
tical Principle for that science.
Instances of such Principles are not far to find. Two shall be
borrowed from the Metaphysical Science; and these have been
purposely chosen, because they will form the subject of our im-
mediate consideration. An analysis of the idea of contingent
Being (one of the primary determinations of Being), supplies us
with the Principle of causality. An analysis, and subsequent com-
parison of the idea of Being in the universality of its extension
(which is real), with that of Not-Being (which is conceptual), gives
the Principle of contradiction. These two will now severally
occupy our attention in the order just adopted. Wherefore,
I. Concerning the evidence and certitude of the Principle of
causality.
II. Concerning the value of the Principle of contradiction, as
the ultimate in order of reduction. Under this sectioii of the
subject, it will occur to examine into the value of other Principles
which, in more recent times, have been proposed, in place of that of
contradiction, with the professed intention of deposing this latter
from its ancient supremacy over the field of philosophic thought.
PROPOSITION CXIX.
The Principle of causality, (which may be thus enunciated:
Inceptive or contingent Being necessarily supposes its
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1 2 Principles of Being,
efficient oaiise) is analytical. Hence the concept of an.
efficient cause is essentially contained in the idea of change,
or of the possible.
Prolegomenon I.
By inceptive Being is understood Being that either has, or is
capable of having, a beginning. It is not intended that the term
should be contracted to substances alone ; but that it should like*
wise include accidental transformations, as well as substantial or
accidental modifications. In short : Everything real which once was
not and now is, or is not but might be, is represented here by this
phrase. It is sufficiently obvious that, being inceptive after the
manner explained, it must be contingent, not necessary, Being.
Pbolboomenon II.
The notion of cause is not essentially included in that of Being ;
though that of activity may perhaps claim such inclusion. The
reason is, that cause is properly a relative idea^ since it connotes an
effect really distinct from itself, — ^actual, if the cause be actual;
possible, if the cause be only possible. Hence, activity and causa--
tion are by no means identical terms. For activity may be
immanent and, therefore, absolute ; while causation is necessarily
transitive and terminative extrinsically, or (as it may be put in
Saxon phrase) outgoing. To illustrate by example : Thought in a
man's mind is an immanent action, because it begins and ends with
the thinker. Therefore, the thought is formal cause to the mental
faculty; rather than the mental faculty efficient cause of the
thought. But the question at present occupying us concerns
efficient causation. On the other hand, the action of a sculptor
upon a block of marble is transitive, because it passes out of
himself (so to say) on to the stone ; and it is terminative ex*
trinsically, because the object which terminates his energy is
external to himself. His action, therefore, as causal, connotes the
effect produced upon the marble.
Prolegomenon III.
It will conduce towards a satisfactory prosecution of the proposed
analysis, if we anticipate certain conclusions concerning the nature
of time, which will be treated ex prqfesso in a later Book. Time,
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Analytical Principles. 13
in the abdract^ is a purely logical concept, which is, nevertheless,
foanded in reality. Apart from the existence of contingent Beings
it neither is, nor could be, anything. So far as it can boast of
reality, it is nothing more or less than successive change^ or the
succession of change, in finite and contingent entities. Hence, if
there existed nothing but necessary and, consequently, immutable
Being, there would be no time, but an ever-present now. If,
therefore, we abstract from the notion of time all in it that is
purely ideal, the residuary reality will be simply and only the
mutations and sequences of finite Being. Let it be observed, how-
ever, that it is not now a question as to ^i« approved measure of
time, wherein there is naturally a greater show o£ reality. Not-
withstanding, even here, if the matter is thoroughly sifted, it will
be found that the divisions of days and months and years are
purely based on the orderly succession of changes in celestial
bodies.
1.* In the first membeb of this Thesis, it is declared that the
Principle of caiisality {which may he thus enunciated: Inceptive
Being neceesarily supposes^ — better perhaps, postulates, — its own efficient
cause), is analytical. If such is really the case, a careful analysis of
the concept of inceptive Being must evince, that within such
concept is essentially contained the idea of some efficient cause, by
virtue of which that said entity is, or at least may be. Let us see
whether it be so, or not. It will facilitate the investigation,
if we take actual inceptive Being as the subject of analysis. No
one will care to deny that possible inceptive Being must be of the
same nature as the former; while it is more difficult to realize,
save for those who have made it a professed object of study. Actual
inceptive Being, then, is Being, now existing, that once had a
beginning. In consequence, previously to that beginning, it was
nothing. Hence, representing the inceptive Being as A, we have
two terms, respectively represented as A and not-A ; i.e. the in-
ceptive Being existent, the same Being not existent. Furthermore,
objectively in order of succession not-A preceded A. Thus, then,
we are initially confronted with not-A ; and not-A as, in some way
or other, a real term of thought. But how is this possible ? For
not-A is in itself a pure negation. Nor can it be said to have a
real foundation in A ; because, in that preceding time, there is as
yet no A to be denied or removed. Again, if it were founded in
A, A would be necessary Being; because, in such case, not-A
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14 Principles of Being,
would postulate A as the necessary condition of its own conceivable-
ness and (what is more to the point) of its objective reality, so far
as it has any reality. In other words, A would be necessary to the
beginning of itself^ and would, therefore, exist prior to its existence.
Yet, it is plain that there is a reality of some sort in the idea, for
instance^ that the Duke of Wellington was not in existence during^
the reign of William III. What can be plainer, then, (to proceed
in the analysis), than that not-A postulates, even for its con-
ceivableness, some existing entity which shall be the measure of its
real priority to A ? For, if you are to begin absolutely and solely
with not-A, so that no existent Being whatsoever shall be pre-
supposed, not-A is an empty nothing. The thought (if, indeed,
the thought were possible) would not be representative; because
it would be a negation of Nothing, and could have no object either
direct or indirect. You might say^ perhaps, that its precedency to
A is measured by time. But this is no solution at all ; for it
must be remembered that time, as has been declared in the" last
Prolegomenon, is in t^^^ destitute of reality, and that, <u real, it is
identified with the successive changes of existing contingent Being.
Consequently, it cannot verify that by which alone itself is verified.
Hence, it is plain that we are justified in eliminating from our
present analysis the abstract idea of time, and substituting in its
place the succession, or successive changes, of contingent and in-
ceptive Being. But that brings us back to the original point of
discussion. For the first change (as it may be called) of inceptive
Being is from Not-A to A, i.e. from non-existence to existence.
But this transition postulates, as has been already said, a real some-
thing which shall be the real measure of this transition ; for, other-
wise, the idea is inconceivable. It is a metaphysical impossibility
that there should be such transition and, consequently, a beginning
to be, without such measure.
Again : the real existing Being, which is absolutely required in
order that any priority of not-A may become a possible term of
thought, cannot, as we have seen, be A ; because, in that priority
or precedence of not-A, A was nothing, and a priority to nothing
is no priority at all. It follows, therefore, that the required entity
must be other than A.
Furthermore ; that Being, which is thus presupposed, is necessary
to the existence of A. For, without it, there could be no priority
of not-A and, consequently, A could never begin to exist; whereas.
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Analytical Principles. 15
once you posit the supposed entity, the existence of A becomes ip%o
facto possible without further condition. But, if one Being of
itself solely is a sufficient reason for the existence of another, and
is also necessary, so that, without it, the existence, of that other
is metaphysically impossible ; we are in presence of all that is
required in order that the former should be truly and justly con-
ceived as the efficient cause of the latter. Let an illustration serve
to facilitate this somewhat abstruse process of thought. Chro-
nologists tell us that Sir Walter Scott was bom in the year of
Grace 1771. Accordingly, in 1770 there was no Sir Walter Scott.
Now, let us, for the sake of illustration, make an absurd hypothesis,
and suppose that there had been no existing entity of any kind
before the birth of the gpreat novelist. If such had been the case,
could you possibly talk of his beginning to be, or of his previous
non-existence? The idea perishes in its own inconceivableness.
Where could you find any, even imaginary, basis for a before and
after ? There could have been no time ; because, on the hypothesis,
there was no contingent Being and, as a consequence, no successive
change. Let us now proceed to introduce Sir Walter Scott's
parents, and again make a fresh absurd supposition, that they were
the only entities existing previous to the son's birth. Confining
our inquiry to secondary causes, would they form a sufficient basis
for truly conceiving that Sir Walter Scott had begun to exist?
Let us examine and see. They were existing in 1770, when the son
• was not as yet bom and was, consequently, Not- A. Relatively to
them J he was Not- A ; and, relatively to them^ on his birth in 1771,
he was A. They were, therefore, competent measure of his tran-
sition from not-being to being. Furthermore, they of themselves
were sufficient (so far as proximate causation is concerned) for his
existence; and, supposing the established order unaltered, they
were conditionately necessary to his existence. What more is
required to justify us in declaring, that they were the co-efficient
causes of Sir Walter Scott? The illustration has been taken of
set purpose from secondary causes; though they give rise to a
difficulty, which will be brought before the notice of the reader
later on. Thus, then, an analysis of the idea of inceptive Being
convinces us that it essentially contains within itself the notion of
an efficient cause.
To reduce the above analysis to a summary expression : Inceptive
Being first was not, and afterwards was. Therefore, (i) it supposes
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i6 Principles of Being,
a priority and, consequently, some existing Being as measure of
its priority, (ii) That Being must be other than the inceptive
entity itself; because, during that priority, the latter was nothing*,
(iii) That Beii^ is necessary, in order that the new entity may be
able to begin existence ; for, without the former, there could be no
newness or commencement, because no priority, (iv) That same
Being is sufficient for the possible existence of the new entity ;
because, according to the supposition^ the existence of the former
is de facto followed by the inchoated existence of the latter and,
therefore, h /ortiorif is capable of being so followed.
II. In the same member of the Thesis it is further asserted i/ial
the concept of efficient causation is likewise essential/^ contained in^ the
idea of contingent Being ; so that the Judgment, Contingent Being
necessarily supposes its efficient cause, is analytical.
For the sake of greater clearness, contingent Being will be taken
in the full latitude of its meaning, as inclusive not only of existent,
but of possible, contingent Being. In other words, all contingent
Being, possible, as well as actual, (whether past or present), is taken
together as one existing whole ; in order that, as a whole, it may
be submitted to philosophical analysis. The assumption is obviously
legitimate, and will save much useless elaboration.
Now, what is contingent Being? Contingent Being is Being
either existing, or capable of existing, without absolute necessity of
existence. Hence, it is defective Being ; in other words, Being
existing with defect of Being. By the very fact that such is its
nature, it postulates, as a necessary condition of its existence, some
existing entity other than itself. For, if there were nothing else
besides contingent Being, then absolute necessity of Being must be
either nothing, or contingent Being itself. But either hypothesis
is self-contradictory. For, if absolute necessity of existence should
be nothing, then. Being existing with defect would be identical
with Being existing without defect ; since the defect of nothing is
no defect. On the other hand, if the absolute necessity of existence
could be contingent Being itself ; in that case, Being without abso-
lute necessity of existence would be really the same as Being with
absolute necessity of existence, — a contradiction in terms. The
supposition that merely possible Being could supply the place of the
entity required, has been excluded from the inquiry for the following
reasons : (i) Tlie actual existence of all possibles and, therefore, their
desition as mere possibles, form a pai*t of our hypothesis, (ii) Merely
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Analytical Principles. 1 7
possible Being, so far as the idea is real, represents an existing
Being objective to itself, (iii) Such a supposition would make of a
possible contingent entity a Being existing with absolute necessity
of existence, which is a yet more flagrant contradiction. Where-
fore, if there is contingent Being, there must be necessary Being ;
which latter cannot but be distinct from the former. Again :
Necessary Being is absolutely required, in order that contingent .
Being may be able to exist. Lastly, necessary Being is of iUelf
sufficient for the existence of contingent Being; for, by virtue of
the sole existence of the former, contingent Being either exists or
is capable of existing. These last two assertions are evidently based
on the previous analysis. For, according to the hypothesis, con-
tingent Being here represents the whole collection of contingent
entities, as well possible as actual ; therefore, it can find the neces-
sary and, at the same time, sufficient reason of its actual or possible
existence only in necessary Being.
III. In the second Member of this Thesis it is declared that
iht concept of an efficient cause is essentially contained in the idea of
any change.
The analysis pursued in the two previous Sections, more notably
in the latter, would seem to deal primarily with substances. The
Proposition, which now awaits its verification, extends itself to
every change, whether substantial, accidental, or moral. Now,
it requires but little reflection to perceive, that the transition from
Not- Being, or subjective nothingness, to Being, is a change, — nay,
the greatest of all changes. But attentive consideration will suffice
to convince us, that every real change of whatsoever kind is truly
a transition from Not- Being to Being. Suppose that we take, as
an instance, the change of a certain mass of water from cold to hot.
Evidently there is, first of all, water without heat ; afterwards,
water with heat. Therefore, the heat in the given instance passed^
metaphysically speaking, from nothingness (so far as the information
of that particular mass of water was concerned), into Being. Here
we have an example of accidental change. We will now take an
instance of modal change. / sit down upon a chair ; whereas, let us
say^ I was previously standing. That sitting position is new; i.e.
it was not, and now it is. Wherefore, it too has passed from Not-
Being to Beings for so much of Being as it can claim. Such being
the case, the formula, presented in the first Section of this Propo-
sition, equally applies here. All phange necessarily involves a
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1 8 Principles of Being.
previous Not A, and a subsequent A. It postulates, therefore, some
other than itself as measure of the required priority, i.e. of that
Before^ wherein the formal term of the change was as yet not
existent. That other^ as a consequence, is at once necessary to,
and sufficient for, such novelty of existence as is essentially included
in the idea of change. To take an example : A table legins to move.
It was previously at rest. Evidently enough, that motion is some-
thing real and something inceptive ; and, as evidently, the motion
could not be to itself the measure of its previous non-existence.
But we will suppose that a servant is in the room, who has moved
the table. Now there is a real measure of the previous non-
existence of the motion ; and an existing entity has been introduced
that is (in the given hypothesis) necessary, and (so far as secondary
causation goes) sufficient^ for the local change in the table. That
the motion is spontaneous in any given case, — not communicated
from without (such as may be seen in living entities),— cannot
weaken the conclusion. The only difference is, that in such cases
the other which is postulated by the change would be intrinsic to
the subject of such change.
IV. In the second Member of this Thesis it' is further asserted,
that the concept of an efficient cause is essentially contained in the idea
of the purely possible.
The truth of this part of the Proposition will become at once
manifest^ by a reference to the doctrine touching Possibles, as
evolved in the second Book of the present Work. For it was there
shown, that purely possible Being is in itself, or subjectively,
nothing ; and that the real element in the concept is discoverable
only in some other existing Being Who is really distinct from the
possible entity. It was further shown that, while the internal pos-
sibility of such entity depended proximately on the exemplar Idea,
fundamentally on the Nature, of that other Being Whom it supposes ;
its external possibility is entirely measured by the Power of the
same Being. Consequently, for the verification of the idea of the
purely possible there is required an existent Being (distinct, there-
fore, from the possible entity), WTio is necessary to, and in Himself
sufficient for, the existence of the possible, or its transition from a
state of pure possibility to that of existence. But, in the union of
these three elements everything is to be found that fulfils the
idea of an efficient cause. Therefore, the idea of an efficient cause
is essentially contained in the notion of the purely possible.
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Analytical Primiples. 19
DIFFICTILTIES.
I. The so-called Principle of Causality is a mere assumption, un-
supported by facts; and has been unthinkingly accepted on the
authority of the old philosophers. The Antecedent is thus proved.
The facts of sensile experience only exhibit a succession in beings,
i.e. that one Being is prior, another subsequent. But such succes-
sion is not in any way adequate to the concept of efficient causality,
as commonly understood. For efficient causality supposes that the
precedent Being, (or, in other words, efficient cause), energizes in-
fluxively towards the production of the subsequent entity or, (in
the hypothesis of causation), of tbat which would be denominated
the efiect. Now^ sensile experience supplies no evidence whatsoever
of the existence of any such virtue or energy, passing from the
so-called cause to its effect ; but simply reveals an order of succes-
sion as subsisting between the two. Since, then, all our ideas are
originally derived from sensile perception, it follows that the Prin-
ciple of causality is a mere assumption, as has been said, entirely
destitute of foundation.
Answ£r. The Antecedent is, of course, denied. Now, for the proof.
In the first place, it may be categorically denied, that the facts of
sensile experience only go to prove succession of beings. For the
universal persuasion of mankind affords sufficient evidence of the
contrary. There is no one that has attained the age of reason, who
does not recognize, in the sensile facts which come before his notice,
an essential difference in the nature of the priority and posteriority
which those facts severally reveal in various groups of instances.
However, it will conduce towards a more complete and exhaustive
solution of the difficulty, if we distinguish the above proposition.
Accordingly: That sensile experience, hy iteelf and without the
(unitanee of the understanding or reasmiy affords evidence only of a
succession in Being, — well, let it pass. That sensile experience, as
whjeeted to the intuition of the intellect, affords evidence of nothing
but such succession, — denied. As touching the confirmatory proof:
The Major, wherein it is asserted, that Efficient causality supposes the
cause to energize influxively in the production of its effect, in like
manner requires distinction. For the phrase, energize infuxively,
is more or less analogical and, at least, indefinite. If, then, it is
merely meant, that efficient causality supposes the cause to be at
once necessary to, and of itself sufficient for, the existence of its
0%
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20 Principles of Being,
effect, — The Major is granted. If, on the other hand, it is meant
that efficient causality supposes the cause sensibly to transmit
something from itself as foundation of the effect, — there is need of
further distinction. That it supposes this essentially and, therefore,
always^ cannot be allowed. That it supposes the same in certain
cases and (as it were) accidentally, may be granted. As to the
Minor : It is not true universally, that sensile experience supplies
no evidence whatever of the sensile influx of the cause into its effect.
It is absolutely false, that sensile experience reveals nothing save
an order of succession between the one and the other ; as has been
remarked already.
The concluding Antecedent must also be denied ; though, for the
sake of greater precision, it shall be distinguished. That all our
ideas about the Ego^ i.e. our own selves, are formally derived from
sensile perception, is not true. That all our ideas about the non-Ego
(or, in other words, all reality that is not ourselves) are primitively
derived from sensile perception, needs further distinction. For, if it
is thereby intended, that those ideas are in such wise derived from
sensile perception as that the idea is a mere reflex of the sensile
perception and, consequently, represents nothing which is not
explicitly precontained in the latter, the proposition is false. If it
is only meant, that all such ideas can trace their origin to some
sensile perception or other, yet so, that the idea represents the
essence or nature of the object, while the sensile perception exhibits
the sensile phenomena, the material conditions, or the accidents,
of corporeal substance, — it is granted. The Consequent^ therefore,
subject to the given distinction, must be denied.
As the present difficulty is the magnus Achilles of modem scepti-
cism^ it may not be unserviceable to subjoin certain notes explanatory
of the above answer. Wherefore,
i. It is evident to common sense and abundantly confirmed by
constant experience, that the human intellect perceives in sensile
phenomena various kinds or orders of succession (i. e. of priority and
posteriority) among entities; and likewise perceives that these
orders are wholly distinct from each other. Sometimes, the priority
and subsequence are seen to be purely accidental; and it is plain
that there is no dependence whatever of the subsequent on the prior
entity. Thus, for instance, day succeeds night. But no one has ever
imagined that the day was dependent on the night ; since it is
equally true that night succeeds day. Again, one man gets into an
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Analytical Principles. 21
fmmHnu; shortly after y another enters tie same omnibus. Here there
is plainly priority and posteriority; yet who has ever been mad
enough to suppose that the entrance of the second was caused by
the entrance of the first ? But, secondly, in many cases, priority
and subsequence are seen to include a dependence of some sort,
though not a causal dependence. Thus, my writing a letter depends,
I know, upon there being light enough in the room ; nevertheless,
nothing can be clearer than the fact that the light is not the cause
of my writing the letter, but only a necessary condition. So, in like
manner, the door of a bird-cage is opened and the bird fiies away.
The de])endence of the bird's flight on the opening of the cage is
manifest ; yet no one can doubt that the opening of the cage was
not the efficient cause of the act of flight, but that it merely
removed an impediment which, so long as it remained^ rendered it
impossible for the bird to make free use of its wings. Such a con*
dition is called by the School, removens prohibens. Now, in the first
mentioned order of succession, the prior entity was neither necessary
nor sufficient for the existence of the second. In the latter in-
stances, the prior entity was necessary, indeed, but not sufficient
for the existence of the subsequent. I could not write without
light ; but light could never give me the capacity of writing. If
it could ; why should not trees or dogs write ? The opening of the
cage was necessary to the escape of the bird ; but common sense
teaches, that the act of opening the cage-door could supply the canary
neither with life nor pinions. On the other hand, in the prior
existence of parents I recognize at once a causal dependence ; for
they are clearly both necessary to, and sufficient for, the existence
of their child. The formal causality is not always explicitly exhi-
bited, it is true, in the sensile phenomena ; nevertheless, the under-
standing intues in the object, presented by the phantasm to its
observation, such latent efficiency of causation. It should never be
forgotten, in connection with this controversy, that the intellectual
intuition of even material entities is not a mere transfer from the
sensile phantasm. The latter is little more than a necessary con-
dition of the former. But the idea, as has been before suggested,
is representative of that to which the phantasm cannot reach, — to wit,
the essence of the entity; while the material accidents, which alone
are represented in the sensile phantasm, can, with difficulty and
only by a recurrence to the phantasm, secure any place for them-
selves in an intellectual idea or intuition of the understanding.
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22 Principles of Being.
li. Causal activity is a thing which it is very difficult to precise
or to describe ; however evident is the fact of its existence. Balmez,
in his Fundamental Philosophy^ signalizes this difficulty with g^reat
clearness. * To cause,' he remarks, ' it is said, is to give being.
What means to give? To give is here synonymous with to produce.
What means to produce? W^ith this the explanations are at an
end, unless one should wish to fall into a vicious circle, saying that
to produce is to cause or give being. A cause, it is also said, is that
from which a thing results. What is understood by resulting?
To emanate. What is to emanate ? To emanate is to proceed, to
flow from another. Always the same thing ; metaphorical txpres-
sions, which at bottom have all the same meaning^.* Though this
may in some measure be true ; yet it would almost seem as though
the illustrious Spaniard had exaggerated the strength of this excep-
tion against himself and the School which he has so acutely defended.
For emanation expresses the passage of something real from the
efficient cause into the entity of the effect. It is undoubtedly
difficult to apply the concept of emanation, so understood, to the
efficient causality of spiritual natures, more especially to that of the
First Cause ; but it must ever be borne in mind, that this idea,
like so many others, is primitively derived from sensile perception,
and that, as applied to material entities, the concept is more or les&
definitely realized. However, this censure by Balmez will be ex-
amined later on. It will be seen that the question, as at present
proposed, is not strictly speaking a metaphysical one. Appeal has
been made to the common sense of mankind and to individual
experience as touching the fact, and not as to the philosophical defi-
nition of it. The idealist would dispute the reality of sensile
phenomena. True philosophy maintains that the external accidents
of material substance are the only objects oi purely sensile perception.
But all this is beside the mark. The matter is being tested for the
moment by the general persuasion of mankind,— a test which no
philosophy, worthy of the name, can afford to despise or ignore.
Does the understanding of men in general intue efficient causation,
or rather an emanation from the cause into its effect, latent under-
neath the phenomena of nature ? Let us see. A man chances to
be present at a lecture on electricity; and, during the course of an
illustrative experiment, he sees electric sparks, apparently evolved
Book /, ch. 8, par. 88.
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Analytical Principles, 23
from the circular plate of glass, pass by means of a conductor into
a Leyden jar ; where, having been in some way collected^ the united
force of the fluid thus amassed is applied to a live bird and in-
stantly deprives it of life. If the supposed spectator knows ever so little
of the matter, he does not doubt for a moment that the electricity
which killed the bird emanated from the electrical machine. He
knows that it did not originate with the Leyden jar, nor with the
resinous rubber which half enveloped the glass plate, nor with the
lecturer ; but he is convinced that the force emanated from the
glass plate, was collected in the jar, and thence brought to bear on
the animal. Still more striking is the case of vital reproduction.
In digenesis there is a physical and sensibly physical influx of the
parents, as co-efficient causes, into the efiect, by virtue of which the
existence and individual as well as specific constitution of the
embryo are determined. To say that these and the like emanations
are not cerimnly causal, or that they have no other connection with
the supposed efiect than that of priority in succession, is to contradict
the universal judgment of mankind and to invalidate all the general
conclusions of the physical sciences. Paradox is not philosophy.
iii. Our ideas concerning spiritual natures in general and con-
cerning our own spiritual nature in particular, are not primitively
derived from sensile experience but from psychical facts. These
facts reveal a higher range of Being, impervious to the sophisms of
the idealist ; where much is rendered luminous, which was before
persistently obscure, for so long as thought was cabined within the
limits of the material world. Such is peculiarly the case as regards
the present question. It may indeed be difficult, (as has been already
stated), to explain with sufficient accuracy the nature of the causal
influx in the instance of spiritual Being, for the reason that the
intellectual faculty, in the actual order, is so intimately dependent
on the jphantasmata derived from sensile perception ; nevertheless,
iki^fcuit of causal influx in spiritual Being is attested by an evidence
that has no rival in purely natural cognition, because the object is
immediately present to human consciousness. To take an instance :
A thought involuntarily comes into my mind, which I desire to
expel. My will energizes ; and the thought is stifled. The facts
are immediately present to my consciousness ; and because the
prior act of the will and the subsequent expulsion of the unwelcome
thought are facts in that one simple entity which is myself, I
simply intue the additional fact that my will was the efficient cause
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24 Principles of Being.
of, (i. e. necessary to, and sufficient for), the desition of that thoag'ht.
Again : I have, it may be, forgotten the name of some place.
I will energetically to remember ; and it comes back to me. To
take an instance of a somewhat different kind : I am seated ; and I
will to take a walk in a certain direction to a certain place. I beg-in
to move my limbs in that direction. The will, i. e. the act of will,
the sensations of motion, are immediately present to my conscious-
ness ; and I know, with a certainty which excludes all cavil or
possibility of doubt, that my will was efficient cause of those sensa-
tions, and, (if the existence of my body is not a dream), cause like-
wise of the sensible motion of my legs, of the direction I take, and
of my appointed destination. Nothing can surpass the certainty of
this my conviction ; even though I am unable to perceive in what
precise way my will exercises an influence over the members of my
body. Nor can this last-named fact afford just reason for surprise ;
since one would anticipate that the influx of spiritual Being would
be of a higher and more recondite nature than that of material
entities. Yet even this latter is not without its mystery.
iv. It is assumed from Ideology, that all our ideas of the visible
entities which surround us are primitively derived from the senses
and sensile perception ; according to an old adage of the School,
Nihil in intellectu quod non priua in sensu. Indeed, this concession
might be somewhat extended ; for it is in a certain sense true, that
even psychological facts are tnateriaUy derived at the commence-
ment from sensile perception; inasmuch as this latter originally
supplies the objects which awaken the faculties of the soul to
determinate action. But it is sufficiently obvious that psychical
facts, (i.e. the acts of the soul of whatever kind), are immediately
present to consciousness without the intervention of any gpeci-es^ or
form ; and it is from these that man acquires a knowledge of his
own spiritual nature, and thence, of other spiritual natures higher
than his own.
II. It may be objected against the present Thesis, that the
Declaration of it in the preceding pages is inconsistent with the
doctrine of efficient causality as universally received in the
Schools. For it would follow, from the explanation given, that there
cannot possibly be any other efficient causality than that of the
First Cause. The Antecedent is thus proved. An efficient cause,
we are told, must be at once necessary to, and sufficient for, the pro-
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Analytical Principles, 25
daction of the effect. But no finite Bein^ is necessary to the pro-
duction of whatsoever effect ; since such effect could be immediately
produced by the action of the First or Supreme Cause. On the
other hand, neither is finite Being sufficient of itself for the produc-
tion of any effect ; since it can only act in virtue of the co-operation
of the Infinite Being.
Answer. The Antecedent is denied. Now for the proof. The Major
must be distinguished. That an efficient cause must be at once
necessary either conditionally or absolutely^ and sufficient exther con-
dUionally or absolutely^ for the production of the effect, — is true. That
an efficient cause must be absolutely necessary to, and sufficient for,
the production of the effect, — needs a sub-distinction ; the Supreme
Efficient Cause, — ^yes : All, even secondary causes, — no.
The above distinction stands, in need of some little explanation.
The First Cause, .then, is always absolutely necessary and absolutely
sufficient for the production of any and every effect. He is abso-
lutely necessary, because, (as will be seen later on), it is metaphysically
certain that the activity of every secondary cause presupposes and
postulates, as the condition of its evolution in act, the prevenient
and co-operating action of the First Cause ; — ^to say nothing of the
necessity of His Action, in order that second causes may exist. Ho
is absolutely sufficient ; because He contains eminently in Himself
all the virtue and energy that is to be found in finite Being.
Second causes, on the contrary, are only conditionally necessary and
conditionally sufficient; because the whole order of finite activity
and production is conditioned by the Divine Will. With this dis-
tinction the difficulty disappears.
III. It has been objected, that the Principle of causality is not
analytical. For no Judgment which affirms existence is analytical.
But the Principle of causality affirms existence ; since it bases the
existence of an efficient cause upon the existence of contingent
Being.
Answer. The Antecedent is denied. As touching the argument
in proof, the Major must be distinguished. That no Judgment
which affirms existence i.e, of the subject and predicate aff^ a
certain sorty {to mt, of the subject as being not repugnant to ity of
the predicate hypothetically\ is analytical, — this must be denied.
That no Judgment which affirms existence simply or absolutely ^ is
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26 Principles of Being.
analytical,— requires subdistinction. That which simply or absolutely
affirms the exutence of the subject and predicate, — granted ; that
which affirms simply and absolutely the existence of some other third,
— here there is need of further subdistinction : If it so affirms such
existence explicitly and distinctly^-- granted ; implicitly and coii^
fusedly, — no.
This answer likewise stands in need of some explanation.
Wherefore let it be observed that, if a Judgment absolutely affirms
the existence of its subject and predicate, it cannot be an analytical
Judgment ; because all existence, save that of necessary Being, is
contingent. Neither can the solitary exception just mentioned
give rise to an analytical Judgment or Principle ; because the exist-
ence of necessary Being is not within the range of our actual
intuition, but is synthetically deduced from the existence of con-
tingent beings. Nevertheless, an analytical Judgment may affirm
existence in two ways, viz. explicitly and implicitly. In its explicit
affirmation of existence, the existence would necessarily be con^
ditioned, so as not to exceed the limits t)f the ideal order. Thus,
for instance, in the Judgment, J/" contingent Being exists^ necessa/ty
Being must likewise exist, (which is purely analytical), existence is
not predicated simply and absolutely either of contingent or
necessary Being ; but of contingent Being it is presupposed, not
in act, but merely as not repugnant ; while of necessary Being it
is explicitly predicated, — not simply however, but conditionally ;
i. e. the existence of the latter is affirmed to be a metaphysical
necessity, on the supposition that contingent Being exists. The
existence of contingent Being is not affirmed; though its non-
repugnance, is, of course, implied. In the implicit affirmation of
an analytical Judgment, the existence supposed to be affirmed is
absolute ; nevertheless, such affirmation affects neither the subject
nor predicate, but another whose existence is confusedly latent in
the concept. Thus, The idea of the possible includes both internal
and external possibility, is an analytical Judgment, wherein existence
is predicated neither of the subject nor of the predicate ; still, the
concept virtually, though confusedly, includes the idea of an existing
Being, (as we have already seen). Whose necessary Existence is the
only real Foundation either of internal or of external possibility..
Further : Existence, in this last example, is confusedly connoted in
subject and predicate, — not as actual, but as not repugnant, or not
impossible to either. For all real concepts are representative of real
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objects which either exist or, at least, are capable of existence,
outside the objective representation of the mind.
Now, the Principle of causality does not categorically aflRrm the
existence of its subject or of its predicate. In fact, it may be
adequately represented under the form of a conditional, as thus :
If inceptive or contingent Being exists, its efficient cause must exist.
In such Judo^ment; nothing more is contained than the non-repug-
nance of existence, in the case of both the terms. Besides this,
however, it virtually and confusedly includes the existence, — or
rather, the idea of the existence, — of a First Cause.
IV. It has been further objected, that the Principle of causality is
immoral ; because it virtually denies the possibility of free-will. The
Antecedent is thus proved. That Principle which affirms the necessity
of the effect in presence of its cause^ denies the possibility of free-will.
But the Principle of causality is of this kind. Therefore, &c.
Answee. Of course the Antecedent and Consequent are denied.
As to the proof of the Antecedenty the Major must be distinguished.
That Principle, which affirms the hypothetical necessity of the effect
in presence of its cause, (i. e. supposing the actual influx of the cause
into its effect), denies the possibility of free-will, — no. That
Principle, which affirms the antecedent necessity of the effect in
presence of its cause, denies the possibility of free-will — there is need
of a subdistinction : That Principle which includes such a supposi-
tion in the case of every cause, — granted ; that Principle, which
includes such a supposition in the case of some causes only, denies
the possibility of free-will, — utterly denied.
This solution, like the preceding, needs explanation. If you
conceive a cause, formally qua cause, you must necessarily suppose
the effect ; because the two terms are essentially relative. It
would be a contradiction in terms that a cause, hie et nunc ener-
gizing as cause, should be without its effect ; which would be tanta-
mount to its being no cause at all. But, if you conceive an entity
that is capable of causation, yet is not at present a cause ; then, to
affirm the necessity of the effect in all cases, would certainly go to
destroy the liberty of the human will. But, to affirm such necessity
in some cases in which the cause is necessarily determined to one
effect, would not, as is plain, interfere with the liberty of the human
will. Thus, for instance, it is physically necessary that Jire, sup-
posing the required conditions to be verified, should burn dry wood ;
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28 Principles of Being.
because such is the one determined effect of fire, as a cause, on the
above-named subject.
Note i. The Principle of causality does not assert the necessity
of an existing^ effect, by virtue of the existence of a potential cause ;
but^ inversely, affirms the necessity of an existing cause, supposing*
inceptive or contingent Being, (which must, of its very nature, be
an effect), to exist.
Note a. The reader will profit by reading the entire tenth
Book on causation in the Fundamental Philosophy of Balmez,
There is an English translation of this Work by Brownson (Sadlier
and Co., New York).
The ultimate Principle in order of reduction.
As ideas, so analytical Judgments, or Principles, are reducible to
an ultimate, of which the rest are simple determinations; under
which, consequently, these latter are virtually cont>ained. In the
order of ideas, i.e. of simple Apprehensions, Being is the ultimate;
since all other real concepts are truly determinations and con-
tractions of this primary concept. Wherefore, Being virtually
contains every form of reality, — or, to speak logically, every genus
and every species, — within its transcendental periphery. Now,
the present inquiry has been instituted for the purpose of de-
termining which Judgment is, — and at the same time of showing
that certain Judgments are not, (though they have been severally
supposed to be), — the ultimate in the order of Principles.
To begin with a definition of the subject : The ultimate Principle
will be that analytical Judgment which explicitly exhibits the one
motive of assent common to all other subordinate Principles ; so
that these latter ma}*^ be established against sceptical assault by
reduction to the former, as to the evident and immovable founda-
tion of all complex or judicial thought.
PKOPOSITION CXX.
The Judgment, whioh has been designated the Principle of
identity, if ta.ken according to the obvious meaning of the
word, cannot be a Principle at all, much less an ultimate
Principle in order of reduction.
Prolegomenon.
Sir William Hamilton has given a prominence in our time to
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Analytical Principles. 29
this so-called Principle of identity. He supposes it to be the
' Law ' of all affirmation and definition ; jast as the Principle of
contradiction, according to him, is the ^ Law ' of all negation and
distinction. It is true that his doctrine on this head is ex prqfeaso
limited to the logical science, and that he has laboured to sub-
stitute these two so-called ' Laws,' (a law and a Principle are not
alto^ther the same thing), for the venerable Dictum de Omni et
Nulla. And, considered solely under this aspect, it is obvious that
any discussion of the theory in question would be out of place in
these pages. But it will be seen, on careful examination, that the
development of this theory is extra-logical^ and lands us within
the proper limits of metaphysical inquiry. In fact, as there has
been occasion to remark before, the Hamiltonian novelties in Logic
can all be traced to an apparent confusion touching the spheres of
these two sciences and their respective wholes. In this and the
two subsequent Thefts, this theory of Sir William Hamilton will
be considered under the threefold aspect which it has assumed in
the exposition of the author; only, however, so far, as its con-
sideration can fairly claim a place in the metaphysical science.
For our present purpose it will suffice to introduce a short
quotation from this learned author's work on Logic ; the detailed
exposition of the theory now under review will be reserved for the
next Proposition. The principle of Identity, he remarks, *is
expressed in the formula A is A, or A=A; and by A is denoted
every logical thing, every product of our thinking faculty,— concept,
judgment, reasoning, &c This law may, therefore, be also thus
enounced, — ^Everything is equal to itself^.' There is, in this declara-
tion, a seeming confusion of the ' Principle ' of identity with that
of equality; yet no two Judgments could well be more dissimilar.
Accordingly, it will be well, for the sake of clearness, to separate
or precise the three proposed formulas, by retaining the first (A
is A), omitting the second for the present, and by modifying the
third, so as to make it formally equivalent with the first. Where-
fore, without prejudice to the theory of its author, it shall stand
thus: Everything is itself' From the subsequent exposition it
would appear as though Sir William Hamilton did not contemplate
the naked tautology which his formula {A is A) exhibits. Never-
theless, it is necessary first of all to take that formula, as it stands,
* Lecture v, ^ 14. Vol, /.
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30 Principles of Being.
according to its obvious rendering. Afterwards it shall be ex-
amined by the light of the explanation with which this author
surrounds it. In this Thesis, therefore, the said formula is taken
literally, as it stands.
The Pkoposition is thus dkclaeed :—
I. A tautological Judgment cannot be a Principle ; because a
Principle is a Judgment either from which demonstration proceeds
or on which demonstration reposes, and demonstration can neither
proceed from, nor be founded on the strength of, a tautological
Judgment. But the Principle of identity, taken in its obvious
meaning, is tautological. The Minor of the above Syllogism is
thus proved. Every Judgment, wherein the subject and predicate
are in all respects identical, is tautological. But, in the formula,
A is A, there is an absolute identity between the subject and
predicate, as sucA; for the formula represents the subjective
concepts more directly than the objected reality. The Ma;or is
self-evident, to those at least who are conversant with the laws of
demonstration. For these laws require three terms, viz. the
subject, the passion or attribute, and the definition. In the
major premiss, the attribute is predicated of the definition; in
the minor premiss, the definition is predicated of the subject.
Therefore, in each premiss, there are two distinct terms; and, in
the whole syllogism, three. But, in a tautological Judgment, there
is only one term (A) ; and no other is even virtually contained.
Therefore, a tautological Judgment cannot be a Principle in any
sense; for it cannot actually enter into demonstration, neither
could demonstration repose on the foundation of a solitary concept.
Further, a Principle must be a Judgment; but A is A is a.
Judgment in nothing else but its logical form. A fortiori, it could
not be the ultimate Principle on which demonstration in every
field of science leans for support.
II. It cannot be doubted that the motive or evidence proper to
analytical Principles, as sticks must be virtually distinct from that
which is contained in the simple idea of Being ; otherwise, not only
would there be an equivalence between the evidence of a simple
apprehension and that of a Judgment, but there would be no
sufiicient reason for denying that a mere idea could become an
analytical Principle, which is absurd. But the so-called Principle
of identity exhibits a motive, or evidence, which is not dis-
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Analytical Principles. 31
tinguished, save by a purely logical fiction, from the motive
exhibited by the simple idea of Being. For Being, in that it is
essentially one, can be conceived by purely mental reflection as
essentially one wiih itself. Hence arises the notion of identity, as
already explained in Book III, ch. 2, a. i. n. 2. But the so-called
Principle of identity is nothing other than this notion transformed
into the semblance of a Judgment. Therefore, it is no Principle
at all ; much less, the ultimate in order of reduction, or that first
and universal Principle upon which the rest fundamentally depend.
PROPOSITION CXXL
The so-called Principle of identity, if understood in a sense not
tautological, cannot be the idtimate Principle in order of
reduction.
Prolegomenon.
As it has been already remarked, Sir William Hamilton would
seem to have understood the Principle of identity in a sense that
is not tautological. Here, then, will be the place to quote so much
of the explanation given as will enable us to determine the pi*ecise
meaning attached by him to the term. The task is not a little
difficult ; for, in his exposition alike and in his formulas, the author
now under review has offered indifferently the Principle of identity,
in both its received senses, and the Principle of equality, as though
they were all one and the same thing. Nevertheless, it is to be
hoped that, by weighing with care the general bearing of his
words, it may be possible to arrive at a more or less clear appre-
hension of his meaning.
' Let us consider : — looking at the whole and the parts together
on the Principle of Identity, we are assured that the whole and all
its parts are one, — that whatever is true of the one is true of the
other, — that they are only different expressions for the different
aspects in which we may contemplate what in itself is absolutely
identical^.'
Again, a little further on : * If we reason downwards^ from a
containing whole to a contained part, we shall have one sort of
reasoning which is called the Deductive; whereas, if we reason
* Logic, Lcctun xvi, t Ivii, Vol. 7» p. 301.
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32 Principles of Being.
upwards, from the conaHtueni parts to a constituted wAale, we shall
have another sort of reasonings which is called the Inductive ^/
Once more, in an earlier parag^ph : ' The Principle of Identity
(Frincipium Identitatis) expresses the relation of total sameness in
which a concept stands to all, and the relation of partial sameness
in which it stands to each, of its constituent characters. In other
words it declares the impossibility of thinking the concept and its
characters as reciprocally unlike.' (Here we are introduced to a
third Principle, — that of similarity, which is limited to the Category
of Quality). * It is expressed in the formula A is A^ or Ar=^A ; and
by A is denoted every logical thing, every product of our thinking
faculty,— concept, judgment, reasoning, &c. The Principle of
Identity is an application of the principle of the absolute equiva-
lence of a whole and of all its parts taken together, to the thinking*
of a thing by the attribution of constituent qualities or characters.
The concept of the thing is a whole, the characters are the parts of that
whole. This law may, therefore, be also thus enounced, — Everything
is equal to itself, — for in a logical relation the thing and its concept
coincide ; as, in Logic, we abstract altogether from the reality of
the thing which the concept represents.' (Not so; we abstract
altogether from the thing itself, and from its representation in the
concept; which latter is the fnatter of the thought.) * It is, there-
fore, the same whether we say that the concept is equal to all its
characters, or that the thing is equal to itself.' (This is a funda-
mental mistake). * The law has, likewise, been expressed by the
formula, — In the predicate, the whole is contained explicitly, which
in the subject is contained implicitly.'
• The logical iniportance of the law of Identity lies in this, — that
it is the principle of all logical affirmation and definition ^.'
Now, from the quotations here given it would appear that Sir
William Hamilton, spite of his professions to the contrary, had
before his mind, not subjective, but objective identity; and ob-
jective identity, moreover, only under a special point of view.
There is, evidently enough, no identity between the concept, as such,
of a being, and the concept of its parts or, if you will, characteristic
notes. For instance, in the Judgment, This dog is a substance^ no
one in his senses would venture to maintain that the two ideas.
This dog^ and substance^ are in themselves identical. Neither could
* Logic, Lecture xvi, ^ Ivii, Vol. I, p. 302. ■ Lecture v, f xiv, p. 79.
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Analytical Principles, 33
it be serionsly maintained, that the realities, respectively repre-
sented by these two ideas, are absolutely (i.e. in themselves)
identical. But it is true to say that in the object, (which is the
subject of the Judgment), they are de facto identified ; forasmuch
as Thi% dog and substance in its judicial synthesis with the subject,
(i.e. as in This dog\ are identical objectively. Now, Sir William
Hamilton considers the subject of a Judgment as a whole; and
the predicate, which he supposes to invariably exhibit ^the con-
stituent characters ' or ' constituent qualities,' as parts which
together constitute the whole. The phraseology is not felicitous.
For the parts of a logical whole are limited to genus and
difference, which do not exhaust the predicables; while the only
parts of a metaphysical whole are the formal and material, and
these do not include the attributes or passions, which are, never-
theless, the main subject of determination in the demonstrative
syllogism. Moreover, there is great apparent confusion in the
statement, — * The concept of the thing is a whole, the characters
are the parts of that whole.' For there would seem to be an
unconscious passing from the subjective to the objective. The
concept, qua concept, is a logical whole ; the thing conceived may
he, according to its nature, either a metaphysical, physical, or
conceptual whole. To which of these kinds are we to attribute
the characters as parts? Not to the logical whole; because the
subjoined words, of a thing y would be foreign to such application.
But, if they are to be attributed to the thing, or object, conceived ;
then one would have expected in the apodosis, * the concept of the
characters are the parts of that whole.'
However, apart from the particular modes of expression, it would
seem as though this writer's meaning may be gathered with
sufficient clearness. He maintains, and justly maintains, that
there is, in every true afl&rmative Judgment, an objective identity
of subject and predicate; for the predicate, in its actual synthesis
with the subject, is, and is cognized to be, one with the latter.
In other words, the Judgment is true. Presuming, therefore, that
such is the meaning which Sir William Hamilton intended to
convey, there are certain observations which it will be profitable to
subjoin.
i. The formula, A is A, must go ; for it in no wise represents
the. virtual identity which is intended. To borrow an example
from the author : Let us suppose the Judgment, Man is a material,
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34 Principles of Being,
organized^ animated^ rational^ Suhstance on this earth. It would be
folly to say that the ideas of man, material, organized, animated,
&c., are in themselves identical the one with the other; thoug^h
the last five are identified with the first in the Judgment ob-
jectively. The formula should rather be A is a+h+cH-d+«-
However, it might possibly be urged that the entire predicate is
represented by A ; since, in no other being save man is the same
precise collection of characteristic qualities discoverable. This is
undoubtedly true ; but it is by no means sufficient to justify the
denotation of two conceptual representations, so pronouncedly
distinct, by the same symbol.
ii. But there are yet more weighty reasons for dismissing the
said formula. For the class of analytical Judgments which have
been considered in the preceding paragraph covers very limited
ground. It includes definitions merely. In by far the greater
number of analytical Judgments, there is no such adequate corre-
spondence between subject and predicate. Accordingly, Sir William
Hamilton, apparently for the purpose of including this second
class, has introduced a notable modification into the explanation
given of the Principle of identity, by subjoining that it expresses
* the relation of partial sameness in which a co^icept (of a thing)
stands to each of its constituent characters,^ It follows then, — or,
rather, it is admitted, — that the identity in such cases does not
apply to the whole reality of A, but is partial only. Wherefore,
1. The second A in ^ w ^, as symbol either of the subjective or
objective concept, is not identical with the first A, as symbol of
the subject. For instance, in the Judgment, Man is an animal,
the concept, Animal, (the second A), even if assumed as in the
subject, is not identical with the concept, Man, (the first A).
2. Though the subject {Man) is universal in its extension^ it is not
universal in its intension. In other words, though it is true that
All men are animuls ; it is anything but true that All man is
animal. Wherefore, it should be expressed strictly as follows:
Something of man {something tJtat is man) is animal. The more
accurate formula, accordingly, would be, A—x is a in A; for, not
all that is man is animal, and animal is not identified with man
save in man. Further, if the quantification of the above proposi-
tion is to be measured by the metaphysical whole, the Judgment
is evidently a particular. As, then, for similar reasons, Sir William
Hamilton has introduced his new Modes, which are measured by
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Analytical Principles, 35
the totality of intension ; he would have been more consistent with
himself, if he had added a new quantification of the subject^
measured bj the same totality. It may be possibly objected, that,
in order to meet the requirements of Judgments similar to the one
just given, he has submitted the predicate to quantification ; but it is
enough to reply, that such quantification is measured by the whole
of extejinon^ which does not meet the exigency of the case. More-
over^ there are other kinds of analytical Judgments, wherein the
extension of the terms is the same and, consequently, there is no
place for the quantification of the predicate; yet there is no
identity, although a synthesis^ of these terms. Such are all
Judgments in which an attribute, or passion, is predicated either of
the subject or its definition. Thus, for instance, All bodies are
extended^ is a Judgment in which the terms are of equal extension ;
so that it can be simply converted. Yet, who would say that
the subjective or objective concept of Body is identical with
the subjective or objective concept of Extension? The formula
in this and similar Judgments would be, SometMng propez to A
iii. The formula, A is A^ has special difiiculties, when applied to
synthetical Judgments; nevertheless, its advocate submits these,
together with all other, concepts, to it as to their final criterion.
For, in such Judgments^ the connection of the predicate with the
subject is contingent, casual. Hence, it is conditioned by time, or
place, or circumstance, &c. To take an instance : John is sitting
down. But, now again, Join is not sitting down. If, therefore,
(applying the formula, A is A, to these Judgments respectively),
the second A is representative of sitting down in the former
Judgment^ it will also be representative of not sitting down in the
latter. Hence it will follow that A is Ay and that A is not-A;
consequently, the second A is the second not- A, — say, A' is not-A\
Nor will it remedy matters, to object that the identity is con-
ditioned by time ; for, let the condition be expressed, the difficulty
will remain. A is now A (i.e. A is now itself); A is now not- A
(i.e. A is now not-Itself). One can understand how A is now
identified in some way or other with B, and now again with
Dot-B ; but it surpasses all comprehension, how A can be now A
and now not- A, i.e. the negation of itself.
iv. The above arguments are, for the most part, equally con-
clusive against the other formula, A=A. There are other special
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36 . Principles of Being,
reasons for the rejection of this Principle of equality, which will
appear in the sequel.
V. It would be obviously out of place here to enter upon a
discussion touching the merits of this theory in its relation to the
logical science. Suffice it to say that, as applied to the forms of
thought, it seems to have even less verisimilitude than as applied
to concepts or to the reality which constitutes their object.
The present Proposition is thus dbctj^red.
The fundamental Principle, on which all philosophical thought
in ultimate analysis absolutely reposes, must explicitly exhibit the
necessity that Being should be, if it is. Without perfect security
for this, all process of thought would become nugatory, nay, impos-
sible. But the Principle of identity, even understood in a non-
tautological sense, does not explicitly exhibit the necessity that
a Being should be, if it is. That which it does explicitly exhibit,
is the identity of a thing with itself; and perhaps, as a consequence,
its reality. Yet the idea of the identity of Being with itself, or
even of the reality of Being, does not explicitly represent the neces-
sity that Being should be, if it is. Thus, — ^to take an example in the
concrete, — it is said that Two and three are jive. The Principle of
identity assures us, (we will suppose), that 2 + 3 and 5 are one and
the same thing. Be it so ; but what security does it give that
2 + 3 may not at once be 5 and 7, or any other number ? Yet,
without such security, multiplication-tables, arithmetic, algebra, are
a simple farce. Similarly: It has been maintained in a former
Proposition, that the concept of change, under whatever form,
necessarily carries with it the idea of an efficient cause. But why?
Is it because change is change ; or because Being subject to
change is identical with inceptive or contingent Being ? By no
means. If the analysis there instituted be carefiilly considered, it
will be seen that the concept of change includes the idea of an
efficient cause, because it is impossible that any entity should be at
once new and hot new. In other words, the Principle of causality,
like every other Judgment analytical or synthetic, reposes on the
above mentioned motive, viz. on the necessity that a thing should
be, if it is.
COROLLAEY.
It follows from the preceding declaration, that the Principle of
identity cannot be, even co-ordinately^ an ultimate in order of
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Analytical Principles, 37
redaction. The iDsertion of this Corollary has been rendered neces-
sary by the peculiar theory under review. Sir William Hamilton
does not, in fact, claim for the said Principle an exclusive priority
or, in other words, the position of a solitary ultimate ; however in-
consequent he may occasionally prove himself to be. For he says,
* The law of Identity and the law of Contradiction are co-ordinate
and reciprocally relative, and neither can be educed as second from
the other as first ; for in every such attempt at derivation, the sup-
posed secondary law is, in fact, almost necessarily supposed. These
are, in fact, one and the same law, — differing only by a positive and
negative expression^.' It is plain, then, that this author maintains
the precedency of two co-ordinately ultimate Principles, each inde-
pendent of the other : — the one lying at the root of all affirmative,
the other at the root of all negative, analytical Judgments. It has
been already seen that Sir William Hamilton does not limit their
application to analytical Judgments ; the restriction has been here
adopted, in obedience to the requirements of the metaphysical
science. The same declaration, which has been made in proof of
the Proposition, will serve equally for the present Corollary. It
was with a view to this^ that the illustrations were exclusively taken
from affirmative Judgments.
DIFFICULTIES.
I. The Principle of identity, understood in a sense not tauto-
logical, is the ultimate in order of reduction ; so far as regards all
affirmative analytical Judgments. The Antecedent is thus proved.
That Principle, which is the fundamental reason for truly affirming
the synthesis of predicate and subject in such Judgments, is the
ultimate in order of reduction, so far as regards affirmative Judg-
ments. But the Principle of identity is the fundamental reason
for such affirmation. The Minor is thus declared. In every affirm-
ative Judgment and, h fortiori^ in every affirmative analytical
Judgment, the fundamental reason why the predicate is truly
affirmed of the subject, is this; that the reality, conceptually
represented by the predicate, is objectively identical, (partially,
at least), with the reality conceptually represented by the subject.
Thus, — ^to take an instance, — in the Judgment, All plants are living
ihingi^ the ultimate basis for the truth of the affirmation is, that
• Lorjic, Lect. V, pp. 82, 83.
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38 Principles of Being.
living thing is objectively identified with plant. This identity finally
and absolutely establishes the truth of the affirmation. If I shoald
be asked, why I assert that Plants are living things^ my only answer
will be, Because they are. There is an objective identity, if only-
partial, between plants and life in plants, which the mind recognizes
as the final justification of its assertion. It is impossible to proceed
further. Whatever objection, therefore, may be made to the formula
or formulas by which the Principle is symbolized, (and this is a
matter of comparatively small importance) ; it would be difficult to
deny the efficacy, of the Principle itself in the case of affirmative
Judgments.
Answer. The Antecedent is denied. As touching the proof, the
Major requires to be distinguished. That the Principle, which is
the fundamental reason for truly affirming the exclusively necessary
synthesis of predicate and subject in such Judgments, is the ulti-
mate in order of reduction, — granted. That the Principle, which
is the fundamental reason for truly affirming the simply actual
synthesis, is the ultimate, — I subdistinguish : The formal and coti-
ceptually fundamental reason, — let it pass ; the material, as it were,
and objectively fundamental reason, — again I subdistinguish : Such
fundamental reason is the ultimate basis for the objective truth of
the Judgment, — let it pass ; such fundamental reason is the ulti-
mate Principle upon which the true Judgment conceptually rests
in final analysis, — denied.
The Minor is contradistinguished. That the Principle of identity
is the fundamental reason for truly affirming the exclusively necessary
synthesis of predicate and subject in affirmative Judgments, —
denied; that this Principle is the fundamental reason for truly
affirming the actual synthesis, — I subdistinguish: That it is the
material and objectively fundamental reason, — ^let it pass ; that it
is the formal and conceptually fundamental reasonj-^denied.
This answer, given briefly in form, needs explanation. So, then ;
a given Principle may, or may not, be the fundamental reason why
the predicate in a Judgment should be truly affirmed of the sub-
ject ; and yet not include any, or at least sufficient, reason why it
could not possibly be otherwise, or why simultaneous affirmation
and negation should be an absurd impossibility. This it is precisely
that is intended by the phrase, exclusively necessary. But, if the
Principle proposed does not exhibit a sufficient reason for this
exclusively necessary synthesis, it cannot lay claim to be the ulti-
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Analytical Pruuiples, 39
mate in order of reduction. Again ; If a Principle is the fundamental
reason for truly affirming the simply actual synthesis of predicate
and subject, it may be such in two ways. It may be formally and
etmcepiually the ultimate reason for the true affirmation. In such
case, it may be open to doubt whether it could not be the ultimate
Principle ; because the formal motive in the mind of the thinker,
which justifies the affirmation, might perhaps virtually include
a reason, implicit at least, for the affirmation of an exclusively
necessary synthesis. But, if the said Principle is only materially
and objectively the fundamental reason for truly affirming such
synthesis, i.e. if the reason is in the object only, not in the concept;
it is false to say that such a Principle can be the ultimate Principle
in order of reduction, albeit it may possibly be an ultimate reason
for the ontologieal truth of the object as presented to the mind.
Now, the Principle of identity is not, even virtually, the funda-
mental reason for truly affirming the exclmively necessary synthesis
of predicate and subject; but only the actual synthesis. For,
simply because A is A^ it in no wise follows that A cannot at the
same time be not-A. Moreover, if it should chance to be the ulti-
mate reason for truly affirming the actual synthesis of predicate
and subject ; it is not such, as a Principle formally sustaining the
Judgment, but as a Principle of Being which is really undis-
tinguishable from ontologieal unity. For identity is simply the
unity of Being with itself. Wherefore, the Principle of identity
is rather the ultimate reason (if ultimate reason at all) of the truth
of the object, than of the truth of the synthesis in the Judgment.
It is true for instance, objectively, that All men are animals ; because
animality in man is objectively the same as rational animalify. Ac-
cordingly, the so-called Principle of identity is nothing more or
less than the reality, truth, or unity of Being, affirmed by a reflex
Judgment ; and contains nothing which had not been previously
contained in the idea of Being and its attributes. It is not a
Principle at all, strictly speaking. For a Principle is a Judgment ;
and, as such, postulates two terms. The above explanation will
suffice^to explain the contradistinctions embodied in the answer to
the Minor of the objection.
II. It will not improbably be objected by a disciple of the
Hamiltonian views, that a grave injustice has been committed
against their learned author in the present Thesis. For the simple
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40 Principles of Being.
fact is, that Sir William Hamilton has been solely occupied, in the
passages quoted, with the task of determining the primary law of
the affirmative syllogism, and of discovering a substitute for the^
to him at leasts unsatisfactory Dictum de omni et nullo; whereas it
has been gratuitously assumed, that he is claiming for the Principle
of identity a co-ordinate supremacy within the sphere of ontology.
Thus the two spheres of Metaphysics and Logic have been con-
founded, apparently for the mere purpose of bringing in a bill of
indictment against this illustrious writer. The mistake, moreover,
is the less excusable^ because Sir William Hamilton, in the very-
places which have been selected, expressly disclaims the pretension
that the law of contradiction is a metaphysical Principle, and asserts
that it cap only boast of a logical value.
Answee. It seems necessary to observe, first of all, that philoso-
phical inquiry abscinds from that which is purely personal. AVhether,
in his treatment of this question. Sir William Hamilton did, or did
not, confine himself within the strict limits of Logic, is a matter of
comparatively small importance. Nor would one, who is endea-
vouring to recall the mind of England to the old philosophy of the
School, be too ready to quarrel with one that laboured so effectively
in a similar direction. Yet, even supposing that a wrong inter-
pretation has been given to his words, the possibility that his
doctrine may be so misinterpreted makes it a matter of duty for
the metaphysician to guard the student against the supposed error
and its consequences. But, again. Sir William Hamilton has cer-
tainly given just occasion for the interpretation complained of.
For (a), he is perpetually introducing the object of thought, though
at the same time protesting against its relevancy within the sphere
of Logic. * Constituent qualities,* * characters^ * constituent ckarac^
terSy ' notes of the object^ are terms which point to Metaphysics, not
to Logic. When he speaks of ' thinking of a thing by the attribution
of constUicent qualities or characters, and adds that ' the concept of a
thing is the whole, the characters are the parts of that whole^ when
he further declares that the law of identity may be * thus enounced,
— Everything is equal to itself^ he is, plainly enough, passing beyond
the boundaries of pure Logic, which has nothing to do with ' thing,*
or ' characters* or with * attribution of constituent qualities' (because
these constitute the matter of thought and belong to it a* repre-
sentative), but limits itself to a contemplation of the laws, or forms,
of ideas and concepts only, abstracting wholly from the matter.
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Analytical Principles. 41
Neither does it mend matters to subjoin that ' we abstract altogether
from the reality of the thing which the concept rejyresents. It is, there-
forcy the same whether we say that the concept is equal to all its charac-
ters, or that the thing is equal to itself^* For pure Logic not only
abstracts from the reality of the thing ; but from the thing itself.
Nay, more ; it only abstracts from the reality of the thing, because
it abstracts altogether from the thing, (i.e. the object of the thought
and from all that is representative in the thought). Hence, it is
not the same ' whether we say that the concept is equal to all its cha-
racters, or that the thing is equal to itself,' For Logic contemplates
the logical characters only of thought, considered purely according
to its form or law; not the characters, or constituent qualities, of
the object represented. Considered under this second aspect,
thought becomes the formal property of Ideology. When, however,
it is question of the equality of a thing (or reality) with itself, we
have entered within the proper sphere of Metaphysics, (b) It will
be found, after careful investigation, that the whole and parts
announced in the quotations, and which form so important an
element in the Hamiltonian theory, are a meta'physical whole
and metaphysical parts, — not a logical whole and logical parts.
{c) The Principle of contradiction has been generally accepted by
the ancients and by the School as the ultimate in scientific and
metaphysical demonstration; and with reason. Since, then. Sir
William Hamilton has claimed for the Principle of identity the
same place in affirmative Judgments which he claims for the Prin-
ciple of contradiction in negative Judgments, it follows that the
sphere of the former must be the same as the sphere of the latter,
viz. metaphysical, {d) The new system of syllogistic modes is
strictly metaphysical ; yet no one can fail to see its dependence on
the Principle of identity which it is intended to subserve. Nor can
it avail to urge, as in the objection, that Sir William Hamilton
declares the Principle of contradiction to be logical^ not real, —
formal, not metaphysical ; because^ throughout his Logic, he has
systematically confounded the two orders. This may^ perhaps,
account in some measure for the contradictory statements that he
makes touching this Principle. Thus, in his Logic he tells us, as
we have seen, that ' the law of Identity and the law of Contra-
diction are co-ordinate and reciprocally relative, and neither can be
educed as second from the other as first.' Yet, in his Metaphysics,
» Logic, Led. V, Vol. /, p. 80.
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42 Principles of Being.
he assures us that the Principle of contradiction is ' the highest of
all logical laws, in other words, the supreme law of thought^;' and
then, again, in a fragment already referred to, pronounces that ' it is
partial, not thorough-going .... and is, therefore, all too narrow in
its application as a universal criterion or instrument of judgment ^.'
PROPOSITION cxxn.
The Principle of equality cannct be the ultimate Principle
in order of reduction.
Pbolegomenon I.
The Law of equality is usually expressed in this wise : Things
which are equal to the same are equal to one another. Here, at length,
a Principle is set before us, which seems to carry on its front a
capacity for becoming the basis of all demonstration ; for it exhibits
not two only but three terms. In this respect it stands on a par
with the famous Dictum de Omni et NuUo, Moreover, from the
nature of the axiom, its terms must be respectively distinct, one
from another. For equality essentially connotes distinction. No
one would ever dream of univocally predicating the equality of a
thing with itself. Those things, therefore, which are conceived as
equal, must be likewise conceived as distinct. Hence, equal things
are simply and entitativeli/ distinct ; and the same, only in a certain
respect. In what respect are they the same ? In Quantity, Yet
the sameness is not in the entitative Quantity of each ; for that is
as distinct in each from the rest of the quantities, as is the Bein^
which it informs from the quantified others. It is identity of
measure in quantity, that constitutes the sameness of things equal.
Nevertheless, — and this is the principal point to be now considered,
—equality is limited to the Category of Quantity. We speak of
equal height, of equal weight, of equal number, of equal age.
When the term is otherwise employed, as it not unfrequently is,
it is applied either metaphorically or analogously. That which, in
the Category of Qualify, answers to equality, is called likeness or
similarity. That, again, in the Category of Substance^ which comes
nearest to the concept of equality, is specific or generic: identity.
For these latter include a real distinction between the entities that
^ Mdapk, Led. XXXV I J I, Vol. II, p. 368. « Ibid. Appendix II, p. 534.
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Analytical Principles, 43
are the tenns of identity. Since the Principle of equality is limited
to the Category of Quantity, it is not surprising to find that it is the
principal basis of mathematical demonstration.
Prolegomenon II.
Sir William Hamilton has apparently assumed that the Principle
of equality, in its simplest expression, and that of identity are one
aud the same ; for he proposes indifferently the two formulas,
as legitimate expressions of his favourite law, viz. A is A, and A =
A. He further declares, in the quotation already given, that the
law of identity may be also thus enounced^ — Everything is equal to
itte^f. But, surely, there is here some considerable confusion of
ideas and terms. For equality, as has been already pointed out, is
limited to the Category of Quantity ; identity, on the other hand,
is co-extensive with Being. Again : equality postulates distinct
terms, real or individual ; identity (which Sir William Hamilton
contemplates) essentially supposes one term only. Hence, the concept
of identity may be reasonably represented by the formula, A is* A ;
but that of equality can only be represented by A=B, as indicative
of the necessary distinction between the terms. It might possibly
be objected by a disciple of the Hamiltonian theory, that in
analytical Judgments, identity, like equality, supposes a real dis-
tinction in the terms identified. For, in such Judgments, the
identity is necessarily either generic or specific ; it cannot be indi-
vidoaL But, according to the admission made in the preceding
Proleffomenon, species supposes individuals who are really distinct but
conceptually identical in their nature ; and genus equally supposes
species which are mutually distinct, but conceptually identical, in
the material part of their essence. This plea, however, is not solid.
For the specific identity of individuals, (and the same may be said
of the generic identity of several species), qua identity, is conceptual,
not real. That which is the real foundation of the concept is,
a similarity in the essential notes of each respectively. But similarity,
like equality, connotes two distinct terms. In applying, however,
the Principle of identity or of equality as measured by extension,
the idea of similarity and of the thereby connoted distinction of
subordinates disappears. Again : In the theory at present under
examination, the specific or generic identity is not taken distribu-
iiufyj but collectively. Hence there arises a conceptual singularity,
—not numerical, but specific or generic. Thus, the Judgment, Man
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44 Principles of Being.
is the same as animality in man, or, as some animality (which is the
way in which we are lessoned to read the Judgment, All men are
animals^ in order to reduce it to the new theory), singularizes the
genus, as it were, by the act of identifying it with one of its own
species. It should be added that if the genus were not thus
singularized^ it is inconceivable how the formula, A is A, could from
any point of view symbolize the Judgment. To make the matter
clearer^ let us take an example from a concrete^ not an abstract^
Judgment; and let the predicate be quantified in the recently-
approved fashion. The old instance will serve our turn ; All men
are some animals. Under this form, the subject is not distributed.
For, though it is true to say that all men, taken collectively, are
some animals ; it is not true that this man is some animals. Yet,
if the particularizing prefix be omitted, there is no equality or
identity.
The pbesent Proposition is pkoved by a twofold argument.
I. That Principle, whose motive is limited to a particular
Category, cannot be the ultimate in order of reduction ; since the
ultimate must exhibit a motive common to all analytical Principles
and Judgments of whatever Category. But the Principle of
equality is limited to the Category of Quantity. If, however, it
should be said that the term, equality y is used analogously according
to the tenor of Sir William Hamilton's explanation, the answer is
apparent. In such case, the equality is the equality of sameness,
which is no equality at all ; and we are referred back to the already
discarded Principle of identity.
II. The law, or canon, of equality, viz. Those things which are
equal to the same, are equal to mie anothety is not the basis of
scientific demonstration ; as it certainly is not the basis of the
syllogism. It is sufficiently obvious, and otherwise stands confessed^
that it could not be applied to indirect demonstration, or Reduction
to the absurd. But can it be legitimately applied to ostensive
demonstration ? Thus much may be at once admitted that, if the
said equality is measured by the logical whole, (i. e. by the whole
of extension), this canon is verified in the instance of most powerful
demonstration^ (as it is called), i. e. of that primary demonstrative
syllogism from which all the other successive syllogisms in one and
the same series proceed. For, in this mother-syllogism, all the pro-
positions— the conclusion as well as the two premisses, — are simply
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Analytical Prifuiples, 45
convertible. In the Major Premiss, the attribute is predicated of
the definition ; in the Minor, the definition is predicated of the
subject defined ; while^ in the Coficlusion, the attribute or passion
is predicated of the subject. Evidently, therefore^ there is an equality
of exiensian between the two terms of each Judgment and^ in con-
sequence, between the three terms of the syllogism. If, then^ we
represent the subject by S, the attribute by A, the definition by
D, according to the whole of extension, we shall have D = A,
S = D^ .*. S = A ; that is to say. Things that are equal to the same
are equal to one another. But, first of all, it should be remembered
that, although the equality is logical, it is quite accidental to the
laws, or forms, of thought ; and owes its origin to the matter, i. e.
to that in the thought which is representative. Hence it is that
demonstration finds no place in pure Logic. For it is the application
of the universal syllogistic forms to a definite subject-matter ; and
the subject-matter is extra-logical. Then^ ag^iQ) Metaphysic has
nothing to do with the logical whole. Yet our present search is
for the ultimate metaphysical Principle, as exhibiting the motive
common to all scientific, or analytical. Judgments. The measure of
equality, therefore, ought to be the whole of comprehension ; not
the whole of extension. But, thus measured, not even will the
fRost powerful demonstration satisfy the canon of equality. For,
although it may be allowed that the Minor exhibits a certain sort
of equality ; nevertheless, it is impossible to affirm the same either
of the Major or of the Conclusion, In the Minor, the definition, (as
we have said), is predicated of the subject defined ; therefore, the
reality, represented by each term, is equal. Not without reason,
however, has it been said that this premiss only exhibits a certain
sort of equality ; for, though the reality represented is equal, the re-
spective representation of the reality by each term is not equal.
In the Major, on the other hand, and in the Conclusion, there is no
pretension to such equality. For, in the former, the attribute is
predicated of the definition ; in the latter, of the subject. But no
one can fail to see that an attribute or passion, which is outside
the essence, does not exhaust the reality of the subject and its
definition. Thus, for instance, in the following demonstration, —
All rational animals are capable of laughter : Man is a rational animal :
.'. Man is capable of laughter, — who would seriously maintain that
capacity for laughter exhausts all the reality represented in the
concept of man or in that of rational animal ? If the Principle of
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46 Principles of Being,
equality has such slender influence over most powerful demonstra-
tion, or the mother-syllogism, it has still less over the dependent
syllogisms. But, as yet, reference has been made only to the first
and most perfect species of demonstration (Propler Quid — biSn),
wherein the attribute is demonstrated of the subject by means of
the cause. Should the examination be transferred to the second
species {Quod — 5ri), wherein causality is demonstrated of the
subject by means of the effect ; the canon of equality would be
entirely at fault. Consequently, there is no likelihood of its
being the ultimate Principle in order of reduction.
Note. It is worth noticing that, in this last proof of the Thesis^ the
term, equality, is used analogically. The logical and metaphysical
wholes are regarded as quantities ; and so, as subject to equality
and inequality.
PROPOSITION CXXIII.
The 66-called Principle, — Being creates existences, or, as it
has been otherwise expressed, — Ghod creates the world, is
not the ultimate in order of reduotion.
Prolegomenon.
Gioberti has given us the Judgment, which forms the subject
of the present Thesis, under its first expression. The modification,
or second expression, of it as given in the Enunciation is due to
Father Eomano, and was afterwards adopted by the American
writer, Mr. Brownson. All three maintained that this Judgment,
under one or other of its forms, is the ultimate Principle which
underlies all thought.
The Peoposition is proved by the foltx)wing arguments:
I. If the aforesaid Judgment were the ultimate Principle of
which we are in search, it would follow that there could be no
science and, so far at least as man is concerned, no necessary truth.
For, creation is an act of free-will ; and, therefore, contingent in its
results. Consequently, the Judgment in question would be con-
tingent and synthetical. But no derivative Judgment can rise
above its source. Consequently, all human Judgments would be
contingent ; and, out of such concepts, the formation of science
is impossible. For science deals only with the necessary and
eternal.
II. The above argument is further confirmed. Science has
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Analytical Principles. 47
nothing to do with created existences, an mch ; because they too,
like the creative act which they presuppose, are contingent. It is
not, therefore^ possible that the ultimate Principle of scientific
thought should be a Judgment wherein created existences, as sticAy
form part of the predicate.
III. The truth of the preceding arguments may be presented
under an opposite point of view. In the hypothesis that such
Judgment were the ultimate basis of thought, created existences
would be necessary, immutable, eternal. They would, consequently,
be God ; so that the predicate in the said Judgment would be
identical with the subject. The Antecedent is thus proved. A first
Principle must be analytical; i.e. the idea of the predicate must
be essentially contained in the idea of the subject. Wherefore, in
the present instance, the idea of created existences^ or of the worlds
must be essentially contained in the idea of Being, or of God.
This once admitted, creation and created existences are essential
to God. But that which is essential to God, is God. Why not
add that, in this case, the Principle of identity would have the
prior claim ; seeing that the Judgments in question would be
resolvable into it?
IV. The theory in question is repugnant to common senre.
No one could be persuaded that, when a child, for instance, first
forms its confused concept of Being or Thing , there is lurking in its
mind, underneath this simplest and most vague idea, the Judgment
that God creates the world. So, again, if a farmer should pronounce
that The crop of hay this year has been a very fine one, is it not over-
much to require us to believe that underneath this assertion there
lies, however implicitly, that other Judgment, Being creates Exis-
fences ? To take a fresh illustration from another and higher order
of truths : We form the Judgment that Behig is one, true, good.
Where is the necessity, whence the opportuneness, of introducing the
concept of creation here ? Surely, it is possible to conceive of God
as Being, as One, as True, as Good ; quite irrespective of any,
even virtual, concept of a creation. Here, however, an objection
might possibly be made ; yet of such little worth, that one is half
ashamed to notice it. It may be urged that the child cannot
think thing or any other thought, unless itself has been previously
created. Similarly, the farmer cannot pronounce judgment on the
crops, save on the presupposition that he as well as the crops have
been created. The same holds good in the case of the man who
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48 Prifutples of Being.
judges God to be Being, the One, the True, the Good. But who
can fail to see that there is, in such an objection, a confusion be-
tween the real and the conceptual order ? In order to think, of
course, I must first be. In order that I may be able to judge
about crops of hay, they must first be. But the existence of the
one or the other, though a prerequisite or a necessary condition,
does not enter into the formal act of the Judgment. The two are
preliminary, if you will ; but they are not elements in the concept
itself. In order that a man may have a draught of water, recouvse
must be had (we will suppose) to the pump ; yet, for all that, he
does not swallow the pump.
V. The theory under discussion supposes an intuitive knowledge
of God in the actual order. It is, therefore, based on a false
hypothesis. All our knowledge of God, of His Existence, Nature,
Attributes, (apart from a supernatural revelation), is arguitive, —
a deduction from the things that are seen. We know of Him
only through His works. All our ideas, in the actual order, are
primitively derived from sensile perception ; and they cannot break
entirely loose from their source. We are utterly unable, as things
stand, to intue the purely spiritual.
VI. The theory in question is based upon a philosophical error.
There are two ideas of Being, as separate from each other as are the
two poles. The one is that most general, confused, uncontaining,
notion of Being, which is conceived by the child when first it
begins to think. That same idea comes afterwards into the pos-
session of the philosopher, and is rendered clear and explicit. Yet,
spite of all, it is a Transcendental ; and includes the Creator and the
creature, — ^the Infinite and finite, — the Necessary and the contingent,
— the Eternal and temporal, under (if one may use the expression in
such connection) a common denominator. The concept has closest
affinity with the whole of extension, while going beyond it. But
there is another idea of Being, which most nearly resembles the
metaphysical whole, or whole of intension, though going beyond
it. For it includes all reality within itself in infinite perfection ;
and only is not the metaphysical whole, because it is not specific,
but singular and individual. Yet is it a singular that includes
all genera and species virtually and eminently, but essentially, in
itself. It is the idea of * I am Who am.' Now the theory, of
which we are at present speaking, confounds the one idea of Being
with the other. The former, it is true, is first and last in all
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Analytical Principles. 49
hnman thought ; the latter is the outcome of an elaborate process
of deduction. The one is an intuition of the understanding; the
other is a conclusion of reason.
PROPOSITION CXXIV.
The Frinoiple of oontradiotion is the ultimate in order of
reduction.
Fbolegomenon.
That Principle which is ultimate in order of reduction is first
in order of thought and in genesis of science.
Th£ Proposition is thus declabed.
I. The ultimate^ or most universal^ Principle must necessarily
embrace the most universal object ; and the first Principle will
exhibit this most universal object in its primary relation. Now,
by common consent, Being 09 such (i.e. independently of^ and
prior to, its three attributes, or passions) is the most universal
object and, consequently, the most universal subject of a Judgment.
It remains, then, to discover the primary relation (so to say) of
Being. It has been already pointed out in the thirty-second
Proposition ^^ that, as St. Thomas teaches, first in order of scien-
tific thought comes the idea of Being, then of Not-Being ; thence
proceeds the idea of division; from which^ in turn, the idea of
unity. The idea of unity gives birth to that of distinction ; and
from these last is generated the idea of multitude. It has been
further shown, in the third Book, that the two other Transcen-
dental attributes of truth and goodness are consequent upon
unity in scientific genesis. To repeat, then : Being is the first
and most universal subject of thought ; and the ultimate Principle
in order of reduction, or the first Principle in the order of philo-
sophic cognition, will be that Judgment which represents Being in
its primary relation. Yet, if this be true, it would seem as though
the * Principle' of identity must be, after all, the ultimate of
which we are in search. For is not the first relation discoverable
in Being its relation of sameness to itself? No, certainly not ; for
the idea of identity, as we have already seen, is conseqtient upon
that of unity^ and is really nothing else than a reflex concept of
1 Book III. 6k. 2.
VOL. II. E
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50 Principles of Being.
this latter. Neither can there be any, even conceptual, relation ;
for relation postulates two distinct terms. What, then, is the
primary relation of Being ? Evidently its relation to Not-Being,
whence arises division and, as a consequence^ the first possibility
of two terms of thought. To this, however, it may be objected,
that the second term (which is Not-Being) is conceptual only, not
real ; whereas one would think that the ultimate philosophical
Principle must postulate two real and really distinct terms.
Nevertheless, on closer inspection it will appear that, though the
notion of Not-Being is formally and explicitly a purely conceptual
idea in itself; yet, in its relation to Being, it has a real foundation.
It, in fact, assumes the form of a privative. For, when it is affirmed,
according to the Principle of contradiction, that It is impossible for an
entity at once to have essence and not to have essence; or that It is im-
possible for an entity at one and the same time to exist and not to exist,
these two Judgments are equivalent to the intuitive cognition, that
Nothing can at once possess and be without the same reality. The
Principle of contradiction, therefore, is the ultimate in order of
reduction. Such is the teaching of the Angelic Doctor. 'In
those objects,' he remarks, ' which are subject to human apprehen-
sion, there is discovered a certain order. For that which is first
subject to our apprehension, is Being ; the intuition of which is
included in all the possible objects of apprehension. Wherefore,
the first indemonstrable Principle is, that it is impossible at once
to affirm and deny; which has its foundation in the concept of
Being and of Not-Being. And on this Principle all the rest are
based ^.' And, again: 'In these Principles' (i.e. in self-evident
Principles which belong to the philosophy of natural reason*)
* there is discovered a certain order ; so that some are implicitly
contained in others. Just as all Principles are reduced to this one,
as to the first : It is impossible at once to affirm and deny ^.'
^ 'In hiB autem quae in apprehensione hominum cadunt, qaidam ordo invenitur.
Nam illud quod primo cadit sub apprehensione est ens, cujus iniellectus induditur in
omnibus quaecunque qiiis apprehendit. Et ideo primum principium indemonstrabile
est, quod non est simul affirmare et negare ; quod fundatur supra rationem entis et non
entis. £t super hoc prindpio omnia alia fundantur, ut dicit Philoeophns in iy. Metaph.*
i-2»« xdvt 2, c.
' 'Sicut principia per se nota in doctrina quae per rationem naturalem habetur/
2-2»« i, 7, c.
^ ' In quibus principiis ordo quidam invenitur, ut quaedam in aliis implicite
oontineantur. Sicut omnia principia reducuntur ad hoc sicut ad primum : Impossibile
tit simul affirmare el negare.* Ibidem,,
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Analytical Principles. 51
II. The ultimate metaphysical Principle in order of reduction
must be the first and fundamental one in indirect as well as in
direct, or ostensiye, demonstration. For the metaphysical science,
as it may be remembered, has this among other notes of its
supremacy over the rest of the sciences, that it proves its own
Principles, as well as the Principles of all the other sciences. But
it obviously could not do this by ostensive demonstration ; because
Principles of science are immediate. Therefore, it must employ
that indirect demonstration which has been called Reduction to the
imposMle or absurd. Accordingly, the ultimate Principle must
underlie both forms of demonstration. In the previous Member
it has been shown how the Principle of contradiction is first within
the sphere of ostensive demonstration. The only question, then,
remaining is, whether it is likewise first within the sphere of in^
direct demonstration. But this is not difficult of proof. For every
such syllogism rests upon a certain Judgment that affirms the im-
possibility of a given absurdity. If so^ indirect demonstration, in
ultimate analysis, must needs repose upon that Judgment which
exhibits the common and universal motive of all similar Judgments.
Bat this is no other than the Principle of contradiction, which
exhibits the impossibility of the most universal, most clear, and
greatest, absurdity.
DIFFICULTIES.
L The Principle of contradiction cannot be the ultimate in order
of reduction, because it is a negative Judgment ; and all negative
Judgments are reducible to a prior affirmative. Wherefore, the
Principle of contradiction is reducible to this affirmative, Beinff is
Being. This argument receives confirmation from the difficulty of
supposing that a negative Judgment could exhibit the motive
common to affirmative Judgments. A further confirmation is to
be found in the fact, that logicians have given the Principle of
contradiction under an affirmative form ; such as. It is neces-
sary that tke same thing should be either affirmed or denied of the
Mme; and better still, It is necessary that everything should be or
ikould not be.
Answer. Although it is quite true that, in the instance of many
negative analytical Judgments, reduction to a prior affirmative
Judgment is possible ; yet it is not invariably or necessarily so.
And notably in the case before us such reduction is impossible, for
E 2
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5 2 Primiples of Being.
this reason ; that Being and Not-Being are the two primary con-
cepts in the genesis of scientific thought. There can, therefore, be
no antecedent concept, in which a synthesis of the former two could
be anyhow discovered. Yet, between themselves, by reason of the
singular universality of each, there is contradictory opposition. It
is impossible, in consequence, that the Principle, generated out of
the necessary relation between these two primary terms, should be
other than negative. Neither can it be sustained for one moment,
that the Principle of contradiction is reducible to this affirmative, —
£dng is Being. For in the Principle to be reduced there are two
terms, one of which is suppressed in the proposed reduction.
Moreover, the said affirmation of the identity of Being with itself,
by reason of its sterility, is unfitted for the function of a Dignity,
©r fundamental Principle. Besides, other so-called analytical Prin-
ciples of a like nature could not, with any show of reason, be reduced
to it as to an ultimate most clearly exhibiting the common motive on
which the rest depend. For it is quite as evident that, v.g. Cause
is cause, or, Accident is accident^ or that, Free-will is free-will^ as
that Being is Being, Lastly, it does not exhibit the motive con-
tained in the Principle of contradiction ; for it does not at all follow,
because Being is Being ^ that therefore Being cannot he Not-Being.
As for the first confirmation, it must be said that the Principle
of contradiction, though negative, (one would rather be inclined to
say, because negative), supplies the motive common to all affirmative
analytical Judgments. For it establishes the necessity of Being
generally, from the absolute impossibility that Being should be
otherwise than Being. Nor can it be justly urged, that the Prin-
ciple of contradiction informally applicable only to indirect demon-
stration, not to ostensive. For, first of all, the fact of its exhibiting
the formal motive of indirect demonstration is no small justification
of its claim to the supremacy ; since Principles, or immediate Judg-
ments, (as has been noticed before more than once), admit of no
other proof. Yet, to prove them somehow is a distinguishing
attribute of the first and highest science. Then, secondly, though
it should be granted that this Principle is vlo\» formally applicable to
affirmative analytical Judgments, this does not preclude it from being
(as it de facto is) the common fundamental motive of their necessity.
In reply to the second confirmation, it is denied that either the
Judgment, — It is necessary that the same thing should be either affirmed
or denied of the samey-— or the other Judgment, — It is necessary thai
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everything either should be or should not he, — exhibits the motive proper
to the Principle of contradiction ; and, consequently, the latter
could not be legitimately reduced to either of the former. In order
to be able to justify this assertion in the clearest manner, it will be
necessary to borrow from logic certain fundamental notions, propei:
to the doctrine of opposition. In all opposition, or mutual repug-
nance of terms, there are two elements to be considered, — ^two
distinct constitutives of repugnance. The first is to be found in the
incompatibility of the terms^ which is expressed by the law that
Tvo contradictories cannot both be true. The second consists in
the immediateness of the terms; whence it arises that one or
the other must be. This is expressed by the law that Two
contradictories cannot both be false. In contradictory, or perfect,
opposition both these laws are verified ; for if A is true, O is false,
and if A is false, O is true. But in contrary, as in privative^
opposition, the first law only is verified ; not the second. For if A
is true^ E is false, and if E is true, A is false. But it does not
follow, because A is false, that E must be true ; since A and E may
be false together. Now, the Principle of contradiction yw7«a%
exhibits the motive of the first law; the two Judgments oflfered in
exchange, that of the second. Therefore, the Principle of contra-
diction is naturally prior in order of cognition ; and this, for three
reasons. First of all, it is clearer and more easily known ; foras-
mnch as the formal repugnance of terms is immediately evident,
while their immediateness requires declaration of some sort. Then,
again, repugnance of terms is common to all true opposition ;
because, so far forth as there are terms opposed, those terms are
repugnant to each other ; but immediateness is not. Lastly, the
Judgment that Two contradictory terms cannot both be truCy is con-
ceptually prior to the other, that Two contradictory terms cannot both
he false; just as truth is absolutely prior to falsity.
NoTB. In the above answer, no reference has been made to sub-
oontrary and subaltern opposition; if, indeed, the latter deserves
the name. The plain reason for the omission is, that the opposition
of particular Judgments is of a notably inferior kind, and that
the Judgments themselves, as being particular, have no place in
science. Subaltern opposition, on the other hand, is purely
logical.
IL It is objected, that the Principle of contradiction cannot be
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54 Principles of Being.
the ultimate in order of reduction. For, in any given series of
co-ordinate demonstrationa) the attributes, successively predicated of
the subject, are ultimately reduced to the primary attribute; which
is demonstrated of the same subject by the medium of its definitaon.
Hence, the ultimate in order of reduction will be either the Jodg--
ment in which the primary passion is predicated of the definition ;
or that, in which the definitibn is predicated of the subject. Such
being the ease, the first Principle in metaphysics will be either.
Everything that has an essence^ is one; or, Every being has an essence.
Answer. This difficulty implies, on the part of the proposer,
what may be called an ignoratio elenchi. The Dignities, as they are
called, or fundamental Principles which underlie science, never
enter actually into the demonstration ; but are the ultimate basis
on which rest, and by whose supreme virtue are established, those
Principles which are intrinsic to the demonstration. Hence, the
premisses and conclusion of the difficulty are willingly granted ;
yet, the Principle of contradiction will, nevertheless, retain its
place as the ultimate in order of reduction.
III. It has been objected further against the truth of this Thesis,
that the Principle of contradiction is reducible to the Judgment, —
Every being is one. For it is therefore impossible that anything
should be at once and should not be, because everything is deter-
minately one. Consequently, this latter will be the ultimate in
order of reduction.
Answer. Being, as such^'is divided off from Not-Being ; and the
opposition between the two is founded immediately in the formal
and absolute repugnance of the two terms. Rather, Being as one is
divided off from every other being. This latter distinction, how-
ever, depends in genesis of thought on the previous division of
Being from Not-Being. Wherefore, the proposed Principle depends
on that of contradiction, rather than this latter on the former.
IV. Another objection has been urged to this effect. It does not
seem either becoming or probable, that a modal Judgment, and
one, moreover, which includes a condition of time, should be the
ultimate in order of reduction. Yet it is plain that such is the
Principle of contradiction.
Answer. There is no assignable reason why the ultimate or
first Principle should not assume the form of a modal Judgment.
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Analytical Principles, 55.
For a modal Judgment differs from a pure categorical only in this,
that it expresses the quality of the nexu% between subject and pre-
dicate ; whereas, in the latter, the same quality of netew is there,
but is not expressed or, indeed, explicitly objected before the mind.
Thus, for instance, Man is a rational animal, and, It is necessary that
ma% should he a rational animal, — ^are really and objectively one and
the same Judgment; with this formal distinction, that, in the
latter^ the necessity of the neasus between man and his definition
finds its place in the enunciation. But, in a fundamental Principle,
this is an advantage rather than otherwise. As to the further
objection, that the Principle of contradiction involves a condition
of time, — it has been justly stated in answer, that the at once, con-
tained in its enunciation, does not condition the subject or the
absolute nexus between predicate and subject, but expresses at the
utmost an ideal time, necessary to the determination of the contra-
dictory terms which, together, constitute the predicate, more
especially in the application of the Principle to synthetical Judg-
ments. For it is not needed in the instance of analytical Judgments.
In fiiet, it is hardly necessary to introduce either the modality or
the condition of simultaneity. Accordingly, Suarez has reduced the
Principle to a simpler expression, as follows : — No entity is and is not,
V. Sir William Hamilton has brought forward a series of objec-
tions to the Principle of contradiction, which shall form the
concluding difficulty. It will be more fitting to give them in the
author's own words. They are contained in the two following
'The argument from Contradiction is omnipotent within its
sphere, but that sphere is narrow. It has the following limita-
tions : —
* I®, It is negative, not positive ; it may refute, but it is incom-
petent to establish. It may show what is not, but never, of itself,
what is. It is exclusively Logical or Formal, not Metaphysical or
Real ; it proceeds on a necessity of thought, but never issues in an
Ontology or knowledge of existence.
* %^y It is dependent ; to act it presupposes a counter-proposition
to act firom.
* 3°, It is explicative, not ampliative ; it analyses what is given,
but does not originate information, or add anything, through itself,
to our stock of knowledge.
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56 Principles of Being.
^ 4^, But, what is its principal defect, it is partial, not thorough-
going. It leaves many of the most important problems of our
knowledge out of its determination ; and is, therefore^ all too narrow
in its application as a universal criterion or instrument of judgment.
For were we left, in our reasonings, to a dependence on the principle
of Contradiction, we should he unable competently to attempt any
argument with regard to some of the most interesting and im-
portant questions. For there are many problems in the philosophy
of mind where the solution necessarily lies between what are, to us,
the one or the other of two counter and, therefore, incompatible
alternatives, neither of which are we able to conceive as possible,
but of which, by the very conditions of thought, we are compelled
to acknowledge that the one or the other cannot but be ; and it is
as supplying this deficiency, that what has been called the argu-
ment from Common Sense becomes principally useful^.'
The second passage adds to the items in the general indictment : —
* This law has frequently been enounced in the formula, — It is
impossible that the same thing can at once be and not be ; but this
is exposed to sundry objections. It is vague and, therefore, useless.
It does not indicate whether a real or notional existence is meant ;
and if it mean the former, then is it not a logical but a meta-
physical axiom. But even as a metaphysical axiom it is imperfect,
for to the expression at once (simul) must be added, in the same
place^ in the same respect^ fec.^
Answeb. It must be observed, at the outset, that, in the first
quotation. Sir William Hamilton passes alternately from ' the law
of Contradiction * to ' the argument from Contradiction,* without in
any way notifying the change or motive of the change. Ac-
cordingly, it is not a little difficult to determine, whether hie
objections apply exclusively to the argument^ or are intended like-
wise to include the Principle of contradiction considered as the
primary basis of scientific thought. Under No. 4 he expressly
names the Principle, though he is professedly engaged in minim-
izing the efficacy of the argument. Under these circumstances, it
will be safer, perhaps, to consider his animadversions in their
possible bearings on the one and the other.
His first remark, then, is, that tie sphere of the argument from
^ Metaphygics, Appendix JI, Law8 of Thought^ F. //, pp. 534-25.
» Lojic, Lect. F, 1 xv. V. /, p. 82.
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Analytical Primiples. 57
conlradwiion U narrow, {a) If he is referring to indirect demon-
stration, or reduction to the absurd, one may admit that its
sphere is practically narrow, yet of paramount dignity, seeing that
it embraces all immediate analytical Principles and, as a conse-
quence, the first Principles of all the sciences, {b) If he is re-
ferring to the Principle of contradiction, it is denied that the
sphere is narrow. On the contrary, it is co-extensive with thought
and with the entire object of thought. Nevertheless, the author,
attempts to prove that the sphere is narrow, ' because it has the
following limitations.' These shall be briefly considered in their
order.
1**, *// is negative^ not positive.* This criticism, together with the
rest under the same heading, applies equally to argument and
Principle; the same defence will, therefore, do for both. The above
objection has been already answered ; so, let it pass. * It may refute ;
but it is incompetent to establisA ;' — rather, it most firmly establishes,
by showing the absurdity of the contradictory. ' It may show what
is not^ hut never of itself what is ;^ — rather, it shows what is, by
evincing the absurdity of its not being what it is. * It is exclusively
Logical or Formal^ not Metaphysical or ReaV Here there is need of
distinction. If the author means that the laws of opposition on
the one hand, or the Principle of contradiction and the reduction
to the absurd in their purely formal construction on the other, are
'Logical or Formal, not Metaphysical or Real,' the truth of his
assertion vrill be readily granted. But, then, the Principle of con-
tradiction and indirect demonstration are not exceptional in this
respect; since the same may be predicated of every Principle and
of every folrm of argument. Nor is it probable that this is the
author's meaning. If, however, he means to say, that the Principle
of contradiction, taken adequately ^ is not metaphysical or real, the
assertion must be met by a categorical denial. For it has been
pointed out in the declaration of the Thesis, that this Principle is
immediately based upon the transcendental concept of Seing in its
antithetical relation to the conceptual beyond of Not-Being, — ^those
two primordial concepts in the metaphysical science, whence are
derived the attributes of Being with their cognates. * It proceeds
on a necessity of thought y — rather, on an objective necessity thought
or conceived ; * hut never issues in an Ontology,^ — denied, for the reason
already alleged; ^or knowledge of existence^^ — which, in the obvious
sense of the words at least, is not the professed issue of ontology or
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58 Prifuiples of Being.
metaphysics ; since this latter is the science of essence. See the
first Book.
ij°, * It is dependent ; to act it presupposes a counter-proposition to
act /rom,* {a) If the author is referring to the Principle of con-
tradiction, the assertion must receive a direct negation, (b) If he
is speaking of indirect demonstration or reduction to the absurd,
it must be owned that he is right. But then, it is noticeable, first
of all, that dependency on propositions is common to all demon-
stration. Every syllogism, in fact, is ^dependent' on its two
premisses; and cannot 'act' without them. Then, again, though
indirect demonstration has a most important part to play in
metaphysics, forasmuch as it enables us to prove first Principles;
yet no one would contend that it is in itself the noblest species of
demonstration.
3**, ^ It is explicative, not ampliative; it analyzes u?hat is given, but
does not originate information, or add anything ^ through itse^, to our
stock of knowledge.^ There is some difficulty, perhaps, in realizing
the nature of this pair of antitheses ; if, indeed, they will bear
examination. Surely, that which is capable of unfolding (explica-
tive), is thereby capable of enlarging (ampliative); and every
true analysis, whether of concepts or things, must add to our stock
of knowledge. But, to proceed : — The author would seem to have
had before his mind, in this place at all events, the Principle of
contradiction ; for an argument, or demonstration, can scarcely be
represented as a process of analysis, though presupposing it. How-
ever, (a) If he is referring to the Principle, he is wrong ; as the whole
of the present disputation tends to show. For it is, in a way, the
source from which our cognition of the Transcendental attributes
is derived, and the primordial foundation on which all science
rests, (i) If he is intending to signalize indirect demonstration,
there is need of a distinction. Knowledge, or the cognition of
truth, is capable of receiving addition in two ways, viz. extensively,
and intensively. In the former case, the sphere of the proposed
object is enlarged ; in the latter, the object remains the same,
but the concept of it grows in explicitness, breadth, depth, repre-
sentative clearness, evidence, — ^i.e. thought and knowledge grow.
Both are additions to the stock of knowledge, after a sort ; but, of
the two, the latter is evidently a more real and proper addition to
knowledge than the former. And it happens, owing to the weak-
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Analytical Principles. - 59
ness of the human mind, that these two kinds of addition to our
knowledge are ordinarily found to be in inverse ratio. Encyclo-
pedists do not make philosophers. They know a very little of many
things, and much of nothing. Mr. Stuart Mill makes a similar
mistake to that of the author now under our consideration, when,
contrasting deduction with induction, he makes small eount of
the former, on the score that it is not inventive. Yet, if the term,
inventive, is to be understood of truth as conceived in- the mind,
deduction is more inventive than induction, by how much its
conclusions are more absolute and certain. If it points to the
object or ontological truth of the object, induction is no mare
inrentive than deduction. Neither of them invents, but cognizes,
troth. If, finally, it is intended that induction discovers more and
higher truths than deduction, the assumption is gratuitous and
false.
4^, — ^The last accusation which the author brings, in the first
passage quoted, against * the Principle of Contradiction/ is
dependent on his peculiar theory of the Conditioned and of the
AiUinamies, (as it may, perhaps, be permitted, after the manner of
Kant, to call them)^ which will find a more fitting place for
examination elsewhere. For the present it suffices to say, that the
said theory is baseless ; and, consequently, the objection may be
left to its own demerits.
In the second passage that has been cited, this author brings
three additional charges against ' the Principle of Contradiction.'
These are,
5®, ^Tie Principle is vague and, therefore, useless/ It is pre-
eminently undetermined, because it is Transcendental, — ^yes. It is
Yagne, in the sense that it is obscure and of undetermined meaning,
—no; for the sense is obvious to the simplest intellect. That it is
* useless/ because most universal and unconditioned, is strenuously
denied.
6^, * It does not indicate whether a real or notional existence is
meant ; and if it mean the former, then it is not a logical but a
metaphysical axiom/ It is a metaphysical, not a purely logical
Principle. But it certainly does not lay claim to this, because it
represents either real or notional existence in actu signato, i.e. as
the formal term of its judicial act. Far from it ; for were it to do
so, it could not be a metaphysical Principle at all. If it formally
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6o Principles of Being,
included existence in its termination, it would, by reason of its
Transcendental nature, include within its term aU existence, finite
as well as infinite. But finite existence is contingent; and,
consequently^ the Judgment could not be analytical or necessary,
i. e. it would be incapable of becoming a Principle. The
metaphysical science has to do with essence ; and the Principle of
contradiction is formally terminated to essence. It is true that
everything real^ in that it is real, involves a transcendental
relation to existence, — a relation either aptitudinal or actual ;
but it is the reality, not the existence, which formally enters into
the predicate of the Principle pf contradiction.
7**, The third in this second series of objections refers to the
insertion, in the enunciation, of the condition. At once. This has
been already answered.
NoTB. The same Author quarrels with the old name^ — Principle
of contradiction; and wishes to substitute in its place. Principle of
Non-contradiction, The reason for this proposed alteration hardly
bears examination ; and anyhow, a mere dispute about the use of
words or the propriety of long-established terminology will not
find room for itself in these pages. Such discussions have no
affinity with the philosophy of the School.
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CHAPTER IV.
EXPERIMENTAL PRINCIPLES.
In the second Chapter of the present Book it has been pointed
oat, that Judgments are either analytical or syntheticaL It was
there farther stated, that analytical Judgments are those wherein
the predicate is of the essence of the subject and is discovered to
be such by simple analysis of the latter ; whereas in S3mthetical
Judgments the predicate is not of the essence of the subject, but
is found in extra-essential conjunction with it and, as such, is
represented in its accidental synthesis with the subject by the
judicial act. Again ; it was proved in the hundred-and-eighteenth
Proposition, that Particular synthetical Judgments^ which are the
foundation of legitimate induction^ are capable of assuming a sort of
moral universality , not on the strength of the inductionj but by virtue
of some analytical Principle. These particular synthetical Judgments,
by reason of this their elevation, become synthetical Principles, or
axioms^ within the domain of physics. It now behoves us to
determine, what that analytical Principle is, by virtue of which the
aforesaid synthetical Judgments are enabled to assume a univer-
sality amply suflScient for the purposes of physical investigation.
But, previously to entering upon this inquiry, there are certain
observations which, for the better understanding of the question, it
will be of advantage to premise.
I. Krst of all, it is taken for granted, as being a scarcely
deniable fact, that there are synthetical Judgments, which are
uuiversally accounted for Principles by all those who have a scientific
acquaintance with their nature. Certain examples shall be given
of the kind of Judgments here alluded to. Take, for instance, the
law of universal gravitation, — that every particle of matter in the uni-
terse attracts every other particle toith a force directly proportioned to the
massofthe attracting particle^ and inversely to the square of the distance
between them. The two principal laws touching the fall of bodies will
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62 Principles of Being.
aflFord another instance. They are symbolized by the mathematical
formulas, v-=^gty and 9'=-\gt^ ; the former indicating that the velocity
acquired is proportional to the time; the latter, that the space
described is proportional to the square of the time employed. Again^
there are the three great Keplerian laws touching the solar system ;
— 1°, That the planets revolve round the sun in ellipses^ having the
sun for a common focus ; a°, That every planet moves in such a loay^
that the line drawn from it to the sun sweeps over equal areas in equal
iimes : 3°, That the squares of the times occupied by the several planets
in their revolutions in their elliptic orbits, are proportional to the cubes
of their mean distance from their common focus^ the sun. Once more :
It is a law of reproduction, that like begets Hie; e.g. turnip-seed
produces turnips, man b^ets man, dog begets dog. Now^ no one
of these Judgments is analytical. There is nothing in the essence
of bodies, (certainly as usually understood in the philosophy of the
School)^ which necessitates, under whatsoever possible hypothesis,
their being acted upon by the said law of gravitation. Men gene-
rally, one may &,irly presume, would be free to admit that, absolutely
speaking, bodies with their present essential constitution might have
been made subject to a totally different law ; always supposing a Power
capable of imposing laws on nature. But if the law of gravitation
is not an analytical Principle, so neither the Keplerian laws and
those touching the fstU of bodies ; since the latter rest for their
demonstration on the former. It is quite conceivable at all ev^ts,
if not probable, that in ' the new heavens and new earth/ (of which
mention is made in the Christian Revelation), the laws that now
govern the material universe may be either modified, or even sup-
planted, by others. Certainly, there is nothing like a metaphysical
contradiction in the idea, such as confronts us when we attempt to
conceive a man as being an irrational animal or a diamond as being
a pure spirit. Neither can it be maintained^ €o &r as one can see,
that the ancestral principle in reproduction is an essential consequent
of animal or vegetable life. But, if our appreciation of these laws is
just, it will follow that all of them must be synthetical Judgments,
based on contingent facts. Yet^ on the other hand, most of them
are generally recognized by the scientific in physics as practically
Principles, — ^as Judgments which are, somehow or other, invested
with a universality of their own. No experimentalist doubts that
natural phenomena, wheresoever and how often soever it may please
him to observe them, will correspond with, and help to verify, these
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Experimental Principles. . 63
laws. His own induction of facts will have been necessarily sroall.
It may even be, that he has not troubled himself to make personally
any assay at all, but has trusted to the observations or experiments
of others. Yet, he does not doubt. The laioi are to him practically
nniversal ; and, if he comes across an apparent anomaly, not even
then does he dream of questioning these physical Principles. He is
more inclined to suspect the presence of a disturbing cause. Hence
it would appear that the opinion of Wolfe and his followers is quite
untenable; inasmuch as it is at open war with general experience and
individual consciousness. For the writer in question maintained
that certainty does not extend beyond the quoBi middle term of the
induction, i.e. beyond the facts of experience; and that, as to the
rest, — the future and possible, — the conclusion is only probable,
not certain. His formula of induction would be,
a^h-^rc-^d-^ &c. are A (the attribute or law).
But fl + i + c+rf+ &c- are probably representative of W (the whole
class.)
.*. W is probably A,
Yet, — to take an instance in the concrete, — if any one should
throw a stone up into the air, is he not as certain as he well can be,
that in due time the stone will fall again to the ground ? Are not
astronomers as certain of a future eclipse or transit as they are of a
past one ? Does any one in his senses fear, when the kettle is put
upon a clear fire, lest the water should not boil ? These and
the like future phenomena are to no man, experienced in them, mere
probabilities ; they are practically certain. So then, ih^fact of the
universal existence of such certainty is undoubted. The question,
therefore, is : How can we account for it ? Is it the result of a mere
prejudice or of habitual associations ; or can it be logically, or rather
conceptually, justified ?
n. The subjective certainty touching any such law and the cer-
tainty attaching to the simple process by which the law has been
discovered in the midst of those natural phenomena wherein it lay
latent^ are two very different things. The discovery has been made
by means of aa imperfect induction of facts, collected by observation
and experiment. (It may be remarked parenthetically, that there is
this principal difference between the two processes just mentioned,
that in observation we confine ourselves to reading from the book of
nature. We simply look on, while the physical phenomena pass
hefore us; and register the facts. But by experiment we force
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64 Principles of Being.
nature to the proof by our own proper action upon her. Thus, the
astronomer observes the motions of the celestial bodies, and simply
records facts over which he has no possible control. The chemist
experiments upon water, by analyzing it himself into its component
elements. He undoes, so to say^ a physical combination, that he
may verify the alleged nature of the composition to himself or others.
After a like manner, in Atwood's machine the force of gravitation is
in such wise regulated and modified by mechanical appliances, as to
enable the experimentalist with greater facility to test the truth of
the law, in obedience to which it is supposed to energize.) To
resume: The facts that have been collected by observation and
experiment, could never, of themselves^ however numerous, justify
certainty as to the constancy with which future phenomena would
follow the same law, even under precisely similar circumstances and
conditions. If the external world were nothing but a fortuitous
concourse of atoms^ as Democritus would have us believe ; there
would be no more certainty in the order of physical facts than there
is in the throwing of dice. Yet, the fact remains to confront us.
Men are sure that the order of nature will continue in the future
identically such as it is in the present. But why are they certain ?
Such is the question that awaits its solution.
III. In the discussion of this vital subject, the existence of a God,
— Maker of all things visible and invisible, — will be assumed as a
postulate ; though it will be afterwards demonstrated in the proper
place. Thus much, however, may be said by way of anticipation.
Physical science itself affords' abundant proof of this fundamental
truth of rational philosophy, (i.e. of philosophy acquired by process
of pure reason, apart from the teaching of a Supernatural Revelation).
It is impossible to conceive of order without an orderer, — of law,
(even in its widest or in its analogical meaning), without an imposer
of that law. Order and law are only cognized by an intelligent
being and, therefore, must be the appointment of such an one. For
the present it matters little whether the postulated orderer and
lawgiver be conceived as extri?isic or intrinsic to the subject of
order and law, — in other words, whether the concept be mono-
theistic or pantheistic. The philosophical absurdity of the latter
will be proved later on. Now it suffices, that we suppose the
existence of some God who forms and rules the seemingly external
world. Lastly, it is worth noticing, that even if, with the idealist,
we suppose the visible creation to have no real existence, but to be
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Experimental Principles, 65
nothing save a series of subjective impressions made upon the human
soul^ the solution of the present question^ offered in the proximate
Thesis, will remain unshaken ; as Will be shown in the answers to
the difficulties.
PROPOSITION CXXV.
The Judgment whioh may be tlixis expressed : — Those material
entities which act according to the same physiiSal law or under
the same natural impulsion will ordinarily, (i.e. almost always),
under similar circumstances and conditions, produce similar
effects, — ^is an analytical Principle.
Prolegomenon I.
At the outset it will be necessary to explain what is meant by
action according to a physical law and action tinder a natural
impulsion ; and what is the precise difference between the two orders
of energ^y. An entity, then, is said to act according to a physical
law, when its action^ though orderly, does not flow from its own
essential nature, but is (as it were) imposed upon it from without.
Thus, — to illustrate what is here meant by an example or two, —
according to the Peripatetic Philosophy, the law of gravity is in no wise
a consequence of the essence of material substances, but has been
imposed upon them from without. The same may be safely pre-
dicated concerning tAe revolution of our earth and the other planets
round the sun, since this depends on the above-named law. So, the
decay of the leaves in autumn and the stripped trees of winter are due
to a physical law that is external to the essence of vegetable life.
It may be objected, indeed, to this last instance, that the decay and
death of the verdure is sl passion, rather than an action, of the tree ;
and in great measure this is true. But, if the matter is attentively
considered, it will appear that there is neither passion (or passive
receiving) only nor defect only ; but that there is action likewise^
at least indirectly conspiring with the external cause. However the
case may be^ the example is retained ; because it affords an easy
illustration.
On the other hand, to entity is said to act 2^^ a natural impulsion,
when^ though its action is necessitated, (as is the case with an entity
acting according to a physical law), yet it flows from its own
essential nature. The word, impulsion, expresses the former, as ex-
cluding all freedom of choice ; the word, natural, denotes the latter.
VOL. II. F
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66 Principles of Being,
To give a few examples : — The heating action qffre, the locomotion of
animals^ the bark of a dog^ the growth qfplants^ are all instances of action
under a natural impulse. It must not, however, be supposed, that
necessity of action is limited to such material entities as act under a
natural impulsion ; since the same holds good of those that act in
obedience to a physical law. The difference between the two
consists in this ; — that action under the direction of physical law
has been ordered from without and is adventitious to the nature of
the agent ; while action by a natural impulsion proceeds from the
specific constituents, and is intrinsic to the nature, of the agent.
There is a caution which may be fittingly given, in connection
with the present Prolegomenon. In offering some of the above
illustrations to the notice of the reader, it must not be imagined
that there has been any covert intention of dogmatizing upon the
respective merits of this or that physical theory. It is more than
probable that some physicists, — those in particular who cling to the
dynamic theory, — may be prepared to maintain, that the action of
gravity should be ranked among those which are the result of
natural impulsion. So be it ; as far as the matter in hand is
concerned. If the instance, in the case of certain individuals, does
not serve the purpose (for which exclusively it has been introduced)
of illustrating the subject-matter, by all means dismiss it. How-
ever, it is worth bearing in mind, that it is not only the attractive
force of bodies, absolutely and in itself, which is contemplated in the
given instance ; but the particular law by which one particle of
matter attracts another with a force directly proportioned to the mass of
the attracting particle^ and inversely to the square of the distance
between them; in other words, to the special determination of the
attractive force.
Prolegomenon II.
In the enunciation of the Thesis it is given as a requisite, neces-
sary to the verification of the Principle there advocated, that the
energizing entity should act under similar circumstances and conditions.
What is the precise meaning of this modifying clause ? Is it
essential to the truth of the Principle ? By way of answer to these
questions, let it be observed that material forces, (to say nothing of
any others), presuppose and prerequire, in order to the eflScacy or
completeness of their action, certain dispositions in the subject of
their causality, and certain conditions or circumstances in their
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Experimental Principles. 67
relation to the same. Without these, the energy of the force may
in itself be unimpaired, yet will fail to produce its normal effect.
Thus, for instance, there will be great difficulty in lighting the jire^ if
the wood M damp ; although the natural force of the fire is undimi-
nished. Here, there is a defect of disposition in the subject. A
colra^i capello darts upon its prey ; but its bite is harmless, because
its fang has been extracted. Here there is an organic defect on the
part of the agent. A rabbit will soon die, if it is kept under an
exhausted receiver ; though it was in thorough health and its vital
energy unimpaired, previous to its exclusion from the air. Here we
have the condition of a necessary medium. Again : if a needle is
separated by too great a distance from the magnet, it will be insetisible
to the magnetic attraction. Place it nearer ; the magnet at once draws
the needle to itself. Here we are in presence of a necessary condition,
— the condition of due dynamic presence. Two thermometers are
simultaneously consulted; and they vary considerably in their respec-
live readings. But one has been hung out in the sun ; the other y set
up in the shadiest corner of the observatory. Here is an instance of
the condition of place. So, two barometers have been consulted on one
and the same day wherein, moreover, the atmospheric pressure has been
normal; but there is a discrepancy in the indications. The effect is
due to the fact, that one was read at 4 a.m., the other at 10 a.m. ; and
the former hour is one of the two minima, the latter one of the two
maxima, of the diurnal variation! This is an instance of the con-
dition of time. Once more : An experimentalist is watching the
nagnetic needle ; and on a sudden it exhibits signs of violent pertwr-
hation. The phenomenon is due to the fact, that a visitor has Just
entered the observatory with a bunch of keys in his pocket. Here we
have an example of the condition of due isolation. In these and
many like cases, there has been some difference in the surrounding
circumstances, or in the condition of the forc6 or of the subject,
which has caused either a nullification of the effect, or a sensible
modification of it, or even a specific change in it. And such anomalies
are not attributable to the acting force, but to the said change of
circamsiances or conditions.
The Proof op the Peoposition.
If the Judg^ent^ which is announced in the enunciation of the
Thesis is an analjrtical Principle, it follows that the Predicate must
liecessarily be discovered, by analysis, in the essential idea of the
p a
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68 Principles of Being,
Subject. It is only natural, therefore, to commence by way of
analysis ; afterwards, the conclusions shall be synoptically presented
in logical form.
i. Let us, first of all, analyze the idea of an entity acting accord-
ing to the same physical law. Such an agent must act ofnecessity^
by virtue of the hypothesis. It must be determined to one act ; for
the simple reason that it is supposed hie et nunc to be subjected to a
law. Neither can it abstain from energizing, jpoaitid jaonendis ;
because the present question exclusively affects the action of bodies
from which all liberty of choice is essentially excluded. Here is the
place to notice an objection which has been made to this the first
position in our analysis. The conclusion has been extracted from
the idea of law. But certain modern writers have demurred, as has
been already hinted, to the strict accuracy of the term in connection
with the present subject-matter. Nor, indeed, can it be denied that
the use of the word, in such relation, is analogical. Nevertheless, it
has a definite meaning and represents a fact of experience ; other-
wise, the term, so applied, would never have found its way into all
the languages, ancient as well as modern, of the civilized world. It
behoves us, then, to endeavour diligently to find out precisely what
it stands for. When we speak of a physical law, we mean, (if we
mean anything at all), that certain similar effects have been con-
tinuously produced by similar agents under similar circumstances
and conditions ; although such effects, so far as we can judge, are in
no wise due to any connatural or essential force innate in the agent.
But what does this mean, if not a constant order of action and effect,
which is not connatural with the agent, but is imposed upon it by
something outside of its own essential nature ? The leaves invariably
fall from the deciduous trees in autumn and winter. It will hardly be
maintained by any man of common sense, that this falling of the
leaves is a result flowing from the essential nature of a tree ; other-
wise, what is to be said of evergreens ? Some one may urge, it is
owing to the variations of the seasons. True ; but hardly to the
point. For, at all events, such an explanation involves the admission,
that this invariable effect, or effective defect, is not connatural with
the tree but imposed upon it by a foreign causality. Yet this is
precisely the conclusion at which we have arrived in this the first
landing-place of the analysis. Then, again, the same question recurs
respecting the cause of the variation of the seasons and, consequently,
touching the cause of the earth's annual motion round the sun.
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Experimental Principles. 69
Furthermore : This interaction of secondary causes only pats in evi-
dence with greater clearness the existence of a constant^ universal
order in material substances ; which order is not essentially intrinsic
in these substances but adventitious and imposed upon them from
without. If there be, then, an extrinsically appointed order in
sundry of the actions of physical agents^ that order must be
practically constant in the future as in the past ; in other words,
from similar agents acting under similar conditions and similar
circumstances and in obedience to the same physical law, similar
effects will be ordinarily produced. But why ? Because it is a
truth of intuition, that order is necessarily the production of an
intelligent being only; and, seeing that the order embraces all
possible bodily agents, it must result from an intelligence supreme
over the whole realm of matter and so far supremely intelligent and
wise. But all wise order, — order constituted in wisdom, — is con-
stant. Therefore, it will be proof for the future ; as it has given
proof in the past. But, why is it an intuitive truth, that order
must be the production of an intelligent being ? Because order is
initniional unity, intentionally evolved out of multiplicity ; and of
this intellect alone is capable. And why again, it may be demanded,
must an order established in wisdom be constant ? For the reason
that, since order is intentional (i.e. purposed, planned, intellectually
conceived) unity, evolved .with a definite intent out of multiplicity ;
wisdom requires that such intent should not be frustrated, save for
reasons which would more than countervail the temporary disorder.
But this could rarely happen ; first, because in a wisely balanced
universe the occasions would not frequently occur, and then, more
particularly, because a repeated violation of the order would annul
the unity, and frustrate the purposes of its original establishment.
Therefore, there is no sufficient reason for anything like chronic
disturbance, — not on the part of the energizing body, because it is
determined to one effect and' has no initial capacity for suspending,
or changing the nature of, its effect ; not on the part of the imponent
of the said order, because order prudently instituted is constant. But
why, once more, does this order embrace all possible bodily agents ?
Because the Judgment, as enunciated in the Thesis, abstracts from
the actual existence, whether of agent, subject, condition, or circum-
stance ; otherwise, it could not be a metaphysical, i.e. an analytical,
Principle. It affirms that, under every conceivable hypothesis, if
entities are conceived as acting according to any conceivable,
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70 Principles of Being.
(provided that it be identical), physical law, they will, under like
conditions and circumstances, produce ordinarily the like effects.
But the immediate evidence for the truth of the present Proposi-
tion becomes yet clearer and more cogent, if we introduce the
postulate, to which claim has been made under the third Section of
the prefatory remarks that stand at the head of this Chapter. Let
God, according to the only just concept of Him, be the Maker of
the visible universe, — a truth, remember, which already has been
virtually evolved from the foregone analysis. It is He, then, and
He alone, Who has imposed this order upon material entities. His
is the law ; He, the supreme Legislator. Wherefore, seeing that He
is infinite Wisdom, the order which He has established must be wise.
But, — ^to repeat the axiom already insisted upon, — all ?risely consti-
tuted order is constant ; not merely for the reason ah'eady given but
also for another, springing from the first, which is more intimately
connected with the intelligent creature. For it is plain, from the
very constitution of man as including his necessary relation to the
world of sense, that any habitual violation of the established order
would induce a universal and most disastrous intellectual disorder
which would be quite inconsistent with the infinite Wisdom of the
Creator. But why ? Because man primordially receives his ideas
through the medium of his senses and, consequently, constructs his
alphabet of truth out of his perceptions of sensible phenomena. But,
if sensible objects should have an habitual tendency to lead him into
error within a given sphere however limited ; not only would he
become unsure and puzzled there, but he would learn to doubt of all,
not without reason. Thus, the great, hitherto open, book of the
natural revelation would be closed to him for ever ; for it would be
fastened with clasps of a universal scepticism. Such a mishap would
uproot from his understanding that first Principle of continuity, all
but innate, which at the outset of his intellectual career he has intned
in all things throughout endless variety ; and which after-experience,
research, and contemplation, have only fixed the more indelibly in
his mind. In this connection, it is pleasing to be able to quote from
an interesting work, written jointly by two illustrious professors ;
wherein the present argument is urged with a certain felicity of
phrase. These are the words : * It thus appears that, assuming
the existence of a Supreme Governor of the universe, the principle of
Continuity may be said to be the definite expression of our trust,'
(say rather, of our certain and well-founded conviction), ' that He
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Experimental Principles. ' 71
will not put ns to permanent intellectual confusion.^' For such a
method of procedure would befit neither His Wisdom nor His Good-
ness ; — not His Wisdom, for it would destroy the order appointed
by Himself ; not His Goodness, because it would needlessly entangle
the highest and noblest of His visible creation in a hopeless perplexity
of thought.
The previous analysis, however, lays bare another truth, connected
with the present investigation, which is of the highest moment in
the face of the prevailing materialism. It stands to reason, that He
WTio of His own Free-Will imposes a law or order has the power to
suspend it, or, if He pleases, to arrest the effect. Though the
material agent is determined to one effect, and is not free to with-
hold its act in presence of the normal conditions; yet He remains
absolutely free and absolute Master over His own appointments.
Consequently, an occasion may sometimes arise, when His Wisdom
and His Goodness conspire to render a particular exception to the
general law desirable. Thus, for instance, if there be a supernatural
as well as a natural order in the Divine Governance ; it might be
anticipated that the latter, as being the inferior, would occasionally
have to give way to the former. Hence it might easily be, that a
physical law should be suspended in this or that individual case, in
order thereby to attain more effectually the higher end of a higher
and nobler order of Providence. As the Scotch professors already
quoted justly remark, * Continuity, in fine, does not preclude the
occurrence of strange, abrupt, unforeseen events in the history of the
universe, but only of such events as must finally and for ever put to
confusion the intelligent beings who regard them.^' Nay, more:
It is not impossible, or even antecedently improbable, that the
directive action of a physical law, within the specific limits of a
certain series of results, should hepermanenlly supplanted by a higher
supernatural law; provided that this latter has been sufficiently
promulgated, so as to afford a reasonable safeguard, (for those who
choose to avail themselves of it), against the intellectual confusion
that would be otherwise engendered. This last supposition requires,
it may be, further elucidation. Let us, then, make a hypothesis.
Suppose that the Supreme Author of the physical order should have
willed, in order to promote some supernatural end in favour of His
intelligent creature, to suspend the action of some corporal agent, —
» The TJnaun Univene, by B, Stewart and P. Q. Tail ; cli. II, n. 77.
* Ibidem, n. 76.
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72 Principles of Bmtg.
nay, to reduce to nought the agent itself, within the sphere of certain
determined circumstances and conditions, and to continue unaltered
the same eflFects by the agency of higher causes, substituting for the
sensible and material the invisible and spiritual, — ^and that, by virtue
of a new law ; in such case even, the human intellect would not he
put to confusion, if only the supernatural exception were made known
to man by a well-authenticated Divine Communication. Let us
imagine the following announcement to have been duly made : * In
presence of such phenomena under such and such easily recognised
circumstances and conditions, be not surprised or troubled in thought,
if the ordinary link should be broken between these phenomena and
their normal cause. For, in these cases, I intend unintermittingly
to introduce a new causality, — the action of the Supernatural. Trust
.not, therefore, in this series of instances, to any conclusions deducible
from the evidence of the senses; because, for purposes present to
My Wisdom, the ordinary law will be supplanted by a higher which
is discoverable by no merely natural deduction of human reason.'
The case supposed, if that Divine Communication has been duly
made to man, intelleictual confusion cannot arise save by virtue of
a determination, on the part of this or that individual, not to accept
the Revelation. But, in these cases, the intellectual confusion is
voluntary and in no wise attributable to the Author of the super-
natural and the natural order. Further : Those who accepted the
message would be as certain of the continuity of the physical law, in
all other instances not included within the one particular exception,
as they had been before. Probably, that certainty would be inten-
sified. For the exception would exhibit more clearly the Wisdom
and Goodness of the Ruler, and would thus strengthen confidence in
the natural continuity of the rule.
iL A similar analysis of the action of entities energizing by virtue
of a natural impulsion leads to the same results. For, though the
nature or essence of an entity, a^ suc/i^ is immutable and not subject
to the free-will of its Maker ; yet, its existence is so subject, and k
fortiori its natural acts. While, then, its Maker cannot change the
essential nature of an entity or the natural tendency to its native
action, (because this would be to change Himself) ; yet, in a parti-
cular case or series of cases, (for reasons similar to those that have
been already suggested). He can arrest such tendency in its action
and prevent it from producing its ordinary efiect, or supply that
eflect by the medium of a higher causality.
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Experimental Prituiples, 73
On the other hand, apart from these rare inetances of immediate
Divine Intervention, the law of natural action must be universal.
For the corporal agent is necessitated to its acts, and is determined
by an impulsion of its nature to the production of definite effects,
jp(mli9 ponendis. Therefore, the future physical facts^ in the ordinary
course of things, will be specifically identical with the past ; sup-
posing, of course^ that the circumstances and conditions are similar.
Indeed, in the instance of entities acting in obedience to a natural
impulsion, the certainty would (if anything) be greater than in the
former case of those that act according to physical law ; because the
action of the former flows from their essential nature and is, therefore,
connatural with their being.
It DOW only remains to summarize the results of the above analysis
in logical form. The Thesis, then, is declared by two analytical
premisses.
From causes acting uniformly and of necessity, similar effects,
under similar circumstances and conditions, are ordinarily produced.
But causes, acting according to the same physical law or in
obedience .to a natural impulsion, act uniformly and of necessity.
.-. &c.
The Major does not admit of doubt. It is evidently analytical.
That the Minor is analytical, is thus proved. In the idea of an agent
acting according to the same physical law or by natural impulsion,
is contained the idea of an agent acting for the most part uniformly
and necessarily. This Antecedent^ in the case of an agent acting
according to the same physical law, is founded on the Principle that
a toigely esiahliahed order is constant ; since, in the idea of an agent
acting according to the same physical law, is essentially contained
the idea of an entity acting in accordance with an order wisely
established. In the instance of an agent acting in obedience to a
natural impulsion, the Antecedent rests on the two following Prin-
ciples; viz., (i) That a necessary cause, when all the requisite con-
ditions of action are duly present, necessarily produces its natural
effect, unless it should be hindered from eliciting its act by some
superior cause ; and (a) That an order of nat ure, appointed in wisdom,
is constant ; whence it follows, that a superior cause will not, as a
rule, interfere with the orderly action of the agent submitted to his
control.
NoTB. — The doctrine, evolved in the preceding pages, is further
elucidated by the Scholastic teaching with regard to evidence and
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74 Principles of Being,
certitude. Although^ therefore, the philosophical consideration and
treatment of these primary elements in conceptual truth professedly
belong to ideology rather than to metaphysics, it may not be un-
profitable to borrow from the former, by way of a Lemmas such
Principles touching the two, as serve to illustrate the subject at
present under discussion. True certitude, (considered, in accordance
with its primary signification, subjectively^ i.e. as it exists within the
mind), is the offspring of true objective evidence, i.e. of the clear
intelligibility of the object. Hence, the certainty of the mind's
adhesion to a truth depends upon the nature and degree of evidence
attaching to the object as hie eir nunc formally presented to the mind ;
and as many as are the kinds of evidence, so many will be the kinds
of subjective certitude. Now, there are three kinds of evidence ; to
wit, metaphysical, physical, and moral. Of these, the first is un-
conditioned ; the other two, conditioned. The first is immutable,
necessary, absolute ; the second, conditioned by the Will of God ; the
third, conditioned likewise by the will of man. This last, which
depends upon human testimony, may be omitted in this place ; seeing
that it has no connection with the subject before us. With reference
to metaphysical and physical evidence, the author will be excused
if he introduces some quotations from a lecture which he delivered
some few years ago, on this matter. The style is perhaps somewhat
more popular than befits these pages ; but this will not be censured,
if it should help towards a clearer understanding of the subject.
* Metaphysical evidence, then, is the intelligibility of essences, — that
Hght of truth which shines forth from the essential constitution of
things.^' 'The great Creator from everlasting comprehended His
own infinite Being in the inscrutable depths of His wisdom ; and,
thus comprehending, He also conceived that sea of essence as imitable
in infinitely various degrees of excellence outside Himself. These
were the prototypal ideas in the mind of God, of which Plato faintly
and obscurely dreamed. These were, so far as the Divine Will should
choose to use them, the primal patterns of creation. And accord-
ingly as the creature has been ranged under the cover, so to say, of
these prototypal ideas, his nature or essence is determined, and he
takes his allotted place in a definite order of created being. Hence
it follows that nature or essence is unchangeable, eternal, necessary ;
not this or that nature in a particular being, which connotes existence
* Evidence and Cerlainty in their rdcUion to Conceptual Truth, p. 33.
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Experimental Principles. 75
and, therefore, introduces the individual notes of A or B^ but the
nature or essence in itself. This is immutable^ because it is objec-
tively identical with the Divine Idea ; and the Divine Idea is iden-
tical ex parte rei with the Divine Being. It is for the same reason
eternal and necessary, as God Himself is eternal and necessary.
Consequently, it is no derogation from the Divine Omnipotence to
say^ that God Himself cannot change the essences of things ; for to
change them would be to change Himself. Thus, — ^to put it in the
concrete, — presupposing the Divine predetermination to create in
any given time a certain William Smith, and presupposing, therefore,
the same predetermination to make a man of him, God could not
make him other than a rational animal. Besides these essences or
natures^ there are laws of the intellectual and moral order, which
enter into the essential constitution (so to speak) of the universal
whole, which are in like manner wholly incapable of change. They
are immutable^ necessary, eternal truths, because they are the mere
partial reflex of the infinite Truth or of the infinite Justice and
Holiness.* ' Such, evidence, then, is absolute. Its immutability^ its
necessity, its eternity, are unconditioned. It could have been affected^
it can be affected, by no act of the free will whether of God or man.
This is metaphysical evidence^ the sole foundation of all science pro-
perly so called, because the sole foundation of all pure demonstration.
It passes above all temporal phenomena, above all created existence
M 9uci, and shines with its pure, unfaltering light from the ages to
the ages in that highest region of being and absolute truth. It is
not pervious to mere common sense, because it does not live in the
market-place or exchange ; but^ for all that, it is the life of the con-
templative.
* I proceed, next in order, to consider what is meant by Physical
evidence. And how can I describe it better than by saying that it
is the intrinsic evidence of facts ? I say, advisedly, intrinsic evidence,
to distinguish it from that moral evidence, of which I have presently
to speak. Its primary characteristic is, that it belongs exclusively
to existences, — ^to things as existing either actually in themselves or
in their necessary causes. In a word, it is the evidence of things
already existing or of things that will exist by virtue of necessary
causes which will produce them in a given point of time. Now, as
all created existence is contingent, — as in its very nature it implies
the idea of change, commencement, dependence ; it is plain that its
truth is not wholly unconditioned. In metaphysical judgments the
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76 Principles of Being.
predicate is found by analysis to be contained in the subject. Every-
one, for instance, can at once perceive that in the judgment. Two
and two make four^ the predicate, Four^ is contained in the subject,
2 + a. But, when I say that Mr. WiUiam Smith exists, I shall have
to search a long time if I am to discover in the essence^ or essential
idea J of Mr. William Smith the predicate of exUtence. He exists as a
fact ; but it was not necessary that he should exist, till he actually
existed. THhefact is here the cause of the necessity ^ but the necessity
is not cause of ihefdct. It is true that he must be because he is^ ' (a
necessity based on the Principle of Contradiction) ; * but it is not
true conversely that he w, because he must be.^ 'I think I shall be
able to set this distinction more clearly before you, gentlemen, if I
may be allowed to introduce you to what I may call Physical pro-
phecies ; — facts of nature, which are not, strictly speakings facts as
yet, but will be facts in their due order and time. Thus, The sun
will rise to-morrow mjorning about seven, — On the twenty-fifth of next
month there will be an annular eclijpse of the sun, invisible at Greenwich,
as the almanacks tell us,— or, again, The trees will be out in leaf before
June, and the like. Now, of some, if not of all, these truths we are
certain, because they are evident. But, why are they evident?
Because they are the logically necessary sequence of a constant law
of nature. So far, so good. But I next proceed to ask, have we any
evidence that such a law is immutable ? Does the idea of its tem-
porary suspension, or absolute derogation, distress, confuse us in the
same manner as when we try to conceive that Two and two might not
make four ? Is the idea of motion essentially contained in the idea
of the earth, so that we could not imagine it as stationary under
any conceivable circumstances ? The consciousness of each one will
answer in the negative. But why? Because it is to us evident,
that as the Free-will of the great Creator imposed the law, so He
could, at any time, if He so pleased, suspend or abrogate it. So
that our undoubting assent to these prophecies is based on our con-
viction as to the constancy of physical laws. And our conviction as
to the constancy of physical laws rests on the infinite wisdom and
unchangeableness of the great Lawgiver. Hence, the judgment of
the mind is always, at least virtually, conditioned, in so far as it is a
true concept. The solar eclipse will take place on the twenty-fifth of
this month, if there be no change in the laws of nature. To conclude :
— Physical evidence and physical certainty are inferior to metaphy-
sical evidence and metaphysical certainty, because these latter are
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Experimental Principles, 77
absolute, necessary, unconditioned ; whereas the former are contingent
and conditioned. There is this specific difference between them, that
metaphysical truth, evidence, certainty, are independent even of the
"Will of (jod ; whereas physical truth, evidence, certainty, are essen-
tially conditioned by the Will of the first Cause.^'
It is this condition in physical evidence, — this dependence on the
Divine Will for the continuity of physical law or physical order, —
that necessitates the inclusion, in the Judgment which forms the
subject of the present Thesis, of the word, ordinarily^ i.e. almost always^
jffactically always^ as already explained. To put it in the concrete :
The human mind intuitively judges that any given physical law will
continue in the future as it has continued in the past, unless the
Maker should will, in some particular instance, to introduce an
exception. Though, therefore, physical evidence produces certainty
in the mind, i.e. an absence of practical doubt j nevertheless, phy-
sical is inferior to metaphysical certitude, because, (as has been
already remarked), the latter is absolute ; while the former is essen-
tially conditioned.
DIFFICULTIES.
I. Against the truth of the present Proposition it may be urged,
that the declaration is entirely based on the hypothesis of the real
objective existence of the material world. But, if the contrary
hypothesis should prove true, and it should turn out that the so-
called things of sense are merely subjective impressions of the human
spirit, self-caused ; then, the argument would break down. The
above assertion is thus explained. The demonstration in proof of
the Thesis proceeds from a minor Premiss which supposes, in the
case of physical law, an external imponent of the law, on whose will
it depends for its constancy. In the instance of natural impulsion,
it supposes a Creator Who is able to hinder such natural impulsion
from evolving into act. But such a supposition evidently depends .
upon a previous Judgment touching the objective reality of sensile
things themselves. Once, therefore, invalidate the truth of the
Premiss ; the demonstration falls by its own weight. Further : If
the phenomena of sense are purely a creation of the mind, their evi-
dence and certitude will absolutely depend upon human thought ;
in other words, physical evidence and certitude, (and, consequently,
* Evidence and Certainty in their relation to dmcepttuU Truth, pp. 35-38.
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78 Principles of Being.
the value of experimeDtal Judgments), will resolve themselves into
the mind's consciousness and cognition of its own ideas. Once
more ; If the universe, spiritual and corporal, is nothing but an
evolution of the absolute^ — if the whole is really and objectively
identical with the one, the evolution will be as immutable, as eter-
nal, as necessary, as the evolved; and so-called physical law will
claim to itself an evidence and certitude that are, strictly speaking,
metaphysical. It follows, further, that the proposed Principle is not
an analytical Judgment ; because the predicate is not necessarily
contained in the idea of the subject. For agency according to a
physical law or in obedience to a natural impulsion.is not essentially
included in the idea of sensile phenomena. If it were^ idealism
would be in open contradiction with an intuition of the understand-
ing ; and this must not be assumed too lightly.
Answer. First of all, with respect to all these objections, it is to
be observed in general ; (a) That the metaphysical science presup-
poses many truths, already demonstrated or declared in ideology and
natural philosophy. Now, in the former the infallibility of the senses
as the material media of cognition is discussed and, so far as may be,
proved. In cosmology, the falsity of the various theories of idealism
is demonstratively exposed. The question of pantheism will occupy
our attention later on in natural Theology, (d) A Judgment can-
not reasonably be denied a place among analytical Principles, merely
because it does not satisfy the demands of theories which are re-
pugnant to the common sense of mankind and are perpetually
involved in patent self-contradictions. Why should one doubt
whether the Judgment that three and three make six is analytical,
because a paradoxical writer has suggested that, perhaps, in some pos-
sible state of intellectual existence, three and three might make seven ?
Now, to consider the objections separately : —
i. It is asserted that, if the so-called visible universe should turn
out to be nothing more than a series of subjective impressions, the
argument that has been developed in the declaration of the Thesis
would break down. Let us suppose, then, for the moment, that the
theory in question is true ; and see whether the above assertion holds
good. Nq one can doubt that there are sensations which are pro-
nouncedly disagreeable ; as, for instance, sensations of excessive cold
or heaty — sensations connected with certain supposed draughts of
medicine^ — ^he sensation of toothache or of having a supposed tooth
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Experimental Principles, 79
tupposedly extracted^ — sensations of phenomenal whipping^ alseimon
of the leg, and the like. Moreover, every one is supremely conscious
within himself, that, if he could but have his way, he would at once
only too gladly rid himself of these subjective impressions. But, if
so; nothing can be plainer than the fact^ that these sensations are
not in his own power. If, however, they merely depended for their
origin upon the activity of his own soul, it stands to reason that they
would be absolutely in his own power, whether to awaken or to
repress. This conclusion is confirmed on other grounds. It con-
tinuously happens that, when one man experiences a certain defined
series of sensations, all his neighbours find themselves subjected to
the same. Thomas^ for instance, feels on a sudden certain sensations
of rain; and he finds that others complain of a like sensation. He
thereupon has the sensation of a phenomenal umbrella in his pheno-
menal iand; and so, it would seem, have his neighbours. Therefore,
these sensations could hardly be the production of one individual
soul; but neither of the whole collection. For one and all desire to
be rid of them, if they could. Well then, (supposing, for the sake
of argument, that these sensations are so purely subjective as to claim
no correlative object outside themselves), certainly, they are not
ielf-mgiTiated. They must have been evoked by some external
agent, as Malebranche has imagined. But there is a manifest con-
stancy of order in these subjective impressions. For instance, when-
ever I have the sensation of a thermometer at 10° Fahrenheit, I find
it invariably accompanied by a sensation oi sharp cold, unless I happen
to be provided with the additional sensation of a fire. Again : The
agent who has forced such sensations on the soul must be endowed
with intellect and, consequently, with free-will ; not only because
order, (as has been already remarked), connotes intellect, but also
because it is repugnant that anything but spirit should be able to
create unobjective representations in a spirit. Therefore, the de-
monstration of the Thesis remains as cogent as before. Let us,
however, in conclusion assume (again, for argument's sake) the
absurd hypothesis, that these sensations are the simple self-evolved
creations of the human soul; even then, the demonstration would
remain unshaken. For there is at all events a well established order
in those sensations and a continuity of order. Furthermore : The
human soul is gifted with free-will ; so that, in accordance with the
hypothesis, it could break in on the order and nature of sensations
on a given occasion, if it pleased. The only resulting diflFerence
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8o Principles of Being,
would be, that, according to sane teaching, the fact is conditioned
by the Divine Will, whereas in this last hypothesis it would be
conditioned by the human will.
ii. As to the various elaborate systems of German idealism and
theories of the absolute, little count need be made of any objections
to be derived from them. For they expressly, and oflen confessedly,
contain such combinations of manifold contradictories, that they
may be safely abandoned to their own unintelligibility. That diffi-
culties against the truth of the present Thesis can be extracted from
theories which identify the one and the many, the necessary and the
contingent, mind and matter, being and absolute nothingness, will
cause little or no surprise. Nevertheless, thus much may be said,
that the self-evolutions, or positions, of the absolute are acknow-
ledged to be conditioned; while the absolute is avowedly uncon-
ditioned, as its name implies. Those conditions are constant and
continuous, and are evidently imposed, somehow or other, on the
conditioned. Wherefore, the law of continuity assumes, in such
philosophical systems, a more strictly logical universality than is
here claimed for it.
lii. To the last argument it will suffice in reply lo say, that the
Judgment in question is an analytical Principle, — that it has been
shown, by careful analysis, how agency according to natural im-
pulsion or a physical law involves in its concept the notion of a
constant order and of a law of continuity (which is all that is
required to exhibit the analytical nature of the Judgment ; while
its application to sensile phenomena is reserved for the next Pro-
position),— and that the confirmatory argument only concerns those
who, unlike ourselves, are minded to rescue these idealistic theories
from the charge of opposing themselves to the axioms of common
sense and the first principles of philosophy.
II. It may, further, be urged against the present Proposition,
that the Judgment therein contained cannot be an analytical Prin-
ciple, because its quantity is particular, not universal ; and no par-
ticular Judgment can qfilselfhe analytical. It is true that it may
become so, as subaltern to a universal ; but there is no pretension
here to any such position. The Minor of the proof is obvious ; for
the adverb, ordinarily , i.e. nearly always^ evidently limits the com-
position of the predicate with the subject.
Answer. It must be categorically denied that the said Judgment
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Experimental Principles, 8i
is a particular, and not a universal ; however close a semblance it may
priwa facie bear to the latter. In effect, a Judgment may include
a reservation which seems to restrict its universality, and yet be a
true universal ; provided that the restriction is not inherent in the
order to which the Judgment applies, but is derived from another
and, perhaps, nobler order. It is no derogation from the universality
of the law by which bodies, under the impulsion of a single force,
move in a straight line ; if by counteraction of forces such as, for
instance, the centripetal and the so-called centrifugal forces, the
motion becomes orbital. After a like manner, any agent, acting
according to a physical law or under the obedience of a natural
impulsion, in the natural order always tinder similar circumstances
and conditions prodiuses similar effects; unless its action should be
suspended or changed by some agent of a higher order. So far,
then, as regards the natural order, the Judgment is, strictly speak-
ing, a universal; the limitation, sugg^ested by the adverb, arises
from the possible action of a higher cause. And what does this
mean, if not, that physical evidence and certitude are inferior
to metaphysical evidence and certitude, — in a word, that the
former are conditioned? But, if conditioned, the condition must
find a place in the Judgment. It must not, however, be imagined
that the Judgment itself is only physically evident; since the
present contention is, that it is an analytical Principle. The matter
of the Judgment, or the action (say rather, the effect of the action)
of the bodily agent, is physically evident and certain; yet the
form, or the conditioned truth of the position of the physically
certain effect by the physical agent under the alleged conditions,
is metaphysically evident and certain. So, it is metaphysically
evident that physical evidence is conditioned.
III. Again, it may be urged, that the aforesaid Judgment can-
not be analytical ; because it is contingent, not necessary. The
proof of the Antecedent is, that both its subject and its predicate
exhibit real finite existences ; but real finite existences are con-
tingent, and, therefore, the connection between them must likewise
be contingent. Tlie truth of the Minor in the principal argu-
ment is thus established. An agent acting according to a physical
law or in obedience to a natural impulsion is a real, actual exist-
ence ; but such is the subject of the Judgment. Again : The
fid of firoducing similar effects vnder similar circvmstances and
VOL. II. o
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82 P^'inciples of Being.
conditi^ma is a real, actual, existence; but such is the predicate of
the Judgment.
Answer. It is not true that the Judgment is contingent or — to
speak more accurately, — deals with contingent matter. Now, as to
the proof: Both subject and predicate exhibit real, finite existence
ideally and in the abstract — granted ; in the actual exercise of existence,
— no. Wherefore, if the subject and predicate are contingent, tAe con-
nection between the two mtist be likewise contingent^ — ^here, again, there
is need of a distinction. If the subject and predicate exhibit the
actual exercise of existence, — let it pass ; if the subject and predicate
exhibit existence ideally and in the abstract^ the nexus must neces-
sarily be likewise contingent, — no. The above distinction needs
some explanation. If, in the Judgment now under consideration,
the agent acting according to physical law, &c., were represented
to the mini^as actually hie et nunc producing a real, individual,
effect; the logical connection between the subject and predicate
would be contingent, not necessary. The reason is, that no act is
absolutely necessary in all differences of time, save the Divine Act
Which is God Himself. But, if the agent according to physical
law, &c., and the effect such agent is supposed to produce should
be assumed, (as is the case in the aforesaid Judgment), ideally and
in the abstract, the logical nexus will be necessary, not contingent ;
because the connection is evolved from the nature of the snbject,
not from its act. Even in the hypothesis that no agent according
to physical law were in existence, it would still remain for ever true
that, if such an agent should exist, it would, under similar circum-
stances and conditions, produce similar effects, unless its causality were
at any time impeded by the action of some superior cause.
IV. Another objection has been made to the truth of the present
Thesis. The Judgment which pronounces that^rowt similar causes
similar effects will be produced is a merely gratuitous assertion ; since
it rests neither on the immediate relation of ideas contained in the
subject and predicate nor on any testimony of experience. It
cannot rest on the immediate relation between subject and predi-
cate; because there is nothing repugnant in the notion that the
future may be unlike the past. It cannot rest on any testimony
of experience ; because it is a contradiction in terms to associate
experience with the future. Wherefore, the Judgment in question
is not an analytical Principle ; but is rather a common prejudice,
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Experimental Principles, 83
traceable to the influence of custom or of habituation to a certain
conjunction of fects in the past.
Answer. The Antecedent^ viz. that the Judgment in question is a
gratuitous assertion, is denied. As to the proof, it may be safely
granted that the said Judgment does not rest on the testimony of
experience. But the analysis already instituted justifies the denial,
that it does not rest on the immediate relation of the ideas con-
tained in subject and predicate; or, (to avoid the possibility of
equivocation), it is denied that the notion of the predicate is not
essentially included in the notion of the subject, duly and philo-
Eophcally conceived. It is further denied that the said Judgment is
a common prejudice ; since this would imply that it is not based on
a sufficient motive. Neither can the common consent to its truth
be attributed by any reasonable man to either mere custom or mere
habituation to a certain conjunction of facts in the past ; thongh
that conjunction, (which most men take to be causal), of facts in
the past offers a subject, or experimental Judgment, to which this
analytical Principle can be safely applied. The author of this objec-
tion has prepared the way for a rejection of the Principle that forms
the subject of this Thesis, by raising kindred doubts touching the
validity of the Principle of causality, by means of which the former
is applied to experimental Judgments. These doubts are in great
measure suggested, first of all, by the difficulty which the intellect
of man not unfrequently experiences in determining the nature of
the causal influx or of the act of the efiicient cause in its effect.
They are partly chargeable to an erroneous ideology. For it is
supposed that only sensile perceptions are intuitive; while all
intellectual ideas are reflex, having for their object either immedi-
ately or mediately a sensile perception. Now, sensile perceptions
are representative of material phenomena, or the accidents of things,
exclusively. Consequently, as nothing can give to another tliat
which it has not itself, sensile perceptions can only object before
the intellect the accidental phenomena which themselves represent.
Whatever else, therefore, the mind cognizes, must be a pure coinage
of its own. But such, it is hardly necessary to observe, is not the
doctrine of the School touching the formation of ideas. The intel-
lect never does, never could, accept the mere phantasm, or sensile
representation, for its object; for there is too great a disparity
of nature between the two. But the phantasm serves as an inciting
cause and medium, (a sort of lens, so to say), through which the
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84 Principles of Being,
mind immediately intnes the nature in act. Neither are we justified
in concluding, because it cannot at times determine the precm
nature of the causal influx, that it cannot cognize the fact of effi-
cient causality. It should be further observed, that it does not
intue the fact in the sensile representation, (or, rather, presenta-
tion) ; but in that nature in act, (which is its proper object), as re-
lated to the external phenomena. Let thus much suffice on a subject
which is outside the proper sphere of metaphysics. In concluding
the answer to this objection, an ambiguity in the proof for the
second member of the disjunctive must be resolved. It is urged :
There u nothing repugnant in the notion that the future may be unlike
the past. This proposition must be distinguished. There is nothing
repugnant in the idea that some facts or other in the future should
be unlike sundry other facts in the past, — ^let it pass: There is
nothing repugnant in the idea that an entity, energizing in obe-
dience to a physical law or to a natural impulsion, should produce
effects in the future dissimilar from those which it has produced
in the past, — there is again need of a distinction : There is nothing
repugnant in such a notion to a mind that denies, or is sceptical
about, physical order, physical law, natural tendencies, and attri-
butes everything to chance, — ^let it pass, nay, be it granted ; there
is nothing repugnant in the notion to a man of sane mind, — once
more, a subdistinction : That such an entity of itself should pro-
duce dissimilar effects in the future naturally, — ^the proposition must
be negatived; by the action of a superior cause and pretematurally,
— a final subdistinction is necessary : Repeatedly, (except under cir-
cumstances already referred to), —no; occasionally, — yes.
V. Once more: It has been objected that the Judgment in ques-
tion is not an analytical Principle, since it is not metaphysically
evident. The common consent, therefore, of mankind in its favour
must be traced to an instinct of our nature, which with an irre-
sistible force impels men so to judge.
Answer. As to the primary assertion, the answer has been already
given. The theory, by which it is attempted to account for the
universal acceptance of the truth of this Principle, must be sternly
rejected. For it supposes the existence of intellectual certainty
without evidence, and the possibility of a judicial act of the mind
in the absence of any formal object. The further discussion of this
last paradoxical assumption is reserved for the next Chapter.
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Experimental Principles. 85
VI. Finally, an objection may be brought against the second
member of the Principle in question. For, whatever may be
thought concerning the question of an entity that is energizing
according to some physical law, it seems impossible to admit that
any cause, however excellent, could interfere with an entity that is
acting under a natural impulsion. Indeed, such an admission would
be in open opposition to the doctrine, repeatedly enforced in these
pages, that a'nature or essence and, therefore, the essential tenden*
cies of a nature are unalterable even by the Divine Will. Sut, if
such tendency in certain exceptional cases could be arrested, it
would ipso facto be capable of alteration. Therefore, in its case the
adverb, ordinarily^ i.e.Jbr tie most part^ should be omitted.
Answer. The above would be a real difficulty, if it were main-
tained that the natural tendency itself could be arrested or changed.
So much, however, has been neither asserted nor intended. On the
other hand, it is possible that a superior cause may exceptionally
arrest the 4ict or effect of such tendency ; for both these are acci-
dental. But, in such cases of preternatural disturbance, the natural
tendency remains as before.
PROPOSITION CXXVI.
By virtue of the Frinoiple of causality^ as supplying a suffi-
cient motive for the application of the analytical Judgment,
announced in the preceding ThesiSy to specified physical
phenomena; certain empirical Judgments assume a moral
universality which makes them physically certain, and are
thereby elevated to the rank of experimental axioms.
I. Thb pisst msmbeb of the present Proposition, — which declares
that, by virtue of the Principle of causality ^ the analytical Priwdple
already announced can be applied to specified physical phenometia, (i.e.
to those wherein a constant order has been detected by observation
or experiment), — is thus proved. Presupposing a due experience of
these physical phenomena, or facts of nature, it is often possible to
determine, by virtue of the Principle of causality, that certain
agents act according to a physical law or in obedience to a natural
impulsion. But, this once known, it is possible to apply the afore-
said Principle to such facts ; and so, to form a Judgment touching
the constancy with which those causes will produce similar effects
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86 Principles of Being.
under similar circumstances and conditions. The Antecedent is thus
declared. After careful observation and experiment, it not unfre-
quently becomes patent to the observing or experimentalizing
student, that similar determinate effects arise from causes of the
same species ; although the said causes are themselves entitatively
many, distinct, and widely separated from each other in time or
space, or both. Thus, for instance, the electrical experiments of
Franklin in America agree in their results with those of Faraday;
and both, with the results of experiments being made, at this hour,
in the various class-rooms of the civilized world. So, again, in
the instance of projectiles, the trajectory is determined by the same
laws, whether the experiment be made in England or Australia,
— whether made in the last century or the present. Wheat has
been sown annually, for some six thousand years, in nearly every
quarter of the globe ; yet the seed sown has never yielded anything
but wheat. Having ascertained, then, that similar determinate
effects are constantly produced by these causes which are specifi-
cally the same, the Principle of causality assists us in drawing
the certain conclusion, that the above-named agents act on some
uniform and constant principle. Now, this principle is either in-
trinsic to, and connatural with, each of the causes, or it is extrinsic
and not connatural, i.e. it is a certain order or rule of energy to
which these agents have been subjected. In the one case, we are in
presence of a natural impulsion ; in the other, of that which has
been called a physical law.
So far, the proof has been given, more or less, in form. It may
be worth while, however, — considering the vital importance of the
subject, — to elaborate the argument by the easier method of analysis.
Let us go, then, to the concrete ; for it will facilitate the examina-
tion proposed. My mind is stimulated, we will say, to an act of
thought by the phantasm^ or sensile perception, of a cat. Though
my mind has been thus aroused from its pure potentiality and
native state of indifference by the presence of the phantasm, and
though the phantasm has determined it to the special object which
has been hie et ntmc presented within its field of view; the intellect,
nevertheless, intues, not the phantasm or sensile perception, (unless,
indeed, its act is psychologically reflex ; and this forms no element
in the present analysis), but, through it and the material acts which
it exhibits, the feline nature, however imperfectly, yet directly and
in itself. At once it understands the object to be an entity, a sub-
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Experimental Prifuiples. 87
stance, a living substance, an animal subBtance, and an animal
sabstance of such a definite type. By careful synthesis of the cat's
aeUy (the word is here used in its most generic sense), it cognizes
its growth, its habits, its disposition. To put it yet more plainly:
— ^Tbere are certain acts of the cat, that have constantly and uni-
formly presented themselves to my mind through the medium of
sensile perceptions, whenever that animal has come across me and,
moreover, belong to it exclusively, so far as common experience and
my own experience in particular have gone. Such are, for instance,
its mewing, purring, stealthy advances on its prey, and other like
properties, — to say nothing of its peculiar configuration, and other
distinctive notes of being. In the former class of peculiarities I
recognize a spontaneity of act. In the latter I perceive the material
properties of a common nature. In both, by help of the Principle
of causality^ I know that the beast is in act by virtue of a natural
impalsion ; and I thereby learn much about its nature. So much
for an agent acting under natural impulsion. But, again, it has
been concluded, from the testimony of sensile phenomena, that the
earth moves round the sun. By my knowledge, though imperfect,
of the earth's nature and of the nature of matter in general, I know
that the orbital movement of the former does not flow from its
essence. On the contrary, if at rest and left to itself, it would
remain motionless by that property of indifference to rest or motion,
apparently essential to bodies, which has been called by Kepler the
rw inertia. If under the accidental direction of one force, I know
that it would move in a straight line, supposing that it started from
rest or was moving in the direction of the force. I know, further,
that its orbital motion is due to the interaction and composition, as
they say, of two forces or quasi forces. But no force external to the
earth itself or any influence from the action of such force can flow
from the earth's essential nature ; otherwise, this latter could not
have an antecedent indifference to motion. Yet, on the other hand,
the motion, though variable in itself, follows a constant law, and
has done so for as long a time as historic memory can recall. By
virtue of the Principle of causality applied to these facts, I am
JQBtified in eliminating the agency of natural impulsion, and to
realize to myself the presence of a physical order, — of that which,
by common consent, has been called a phy^al law. If I am told,
that all this durable order is the mere result of a fortuitous con-
course of atoms,— or that the sensile phenomena on which my mind
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88 Priiutples of Being,
has, as it were, been working, are nothing but products of my own
psychical activity, — or that the reigning order, apparent in an un-
known to me and to me unenergizing object, is the pure creation of
a priori concepts in my mind : the intuitions of my understanding
proclaim war against the gratuitous assumptions, each and all ; my
primitive consciousness is wounded; my natural senses put in a
demurrer ; my common sense rises in rebellion ; the general voice
emphasizes a contradiction ; the fautors of these empty dreams give
the lie to them in their practical life. I pass them by with a smile.
They are not worth a protest.
Before passing on, let it be again remembered, that the instances
adduced in the course of the above analysis are merely used as
illustrations. They are not intended to prejudge, one way or the
other, physical theories of w^hatsoever kind.
II. The second member of this Proposition, — in which it is
affirmed that, by virtue of the analytical Principle annouTiced in the
preceding Thesis^ certain empirical Judgments assume a moral univer"
sality and are physically certain, — is thus declared.
It xnsj be as well to premise, that by moral universality is to be
understood that which has been practically accepted as universal in
the common estimation of mankind. Well, then, if it has been
evidently and certainly ascertained that certain material agents act
in obedience to either a physical law or a necessary impulsion of
their nature ; it is plain as plain can be that, (unless the action of
a superior cause should intervene), those same causes, under similar
conditions and circumstances, will always produce similar results.
For example, the sun has risen (to adopt an accepted phrase) every
morning, during the entire length of the individual experience of
each one among us. We have satisfactory and abundant moral
evidence that it has done the same, since the commencement of the
historic period. Moreover, the time of sunrise is 'so nicely regulated
by an established order, that it is prophetically given, each year,
in the almanacs of every coimtry. No one doubts, therefore, that
the sun will rise again to-morrow, as before ; and that it will rise
at the time predicted. No one doubts either, that after midsummer
the days will begin to draw in. Yet, if the supreme Creator and
Ruler of the world should have determined to bring time to a close
at once, the sun would not rise again on the morrow. Consequently,
the empirical Judgment can never assume an absolute, but only
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Experimental Principles. 89
a conditioned, universality. It is pliysically, not metaphysically, —
practically, not theoretically,— certain. Wherefore, such empirical
Judgments are often elevated' to the rank of experimental axioms ;
but never can be absolute, necessary truths. For they deal with
contingent existences as such ; and, for this reason, can never lay
claim to metaphysical evidence.
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CHAPTER V.
SYNTHETICAL A PRIORI JUDGMENTS.
Descartes is the true father of all those Protean Dew philosophies
which have appeared in continuous succession from his time until
now. By establishing a universal doubt at the threshold of know-
ledge as the necessary condition for acquiring philosophical cogni-
tion, he disastrously diverted the course of scientific inquiry ; nay,
more, he so dammed it up at the fountain head that there could be
no escape save by a paralogism. For he extended this universal
doubt to all the faculties of the human soul ; so that^ under his
guidance, the student of philosophy was taught to doubt, at the
outset, the infallibility of the very media of cognition, till that in-
fallibility had been established by satisfactory proof. But such a
task is plainly impossible ; for proof of whatsoever kind presupposes,
as a conditio sine qua non^ the infallibility of the reason. Descartes
only escapes the difficulty by a tacit restriction of his universal
doubt at the first step he takes, — a restriction which enlarges its
periphery in proportion as he proceeds. His first and fundamental
position is this: / think; therefore^ I am. But how does he know
for certain that he thinks, unless he already trusts to the infallibility
of his consciousness or, in other words, to the act of his intellect as
psychologically reflex ? We will say nothing of the pre-position of
the I in the Antecedent. In like manner, be draws from his data
certain conclusions which are preparatory to his subsequent demon-
stration of the infallibility of the faculties. Yet the certainty of these
anticipatory conclusions necessarily depends on the acknowledged
infallibility of the reason. Once more: The infallibility of the
reason has to be proved in common with that of the other faculties.
But, in order to be able to prove, you must presuppose the infalli-
bility of the understanding that intues the premisses and the infal-
libility of the reason that draws the conclusion ; otherwise, of what
value is your proof? All that he did, therefore, for philosophy, (and
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a diKasiroiis doing it proved to be), was to interpose at the portal of
science the necessity for a solution of the insoluble.
In the present Chapter, however, we are not concerned with the
inconsequences of Descartes. That which concerns us is this; that
the theory of the French philosopher diverted scientific inquiry from
its previous quest of objective truth, and assigned to it the impos-
sible task of demonstratively establishing the infallibility of those
faculties which are the naturally appointed media of cognition.
Heretofore it had been assumed as a primary and peremptory
postulate, in itself immediately evident, that the faculties of the
human soul were practically infallible in their normal exercise and
under requisite conditions. But, under the new philosophy nothing
was to be taken for granted, — not even the most axiomatic truths.
Hence, two results : Philosophy in no long time came to be identified
exclusively with ideology and psychology, till it was finally distilled
into a * transcendental logic^ Secondly, many of the disciples of
this new critical system, after the pattern of Descartes, were induced,
either by their natural bent or by the seeming preponderance of
motives, to exempt, some one, some another, of the media of cogni-
tion from the uncertainty of doubt ; while retaining their scepticism
as touching the infallibility of the rest. Others, again, doubted
equally of all.
To begin with the sensists^ : — These confined certainty of know-
ledge within the limits of sensile perception ; and thereby implied
an absolute trust in the infallibility of the senses. But at once they
were confronted with a difficulty of no little moment. The stimulus
given to the investigations of experimental physics had long recalled
attention to a fact, (well known to the ancients), that not all sensile
perceptions Bte formally representative of the object. Those of hearing,
smell, and taste, undoubtedly are not. Those of sight and touch are
only partially so, inasmuch as they represent the primary accidents,
as they have been called. Yet, even in the case of these latter and
still more pronouncedly in that of the rest, the sensile perception of
itself does not exhibit the essential nature of the object, but only
one or more of its accidental conditions. Neither does it formally
represent the object, (i.e. the material substance), at all, as svci;
K Some have drawn a distinctioii between materialists and sensists ; in that the
former deem sensile perception to be representative, in some way or other, of a mate-
rial object external to sense, while the latter rqgnrd it as a purely subjective pheno-
meDon. But these latter we should prefer to class with idealists, understanding by the
term all those who deny to intellectual and sensile perception any really objective value.
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92 Pri7uiples of Being.
but only implicitly and, as it were, by accident. This truth, how-
ever, would not have created any embarrassment, had it not been
coupled with a grave ideological error, to which allusion has been
made more than once in preceding pages. It seems to have been
accepted as a sort of axiom by the modern schools of philosophy,
that the only immediate object of the intellect in its perception of
material things is the phantasm, or seusile representation, which
evokes the intellect out of its potential indifference into act. The
logical outcome of such an opinion is plain. The act of the intel-
lect, like that of any other faculty, is defined by its object. But the
phantasm, (which, according to the hypothesis, is the only object of
the intellect), exhibits nothing but certain accidental conditions of
the material object and not the substance itself. Therefore, the
understanding can intue, and the reason can deduce, only that which
is included within the sphere of such accidental conditions. All
beyond is a pure evolution of unrepresentative ideas ; and can claim
no relationship with the object, or supposed object, that at most
occasioned it. But the Peripatetic philosophy teaches that the
intellect could not possibly have the phantasm for its object, because
there is an essential disproportion between the two, — that, conse-
quently, the sensile representation needs purification, needs transfor-
mation, in order even to be brought in contact with intellectual
action, — ^that it is, at the most, a kind of lens, through which the
mind intues the nature or essence of the material object, — that the
proper object, therefore, of the intellect is the specific nature of the
material thing presented to it, — and that it tolerates the material
conditions and individual notes represented in the phantasm only
because, in the instance of these bodily things, it is first awakened
into energy through the medium of the organs of that body with
which it is substantially united. Once adopt, then, the sensist
theory touching the formation of ideas and the exclusive infallibility
of the sensile faculty ; it will follow that all truth, so far as the
human mind is concerned, must be found in the material, the phe-
nomenal, the individual, — that external things are a mere combina-
tion of accidents, — that universals and abstract ideas are no other
than self-created puzzles, or playthings, of the intellect, — ^that the
metaphysical science is purely subjective and, therefore, without any
corresponding object, — and that the sum of reality is limited to the
sphere of sensile perception. Such was, more or less, the philosophy
of Locke in its practical development; such, the philosophy of the
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sensists. Some of them, indeed, — notably Locke, — would seem to
liave admitted that there was some substratum or other of these
accidents ; — ^a substance which reduced them to a common unity.
But then it counted for nothing; since it lay in outer darkness
impervious to the mind qf man. It might be there, or it might
not ; but, if it were, it was as though it were not, because it was an
unknown.
Others, again, there were who, under the influence of a loftier
and less unreasonable bias, rejected the infallibility of the senses as
the material medium for acquiring true and certain cognition ; while
ihey maintained the infallibility of the intellectual faculties. Ac-
cordingly, with Berkeley they held sensation to be a merely subjective
impression, in no wise representative of any corresponding objective
reality. The logical deduction from this premiss is evident. It
stands confessed that the whole visible universe is de facto nothing
but a psychical illusion ; and that objective truth is only to be found
in the analytic Judgments of the intellect. This is the philosophy
of idealism.
It now only remained to combine in one the doubts or negations
of both schools, so as to reproduce the scepticism of the Academics ;
and the ungrateful task was accomplished by Hume.
If a more elaborate exposition of the ideological and psychological
opinions propounded by this Scotch writer is here presented to the
reader, it is simply because of the intimate relation which these
opinions bear to the subsequent ideology of Kant. Hume, then,
starts with a re-affirmation of that fundamental Principle of the
sensists, that all human knowledge worthy of the name is exclu-
sively derived from sensile perception or, as he calls it, from
* impression,' ' feeling or sentiment.' But, at the same time, he so
&r agrees with the idealists, that these sensile impressions afford no
knowledge of the object, (if there be one), which is vulgarly sup-
posed to excite or cause them. Thus, he writes, * It must certainly
be allow'd, that nature has kept us at a great distance from all her
secrets, and has afforded us only the knowledge of a few superficial
qualities of objects, while she conceals from us those powers and prin-
ciples, on which the influence of these objects entirely depends*.'
He adds yet more boldly, * 'Tis allowed on all hands, that there is
no known connexion betwixt the sensible qualities and the secret
» EiMHj /F. (m Sceptical doubU, Part IT. '
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94 Principles of Being.
powers ; and consequently, that the mind is not led to form such a
conclusion concerning their constant and regular conjunction by
anything which it knows of their nature^/ In these quotations
Hume seems to allow, with the sensists, that sensile perceptions
have an objective value of some sort or other. One is anxious to
know more precisely what that objective value is. Hume thus replies :
* As to those ifnpressions, which arise from the senaeSy their ultimate
cause is, in my opinion, perfectly inexplicable by human reason, and
'twill always be impossible to decide with certainty, whether they
arise immediately from the object, or are produced by the creative
power of the mind, or are deriv'd from the author of our being*.'
Therefore, their real objective value from a scientific point of view is
absolutely niL As a fact, such is the expressed judgment of Hume.
Philosophy teaches us, he says, * that nothing can ever be present to
the mind but an image or perception, and that the senses are only
the inlets, thro' which these images are receiv'd, without being ever
able to produce any intercourse betwixt the mind and the object^.'
But, if the sensile impressions reveal to us nothing but themselves,
and in themselves are isolated, transitory, ever-changing, modifica-
tions of what, for sake of intelligibility, we will take leave to call
the soul ; how does it happen that they, as it were, instinctively
foiin themselves into connected groups, each one of which has its
own supposed individual unity ? How is it that to us they seem to
cluster round one and the same object, as though it were their root
and common bond of union ? Again : Supposing that this universal
system of grouping can be accounted for ; whence do these bundles,
or collections, of sensations derive their conceived sameness, or
identity, through successions of time ? To put it in the concrete ;
— I experience sensations of sweetness, of stickiness, of brown
colour, of a multitude of crystalline forms. Why does my mind
without effort unite them under one and refer them to brown
sugar ? Further : The said sensations were mine ; say, in the morn-
ing at breakfast. In the evening at tea I experience a new series
of sensations similar to the former ; yet I attribute them without a
shadow of doubt to the supposed brown sugar of the morning that
was present, as it seemed to me, on the table. How is this ? May
it perchance be, that these complex and multiform unifications owe
* EMay IV. on Sceptical doubts^ Part II.
* Treatise on human nature, B. I, Part I J I, Sect. V.
* Essay XII, Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy , Part /.
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their origin to the intellectual ideas which have the sensile impressions
for their object? No, this cannot be : For Hume tells us, that idea;^
or concepts are mere copies of our sensile impressions ; and the only
difference between the two, as it would appear, consists in this, that
the former are more feeble impressions, while the latter are more
lively ones*. Accordingly, Hume's test of the reality of an idea is,
that it can be traced to one or more sensile perceptions as an exem-
plar to its prototype. All other concepts are a product of the
imagination, which, 'tho' it cannot exceed that original stock of
ideas^ which is furnished by the internal and external senses, has
unlimited power of mixings compounding, separating and dividing
these ideas, to all the varieties of fiction and vision 2.' Indeed,
Home seems to hold that the mind is wholly passive before these
sensile impressions. But, if the mind is thus wholly passive in
presence of an ever-changing succession of disconnected phantasms,
the old diflSculty recurs. How is knowledge of any kind possible ?
Evidently, — and Hume admits as much, — there must be some asso-
ciation, or relation, or bond of union ; for it is impossible the same
simple ideas should fall regularly into complex ones, (as they
commonly do), without some bond of union among them, some asso-
ciating quality, by which one idea naturally introduces another^.'
Accordingly, Hume attributes this combination of sensile percep-
tions, (the word, 'perception^ is advisedly used, as denotative of the
' idea * that accompanies and is the shadow of the sensile impression),
to a twofold principle, — viz. an active principle in man, and a
passive property in the sensile impressions, or sentiments. The
former he calls Belief. This Belief is not intellectual ; it is a species
of natural instinct, ' which no reasoning or process of the thought
and understanding is able, either to produce, or to prevent^.' The
latter consists of certain natural relations. These relations may be
reduced to three ; resemblance, contiguity of place and time, and
causation. What he understands by causation, will be explained
presently. Now, seeing that these natural relations are placed by
Hume in the subjective sensile impression and not in the objective
reality which (if there be such a thing) is, together with its
powers, entirely out of the reach of human knowledge ; it is plain
that, so far as we can perceive, space and time are purely subjective
» iSIwoy 77. Gn the Origin of ideas, * Essay F, Seeptiedl Solution, &c„ PaH 77.
* Treatise on human nature, B, I, Part I, Seel, IV.
* Essay F, Sceptical Solution, Ac, PaH 7.
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96 Principles of Being.
conditions. The same may be said, of course, of the two otber
specified relations. But what is the origin, what the foundation^ of
these supposed relations ? Hume shall explain in his own words.
* These are therefore,' he writes, * the principles of union or cohesion
among our simple ideas, and in the imagination supply the place of
that inseparable connexion, by which they are united in our memory.
Here is a kind of Attraction^ which in the mental world will be
found to have as extraordinary effects as in the natural, and to shew
itself in as many and as various forms. Its effects are everywhere
conspicuous; but as to its causes, they are mostly unknown, and
must be resolved into original qualities of human nature, which I
pretend not to explain.* He adds with a charming simplicity:
' Nothing is more requisite for a true philosopher, than to restrain
the intemperate desire of searching into causes^.' Under the shadow
of this theory there arises an ideological problem of the gravest
moment. Is there, according to such teaching, any assignable dif-
ference between what logicians are wont to call a real, and a fan-
tastic idea. To put it in the concrete: — Is there any difference
betwixt the idea of the bread that I am eating or that of the speech,
(as I am now reading it), delivered last night in the House of Com-
mons, and the idea of a merman or a fairy ? If so, what is the
nature of that difference ? Hume gives answer : ' The difference
between fiction and belief lies in some sentiment or feeling, which
is annex'd to the latter, not to the former, and which depends not
on the will, nor can be commanded at pleasure. . . . Belief is
nothing but a more vivid, lively, forcible, firm, steady conception of
an object, than what the imagination alone is ever able to attain. . . .
Belief consists not in the peculiar nature or order of ideas, but in
the manner of their conception, and in iheit feeling to the mind. I
confess, that 'tis impossible perfectly to explain this feeling or
manner of conception. . . . The sentiment of belief is nothing but
a conception of an object more intense and steady than what attends
the mere fictions of the imagination.* That there may be no mis-
take as to what he means by belief, Hume explains that it is ^ that
act of the mind, which renders realities, or what is taken for such,
more present to us thati fictions, causes them to weigh more in the
thought, and gives them a superior influence on the passions and
imagination^.' So then, the whole objective value of ideas collapses ;
* Treatite on human nature, B. L PaH J, Sect, TV.
* Enay V, Sceptical Solution, Ac, Part II.
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and human perception never passes beyond the limits of the per-
ceiving subject. Sensations are representative of nothing external
to themselves ; and the only difference between a real idea and a
simple imagination is to be found in the greater vividness, force,
and steadiness of the concept in a real idea.
Whai, then, becomes of the natural relation of causality ? A
cause requires an effect ; since the latter is the correlative of the
former. But in these successive sensile impressions which are in
perpetual flux, what traces can possibly be discovered of anything
like causal relation ? Hume replies that they are to be found in the
simple succession itself, — i.e. in the fact that the impressions are
successive. If two sentiments, or sensile perceptions, present them-
selves over and over again in an unvarying sequence ; the mind
becomes habituated to this sequence, and there springs up an
instinctive belief that the subsequent in the sequence is in some
sort the effect of the precedent. * It appears,' writes Hume, * that,
in single instances of the operation of bodies, we never can, by our
utmost scrutiny, discover anything but one event following another;
without being able to comprehend any force or power, by which the
cause operates, or any connexion betwixt it and its suppos'd effect. . . .
The same difficulty occurs in contemplating the operations of mind
on body. . . . The authority of the will over our own faculties and
ideas is not a whit more comprehensible : so that upon the whole,
there appears not, thro' all nature, any one instance of connexion,
which is conceivable by us. All events seem entirely loose and
separate. One event follows another; but we never can observe
any tye betwixt them. They seem conjMd^ but never connected.
And as we can have no idea of anything, which never appear'd
to our outward sense or inward sentiment, the necessary conclusion
item to be, that we have no idea of connexion or power at all, and
that these words are absolutely without any meaning, when em-
ploy'd either in philosophical reasonings, or common life. . • . When
we say, therefore, that one object is connected with another,
we mean only, that they have acquired a connexion in our
thoughts, and give rise to this inference, by which they become
proofs of each other's existence ^.' Thus, then, according to Hume,
there is nothing objectively real in the concept of causation. Nay,
farther : This concept does not rest on any real activity or power
* EsMay VII ^ of ike Idea of necessary Connexion, Part II.
VOL. II. H
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98 Principles of Being.
in one subjective sentiment over another, but merely on an habitual
sequence in the series of sensile impressions.
Since, then, sensile perceptionsi according to this sceptical theory,
are the only undoubted realities that remain to us ; two questions
await an answer, — questions of the weightiest import.
The first is, What is mind according to this new philosophy ?
Hume has his answer ready. ' What we call a mind,' he writes,
^ is nothing but a heap or collection of different perceptions, united
together by certain relations, and suppos'd, tho' falsely, to be
endow'd with a perfect simplicity and identity ^' So, again^ he
describes men as being * a bundle or collection of different percep-
tions^ which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and
are in a perpetual flux and movement 2.' * They are the successive
perceptions only, that constitute the mind ; nor have we the most
distant notion of the place, where these scenes are represented, or of
the materials, of which it is compos'd ^.' Thus perish at once the
individuality and identity of man.
And this introduces that second question which has been already
mooted in an earlier part of thd present review. Is the concept of
identity, or sameness, a mere trick of the imagination ? Though,
how, by the way, there is any room for a faculty of imagination in
Hume's account of man, it is a puzzle to see. Is the identity which
I instinctively attribute to that which is for me a real, external
object, such as the house I live in, the trees and plants that I look
out upon from the window, the terrier that crouches at my feet, —
is the personal identity which I undoubtingly recognize in my
parents, brothers, servants, friends, — a pure illusion ? Is, too^ that
persistent self-consciousness, — ^that constant sense of my own iden-
tity, which convinces me that I am ever myself and links on my
past to my present, — ^an utter unreality, a baseless assumption ? Can
I not say Iwas^ without error ? Such, at all events, would seem to
be the position of Hume. *Thus,* he observes; *the principle of
individuation is nothing but the invariableness and uninCerruptedness
of any object, thro* a suppos'd variation of time, by which the mind
can trace it in the different periods of its existence, without any
break of the view, and without being oblig'd to form the idea of
multiplicity or number. I now proceed to show why the constancy
of our (sensile) perceptions makes us ascribe to them a perfect
* TreaH$e on himan nature, B. /, Part IV, Sect II.
" Ibidem, Sect. VI. ' Ibidem,
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numerical identity, tho' there be long intervals betwixt their
appearance, and they have only one of the essential qualities of iden-
tity, viz. invaridbleness. ... To enter, therefore, upon the question
concerning the source of the error and deception with regard to
identity, when we attribute it to our resembling perceptions, not-
withstanding their interruption; I must here recall an observa--
tion, which I have already prov'd and explain'd. Nothing is more
apt to make us mistake one idea for another, than any relation
betwixt them, which associates them together in the imagination,
and makes it pass with facility from one to the other. . . . We
find by experience, that there is such a constancy in almost all the
impressions of the senses, that their interruption produces no alter-
ation on them, and hinders them not from returning the same in
appearance and in situation as at their first existence. I survey the
furniture of my chamber; I shut my eyes, and afterwards open
them ; and find the new perceptions to resemble perfectly those,
which formerly struck my senses. . . . An easy transition or passage
of the imagination, along the ideas of these different and interrupted
perceptions, is almost the same disposition of mind with that in
which we consider one constant and uninterrupted perception. 'Tis
therefore very natural for us to mistake the one for the other ^.'
Now, as to personal identity: *If any impression,' says Hume,
*• gives rise to the idea of self, that impression must continue invari-
ably the same, thro' the whole course of our lives ; since self is
snppos'd to exist after that manner. But there is no impression
constant and invariable. Pain and pleasure, grief and joy, passions
and sensations succeed each other, and never all exist at the same
time. It cannot, therefore, be from any of these impressions, or
from any other, that the idea of self is derived ; and consequently
there is no such idea. . . . The identity, which we ascribe to the
mind of man, is only a fictitious one, and of a like kind with that
which we ascribe to vegetables and animal bodies. It cannot,
therefore, have a different origin, but must proceed from a like
operation of the imagination upon like objects^.'' In few words,
identity supposes invariableness and unititerruptedness of the object
which is supposed to be the same. But there is no real object, a9
has been shown, save our sentiments or sensile perceptions, which are
in a perpetual flux and consequently, never remain uninterrupted.
* Treatiae on human nature^ B. I, Part IV, Sect, II,
» Treatise on human nature, B. /, PaH IV, Sect, VI.
H 2
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lOO Principles of B^ fig-
Therefore, identity, whether attributed to lifeless substances (so
called), or to plants^ or to animals, or to men, or to ourselves, is
a simple trick of the imagination. To such lengths, indeed^ does
Hume carry his consistency, that he affirms he may be truly said
not to exist, when the sensile perceptions cease for a time, as in a
sound sleep.
Once more: The reality of existence vanishes under the same
sceptical treatment. * The idea of existence,' such are the words of
Hume, ' is the very same with the idea of what we conceive to be
existent. To reflect on any thing simply^ and to reflect on it as
existent, are nothing different from each other. That idea, when
conjoin'd with the idea of any object, makes no addition to it.
Whatever we conceive, we conceive to h% existent. Any idea we
please to form is the idea of being ; and the idea of a being is any
idea we please to form^.' Therefore, whatever we conceive, for the
simple reason that we think it, is ip%o facto existent ; consequently,
existence is exclusively ideal.
It only remains to see how God fares in this new system. * If
the external world,' writes Hume, ' be once call'd in doubt, we shall
be at a loss to find arguments, by which we may prove the existence
of that Being or any of his attributes 2.' Yet, as we have already
seen and as will appear more plainly in the following quotation,
Hume professes to doubt the existence of an external world. There
is, therefore, nothing certainly known, nothing certainly existent,
save these sentiments, — these sensile impressions and perceptions.
But do these connote an external object that occasions them and,
consequently, a world outside us ? Hear what Hume has to say
about the matter : ' By what argument can it be prov'd, that the
perceptions of the mind must be causM by external objects, entirely
different from them, tho' resembling them (if that be possible) and
could not arise either from the energy of the mind itself, or from
the suggestion of some invisible and unknown spirit, or from some
other cause still more unknown to us^ ?'
In conclusion^ the results of this sceptical doctrine in regard of
the cycle of sciences may be summed up, as follows, in the author's
own words : * It seems to me, that the only objects of the abstract
sciences or of demonstration are quantity and number' (the subject
of mathematics), ' and that all attempts to extend this more perfect
^ Treatise on human nature, B. I, Part II, Sect. VI,
* Eeeay XII, of the Academical or Sceptical PhUoeophy, Part I. * Ibidem.
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Synthetical a priori yudgments, loi
species of knowledge beyond these bounds are mere sophistry and
illusion. . . . When we run over libraries, persuaded of these prin-
ciples, what havoc must we make ? If we take in our hand any
volume of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance ; let us ask,
Does it contain any abstract reasonings concerning quantity or
number ? No. Does it contain any experimental reasonings con-
eeming matters of fact or existence ? No. Commit it then to the
flames ; for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion ^.'
As will be seen, the above account of Hume's theory has been
given, for the most part, in the words of the author. It is
probable that the attentive reader will have noticed, as he went
on, the manifold self-contradictions, the general ambiguity in the
use of terms, which are conspicuous in the writings of this author*
But it would be altogether beside the purpose of the present
Chapter and the general plan of the Work, to expose these, or to
unravel the sophisms by which its author has attempted to give
a certain air of plausibility to the theory in question. Hume has
been introduced here only as a help towards a more definite under-
standing of the Kantian philosophy. For it is generally admitted
that the writings of the Scotch sceptic had a pronounced influence
on the philosophical views of the recluse of Konigsberg. In order
that this purpose may be the more efiectually attained^ a succinct
summary is here subjoined of Hume's doctrine.
i. The mind is a mere bundle of sensile impressions and per-
ceptions. All so-called ideas, other than mere tricks of the ima-
gination, are nothing but fainter repetitions of the former.
ii. It is not only uncertain, but improbable, that these sensile
representations are awakened in us by an external world. They
may be self-produced. Even if there be any objective reality, it is
quite hidden from us.
iii. It is a fact of which we are conscious, that these sensile
impressions, or rather perceptions, are found to be grouped together
into diverse complex unities, with correlations, affinities, &c., with-
out which anything like knowledge would be impossible.
iv. Imagination and memory assist in the generation of complex
perceptions.
* Eway XII, of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy, Pari II, In aU the quo-
tatiana from Hume, the italics and capitals are exclusively those of that author. The
Mme plan wiU always be observed, unless notice is given to the contraiy, with the
exception of quotations from St. Thomas.
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I02 Principles of Being.
V. There are two Principles which principally account for this
composition of perceptions, or ideas, — one subjective ; the other
objective, as it were.
vi. The subjective Principle is faith.
vii. This faith is described at once to be a sentiment, a feeling,
an intellectual act^ and a stronger and more lively act of the
imagination. Hence, the only difference between a real and a
fantastic idea is a difference of degree.
viii. There is, besides, a principle of union in the sensile per-
ceptions themselves,' which consists of certain natural relations
therein discoverable.
ix. These relations are reducible to three, viz. resemblance, con-
tiguity, causation.
X. Contiguity includes the conditions of time and place, whose
forms are the subject matter of mathematics.
xi. Causation is that relation which plays the most prominent
part in the conjunction of simple sensile impressions. It is really
nothing but the constant and uniform sequence of two such im-
pressions, which deludes the imagination into the belief that the
precedent is cause and that the subsequent is effect.
xii. The conceiving of the future perseverance of such sequences
(i.e. physical laws) is due to the influence of habit or custom.
We have become accustomed to the sequence by repeated expe-
rience ; and so, easily fall into the illusion of presuming the like
in the future. The idea is an act of belief.
xiii. These natural relations are, so far as our knowledge goes, purely
subjective ; since the sensile impression is their adequate object.
xiv. The origin or cause of these sensile impressions is unknown.
XV. A fortiori, the origin or cause of the aforesaid natural relor-
tions is unknown. They are 'resolved into original qualities of
human nature' (i.e. of a bundle of sensile perceptions), 'which
cannot be explained.'
xvi. There is nothing objective in the idea of existence. Everything
that is conceived, for the simple reason that it is conceived, is existent.
xvii. The idea of the identity of external things, whether in-
animate or living, is a mere trick of the imagination. The same
may be said concerning the idea of one's personal identity.
xviii. Beyond sensile perceptions and their combination in the man-
ner aforesaid, there are no other mental acts that deserve the name.
xix. It is impossible to prove the existence of a God.
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Synthetical k priori yudgments. 103
XX. Universal, abstract truths are a trick of the imagiDation.
xxi. Consequently, all sciences, properly so called, are worthless.
Exception is made in favour of mathematics ; because it deals with
one of those natural relations discoverable in sensile impressions.
xxii. Theology and metaphysics are nothing but sophistry and
illusion. '
And this is called philosophy! It destroys all evidence and
eertainty. It renders the acquisition of scientific truths with but
one exception, an impossibility. It annihilates all that is objective ;
and makes human thought subserve no other purpose than that
of retaining a faint, imperfect image of the impressions of sense.
There is no spiritual reality outside us, no spiritual reality within
us; but only certain material, or make-believe material impres-
sions whose combination and mutual affinities are either a mere
trick of the imagination^ (the imagination, be it observed, of a
handle of sentiments), or, at the best, are the result of certain
natural relations of purely subjective sensile impressions. Hume's
scepticism is the reductio ad abmrdum of the universal doubt of
Descartes. Nor should we forget the apology of the former, (well
remembered by Kant), that < we shall at least, by this means, be
sensible of our ignorance, if we do not augment our knowledge ^'
Kant undertook the task of constructing a foundation for scien-
tific knowledge amid the chaotic heap of ruins which the scepticism
of Hume had left. He appears to have accepted the results of Hume's
demolition touching the most important points as a just necessity ;
80 that he attempted, as has just been remarked, a construction,
not a r^onstruction, of scientific certainty. He scorned somewhat
fiercely the ideological and metaphysical Principles of the School,
(which we are bound, therefore, to suppose that he had mastered) ;
and, catching at the crudely developed idea of Descartes, took upon
himself, not to accept as immediately evident the infallibility of
the several media of cognition, but, by a transcendental deduction
(as he terms it) to establish the limits and, within those limits, the
objective certainty of human knowledge and, as a consequence, to
determine the value of the several faculties as media of conceptual
truth. Hence the title of his great work, The Critique of Pueb
Reason.
Before proceeding to expose the teaching of this German philo-
sopher, two obsei-vations must be premised.
» Sstay IV, Sceptical Doubts, Part II, v, /.
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I04 Principles of Being.
i. The doctrine of Kant (as might be anticipated from an anim-
adversion already made) is all' but entirely limited to the spheres
of ideology and psychology ; the former of which deals with the
genesis of ideas^ the natural infallibility of the faculties as media of
cognition and of conceptual truths and with evidence and certainty
as well objective as subjective. Accordingly, Kant's Critique of
Pure Reason can only claim the notice of the metaphysician partially
and indirectly. The brief account of it that will follow has been
inserted here for the sole purpose of rendering a satisfactory account
of those synthetical a priori Judgments of Kant, which play a
part in the system he has invented so important that the two must
stand or fall together. For it does concern the metaphysician
to determine, whether these Judgments are admissible, or not, as
Principles of scientific cognition. It must not be expected, then,
(to repeat a monition already premised in the instance of Hume),
that any refutation of the system as a whole, any exposure of its
manifold paralogisms^ will be attempted. This is not the place.
Nevertheless, it will easily be seen from an observation just made,
that arguments, (if valid), which demonstrate the impossibility of
these synthetical a priori Judgments, must deal a fatal blow to the
system of which they are the principal, if not only, basis.
ii. It is necessary to forewarn the student, that the terminology
of Kant is not a little bewildering ; and that, owing to three causes.
(a) He uses terms, already familiar to such as are acquainted with
the Peripatetic philosophy, in a sense altogether new. Thus, for
instance, by Transcendental he understands that which 'oversteps
the limits of all experience ^ ;' whereas heretofore it had been taken
to represent those cognitions, with their objects, which enter into
all the Categories, (for the most part), and go beyond, or transcend
them. Perception he would seem to employ as exclusively repre-
sentative of sensile perceptions. He calls it ' empirical consciousness
of the intuition^.' TAe internal sense, which in the old School was a
term reserved for the sensile faculty in its capacity for receiving
impressions caused by internal modifications of our own bodies,
(such as, those of hunger, thirst, pain, &c.), Kant identifies with
reflex consciousness. Yet the former is a faculty which we possess
in common with the brutes ; the latter is purely intellectual. Again :
* Critique of Pure Beaton, Transcendental Dialeetie, Book /, Sect. 2 {Translation
by Meiklejohn, p. 229).
* Ibidem, Transcendental Logic, Chap. /, § 22, p. 9S.
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Synthetical a priori Judgments. 105
Imagination had hitherto been accepted as, the memory (so to say) of
the senses, — a lower, or animal, faculty of the soul ; Kant describes
it to be ' an operation of the understanding on sensibility ^.' Simi-
larly, Idea in the old Philosophy is used either generically for every
intellectual act, whether of simple Apprehension, Judgment, or
Reasoning; or specifically^ for an act of simple Apprehension.
Kant exclusively reserves it for * a necessary conception of reason*.'
Intuition once stood for the cognition of truths immediately evident ;
Kant uses the term as equivalent to sensile perception. Lastly,
(not to extend the enumeration), by Objective and Object Kant
understands the modifications of the external or internal sense and
the corresponding perceptions, as objectively presented to the intel-
lect. The difierence, therefore, between the objective and the
subjective is purely formal, founded on a certain psychological
relation, (b) He not unfrequently either introduces, or adopts, new
tenns in the place of others which previously had been universally
accepted. Thus, — ^borrowing from Leibnitz, — he calls direct con-
sciousness, Apperception. Again : We have Transcendental Schemata
of the pure conceptions of the understanding, which function as
intermediaries between the Kantian Categories, (a most unfortunate
transfer of an Aristotelian title to that which is most divergent
from its primitive signification), and phenomena, or sensile percep-
tions. Once more: There are certain Antinomies^ as Kant calls
them, — ^i.e. certain dilemmas (so to say) wherein the apparent
arguments that demonstrate each member of the dilemma and are
destructive of it« opposite seem to be equally conclusive. Now, it
may undoubtedly be at times convenient and even necessary to add
new terms to our philosophical dictionary ; but it should be done
very sparingly, and only where there is an urgent need. Kant
revels in them ; and his example has been too closely followed by
our modem writers on philosophy, (c) There is a considerable
ambiguity, to say the least, in the use of many of these terms, which
makes it difficult to ascei*tain the precise meaning of the author.
One notable instance will suffice, which is to be found in Kant's
employment of the word, Intuition, Kant, as has been already
noticed, identifies it with sensile perception. 'All our intuition,*
he remarks, *is nothing but the representation of phaenomena^.'
But, further: According to his showings intuitions are either
* CriU^ue of Ptire BeoMU^ Tranacendtntal Logic, Chap, 7. § 20, p. 93.
* Ihidem, TratucenderUal Dialectic, B. I, ^ 2, p. 22S. ' IMdem, p. 35.
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io6 Principles of Being.
empirical or pure. The latter are two, viz. time and space. * These/
he tells us, * belong to pure intuition, which exists a prum in the
mind, as a mere form of sensibility, and without any real object of
the senses or any sensation^.' Yet we are assured only a pag^e
back that * an intuition can take place only in so far as the object
is given to us^.' How, then, can time and space be intuitions?
So, in another place we are informed that ' Space is a necessary
representation i priori ; (of what ?), ' which serves for the foundation
of all external intuitions ^.' Further on : ' Space is nothing else
than the form of all phaenomena of the external sense, that is, the
siiljeciive condition of the sensibility, under which alone external in-
tuition is possible *.' * Time is a necessary representation, lying at the
foundation of all our intuitions *,' — therefore, at the foundation of it-
self and of space. It is also a presupposition ® ;' * a pure form of the
sensuous intuition'',^ — *a condition a priori of all phaenomena^.'
* Space and Time . . . are merely subjective conditions of all our
intuitions ^ ;' therefore, they are self-conditioning and conditioned.
Then, again : ' Time and space are two sources of knowledge, from
which, h priori^ various synthetical cognitions can be drawn ^°,' —
' Principles of knowledge h priori ^^' Now, it is hard to understand
how subjective forms, which are prior to all experience or sensile
perception and are conditions, (forms are not usually identified with
conditions or with foundations either), of the possibility of these
latter, can become intuitions which * with us never can be other than
sensuous,' as containing * only the mode in which we are affected by
objects ^.' Nor is it less perplexing, unless our terminology is at
fault, to reconcile the supposed fact of time and space being
Intuitions^ Represenf-ations^ Sources of knowledge^ Principles^ with the
other supposed fact that they are only Modes^ Forms of sensibility
and sensation, h priori and subjective Conditions ^K Nor is this am-
biguity or indistinctness confined to the mere terminology ; for it
extends to eminently important points of Kant's theory. Take,
for instance, the question touching the really objective existence of
an external world. For what concerns Kant's treatment of this
* Criiique of Pure JReason, TraivscendentaX Dialectic, B. I, ^ 2, p. 22.
' p. 31. ' p. 34. * p. 36. The Italics are not Kant's. * p. 28. • p. 38.
' p. 39. • p. 31. • p. 40. »•> p. 33. " p. 23. " pp. 45. 46.
• ^^ It is instructiye to know that both Locke and Hume are chai^able, and chaiged,
with these ambiguities, which have been characterized more sternly. See MM, Green
and Grosse^s Introduction to Burners Treatise on human nature, particularly nn, 12-14,
and 237, 238.
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Synthetical a priori Judgments. 107
subject by the help of a peculiar meaning attached to the words,
Ohjecty Objective, we will content oiirBclves with the certainly unsus-
pected authority of Professor Caird. * This Kantian language,' he
remarks, * is liable to be misunderstood, if we do not carefully observe
the double force of the word "object." When Kant says that
"through sensibility objects are given to us," he does not mean
that they are given to us as objects. He only means that there are
mental modifications produced in us, by synthesis of which the
understanding can determine an object. But he thinks of the mani-
fold of sense as the result of an object, a thing in itself^ affecting the
sensibility ; and on the other hand, he treats the object, which the
understanding determines through synthesis of the manifold given
in sense, as identical with, or, at any rate, phenomenal of, the object
that affects sense. Without considering at present how far he is
justified in this mode of conception, it may be observed that his
meaning here would have been less ambiguous if he had simply
said that there is a " manifold " given in sense, which the synthesis
of the understanding enables us to determine as objective. For
when Kant says that " through understanding objects are thought,"
he means " thought as objects ^." ' Again, as touching the difference
between analytical and synthetical Judgments, which, in the Pro-
fessor's judgment, forbids that close aflBnity between the two that
the theory of Kant would seem to postulate, Mr. Caird animadverts
as follows : * If there be any truth in the view taken in the last
chapter of the difference between the so-called analytic or formal,
and the synthetic or real judgment, Kant's attempt to make the
former a stepping-stone to the latter, or to find any kind of identity
in the two processes, must lead to confusion and even contradiction.
. . . The key to this strange confusion of things essentially dif-
ferent will easily be found, if we remember that Kant always starts
with the common opposition of perception and conception, as parti-
cular and general, but gradually as he goes on substitutes for it his
own new sense of the terms, according to which perception must be
taken to mean unconnected, "manifold," and conception to mean
" binding or synthetic principle *." ' Once more : Referring again to
Kant's ambiguous use of the word. Object, the Professor expresses
himself still more plainly. ' Just as he (Kant) allows himself to use
the word synthesis, at one time for the function of sense, and at
* A critical account of the Philosophy of Kant, Part II, Chap. 7, pp. 377, 278.
" Ibidem, Ch. VII, pp. 319, 320.
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io8 Principles of Being,
another time for the function of understanding : so it is with the
word " object." It seems to be employed to designate the element
which, on any occasion, is regarded as wanting in order to complete
the idea of experience. Hence the puzzling logomachy that arises
when we bring Kant's thoughts and expressions together. The
categories, which are conceptions of objects in general, are declared
to be referred to objects only through perception, while it is just
these very conceptions which make us conceive perceptions as
objective, i.e. as representative of a reality more permanent than
themselves. Thus it is said both that perceptions apart from the
conceptions of the understanding have no objective validity or
reference to objects, and that the conceptions only refer to objects
through the perceptions ^.' No one, who is at all conversant with
the Kantian philosophy, can fail to see that the points on which
Professor Caird has animadverted in the above passages are of no
secondary importance ; and few will accuse the critic of a prejudice
against the illustrious subject of his criticism.
And now for so much of the Kantian theory as will enable the
reader to follow the argument, and understand the gist, of the next
Proposition. Kant seems to have accepted the more prominent and
fundamental conclusions of Hume. He admits that human know-
ledge is based exclusively on sensile impressions, and that it cannot
go beyond experience^ i.e. cognition by means of conjoined sensile
impressions {perceptions). He further admits that these sensile
perceptions are of mere phenomena; and in no wise reveal the
nature of the thing represented, (if there be any external reality
represented), as it is in itself. They are not, therefore, revelations
to us of an external and really objective world ; but purely subjective
modifications^ however caused. Again : He agrees that these sensile
impressions, considered in and by themselves, are a mere succession
of independent and evanescent sensations, having no principle of
cohesion or unity, or germ of referribility to a subject in which the
phenomena they represent, or are, may be rooted. Further: He
maintains that the understanding can never gain increase of know-
ledge by abstraction or analysijs of its own pure conceptions ; though
it may acquire greater clearness. All such increase is derived from
the synthesis of the conceptions of the understanding with the
manifold of sensile impressions. Again : The faculty of the under-
standing is never, according to him, intuitive ; intuition is limited
* A Critical Account of the Philosophy of Kant, Part II, Ch. VII, p. 326.
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Synthetical a priori ytidgments. 109
to the ext^emal and internal sense. The internal sense, (i.e. con-
sciousness), like the external, intues only phenomena ; and cannot
perceive the object (i.e. the soul), as it is in itself. Moreover, since
sensile impression is the primordial reason of our mental and,
therefore, generally of all psychical acts, internal is dependent on,
and subsidiary to, external experience ; so that consciousness of our
internal modifications and^ consequently, reflex consciousness of
self, are only possible in their relation to antecedent sensile per-
ceptions or^ at the least, modifications. Once more : The pure
conceptions of reason or, in the language of the School, h priori
demonstrations, are empty and illusive. Kant, accordingly, rejects
all demonstrative proofs, (as others would call them), of the existence
of God, of the spirituality and immortality of the human soul, and
of firee-will.
In the face of concessions so liberal to the scepticism of Hume,
what possible foundation can Kant discover, whereupon to construct
the certainty of human knowledge, and thus to save philosophy
from a universal doubt that has bound thought hand and foot in its
very cradle ? An answer to this question conducts us to an analysis
of Kant's theory. The subject, upon which we are about to enter,
is more than usually abstruse. Add to this, the constant ambi-
guities of which complaint has been made, the novel terminology
which cannot fail of adding considerably to the student's perplexity.
Perhaps, therefore, it will be more profitable to throw the promised
analysis into a concrete form, eschewing, so far as may be, the use of
terms that are generally unfamiliar. Before commencing, however,
it seems advisable to interpose a remark. While Kant boasts that
by his theory he firmly establishes scientific certainty ; yet he so far
indorses the pet view of Hume as to acknowledge that the primary
object of philosophy according to the critical method is, to define
the Hmits of human science and to curb the excesses of metaphysical
speculation by confining it to the sphere of experience. These are
his words : * "What is the real value of this system of metaphysics,
purified by criticism, and thereby reduced to a permanent condition ?
A cursory view of the present work will lead to the supposition that
its use is merely negative^ that it only serves to warn us against
venturing, with speculative reason, beyond the limits of experience.
This is, in fact, its primary use. But this, at once, assumes ^jpoA^
live value, when we observe that the principles with which specu-
lative reason endeavours to transcend its limits, lead inevitably,
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no Principles of Being,
not to the extension^ but to the contraction of the use of reason,
inasmucli as they threaten to extend the limits of sensibility, which
is their proper sphere, over the entire realm of thought, and thus
to supplant the pure (practical) use of reason;' (i.e. the use of
reason within the sphere of ethics). * So far, then, as this criticism
is occupied in confining speculative reason within its proper bounds,
it is only negative ; but, inasmuch as it thereby^ at the same time,
removes an obstacle which impedes and even threatens to destroy
the use of practical reason, it possesses a positive and very impor-
tant value ^.' What this practical uae of reason may he^ it boots not
now to inquire ; suffice it here to say, that it excludes firom the
field of its exercise the Kantian Categories, i.e. all the primary
forms of speculative cognition.
Let us now enter on the promised analysis. Certain sensations
awaken the faculty of the external sense. For instance, I perceive
or feel a sensation of rei^ another of some sweet smell, another of a
pricking pain, another of stickiness. Let it be supposed that these
sensations come upon me altogether. As simple sensations, they
are subjective modifications, (that is, changes in me), — each inde*
pendent of the other, — so many isolated, unconnected facts. Let it
be further supposed, that, after some hours interval, I am again
subjected to sensile impressions of red, sweet smell, pricking pain,
and stickiness. Long before this second batch of sensations has
arisen within me, the first batch has already passed away. As
sensations merely, this second batch is wholly unconnected with the
former and, like the former, each sensation is unconnected with the
rest. Such batches of sensile impressions may be indefinitely mul-
tiplied, as time goes on ; invariably with the same result. No one
of them is connected with the other; nor are the sensations that
compose one batch connected with those of any other batch, while
they are independent one of another. (The word, batch, is preferable
to series or even collection, because these latter terms seem to connote
some objective relation, if only of order). So far, then, there is
nothing but an unordered manifold, — a simple multiplicity, — waves
of sensations, each limited to itself, each disappearing before its
successor has arisen. There is no order, no relation, no cohesion, no
referribility. Out of such fleeting, chaotic elements, — if unassisted,
uninformed, — any genesis of knowledge would be impossible.
* Prrface to the second Edition of the Critique of Pure Eeaaon, pp. xxxii, zxxili.
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Synthetical a priori Judgments, 1 1 1
But here, at the very outset, there is an observable factor in my
sensations as just described. In fact, unless account were made
of it, one could not attempt the description. That factor is the
concept of time. For synchronousness, no less than succession,
means time. This concept^ or form, is necessarily included in
every sensile perception, i.e. in every conscious, every apprehended
sensation. Hence^ no sooner does the mind perceive any one of
these sensile impressions, than its perception is invariably and
necessarily determined by the form of time, i.e. the sensile im-
pression is perceived as being in some definite point of time. But
time cannot be derived from the sensations themselves ; for these
are unrelated units, and are or are not. The form of time, on the
contrary, introduces a relation and initial order into the phenomena
of sense. Since, then, it cannot originate with sense^ it must be
it priori to sense, — a form imposed by the mind on sensile perception.
It therefore has its origin in the thinking subject ; nor is there any
reason for supposing that it finds anjrthing corresponding with
itself outside the understanding. Consequently, it is purely sub-
jective. But again: Since these sensations are for the present
considered only as modifications of the thinking or sentient subject,
i.e. of myself ; they, so far, present themselves as phenomena of the
internal sense. As such, they are informed by time ; for my
time, so to speak, is theirs. ' For time cannot be any determina-
tion of outward phaenomena. It has to do neither with shape nor
position ; on the contrary, it determines the relation of represen- .
tations in our internal state ^.' Internal phenomena, intuitions of
the internal sense, (v.g. sorrow, acts of the will, thoughts, motions
of passion, pain, &c.), come immediately under the determination of
time; external phenomena, intuitions of the external sense, only
mediately and in their character of internal modifications.
The expression which has frequently recurred, external sense,
suggests an important question. What is meant by external sense,
external phenomena, intuitions of the external sense ? If they are
merely subjective modifications, — affections in me, — in what sense
can they be called external ? Why are my sensations of red^ sweet
mell^ pricking pain, sticMfiess, considered as external, more than my
MTQW at the death of a relative or my feeling of hunger 1 It is,
because the former class of sensations or sensile perceptions are
* Critique of Pure Beason, p. 30.
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112 Principles of Being.
determiued by the form of ijpace. In my aforesaid sensations of
redy mceet smell, stickiness, I instinctively localize them, project
them outside me, and, in many instances, give them shape ; as, e,g.
when I experience the setise of seeing and touching a surface. But
the mere sensations themselves cannot supply the concept of space;
for, considered in themselves, they are nothing but modifications
of myself. Therefore, the form of space is impressed by the under-
standing, in its act of sensuous intuition, on phenomena which for
that reason are called external. Thus, then, space is a subjective
determination of the external sense ; but it does not affect the
internal. No one locates in space or gives shape or position to
a thought, a wish, a sorrow.
Two forms, then, have been discovered, which the understanding
imposes on sensile perceptions, viz. the forms of time and space.
To sum up in the words of Kant : ' Time is the formal condition
h priori of all phaenomena whatsoever. Space, as the pure form of
external intuition, is limited as a condition h priori to external
phaenomena alone. On the other hand, because all representations,
whether they have or have not external things for their objects,
still in themselves, as determinations of the mind, belong to our
internal state ; and because this internal state is subject to the
formal condition of the internal intuition, that is, to time, — time
is a condition a priori of all phaenomena whatsoever, — the immediate
condition of all internal, and thereby the mediate condition of all
external phaenomena. If I can say a priori, " all outward phae-
nomena are in space, and determined h priori according to the
relations of space,'' I can also, from the principle of the internal
sense, affirm universally, " all phaenomena in general, that is, all,
objects of the senses, are in time, and stand necessarily in relations
of time^.'" These forms, then, are h priori to all experience,—
necessary laws imposed by the understanding on sensile perception.
They are, therefore, (to repeat) purely subjective; and are in no
wise derived from the possible, though unknown, object or cause
of sensation. They condition the phenomena of sense, as two
mental moulds in which sensile perceptions are necessarily cast,
after the manner that Kunt has just explained. Furthermore:
They produce in the phenomena of sense the primordial elements
of order, relation, union, — order of simultaneousness, succession, —
* Criii^e of Pure Reason, pp. 30, 31.
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Synthetical a priori Judgments. 113
order of contiguity, nearness, distance, configuration, whence dis-
tinctness together with a crude mutual referribility. There is one
important element in this theory still wanting. Whence have these
forms arisen ? How can it be demonstrated, — in opposition to the
doctrine of the School, — that these concepts are not re))resentative
of an objective reality and derived from the real objects of sensile
perception, that they are it priori forms of the mind ? Kant has
attempted no answer to these questions.
One other point remains to be settled, before proceeding a step
further in our analysis. By what process is it that passing sensa-
tions can acquire a sort of subjective permanence ? In other words^
when a sensation is once dead and gone, how is it resuscitated?
Evidently, something of the sort is required ; otherwise, it would
be impossible to determine sensations according to order of succes-
sion, or to compare them. Moreover, their collective presentment
before the understanding is requisite for the synthesis of experience;
tliat is, in order to be able to draw inductions from a successive
series of sensile phenomena. This requirement is satisfied by the
reproductive imagination ; which, as being the memory of the
senses, has the power of recalling at will sensations that are past
and gone.
As yet, — to resume our analysis, — there is no room for the possi-
bility of formal truth or of falsity and error. Neither is there
room for knowledge of the simplest kind. It will be granted, that
the sensations of red^ sweet smell, &c. are materially true ; for there
is no doubting the fact that the sensation of red is a sensation of red.
But formal truth is limited to a Judgment, and a Judgment pre-
supposes a subject and predicate, — i.e. two terms which, though
distinct^ have a mutual order, connection, referribility. Such a
postulate cannot be satisfied in the instance of simple, isolated
sensations. The intuitions of sense are conditioned^ indeed, by
time and, if of the external sense, by space; but as yet they are
' subject to no order of collection or principle of combination. They
are so many separate events in time or^ if so be^ phenomena in
space with figure and position. They are localized ; but they are
isolated^ purely manifold. To pursue the old illustration : — ^The
redy sweet smell, pricking pain, stickiness offeel, are, say, now pre-
sent,— outside of me, close to me, — contiguous, if you will, to each
other; but the red is red by itself, the sweet smell is sweet smell
by itself, the pricking pain is a pricking pain by itself, the stickiness
VOL. n. I
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1 14 Pruuiples of Being.
is a stickiness by itself. They have nothing in common with each
other, but present themselves as so many independent modifications
But, somehow or other, my understanding judges that ihii red^
this sweet smelling, this prickly, this sticky, is a moss^ose. Here
there is a gigantic leap. The sensations are referred to an object
of which they are the supposed index. They are grouped together,
united in one^ by conceived relation to a thing that they are, in
some way or other, supposed to reveal. A synthesis of the manifold
of sense has been effected. The thing becomes subject of a Judgment,
in which the several sensile phenomena serve for predicate. Thus
groups of sensations are gathered round their respective common
centres, — each group is discerned from the rest, — and the sensations
that constitute a group exhibit mutual connection and union.
Those groups, again^ may be reduced by further synthesis to a
higher unity, by the conceived mutual relation, or referribility, of
one group to another ; and in this way the understanding provides
itself with universals. Thus experience and, by experience, know-
ledge are possible.
Now, the vital question awaits solution : How is this synthesis
effected? According to the philosopher of whose doctrine the
analysis is now attempted, it cannot be derived from the percep-
tions of sense. For, first of aU, they have no exordial principle of
union in themselves ; and, in the second place, either they have no
real object or, if there be such an object, they are not representa-
tive of it. Wherefore, so far as the human mind is concerned, they
are mere subjective modifications. Neither can it be derived ij»M-
teriori from experience ; not only because experience presupposes the
synthesis^ but likewise because experience could never give to
Judgments of its creation universality and necessity. On the
other hand, it cannot be founded in the object ; for of the object,
(if there really be one), as it is in itself, we know, and can know,
absolutely nothing. It remains, therefore, that this synthesis
should be a creation of the understanding, and that it should be
effected — ^for reasons sufficiently evident from the previous analysis
-^i time and space — under the guidance of a priori forms, or
concepts that are prior to all experience. Such forms, according
to Kant, are the twelve Categobies, (a name most unhappily
borrowed from the Aristotelian philosophy), which he has
tabulated, as follows, ^hey are derived from the ordinary
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Syntheticlil a priori judgments.
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logical division of Judgments ; may it not be said, all but tran-
scribed?
Quantity ^,
XTnlvenMl.
Partioular.
Binsular.
i. Un^y.
ii. Plu/ralUy.
Quality.
iii. ToUdity.
Negative.
Infinite «.
iv. RealUy.
V. Negation.
vi. Limitation,
Relation.
Oategorieal. Hypothetioal.
Til Of Inherence and Subsistence. viii. OfCaiLsality and Dependence.
Diffjunctive.
ix. Of Convimjmity.
Impossible.
( Possibility.
' \ ImpossHnlity.
Modality.
Contingent.
. ( Existence.
' I Non- Existence.
Xll.
Keoessary.
{Necessity.
Coniingence.
These forms or conceptions again^ like those of time and space,
are purely subjective. They are signets of the understanding,
which this latter impresses on the perceptions of sense, as upon
wax, in order to shape and mould them for the purpose of cognition.
It is by means of them alone that the understanding can render
the manifold of sensile phenomena conceivable, — can, in other
words, think an object of Kantian intuition. As these forms are
innate in the understanding and a priori to all experience or sensile
perception, they become the parents of a universality and necessity
which satisfy the exigencies of human knowledge, and afford a
sufficient basis for the certainty of science.
In order to complete the summary of this the most important
element in Kant's theory, let thus much be subjoined. These
so-called Categories, — these primary forms, or concepts, or de-
termining Principles, of the understanding, — are universals of the
* In thii Table the Oategoriee of Kant are numbered, and distinguiBhed by italics.
' See Logic ; the nomen infinUum and particula %f^Uan%.
I a
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ii6 Principles of Beijig.
widest periphery. Consequently, they seem to require determina-
tion by something intermediary, in order that they may be proxi-
mately capable of application to the perceptions of sense. Such
are the Schemata^ as Kant denominates them ; which are, as it
were, subsumptions under the Categories, drawn by the imagina-
tion according to the sensile form of time. *It is quite clear,'
remarks Kant, 'that there must be some third thing' (other, i.e.
than the Categories on the one hand and the sensile perceptions on
the other, which are quite heterogeneous), * which on the one side
is homogeneous with the category, and with the phaenomenon on
the other, and so makes the application of the former to the latter
possible. This mediating representation must be pure (without
any empirical content), and yet must on the one side be iutelleclual,
on the other sensuout. Such a representation is the transcendental
schema, . . . An application of the category to phaenomena becomes
possible by means of the transcendental determination of time,
which, as the schema of the conceptions of the understandings
mediates the subsumption of the latter under the former. . . . The
Schema is, in itself, always a mere product of the imagination ^ ; '
which, as Kant tells us, is ' the faculty of representing an object
eyen without its presence in intuition ^.' It seems to hold the same
place in the Kantian system, that in the Peripatetic philosophy is
assigned to the faculties of generalization and abstraction ; or, as
Professor Caird puts it, ' It is, in short, a faculty of determining
sense h jmori according to the categories ^.' This, however, must
be understood of what is called, in Kantian phraseology, the jMro-
dtictive, not the reproductive imagination.
In order to render this important element in the Kantian theory
more intelligible to the reader, an example of one of these Schemata
shall be given.
There is a simple manifold^ as we have seen, of the internal
sense and, in consequence, of all empirical representations. How
is it possible to reduce this empiric manifold under the Category of
unity y which only synthesizes the manifold in general ? A mediator,
so to speak, is wanted between the two, which shall be homo-
geneous with both terms ; and it is found in the Schema or sub-
sumption of time. For time is homogeneous with the Category,
inasmuch as it is an a priari universal ; and it is homogeneous with
» Critique of Pure Reason, pp. 107-109, E. T, * Ibidem, p. 93, E. T.
' CairdTs Philosophy of Kant, PaH II, Ch. VIII, p. 361.
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Synthetical a priori judgments, 117
the empirical representations, forasmuch as time is contained in
every empirical representation of the manifold. * Thus an appli-
cation of the category to phaenomena becomes possible, by means
of the transcendental determination of time, which, as the schema
of the conceptions of the understandings mediates ' (acts as medium
for) ' the subsumption of the latter under the former ^.'
Here a question naturally suggests itself, which brings the
Kantian theory face to face with the doctrine of the School touch-
ing demonstration and the value of science properly so called,
while introducing us directly to the subject of the present Chapter.
According to the philosopher of Konigsberg, the Categories, (or
a priori conceptions of the understanding), like the aesthetic forms
of time and space, only cover the ground of possible experience, i.e.
of the cognitions of sensible perception. Here their value begins
and ends. They have no cogency in the case of supposed noumena^
i. e. of the cognition of things as they are in themselves. ^ But,
after all,' says Kant, 'the possibility of such noumena is quite
incomprehensible, and beyond the sphere of phaenomena, all is for
lis a mere void^.' 'The understanding is competent to effect
nothing h priori^ except the anticipation of the form of a pos-
sible experience in general, and, as that which is not phaenomenon
cannot be an object of experience, it can never overstep the limits
of sensibility^ within which alone objects are presented to us ^.'
Hence it follows that all hjnriori demonstration, as understood by
the School, is a useless piece of child's play. Further : According
to Eant^ mere analysis of concepts adds nothing to knowledge ;
it can only impart greater clearness and distinctness to cognition.
There can be no increase of knowledge, consequently no progress
of science, save by synthesis. It is by the synthetical process
that the manifold of sense is united under the Categories by means
of the Schemata^ and perfected in the permanent unity of apper-
ception (i.e. of the direct consciousness). Hence arises a difficulty
of no little moment. If all knowledge be the result of synthesis,
and if (as had been heretofore imagined) synthetical Judgments
are essentially particular and contingent, it seems to follow that
there can be neither necessity nor universality of cognition, —
therefore, no science, — and no certainty beyond that physical cer-
tainty which belongs to the sphere of facts. In such case, it could
^ Critique of Pure Season, B. II, Ch. /, p. io8, E. T.
^ Ibidem, p. 187. ' Ibuhm,p. 183.
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ii8 Principles of Being.
not be that anything like physical law should be discoverable by
as; because physical law not only determines past and present
phenomena, but likewise conditions the future, (that which ELant
calls possible experience). Kant admits that, in analytical Judg-
ments, universality and necessity are essential properties, because
such Judgments are based on the supreme logical principles of
identity and contradiction. But, as he confesses, 'in synthetical
Judgments, I must go beyond the given conception, in order to
cogitate, in relation with it, something quite different from that
which was cogitated in it, a relation which is consequently never
. one either of identity or contradiction, and by means of which the
truth or error of the judgment cannot be discerned merely from
the judgment itself^.' How^ then^ is it possible that the synthesis
should surpass the limits of actual emperience, so as to generate
necessity and universality, under any shape? Kant meets the
di£5culty by introducing his synthetical ^ priori Judgments,
Wherefore, his answer to it is, that the objection holds good as
touching synthetical a posteriori Judgments, but is nerveless before
such as are h priori. If one is tempted by a pardonable curiosity
to inquire, how a synthetical Judgment can be i priori, Kant replies
that the elements of the synthesis are h priori and, therefore, the
synthesis itself. This he explains. Three elements, he urges, are
necessary and sufficient for a Judgment of this nature ; to wit,
a category of the understanding, the synthesis of sensile percep-
tions under the form of time, (the form of the internal sense), and
thirdly, the unity of apperception. (This last might as well have
been omitted^ since direct consciousness accompanies every psychical
act and, consequently, every Judgment of the mind, as well par-
ticular and contingent as universal and necessary.) But the three
aforesaid elements are i priori; therefore, as it apparently seems
to be inferred, the nexus as expressed in the logical copula. Should
it be further objected, that the above declaration or argument
(whatever weight it may be supposed to have in proving the
abstract possibility of such Judgments) does not touch their ob-
jective validity; Kant has his answer ready. Their objective
validity (according to his special meaning of the word objective
in this connection) depends upon tAe possibility of experience. This
proposition he endeavours to prove in such wise. To the possi-
* Critifjue of Pare ScaaoUf p. 117.
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Synthetical a priori yudgments. 119
bilitj of human knowledge it is necessary that the phenomena of
sense should be synthetically united in relation to conceptions of
their object in general. Without this they would be mere batches
of unconnected sensations, void of all order; and experience would
be impossible. 'Experience has therefore for a foundation, h priori
principles of its form, that is to say, general rules of unity in the
synthesis of phaenomena, the objective reality of which rules, as ne-
cessary conditions — even of the possibility of experience — can always
be shown in experience. But apart from this relation, h priori
synthetical propositions are absolutely impossible, because they
have no third term, ths^t is, no pure object, in which the synthetical
unity can exhibit the objective reality of its conceptions^.' The
meaning of Kant would seem to be this. If there were no Kantian
Categories, — no a priori forms of the understanding, — it would be
impossible to refer the manifold phenomena of sense, even though
understood as united in perception according to the sensile forms
of time and space, to a common conception or cognition, wherein
they may be thought as objectively one. The very possibility of
experience, therefore, presupposes the Categories, their intermediary
8ckemaia^ and an admitted synthesis between these and the pheno-
mena of sense.
The doctrine here exposed lies at the root of Kant's peculiar
system of ideology. For, according to him, there is no cognition,
which is effective of science, apart from possible experience. Ana-
lytical Judgments have a logical value ; but count for nothing in
the progress of knowledge. Hence, all science must be based on
synthetical h priori Judgments. 'We cannot think any object,'
says Kant, 'except by means of the categories ; we. cannot cognize
any thought except by means of intuitions corresponding to these
conceptions. Now all our intuitions are sensuous, and our cognition,
in so &r as the object of it is given^ is empirical. But empirical
C(^^tion is experience ; consequently no h priori cognition is possible
for us, except of objects of possible experience * ;' that is to say, of
objects of sensuous intuitions as cognized by the understanding.
Consequently, the progress and certainty of human knowledge
absolutely depend, according to Kant, on these synthetical h priori
Judgments. Eliminate them, — destroy their pretension to be pos-
sible forms of thought ; — Kant*s critique leaves the scepticism of
Hume untouched.
* Critique of Pure Beason^ pp. 1 18, 1 19. ' Ibidem^ p. loi.
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120 Principles of Being.
There is one note that it is but just we should subjoin to the above
analysis. It must not be imagined, because Kaht has considered
these elements of cognition apart, (as the nature of his inquiry
demanded)^ that he accounts them to be practically separable.
* Without the sensuous faculty,' he reminds us, ' no object would
be given to us, and without the understanding no object would be
thought. Thoughts without content are void ; intuitions without
conceptions^ blind ^' After a somewhat similar manner, the trans-
cendental unity of apperception is necessary to the synthesis of
experience; but the consciousness of self is only possible in and
through the synthesis of the manifold by the understanding, i.e.
in cognition of experience.
Here the analysis closes. The writer has taken pains^ amid the
many difficulties to which allusion has been already made, to give
an accurate summary of the Kantian theory. If he should have
failed in conveying the author's mind on this or the other pointy he
can say at least that the mistake is not intentional. It now only
remains, before entering upon the promised discussion touching the
aforesaid synthetical a priori Judgments, that an assay be made to
determine the value of the theory in question.
One cannot but see that the Critique of Kant utterly fails to
bridge over the chasm which previous scepticism had made between
the subjective and the objective, — between thought and reality, —
between human intelligence and that external world whose objective
existence is assured to us by the general voice of mankind in all
ages, by the safe instincts of common sense, and by that cogent
argument of a practical necessity, which scatters to the winds all
mere dreams of the study however geometrical in construction.
The seeming objectivity, which is from time to time paraded before
us, is an objectivity of mere intellectual creation, — nothing else than
a subjective objectivity, such as the mind constructs for itself in
every psychologically reflex idea, wherein a prior concept, as con-
cept, or some other psychical act, becomes the object of mental con-
ception. The Critique, therefore, attempts to solve the critically
insoluble problem, by ignoring, or rather effacing, one of the two
essential terms, — banishing into the unknown the true object of
human thought, — ^and substituting, in its place, an ingenious com-
bination of psychical phenomena that have no meaning beyond the
* Critique of Pure Eeason, p. 46.
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Synlfietical a priori Judgmefits. 1 2 1
sphere of the Ego, Out of such elements it is impossible to extract
aDjthing beyond a subjective certainty and evidence. But a purely
subjective evidence and certainty are arbitrary and, as a consequence,
no true evidence or certainty at all. It may, indeed, be urged in
opposition to the above conclusion, that we are in quest of a solid
foundation for the certainty of human knowledge, for the purpose of
removing all sceptical impediments to its progress. The problem is
necessarily a subjective one. It does not make account of possible
beings whose intellectual acts, unlike those of man, are intuitive.
The perceptions of sense are intuitive ; but then, they are not repre-
sentative. Hence, if there be a universe, visible and invisible, out-
side ourselves ; man has no faculty which can put him en rapport
unth it. We must take human nature as we find it ; and to it such
a universe must remain an unknown and unknowable country.
This once granted, it may nevertheless still remain within our power
to discover a legitimate foundation for subjective certainty, and so
to secure the only knowledge that is possible to man. To this plea
let the following be said by way of answer. Impediments to
knowledge created by one form of scepticism cannot be removed by
scepticism under another guise. Again : It is true that the problem
is immediately subjective ; because certainty is immediately subjec-
tive. But it is, nevertheless, though mediately yet primarily
objective; because subjective certainty, if genuine, results from
evidence which is immediately objective. Furthermore, we deny
that sensile perception is intuitive, and we confidently affirm that
the understanding is intuitive ; while it must be added that the
motives by which Kant would persuade us to the contrary are
unequal to the weight which he has laid upon their shoulders. It
naturally follows that a categorical denial must be given to the
assumption that the universe, as well visible as invisible, must
remain unknown and unknowable to human thought. But sup-
pose, for the sake of argument, that all these Kantian postulates are
true, — ^assume, for the moment, that the picture given of our mental
poverty is a faithful one ; it still remains to be seen whether the
subjective certainty, which Kant professes to establish, rests upon a
surer and more logical basis than that which had been already pro-
vided by the dogmatic philosophy, as they term it. Without
attempting an elaborate comparison of the two, which would be out
of place, it may be allowed to propose the following questions :
Does Kant demonstratively prove his theory as to subjective
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122 Principles of Being,
certainty ? Is it clear of all hypothesis and assumption ? Does it go
straight from axioms, or self-evident truths, to conclusion ? In
order to arrive at a satisfactory answer, it will be necessary to return
on our path.
The fact is beyond all doubt that, according to Kant, nothing
truly objective is revealed by either the external sense or by the
reflex consciousness, (which he terms the internal sense). Equally
in both cases, there are certain subjective modifications which are
representative of nothing. These modifications are pure appear-
ances,— phenomena. They appear themselves; but they do not
make to appear {^l^aCvovT^s:). In themselves, therefore, they are
isolated feelings, or sensile affections^ or psychical modifications,
without a meaning. Yet, out of these unpromising materials all
human knowledge is constructed; while a frontier is established,
beyond which the human mind can obtain no passport.
True, it may be replied ; but in this respect the Kantian system
fares no worse than that of the School. For this latter teaches that
sensile impressions are only subjective modifications which do not
reveal the natures of things. Both systems teach in common, that
it is the intellect which transforms these sensile perceptions into
concepts or cognitions. For answer, it must be denied that the
philosophy of the School holds sensile impressions to be merely, or
exclusively, subjective modifications ; for it maintains that they are
in one way or other representative of certain accidents of bodies,
although not of their essential nature. Then, again, it does not
teach that sensile impressions are the object of the understanding;
but only the medium by means of which the bodily substance or
nature (the mind's real object) is made present to that Caculty.
The understanding intues the nature. Lastly, as to the internal
sense, though the soul is only revealed to its own reflex consciousness
in and by its acts, (because nothing is cognizable save so far forth
as it is in act); yet those acts are spiritual and vital and, by virtue
of their immediate presence to thought, are eminently representative
of their subject. Setting aside^ however, these differences, it may
be granted that in both these systems sensile perceptions are eome-
horo or other transformed by the intellect; but how? Let the
question be restricted to Kant's system. How then does this philo-
sopher explain the action of the intellect on sensile impressions?
First of all, as imagination, it subjects them to certain h priori
forms, — to wit, those of time and space, — which are purely sub-
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Synthetical a priori yudgments. 123
J€ctive. Therefore, they are eoncept« of the mind purely indigenous.
Therefore, we have innate ideas. What proof is there of this?
Furthermore : Whence came they ? on what foundation of evidence
do they rest? who or what is their author? All is hidden in
darkness ; — one of nature's mysteries. They may, then, for all we
know, be mere arbitrary creations of the imagination ; if so, what
becomes of that legitimate certainty by which alone human know-
ledge becomes possible ? But they impose their own necessity on
thought. Well, and what of that, if they cauaeleisly necessitate ?
And do they really necessitate 'thought in any way equal to the
necessity, which sensile perception imposes on the understanding, of
referring the phenomena of sense to real, external, bodily objects ?
Besides, can any one, however simple, be persuaded without suffi-
cient demonstration, that time and space have no real root in the
things that are external to us ?
To resume : — So far, there is no transformation. But now the
understanding intervenes with its supposed Categories and Schemata^
by means of which sensile phenomena are synthesized into unity of
cognition. But are these Categories representative in any way of
objective reality ? No ; Kant is careful to remind us that they are
nothing of the sort. They are pure h priori concepts of the mind.
Nay, so anxious is the German philosopher to impress upon us
the assumed fact of their unreality, that he calls them forms and
conditions, as though void of all content. They are, therefore,
wholly subjective ; and cannot elevate sensile perception into repre-
sentative conjunction with something real that is not itself. Is it,
then, possible that the Schemata may be able to supply the defi-
ciency ? Certainly not ; because these are merely determinations
of the Categories according to the subjective form of the internal
sense; and two subjectives cannot constitute an objective. The
whole genesis of our concepts, therefore, from first to last, is the
mere play of our subjectivity. But, it may be objected : This is pre-
cisely the point on which Kant insists. He is, in effect, the father
of German idealism. And his principal object is, by his criticism,
to circumscribe human' knowledge within its just limits. True :
And those limits are so remarkably narrow, that they painfully
remind one of the old torture of the scavenger's daughter. But how
does his theory save us from the scepticism of Hume ? How can
more weight be reasonably attributed to these so-called cognitions
engendered by the aforesaid empty forms, than to the analytical
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1 24 Principles of Being,
Judgments of the pure understandings which Kant agrees with
Hume in denouncing as useless to the advancement of human know-
ledge ? And if these Judgments are to be set aside as comparatively
worthless, what are we to say to the Categories with their Sche-
mata ? But these latt-er rescue the perceptions of sense from their
blindness. Be it so ; but when they have gained eyesight, what do
they see ? And the sensile perceptions remove the void from the
Categories, we are told ; but what content do they supply ? The
Categories are subjective modifications ; and their void is filled with
other subjective modifications, — to wit, the phenomena of sense. In
such elements can a sufficient foundation be discovered for the cer-
tainty of human knowledge? But we are again told, as in the
instance of the sensile forms of time and space, that these Cate-
gories impose a necessity on human thought ; so that without them
nothing is even thinkable. Such necessity is revealed to us by
experience. Therefore, we are compelled to invest them with a sort
of objectivity. But the fact of this compulsion is purely pheno-
menal ; therefore, the objectivity is exclusively subjective. Again :
This necessity is a fact of experience ; and, as being such, must have
been determined by the Category of Necessity. But the Category
cannot be revealed in its objective value by that on "which it imposes
its own impress ; for this is to make the son generate his father.
Then we naturally proceed to inquire into the genealogy of this
Category, as of the others ; and we are told that it is wrapt up in
impenetrable mystery. But we are bound to accept the Categories
and their necessity as a fact. Yes, as a fact, i.e. as concepts whose
objective evidence is immediate and metaphysical and whose latent
principles are self-evident analytical Judgments ; but not as a blind
autocracy that can ofier no reason for its claims. What certitude,
— even if the problem be limited (as in the given hypothesis it
must be) to subjective certitude, that is to say, to the certitude of
the thought as distinguished from that of the thing, or object,
thought of, — can with any show of prudence be assigned to certain
forms of thought whose very existence is an impenetrable mystery ?
Lastly, the necessity of these forms of thought, — nay, the very
forms themselves, — can only have at the most a personal, or indi-
vidual value ; i.e. they can never transcend individual experience
according to the Kantian system. In vain would you attempt to
elevate them to the rank of universal and invariable conditions, or
laws, of human thought. For to this end it must be certainly
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Synthetical a priori yudgments, 125
ascertained that the said conditions regulate, not our own individual
concepts only, but those of mankind in general. Yet, how is this
possible, if our sensile perceptions are not representative; seeing
that) through the medium of these alone, can we become acquainted
with the experience and conviction of other men ? If my eyes in
reading and my ears in hearing are representative of nothing exter-
nal to myself^ I am shut out from every possible means of ascer-
taining whether these forms and their necessity extend to others
besides myself; if there be any others, about which I can have no
certain knowledge. Wherefore, my knowledge, such as it is, will
be mine only ; not participable by another. For how can I even
niake an endeavour to communicate what I know to my fellow, (if
such there be), except by awakening in him (if I can) unrepresen-
tative sensations ? And is this, affcer all, the promised escape from
the scepticism of Hume ?
It remains that we should determine the value of those synthetical
a priori Judgments which constitute the basis of the Kantian
system. Wherefore,
PROPOSITION CXXVII.
Synthetical d, priori Judgments are impossible.
I. The human mind is unable* to form a certain Judgment in
the absence of any whatsoever motive of assent. But, in these
8]rnthetical ^ priori Judgments^ the human mind is supposed to
form a certain Judgment, (i.e. to judge with ceiiainty), in the
absence of any whatsoever motive of assent. Therefore, synthetical
apriori Judgments are impossible.
The Major stands in no need of elaborate proof. The common
sense of mankind intuitively perceives and individual experience
strengthens the conviction that, whenever the understanding syn-
thesizes (in an affirmative), or separates (in a negative Judgment),
subject and predicate, its judicial act is motived. That the common
sense of mankind bears witness to the truth of the above assertion,
is sufficiently illustrated by the way in which men generally meet
a categorical proposition let drop in conversation, when they do
not see their way to accept it. Such expressions as, ITAat is your
reason Jor asserting that ? — But why^ 1 should like to hnmo ? — / can-
not accept that without proofs — On what authority do you make that
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126 Principles of Being.
statement ? — and others similar to these, plainly enough imply that,
in the opinion of mankind, there can be no true and certain
Judgment where there is no adequate accompanying motive.
That each man's individual experience confirms the same truth,
cannot be honestly called in question. For why is it that about
so many questions we doubt or opine, and cannot bring ourselves
to pronounce a decided Judgment? Is it not, that either no
motives for assent are present to the mind or the motives on
either side seem to us of equal weight, and then we doubt ; or that,
though motives appear to preponderate on one side, nevertheless
there are motives of such gravity on Uie other as to exclude cer-
tainty and to justify us only in forming a more or less probable
opinion? Why, moreover, is it that philosophers labour with
painful thought to reduce scientific conclusions to first principles
whose motive is their own immediate evidence ; if it be not that
the human mind cannot rest satisfied with any Judgment, unless
the motives are projected in clearest certitude and necessary im-
mediate relation ?
The Minor requires more elaborate treatment. According to the
received teaching of the School, (which has been more or less
indorsed by all sane philosophies), the universal ultimate motive
of every purely natural Judgment, — ^unless it be a mere pre-
judice and therefore unworthy of notice, — is its evidence, real
or supposed. Now, there are three, and three only, kinds of
evidence, as has been shown at length in an earlier Chapter of the
present Book. For evidence is either metaphysical, physical, or
moral. The first is the evidence of immutable essence. The
second is the evidence of fact or experience. The last is the
evidence of testimony or authority. The last two may be at once
eliminated from the present discussion. For, as Kant himself is
free to admit, the evidence of fact (in other words, experimental
evidence) can never, at least by any virtue of its own, attain to
that universality and necessity which the Judgments in question
suppose, and which all science that is worthy of the name postu-
lates. As for moral evidence, it is extrinsic and generates human
faith indeed, but not scientific knowledge.' Add to this, that neither
of these last-mentioned species of evidence could motive an h priori
Judgment. It is a contradiction in terms. It remains, then, to
be seen whether these synthetical h priori Judgments can lay
claim to anything like metaphysical evidence. But this is im-
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Synthetical a priori yudg77ients. 127
possible. For what is metaphysical evidence ? It is the evidence
which accompanies the essential constitution of Being. Accord-
ingly, the predicate of the Judgment which it motives is of the
essence of the subject, and is discoverable by analysis in the nature
of that subject. But a Judgment of this kind is analytical. It is
for this reason that analytical Judgments are somewhat inaccu-
rately declared by some to repose for their logical validity, in so
iar as they are affirmative^ on the Principle of identity ; in that
the object of both subject and predicate is essentially identical.
But these Judgments of Kant are professedly synthetical. To
throw this tu-gument into another and briefer form : If the said
synthetical h. priori Judgments have any motive of assent, that
motive must be either metaphysical or physical evidence, because
evidence is the ultimate motive, or reason, of every Judgment.
Bat they cannot lay claim to metaphysical evidence^ because they
are synthetical ; and they cannot lay claim to physical evidence,
because they are h priori.
Again : Kant acknowledges that the presence of his Categories
and, therefore, of the Schemata^ in the human mind, and their
absolute rule over thought are a mystery. No reasonable account
can be rendered of the one or the other. Yet these are the sole
agents, so to speak, of the synthesis in question. But evidently
this is tantamount to a confession that his synthetical h priori
Judgments do not rest on any intelligible motive.
II. Those synthetical Judgments are impossible, (at least so far
as the certainty and progress of human knowledge are concerned),
whose synthesis involves either absurdity or contradiction and,
if not absurd or contradictory, has no representative value. But
sach are the synthetical h priori Judgments of Kant.
There would seem to be no need of any declaration of the Major ^
save as regards the last clause; because it is manifest that no
Judgment which involves contradiction or absurdity is logically
admissible as a sure basis of human knowledge. But it does not so
clearly appear why a mental Judgment, whose synthesis has no repre-
sentative value, should be impossible. Nor, indeed, could such a
proposition be maintained ; for it would render impossible the
most important of the pure forms of thought as given in logic.
It is for this reason, and as special^ applicable to this clause, that
those words have been added to the Major^ viz. at least so far as the
certainty and progress of human knowledge are concerned. It might
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128 Principles of Being,
otherwise be expressed, that these Judgments, as unrepresentative,
are practically impossible.
The ilinoTy — in which it is affirmed that the said Judgments of
Kant are such, i.e. are JudgmentB whose synthesis involves either
absurdity or contradiction and^ if not so^ has no representative value, —
needs declaration and proof. In these synthetical k priori Judg-
ments, then, the synthesis of predicate and subject must rely
either on facts of experience, on purely mental action, or on arbi-
trary chance ; for it is needless and almost unseemly to introduce
into a question of purely rational philosophy the hypothesis of an
immediate Divine intervention in the creation within us of such
Judgments. Now, to attribute the judicial synthesis to arbitrary-
chance is an absurdity. To attribute the synthesis in a priori
Judgments to experience is a contradiction. But what about the
second hypothesis, to wit, that the synthesis relies on purely mental
action ? It has been already shown, that a mental synthesis without
a motive (that is to say, a judicial synthesis) is impossible. But
let that pass. Mental laws and mental action can lend no evidence
to the object; and it is for this reason that Kant has denied to
analytical Judgments their place in the advancement of human
knowledge. But the judicial synthesis is an intentional (as logi-
cians term it) reflex of the object ; otherwise, it is nothing. For, if
the universality and necessity which such Judgments exhibit are
born only of the mind, they can only at the most illustrate the subject,
but not the object ; except so far forth as the object is identified,
ex parte rei, with the subject. Wherefore, so far as science is con-
cerned, (and by science is meant the certain cognition of things^ i. e.
of the objects, by their causes), they are entirely useless and, there-
fore, practically impossible. Again : According to Kant, (as we have
already seen), the psychical facts of consciousness are empirical
equally with the facts of sensation ; and cannot, consequently,
mount to the universality and necessity of a priori truths. But
these Categories with their Schemata are psychical facts. Hence,
they are contingent and particular cognitions. But how can par-
ticular and contingent cognitions communicate universality and
necessity tb their subordinates ? Nemo potest supra seipsum is a law
which, in the natural order, admits of no exception. Neither can
it be urged, that these forms exist in the mind antecedently to any
intellectual act. For it is plain that if reality^ for instance, causality ^
existence^ impossibility (Categories of Kant), are in the mind and
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Synthetical a priori judgments. 129
rule its action, they must be there under the form of concepts, since
there is no other form possible under which they could be present.
Nor does it matter whether their precedency in the intellect be a pre-
cedency of time or of nature only. In either case the difficulty
remains. But it may be objected against this last argument with
fairer show of truth, that it is plainly sophistical ; since it confounds
together the psychological and ideological orders. A concept con-
sidered psychologically, (that is to say, as it is a something in — ^a
modification of — ^the soul), is contingent and sii]^^ar ; whereas,
considered ideologically, it may be necessary at once and universal,
forasmuch as it is representative of that which is both. This is most
true. It is not open to question, that a human concept is entitatively
contingent and singular ; because it is my thought and mine only, and
because it once was not, now is, and afterwards may cease to be. Yet
it may be representatively necessary and universal ; because the ob-
jective reality it represents is a necessary and universal truth. But
the Kantian system of ideology can claim the advantage of no such
distinction. For in it cognition is only representative of itself.
The sensile perceptions are not representative in the only true
sense of the word. The Categories and their Schemata are con-
fessedly not representative. The forms of time and space are not
representative. Where, then, within the limits of a cognition can
any such representative force be discovered, that could justify the
distinction in its case between the psychological and ideological
orders ? In a Kantian concept the entity and object are practically
one and cannot, therefore, tolerate mutually opposite attributes.
III. It is contrary to the nature of the human intellect that it
should act blindly; for it is to the soul that which the eye is to the
body. It is contemplative of abstract objective truth, as the eye
is contemplative of the objects of sense. But these synthetical
a priori Judgments are blind acts ; seeing that no object is dis-
cernible either by previous analysis, or by conclusion of demon-
stration, or by fects of experience. If, therefore, we admit the
possibility of such Judgments, we must also admit that the intellect
naturally forms Judgments which are in contradiction to its own
essential nature.
rV. Kant maintains that, when the mind pronounces within
itself these synthetical ^ priori Judgments, it also at the same
time affirms their absolute necessity. But mental affirmation is
»]uivalent to intuition. Tiierefore, mentally to ajirm the necessity
VOL. II. K
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130 Prifuiples of Being,
of these Judgments, is to see their necessity. But all Judgments
wherein the mind perceives, or intues, the necessary connection,
—or rather, the necessity of connection^ — between subject and pre-
dicate, are analytical.
DIFFICULTIES.
I. * Everything that happens has a cause^ is evidently a synthetical
Judgment; yet it is a priori to all experience. It is synthetical,
because ' In the conception of something that happens, I indeed think
an existence which a certain time antecedes, and from this I can
derive analytical judgments. But the conception of a cause lies
quite out of the above conception, and indicates something entirely
different irom "that which happens," and is consequently not
contained in that conception. How then am I able to assert
concerning the general conception — " that which happens " — some-
thing entirely different from that conception^ and to recognize the
conception of cause although not contained in it, yet as belonging
to it, and even necessarily? what is here the unknown =X^ upon
which the understanding rests when it believes it has found, out
of the conception A a foreign predicate B, which it nevertheless
considers to be connected with it ? It cannot be experience, because
the principle adduced annexes the two representations, cause and
effect, to the representation existence, not only with universality,
which experience cannot give^ but also with the expression of
necessity, therefore completely h priori and from pure con-
ceptions*.'
Answer. It would be superfluous to give an elaborate answer
to this difficulty, since in the cxix*** Proposition, (which finds
its place in the third Chapter of the present Book), it has been
demonstrated that the principle of causality is analytical. What
purpose, therefore, could it serve to accumulate arguments for
the purpose of disproving the claim to its being considered a
synthetical Judgment? Nevertheless, these passages quoted from
Kant must not be dismissed without certain animadversions.
i. Tho enunciation of the Principle of causality in the CrUique,
* Everything tJiut happens has a cause,^ is slovenly, if not inaccurate.
* KanVi Critique of Pure Reason; Tntrodmtioni pp. 8, 9. The references are invari-
ably to Meiklejohn*8 trannlation.
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Synthetical a priori ytidgments, 131
Happens, more than suggests the idea of chance or of a result
the cause of which is unknown. As commonly understood, the
Principle is adequately expressed in the words of the cxix**
Proposition, — ^Inceptive Being necessarily supposes, or includes essen-
tially in iis concept the idea of^ its efficient caused
ii. Kant is free to acknowledge that in the conception of some-
thbg that happens, (let us substitute for this slipshod expression,
Inceptive Being), is included the concept of an existence' which a
certain time antedates. Therefore, he allows that the idea of a
prior existence, — prior in order of time, — is essentially included in
the idea of inceptive Being. Consequently, the Judgment, that
ike concept of inceptive Being necessarily includes the concept of a prior
Existent distifict from the inceptive Being, is analytical. But it has
been shown that this proposition, when carefully analyzed, resolves
itself into the Principle of causality. It will not be amiss to
quote here the words of Balmez, who urges the above conclusion
with his usual vigour. * As duration,* he writes, ' is nothing distinct
from things, the two terms of the series, B, A,** (B, representing
the prior existence necessitated by the beginning of A which stands
for the incipient Being), ' of which one precedes the other, cannot
be placed in an absolute duration distinct from the things them-
selves, or in two distinct instants, independently of the things.
The relation, then, which exists between B and A is not a relation
of one instant to another, since the instants in themselves are
nothing; but of one thing to another. Therefore A, inasmuch
as it begins, has a necessary relation to B. Therefore B is the
necessary condition of the existence of A. Therefore it is demon-
strated that every being which begins, depends on an existent
being. . . . The difficulties opposed to this demonstration arise
from inadvertently violating the supposition by attributing to
duration an existence distinct from beings. In order to perceive
the whole force of the proof, it is necessary to eliminate entirely
the imaginary conception of pure duration : and then it will be
seen that the dependence represented as the relation of duration
is the dependence of the beings themselves, — a dependence which
represents nothing else than the relation expressed by the principle
of causality.
'After completely eliminating the conception of pure duration
as a thing distinct from beings, there remains only the transition
from not-being to being as all that is expressed by the word,
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132 Principles of Being.
beginning. In this case we find that the Principle of precedency-
is the same as the Principle of causality \ and as we have bad to
abstract entirely duration in itself in order to solve the difficulties,
we find that if the Principle of cansality is to be placed beyond all
doubt, and to be regarded as an axiom, it can only rest on the
contradiction between not-being and being, or the impossibility of
conceiving a being which suddenly makes its appearance without
anything more than a pure not-being preceding it */
There is a further remark, which remains to be made, touching
the relation of inceptive Being to a prior existence ; and it will serve
to throw additional light on these observations of the Spanish
philosopher. The idea of inceptive Being does not essentially in-
clude the idea of priority of time. B need not necessarily be prior
to A in duration of time. There is nothing intrinsically repugnant
in the concept of a creation from everlasting. In such case, (i.e. in
the case of an eternal creation), the Creator would not have been
prior in duration of time to His creature ; yet He would have re-
mained supreme Cause of it, His effect. But there must ever be a
priority of nature^ by virtue of which the creature absolutely and
ever depends for its existence on the Creator, — contingent on
necessary Being. The creature ob a whole would not, in the given
hypothesis, have been incipi-ent being, because it would have been
in part coeval from everlasting with the Creator ; but it must have
been inceptive, — that is, it might absolutely not have been, — as not
containing within itself necessity of existence, — and might after-
wards have begun to be. The priority, therefore, which is essentially
included in the concept of inceptive, or contingent, Being, is a pri-
ority of nature rather than of time. Nevertheless, a new existence,
(which is de facto the condition of all contingent being that has ever
existed), manifestly supposes another existence, prior to the former
in order of time, which is the measure of the beginning of that
former. But such priority in the instance of incipient Being neces-
sarily includes that other essential priority of nature, according to
the analysis of Balmez just quoted.
II. Kskut urges another instance of synthetical ^ priori Judgments.
These are his words : ' Mathematical judgments are always syn-
thetical.' Yet, 'Proper mathematical propositions are always judg-
» HalfMz' Pundamei^tal Philosophy, B. X, Ch. VII, nn. 67, 82, 83.
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Synthetical k priori judgments. 133
ments h priori^ and not empirical^ because they carry along with
them the conception of necessity, which cannot be given by experi-
ence.' After such an introduction, he proceeds to confirm his
statement by an example. 'We might, indeed, at first suppose,' he
writes, 'that the proposition 7 + 5 = 12, is a merely analytical pro-
position, following (according to the principle of contradiction)
from the conception of a sum of seven and five. But if we regard
it more narrowly, we find that our conception of the sum of seven
and five contains nothing more than the uniting of both sums into
one, whereby it cannot at all be cogitated what this single number
is which embraces both. The conception of twelve is by no means
obtained by merely cogitating the union of seven and five ; and we
niay analyze our conception of such a possible sum as long as we
will, still we shall never discover in it the notion of twelve. We
must go beyond these conceptions, and have recourse to an intuition
which corresponds to one of the two, — our five fingers, for example,
or like Segner in his *' Arithmetic," five points, and so by degrees,
add the units contained in the five given in the intuition, to the
conception of seven. For I first take the number 7, and, for the
conception of 5 calling in the aid of the fingers of my hand as objects
of intuition, I add the units, which I before took together to make
up the number 5, gradually now by means of the material image my
band, to the number 7, and by this process, I at length see the
number \% arise. That 7 should be added to 5, I have certainly
cogitated in my conception of a sum = 7 4- 5, but not that this sum
was equal to lij. Arithmetical propositions are therefore always
synthetical, of which we may become more clearly convinced by
t lying larger numbers. For it will thus become quite evident, that
turn and twist our conceptions as we may, it is impossible, without
having recourse to intuition, to arrive at the sum total or product
by means of the mere analysis of our conceptions V
Answer. Purely mathematical Judgments are, all of them, ana-
lytical. What, then, must be said of the example which Kant has
brought forward ? Let us see. The Subject of pure Mathematics
is Quantity continuous and discrete. Hence it is, that the funda-
mental Principle of demonstration in that science is the Principle of
equality^ which is thus enounced : Things which are equal io one and
the same fhird, are equal to one another. The premisses, therefore, and
* Critique of Pure Ueiuon, pp. 9, 10.
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134 Principles of Beitig.
conclusions of the mathematical syllogism are necessarily eqaation?^
and in consequence are simply convertible. Take, for instance, the
, . , i U^
well-known formula for determining the intensity of light, -y = -w *
If this equation be correct, then conversely — = -^-. Now, number
is the form or measure of discrete quantity, as discrete ; i. e. it
measures the several unities or, in other words, the several discrete
quantities as formally separate each from each. Wherefore, the
concept of any given number, whatsoever it may be, essentially con-
tains within itself all these possible groupings of unities, or discrete
quantities a» discrete, which, taken together, would exhaust itself.
Thus, 8 represents eight unities (discrete quantities). Consequently,
it essentially contains within its concept seven unities plus one; in
another form, 8=7 + 1. In like manner and for the eame reason,
8 = 6 + 3, 8=5 + 3, 8 = 4 + 3 + 1, and so on. Again; 4 + 3+1 is as
essentially contained in the concept of 8, as i + i-f-i+i+i + i+i
+ I , i.e. eight unities, — which is the simplest declaration of 8. If, for
the sake of brevity or for any other reason, I embrace the first three
unities under one form, 3, and the last five under another form, 5,
and write 8 = 3 + 5, is there not an essential quantitative identity?
Therefore, the Judgment, 8 = 3 + 5, is analytical ; and most probably
this Kant would not have been tempted to dispute. But if so,
seeing that the Judgment, as being an equation, is simply conver-
tible, the converted Judgment, 3 -+5 = 8, is also analytical. To
take, then, the example of Kant : — It is plain that the Proposition,
12 = 7 + 5, is an analytical Judgment ; if so, that 7 + 5 = 1 2, is like-
wise an analytical Judgment. In fact, take the simplest expression
of the numbers in the Subject : (i + i+-i4-i + i + i + i)+(i + i
+■ I + I + I + 1)= 17, ; or equals twelve unities. The subject and
predicate are identical ; because 12 might be reduced also to its
simplest expression of twelve units. Remove the brackets, which
have been drawn only for greater clearness of illustration ; and
the two terms of the equation are in every way identieal. But
bow is this altered in any other manner save the form, if I choose
to express the first bracket by 7 and the second by 5 ? Hence, we
may reasonably conclude that, in the concept of the synthesis of seven
with five, is essentially contained the concept of twelve.
As to the confirmation of his case which Kaut offers, one would
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Sy7itketical Ji priori yudgments. 135
be almost tempted to suspect that the clever philosopher waa
indulging in a joke at his readers' expense. For, when he appeals
to the fact that the multiplication of figures, especially when the
foctors happen to be large numbers, can, in the case of the majority
of men, more especially of beginners, (not in the case of all, remark),
only be accomplished by the aid of some sensile perception, such
as reckoning on the fingers or with points ; is it not plain that^
where these helps are made use of, they are employed as aids to
a weak intellect as yet untrained in abstract thought, or for the
sake of sureness, or as an assistance to the memory, not because
the result is conjoined by an unreasoned act of the understanding
with the sum of the two figures? Balmez has some apposite
animadversions upon this confirmatory illustration of Kant, which
are worth transcribing. * What Kant adds,' he says, * concerning
the necessity of recurring, in this case, to an intuition, with respect
to one of the numbers, adding five to seven on the fingers, is
exceedingly futile. First, in whatever way he adds the five, there
will never be anything but the five that is added, and it will
neither give more nor less than 7 -I- 5. Secondly, the successive
addition on the fingers is equivalent to saying 1-1-14-1 + 14-1 = 5.
This transforms the expression, 74-5=13, into this other, 74- 1 4- 1
+ 1 + 14-1 = 12; but the conception, i + i + i + 1 + i, has the same
relation to5, as7 + 5toia; therefore, if 74-5 are not contained
in 13, neither are 7 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 contained in it. It may
be replied that Elant does not speak of identity, but of intuitions.
This intuition, however, is not the sensation, but the idea; and
if the idea, it is only the conception explained. Thirdly, we know
this method of intuition not to be even necessary for children.'
(Let the remarkable, but by no means rare, instances of skill in
mental arithmetic exhibited in our primary schools, bear witness
to the truth of this remark.) ' Fourthly, this method is impossible
in the case of large numbers ^.'
IIL Kant offers another instance of these synthetical a priori
Judgments. * Just as little,' he writes, * is any principle of pure
geometry analytical. "A straight line between two points is
the shortest^" is a synthetical proposition. For my conception
of draighty contains no notion of quantity, but is merely qualitative.
The conception of the shortest is therefore wholly an addition,
» Fundamental Philosophy, H. /, Ch, XXIX, w. 280.
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1:36 Priyuiples of Being.
and by no analysis can it be extracted from our conception of a
straight line ^.'
Answer. All the Principles of pure Geometry are analytical.
Now for the example which Kant adduces. Let us commence with
an examination of the argument, by which he attempts to prove
that the proposition, — ' A straight line between two points is the
shortest^' — is not analytical. He asserts, then, that out of a
concept included under the Aristotelian Category of quality cannot
be extracted, by any process of analysis, a concept like that of
shorty which is a quantitative attribute. But^ straight falls under
the Category of quality. Therefore, out of the concept of a straight
line cannot be extracted, by any process of analysis^ the concept of
tlie shortest.
It will appear, on the most cursory inspection, that there are
five terms in this syllogism, — qualitative concept as middle t^rm,
straight^ straight line, short, the shortest. It is patently true that
out of the concept, straight, (which is exclusively qualitative), the
concept of short, (which is absolute, and exclusively quantitative),
can never be extracted. But what is to be said of the concept,
a straight line? Here, straight is a denominative determining its
subject of denomination, line. But, line is in the Category of
quantity. Consequently, there is nothing repugnant in the idea
that out of the concept of a straight line should be obtained, by
analysis, a quantitative property. Further: It must be owned
that out of the absolute concept, straight line, it would be difficult
to extract the notion of short, as an essential property of the former.
But what of shortest ? Shortest indicates comparison ; and gives to
its subject of attribution a relative, in place of an absolute, value.
The Judgment, therefore, that ' a straight line between two points
is the shortest,' (or, better and more distinctly, a straight line is the
shortest between any two given points), is equivalent to the following :
A certain continuous quantity, — viz. a line that is straight, drawn
between any two given points, — is shorter than any line that is not
straight, drawn between the same points. Surely, there is no
repugnance in admitting that this may be an analytical Judgment,
mediate or immediate (about which, presently) ; since the deno-
minate, which is the subject, is itself in the Category of quantity.
We may now safely proceed to Kant's original antecedent, of
* Critique of Pure Reai<m, £, /, eh. XXIX, n. 280.
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Synthetical a priori yudgments, 137
which the reasoning just examined has been offered in proof. Kant
asserts that the Judgment, now under discussion, is a Principle of
pure geometry; in other words, that it is axiomatic and, as such,
incapable of demonstration. Now, it is true that, till lately, the pro-
position in question was considered by mathematicians generally to be
self-evident and incapable of demonstration ; and that this opinion
is not without its adherents among mathematicians of our own time.
But the contrary opinion seems to carry with it a greater show of
probability. For, as it is urged, a curve cannot be quantitatively
measured by superposition, because of its continuous variation;
while, on the other hand, the proposition under present consider-
ation is capable of strict mathematical demonstration. If this be
true, it is not a Principle; but the conclusion of a demonstrative
syllogism. But, in either case, it is analytical^.
* The anthor has received a oommunication from a friend, an eminent mathema-
tician, relatively to the qaeotion mooted in the text, which he begs leave to lay before
the reader.
'"A straight line is the shortest distance between two points.'* This is not an
iotnitive truth. Let us convert the Proposition thus : The carved
line, ABC. is longer than the straight line, AC. To compare these
lengths, we should know how to measure the length of ABC ; we
should know how many times it contains a given unit of length,
i.e. how many times the unit must be added to itself, to produce
the length, ABC. Now, the only unit of length furnished by Eudid
is a short stnught line ; ABC is not a straight line. Therefore, it
cfconot be measured by Euclid's unit. In other words, Euclid*s test
of equality or inequality is, ultitnately, that of superposition. But aidurve, inasmuch
M it is constantly changing direction, cannot be laid accurately on a straight line.
Again, if the curve be other than a circle, its curvature changes from point to point.
Therefore, the superposition of the arc of a circle is impossible. But Euclid treats
ohly of straight lines and circles with their various properties and relations. There-
fore, neither the axioms he assmnes nor the principles he establishes enable us to
measure the length of a curved line. The solution of the problem must be sought
in the higher geometry introduced by Newton. The only way in which we can get
a dear idea of the length of a curve, is by regarding the curve as the limit of a
polygon inscribed in it ; the number of sides of the polygon being increased indefi*
nitely, or, which is the same thing, the length of each side being diminished without
limit The solution of the problem, then, rests upon this Proposition :— The ultimate
folio of an indefinitely smidl arc to its chord is one of equality. Now, is this Pro-
position self-evident ? No. It is necessary to show, i**, thAt there
i» a limii; and 2<"', that the limit is one and ths eame, no matter
how the polygon be inscribed. Therefore, the meature of the length
of a curved line is not matter of intuition. Therefore, that the IcTigth
of a curved line is greater than that of a straight line, is not matter
of intuition. Therefore, it is not an intuitive truth, that a straight
lifte is the shortest distance between two points; but it may be
strictly demonstrated. Thus, the perimeter AB + BC + CD + DE, &c.
ia ultimately equal io the arc AE. But by Euclid the chord AE is always < the
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138 Principles of Being.
IV. * The science of Natural Philosophy, (Physics),* writes Kant,
* contains in itself synthetical judgments h priori, as principles. I
shall adduce two propositions. For instance, the proposition, *^ in
all changes of the material world, the quantity of matter remains
unchanged ;" or, that, " in all communication of motion, action and
re-action must always be equal." In both of these^ not only is the
necessity, and therefore their origin, a priori clear, but also that they
are synthetical propositions. For in the conception of matter, I do
not cogitate its permanency, but merely its presence in space^ which
it fills. I therefore really go out of and beyond the conception of
matter, in order to think on to it something ^ priori, which I did
not think in it. The proposition is therefore not analytical^ but
synthetical, and nevertheless conceived ^ priori; and so it is with
regard to the other propositions of the pure part of natural philo-
sophy^.'
Answer. Kant here offers us two instances of supposed synthetical
a priori Principles within the domain of physics. We will take
them separately in their order.
i. The first instance given is the following Judgment: In all
changes of the material worlds the quantity of matter is not changed^ or,
remains unchanged. Now, before entering on the main question^ or
rather as a fitting introduction to it^ it is necessary to quarrel with
the terms in which the proposition has been enunciated by Kant.
Quantity is an accident of material substance ; and so far is it from
being true that it does not change^ that on the contrary no accident
of bodily substance is obnoxious to more frequent changes. All
living things are, we might almost say unintermittingly^ changing
in their quantity, by growth and then by decay. It would have
been nearer the mark to have said mass of matter ; but even this
expression would have failed in accuracy, for a reason that will im-
mediately suggest itself, when the second animadversion has been
carefully weighed and accurately realized. For one is bound to
inquire what Kant means by the word, matter, in the proposition as
he has enounced it ? It cannot mean matter, as Locke is thought
to have explained it, — that is to say, a congeries of accidents. It
cannot be those phenomena of sense, concerning which alone, Kant
perimeter AB + BC + CD + DE, &c. Bui that which is always true la ultimately true.
Therefore, the chord A£ is ultimately < the arc AE.
* Critique of Pure i?ea8(w, p. 11.
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Synthetical k priori Judgments. 139
tells qp^ intuitions are possible t6 us. For these are ever changing;
—to adopt the words of the same philosopher, — in a perpetual flux.
It can only mean primordial matter. But primordial matter is imper-
ceptible by any sense ; and, in itself, is only half being,— a purely
passive faculty, — a simple receptivity ; as will be understood more
clearly in the next Book. As such, it takes its place among the
four causes of being, and conducts us within the proper domain of
metaphysics. If, then, the aforesaid Judgment be a Principle at
all, it is not a physical, but a metaphysical Principle. But one is
carious to know how Kant, hy the sole aid of his peculiar ideology,
has reached the subject of his proposition. For primordial matter is
neither in the Categories nor in the subsumed Schemata. On the other
hand, it is absolutely out of the reach of sensile perception. Whence,
then, are derived the materials for such a judicial synthesis? And
now we reach the third animadversion. Is the Judgment in question
2^ Principle at all ? Certainly not. It is a demonstrated conclusion ;
and a demonstrated conclusion, moreover, that is purely analytical.
This will be the more clearly understood by beginning with an
analysis of the idea of change. What, then, is change ? and what
are its essential elements ? ' Change,^ as Suarez has it, ' is the pas-
sage, or transit of one thing into another, according to the conunon
acceptation of mankind ^J It essentially includes three elements ;
to wit, that which ceases to be, — secondly, that which begins to be,—*
and, thirdly^ that which perseveres through the process of mtdatioiu
This third element is of the last necessity ; for, in defect of it, that
which ceases to be would be wholly independent of that which
begins to be, and vice versa. Under such circumstances, there might
he annihilation of the former and creation or production of the
latter ; but no change. Change connotes a thing changed, — some-
thing that is now under one condition, now under another; but
that something is itself all through. For instance : — Water was cold.
That water has ceased to be cold, and has become hot. But the
water remains substantially the same under both conditions. So, in
change of place, it is the same person who was, (we will say), in
London yesterday and is now in Liverpool. It follows, then, that
*in all changes of the material world,' in all bodily changes, there
must be a term of departure,-— that which ceases to be ; a resultant,
—that which begins to be ; and, lastly, something persevering sub-
* In 3™ Partem Siimmce, Disp, L, § 2".
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140 Principles of Being.
stantially the same through the whole process of change. There is
one other essential element of change; hut it does not concern us
here. Now, it is to he observed that Kant includes in the subject
of his Judgment all material changes. Therefore, he does not limit
himself to accidental changes (such as are the examples given
above) ; but comprehends transformations^ that is to say, changes of
substantial form. Of these we have instances in the change of the
chrysalis into the hutterfly^ in that of water into steam^ of a limng into
a dead hody^ of oxygen and hydrogen in due combination into water • In
these and all similar cases, there must ever be something that per-
severes under every change. What, then, may that be, which, h
priori to all experience, is cognized as essentially remaining one and
the same throughout all the substantial as well as accidental changes
of bodies? Evidently enough, it must be that something which is
the fundamental, or ultimate, recipient of all substantial as well as
accidental forms, — which is indefinitely capable of actuation, while
itself no act, — which is, therefore, purely receptive, and imperfect
because passively, and only passively, potential. But this is pre-
cisely the definition of primordial matter [materia prima). Moreover,
such being its nature, it is naturally indestructible, as being indifferent
to, and receptive of, whatsoever form. Therefore, matter remains
unchanged throughout all the manifold changes of nature. Throw
the above analysis into the shape of a syllogism ; and the following
will be the demonstration required. The ultimate Subject of all
transformations, substantial as well as accidental, remains itself
unchangeable. But primordial matter is the ultimate Subject of all
transformations. Therefore, &c. The Judgment in question, there-
fore, is the demonstrated conclusion of a purely analytical syllogism.
Hence, — to sum up briefly,
a. The Judgment in question is not physical, but metaphysical.
b. It is not a Principle, but a deduced conclusion.
<?. It is not synthetical, but purely analytical.
It has not been deemed necessary to criticize that confirmatory
proposition of Kant, wherein he states that * in the conception of
mattery I do not cogitate its permanency^ hut merely its presence in
space, which it jills^ For it is plain enough, that this author's
concept of matter must differ entirely from that of the philosophers
of the School. The presence in space which it fills, could not pos-
sibly enter into the concept of primordial matter, for two reasons.
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Synthetical a priori judgments. 141
First of all, external extension, by virtue of which bodies are located
in space, is an accident which supervenes on the actuation of
matter bjr its fonn. Then, secondly, a purely receptive faculty, or
ipoviex [potentia\ unactuated, as we conceive primordial matter to be,
would have a difficulty in either occupying or filling space. But
enough of this : It is forestalling a very abtruse question which must
presently engage our undivided attention.
ii. The second Principle, which Kant adduces as another in-
stance of a synthetical a priori Judgment within the domain of
physics, is the third law in Newton's theory of motion, viz. •/« all
communication of motion, action a?id redaction must always be equaV
Bat this law is purely empirical, i.e. the result of experiment and
observation. Therefore, it is synthetical indeed but not h priori.
V. Kant gives one more instance of these supposed Judgments ;
and now it is taken from the metaphysical science. He pro-
nounces that the following proposition, — *The world must have
a beginning,' — ^is a synthetical h priori Judgment ^.
Answer. Touching this question of a temporal commencement of the
world (if the phrase may be permitted), two different opinions have
been maintained in the Schools ; not as to the fact, but as to the pos-
sibility of a creation from everlasting. The first opinion is, that the
existence of the world from everlasting is a metaphysical impossi-
bility, because it involves a contradiction. And this accusation the
fautors of that opinion endeavour to justify by what they consider
demonstrative proof. According to them, then, the said pro-
position is not a Principle, but a demonstrated conclusion drawn
from analytical premisses. The second opinion is, that the existence
of the world from everlasting is not metaphysically impossible ; and
that^ while we accept on Divine faith the fact of its temporal
commencement, it still remains true that God might have created
it from all eternity, had He so pleased. Such is the opinion of
St. Thomas and Suarez. Aristotle holds to the possibility; for he
seems to consider it not only possible, but actual. The writer of
the present work ranges himself on the side of St. Thomas and
Suarez ; because the demonstrations hitherto offered by the advo-
cates of the contrary opinion are, in his humble judgment^ in-
conclusive, while the argumeixts in favour of the second opinion
seem to him irrefragable.
* Critique of Pure Reckon, p. 12.
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142 Principles of Being,
Whichever of these opinions, however, be true ; in neither case
would this so-called metaphysical Principle be a synthetical a priori
Judgment. According to the former, it would be a jmori^ but not
synthetical ; according to the latter, it would not be a priori,
though synthetical, — synthesized, however, not by the natural
reason motived by experience, but by a supernatural act of faith.
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BOOK V.
CAUSES OF BEIHO.
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CHAPTEE I.
CAUSES OF BEING IN GENERAL.
ARTICLE I.
Frinoipiant and Frinoipiate.
Thebe are four cogent reasons why causation sliould claim a pro-
minent place in any complete metaphysical treatise. The first is,
that Cause is a certain determined grade or mode of Being, and can
therefore scarcely be disregarded by that science which has Being
for its subject-matter. The second is, that Cause is, as it were, a
property of Being ; since there is no real entity which is not some-
bow a Cause. The third is^ that all science, properly so called, deals
with Causes; seeing that, as practical log^c teaches, these constitute
the middle term of demonstration. But they fall in an especial
manner under the cognizance of the supreme science ; which not
only uses them (as other sciences do) in her demonstrations^ but
professedly examines into their nature, divisions, differences^ influx.
Lastly, every beings save the Infinite, is caused ; and though the
Self-existent is not caused and can have no real Causes, yet there
ate certain Attributes in Him, which are truly though inadequately
conceived as partaking of the nature of Causes^ by the medium of
which Natural Theology is enabled to deduce strictly scientific con-
clusions demonstrative of His Nature.
Is there, then, such a thing as a Cause ? In other days than our
own it would have been deemed superfluous, if not absurd, to moot
the question. We should have been told, that one only requires a
clear concept of what is understood by a Cause, to be irresistibly
persuaded of its reality and real existence on all sides. Since, how-
VOL* II. L
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146 Causes 0/ Being.
ever, modem scepticism has done its best to cast uncertainty on the
existence of Causes in general and of efficient Causes in particular,
the proofs for the existence of each kind or species of causation will
be separately given in the Chapter devoted to each. For the
present, in unison with the universal sense of the School, the exist-
ence of Causes will be taken for granted ; and the discussions will
be limited to their general character and divisions.
There is a higher genus under which Cause is ranged j and with
it the present inquiry will commence. The Greeks called it ipx^> ^^
Latins Prificipitim ; as distinguished from Cause which the Greeks
call alriovy the Latins Causa. In the purely causal signification of
the two words as distinguished from that of mere order, the Greeks
would seem to have used these terms indiflTerently. Much the same
may be said of the Latins in pagan times. With the revelation of
the Christian doctrine concerning the Blessed Trinity, for the first
time was the real distinction between the two laid open to philo-
sophic thought.
It was a difficulty with the author to determine in what way the
former of the two terms could be best rendered in English. There
are two words which naturally suggest themselves, — Principle^ and
Beginning ; but there are solid objections to the employment of
either. Principle would be ambiguous, and is somehow connected in
the mind with ethics. Besides, there is its correlative, Principiatum,
which awaits its English equivalent, and would require the intro-
duction into our vocabulary of the word, Principled ; — a term, more-
over, that does not convey the precise meaning intended. On the
other hand, the word, Beginning^ is intimately associated in the
English mind with the idea of time, as consequent upon preceding
nothingness. Nor does it easily suggest its correlative ; since, though
the Begun answers in some sort to the Beginning y yet it does not
convey the idea, at least explicitly, of necessary relation to, and (as
in most cases is needed, when Principium is used generically) de-
pendence on, the Beginning even in its participial use. Wherefore, it
has been found necessary to introduce two terms, one of which has
a place already in our dictionaries, though not with the philosophic
meaning attached to it here ; and to call Principium, the Principiant^
— Principiatum, the Principiate. The Principiant, then, will represent
any and every entity that is naturally or conceptually prior in any
way to another. This is its widest signification. More specifically,
it represents any entity that is absolutely prerequired in a series ; on
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Causes of Being in general. 147
the pnDciple that every second postulates a firsts — every subsequent^
Skprecedent. Consequently, a Principiant may be described generically
as that whence sometfiing is. The something thence proceeding is the
Frincipiate.
Principiant is first of all divided into that which is Principiant in
order of being and that which is Principiant in order of cognition.
There is this difference between the two ; that the former is simple,
the latter complex. For every Principiant or principle^ of cognition
(i.e. of a scientific concept) is a self-evident Judgment ; and for
demonstration two of these is required. Now, a Judgment is evi-
dently complex ; since it essentially consists of two terms and a
copula. If analysis pursues the inquiry further back, we light upon
the Dignities^ so called, which do not explicitly enter into any
demonstration but are the fulcrum of its force. These likewise
are self-evident Judgments ; as, for instance, the principle of cau-
ialily. But a Principiant of being, in whatever way we take it, is
individual ; and, even though it may be of a composite nature^ is
simple as being and Principiant, or, — ^to borrow a logical analogy, —
it is a simple term, not a proposition. The Principiant, however, in
order of cognition must be left to logicians ; as it is foreign to
metaphysical inquiry.
A Principiant in order of being is of two kinds. For it may be
Principiant either in mere point of order ^ having an extrinsic connec-
tion, by virtue of some sort of priority or other, with the Principiate ;
or it may be such by virtue of a real intrinsic relation. As thd former
will be presently eliminated from our field of view, this will be the
place to say what has to be said about it. ' There are three orders
of entities,' remarks the Angelic Doctor, ^ which follow each other in
their successive series ; viz. the order of magnitude, that of motion,
and that of time. For priority and posteriority of motion are ac-
cording to priority and posteriority of magnitude ; while priority
and posteriority of time are according to priority and posteriority of
motion; as Aristotle has it in the fourth Book of his Physics ^.* A
' 'Sunt autem tiiam rerum ordines sese oonsequentes; scilicet, magnitudlniB, motuB,
et iemporis. Nam secimdnm prius et posterius in magnitadine, est prius et posterius
m mota ; et secundam prius et posterius in motu, est prius et posterius in tempore,
ut habetur quarto PhTsicorum.* In MetapJi. L. V, led. i. The passage to which
St. Thomas aUudes is as foUows : 'Eirei 8' kv ry fuyiOti l<nl t6 wpSrepov teat tar^pov,
ifiirfKri koJL hf luHiau cZku rb itp&rtpw mxL Hartpov, dp6Xoyov rott kK€i' dXXct ftijv
«aJ kr \fi6y^ k<rrl rd vp&rtpov icai vartpov Btd. rb diipoXow^ciy del BaHp^ Bdrtpov airrSfy.
Phyt. L. IV, c. ihinU.
L Z
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148 Causes of Being.
little reflection will suffice to justify this statement of the two philo-
sophers. For in communicated motion the order of successive move-
ments is evidently measured by the order of succession in the
molecules that constitute the size of a body to which the motion is
communicated. Take the instance of a cannon made on a billiard-
table, by way of illustration ; for the phenomenon is more easily
detected in the case of distinct bodies. There are three sensible
motions communicated in all, or rather, three communications of
motion ; viz. that communicated to the siriker^B ball, thence com-
municated to t/ie object-ball, and thence to tAe remaining ball. The
same is sometimes sensibly appreciable in the instance of the con-
stituent molecules (shall we call them ?) of one and the same body.
We see it in the enlarging circles on the bosom of a lake, when a
stone is thrown into it ; in the vibrations of a musical chord ; in the
propagation of heat (if heat be motion) along an iron bar. The
third order presents no difficulty ; since it is well known that time
is measured by the motion of the heavenly bodies. In the illustra-
tions given above, the Principiant is more or less causal ; but there
are Frincipiants, in each of these orders, that are such principally, if
not entirely, in virtue of mere succession or other like extrinsic con-
nection. Thus, in magnitude or continuous quantity, a point is
prior to a line, a line to a plane, a plane to a solid. In motion,
assuming the yard for the unity of measure, the passage of a pedes-
trian over the first yard is prior to his passage over the second. In
order of time, the dawn is Principiant of the day; the first of January
is the Principiant of all the days in the year. Besides these already
mentioned, there are other orders; such as that of place, for instance.
He who sits at the head of the table is said to occupy the first
place ; the rest are ranged after him. So, in moral bodies, — that is
to say, societies whetber ecclesiastical or civil, — ^there is a priority of
dignity. Thus, the archbishop of a province is called 2^ primate; and
the first lord of the treasury is known as the premier or prime minister.
Lastly, in a great majority of such cases, there is an absolute, and
there is likewise a relative, priority. Thus, in numbers, one is abso-
lutely first; two is prior relatively to three. So, the first day of the
month is not necessarily the first day of the year; nor the first day of the
week, the first day of the month. Similarly, the^r^^ officer of a regi^
ment is not the first officer of an army, and the lord-mayor of London
is not the Queen of England. But these and numerous other kinds
of Principiants may be dismissed; as they have little or no con-
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Causes of Being in gemral. 149
ncctiott with the Bubject-matter of this Book. There are other
Principiants, therefore, which are more deserving of philosophical
investigation ; called such by virtue of a real intrinsic relation of
some sort subsisting between themselves and their Principiates.
This relation may be of two kinds. For the Principiant may be
related to the Principiate by virtue of a positive influx and commu-
nication of itself to its correlative. Now, there is but one instance
in which this positive influx is not caudal; and the one exception
is to be found in the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. But, as this is
a truth whose cognition surpasses the limits of unassisted reason, it
belongs to Theology rather than to philosophy, and cannot find
admittance into our present discussions. Speaking, then, the lan-
guage of pure philosophy, we may say that all Principiants of this
kind are causes. But a Principiate may be indebted for its origin to
its Principiant, not by reason of any positive influx or communication
of being, but solely because of a necessary intrinsic relation which the
two bear to each other. It is in such sense ^^\t privation is enu-
merated among the Principiants of being ; forasmuch as, in the
established order of things, corruption is a necessary antecedent of
natural generation. Aristotle supplies us with another division of
these Principiants, properly so called ; to wit, Principiants of an
entity in the process qf its production^ and Principiants of an entity iii
its ultimate constitution. To the former belong all Principiants of
motion, or operation, or successiveness. For instance, the cue is the
immediate, though instrumental, Principiant of the motion commu-
nicated to the billiard-balls; and the player's ball is relatively Prin-
cipiant of the motion communicated to the object-ball. Active
generation is the Principiant of passive generation, or conception.
The first stroke of the sculptor^ s chisel on his block of marble is, in the
language of art, Principiant of the bmt. The first syllable pronounced
is Principiant of the complete sentence; just as the last syllable is
Prbcipiant of the idea conveyed. To the latter belong all those
Principiants of being which, in one way or other, appertain to, of
e^ist in, the constituted Principiate. But of these more anon. The
passage from Aristotle here referred to shall be given ; because it
introduces one other division which will be brought into service in
the next Article. * It is common,' he says, ^ to all Principiants, to
be that whence first a thing is, or is generated, or known.' Hence,
Principiant in order of constituted being; Principiant in order of
generation; Principiant in order of cognition. * And of these some are
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150 Causes of Being,
inlrinsic, others extrinsic^ J Assuming', then, Prineipiant and Prin-
cipiate in their philosophical meaning, two things are plain. The
one is, that these two concepts are of wider periphery than those of
Cause and Effect. The other is, that thej include the latter as
subordinate determinations. Whence it follows, that an accurate
perception of the nature of a Prineipiant will conduce, in no slight
measure, to a clearer understanding of the nature of a cause.
PROPOSITION CXXVIII.
Between the Prineipiant and the Frincipiate there subsists
a true relation.
The truth of this Proposition is self-evident, when once the terms
are understood. For a Prineipiant is that from which in one way
or another the Principiate proceeds ; and the Principiate is that
which in some way or other proceeds really, and not conceptually
only, from the Prineipiant. But between tAe origin and the originated
there is real relation, since origin connotes the originated, and vice
versa; and, in like manner, Prineipiant connotes Principiate. Again :
The two are entitatively as well as conceptually simultaneous ; that
is to say, if the Prineipiant exist as Prineipiant, the Principiate must
also exist, nor is it possible to conceive one without having at the
same time a concept of the other. But these are specific properties
which evince the presence of a true relation ; as will be seen later
on, when we come to consider that Category.
PROPOSITION CXXIX.
The Prineipiant and Frinoipiate are really distinguished
from each other*
According to the established doctrine of relations, this Propo-
sition follows as a Corollary from the preceding. For, in every real
relation it is necessary that there should subsist a real distinction
between the subject and term, or, in other words, between the
relative and its correlative.
* traaShf fxiv cZv Koivby rwv dpxSfv r6 wpSfray ttvot 6$€¥ ^ l[<mv 1j ytyyerai 1j ytyr^
CK€Ttu. TO&rojy di al fjih^ ivwdpx''»f<^^ ^^<fi*^ o^ ^ l/rrds. Met. L. IV, c. i.
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Causes of Being in general. 151
PROPOSITION CXXX.
A Prinoipiant has always a priority of some sort over its
Principiate.
Prolegomenon.
There are three principal kinds of priority ; two of which arc
properly so called, while the last has received the name in a
secondary and improper sense, i. The first species of priority is
that of time ; which subsists between two entities^ one of which
existed before the other. Such is partially the priority of the father
over his *(?«, of a foml over living things^ of the Assyrian over the
Roman Empire, ii. The second and most important species of priority
is that of nature^ which subsists between two entities, one of which
is in its nature independent of the other, while the nature of this
other is dependent on the former. This second species may be either
conjoined with, or separate from, priority of time. In the instance
o{ father and son the two are conjoined ; for the father not only
exists before the son; but the nature of the son is dependent on the
father, while that of the father is entirely independent of the nature
of the son. The same may be predicated of their respective exist-
ences. The term, priority of nature^ however, is more specially
applied to those cases wherein there is no priority of time, but
a complete synchronism, between the two terms. Thus, light is
naturally prior to illumination; because, although the two are
simultaneous in point of time^ the latter is dependent on the
former^ not the former on the latter. So, the existence of the human
soul is naturally prior to its substantial union with the body;
although there is no priority of time. Similarly, if the world had
existed from all eternity, (and there is nothing philosophically
repugnant in the supposition, as has been remarked before), the
Supreme Creator would have been still prior to His creation by
priority of nature, though He would not in such case have been
prior in point of time. So again, lightning is naturally prior to
thunder; though the two are simultaneous. In both these species
of priority just mentioned, — to wit, in that of time and that of
nature, — ^there is recognizable an imperfection of some sort in the
entity that is posterior, iii. The third species of priority (as it is
called) consists in a m^xe priority of origin; and admits of no per-
fection in the precedent, that is wanting to the subsequent. By
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152 Causes of Being.
virtue of such priority, the Principiant communicates his nature
to the Principiate, not the Principiate to the Principiant ; though
the nature in both is absolutely the same. But such priority is
to be found once only; and carries us into supernatural Theology.
Wherefore, though it was necessary to include it in a complete
enumeration of the different species of priority, no further reference
will be made to it.
For those who have mastered the introductory observations and
the above Prolegomenon, a declaration of this Thesis will hardly be
required. For to be a Principiant in the strictly philosophical sense
of the term, necessarily supposes a connection, — nay more^ an
intrinsic connection, — with the Principiate, and a prioriiy over it.
Moreover, this priority cannot be one merely of time. A man of
yesterday^ taken at hap-hazard, is not acknowledged to be the Prin-
cipiant of to-day* a new-born child, merely because he happened to be
bom before it. The 'preceding words in a sentence, on the contrary,
are recognized as Principiants of the mcceeding words; because there
is an intimate dependence of connection, that makes the former
necessary to the latter and to the integration of the whole sentence
as representative of thought. So, the motion of the cue is condi-
tionally necessary to that of the hall ; but the motion of the ball is
evidently not necessary to that of the ctie. The same truth is hap-
pily illustrated in the instance of number ; where the apparent
priority is serial. For, the number, one, is prior to all the rest ; so
that the rest depend upon it as their measure, while itself is inde-
pendent of them. One difficulty might suggest itself with respect
to this declaration. At first sight it does not seem to follow,
because the Principiant has some sort of connection with the Princi-
piate, that therefore the former must necessarily have a priority
over the latter; because simple connection may subsist between
equals. Nor, indeed, is this the contention here. That connection
must be the special connection of a Principiant. Let us take an
example, wherein the priority is purely aecidental ; since the posi-
tion of the two connected terms might the next moment be reversed.
There is evidently a real connection between the motion of the
player* s ball and that of the object-ball. Change the balls ; that is
to say, let the object-ball become the player's ball. The connection
would be inverted. There is, therefore, no priority of nature pro-
perly so called. But there is hie et nunc a real relation between
the player's ball and its motion, as Principiant, and the object-ball
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Causes of Beiftg in general. 153
and its motion, as Principiate. That connection involves serial
priority and, because it involves a series of motions, priority of time
as well.
ARTICLE n.
Cause.
I. Definition of Causb.
Cause, in the strict acceptation of the word, is a principiant which
essentially and positively communicates being to another entity, or,
which produces an existing essence distinct from its own. Accord-
ingly, St. Thomas remarks, ' That is caused, whose being is distinct
from that which causes \' JSasentially and positively, is inserted in
the definition, in order to exclude those principiants which only by
accident, as it were, help towards communicating being to another
entity; like corruption, for instance, which, for the reason that it is a
mere privation, cannot essentially and positively communicate being
to another. This definition will be more clearly understood by the
aid of certain Propositions which are presently to follow. But here
is the place to call the reader's attention to certain observations of
Balmez, which, if lefb unnoticed, might awaken suspicions touching
their sufficiency or value. It is the more necessary to refer to them^
because they echo more or less a favourite complaint of our mQdern
sceptics. It is true that this great Spanish philosopher happens to
be discoursing exclusively on efficient causation ; but his remarks, if
just, will tell with perhaps greater force when applied to the other
causes. He writes, ^ In what does the relation of efficient causality
consist? what is the meaning of the dependence of the effect in
relation to the cause ? This is a difficult and a profound question ; one
of the most difficult and most profound which can be presented to
science. The majority of men and even of philosophers imagine
that they can solve it by using words which, rightly analyzed,
explain nothing.
* To cause, it is said, is to give being. What means to give ? To
give is here synonymous with to produce. What means to produce ?
With this the explanations are at an end, unless one should wish to
&11 into a vicious circle, saying that to produce is to cause or give
^ 'Hoc fit' (Le. cauaatur) 'ciijas esse est diyenum a fiioiente.* Po*. Q. iii.
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154 Causes of Being.
' A cause, it is also said, is tliat from which a thing results. What
is understood by resulting? To emanate. What is to emanate? To
emanate is to proceed, to flow from another. Always the same
thing : metaphorical expressions which have all the same meaning.
' It is said that a cause is that which gives^ produces^ makes, commu-
nicates, generates, etc., and that an effect is that which receives, pro-
ceeds, emanates, results, flows, comes, springs, etc.^'
On reading these paragraphs, the first thing that strikes one as
curious is, that the illustrious writer should accuse explanations or
definitions of a term, because they * have all the same meaning,* qr
should caution his readers against the danger of falling * into a
vicious circle ' in the use of them. Lexicographers in general would
find themselves in bad case, if their labours must be judged by such
a standard. Again : It is a general persuasion, that a vicious circle
is a syllogistic disease which is not endemic among explanations and
definitions. These animadversions must not be accounted either
hypercritical or superfluous ; for they help to reveal the blot in the
complaint of Balmez. There are concepts, and objects of concepts,
so simple in their complexion because they are Transcendentals, that
their very simplicity makes it diflicult, if not impossible, to describe
or explain them, save by the use of expressions which are all but
tautological. For instance, if I am asked what being is, I answer,
existing. But what is existing ? To he in act. But what is to he in
act ? To exist. How is it to be helped ? You cannot paint light ;
neither can you measure a mathematical point. Yet, though so
simple in complexion, these Transcendentals contain within them a
deep mine of truth, which it is undeniably difficult for us men to
comprehend. In order to do so, it is necessary to commence with
very simple descriptive definitions, (for a real logical definition of
a Transcendental is a contradiction in terms), — an explanation which
may seem to be almost a repetition of the same thing; yet, by
means of it, great truths may be eventually evolved, and meanwhile
the mind may gradually grow into the fulness of the idea by shades
of difference conveyed through the medium of various equivalents.
Wherefore, it does not at all follow, because analogical (not * meta-
phorical^,' for there is not a metaphorical term in the list given by
* Fundamental Philosophy, Bk. X, Ch. 8, nn. 87, 88.
' All analogical temui were originally metaphors that haye dnoe beoome natural-
ized. Who would call the foot of a hill, — the foot of a table, — the foundation of an
argument, — power emanating from the Crown, — crass ignorance, — dark schemes, etc
metaphors ?
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Causes of Being in general. 155
Balmez) words are employed in the description of such an object,
that the intellect receives no increase of cognition by means of them.
The present is an instance in point. If one man strikes another,
there is nothing plainer to most people than the fact that the for-
mer is Cause of the blow and accompanyiug pain to which the latter
has been subjected. So again, if a kettle of water is placed upon a
clear fire and the water passes off in steam, the good housewife
would undoubtingly lay the misery of her empty kettle to the charge
of the big fire. So far, all is easy. But if one should be urged to
define or describe the nature of this causal action, the task proves as
difficult as, for instance, to explain Being or essence. Still, if I
should begin by saying that the heat emanated from the fire and the
heat of the fire caused the water to boil, so that the ^x^ produced the
steam by its heat; am I teachiug nothing, but simply repeating
myself? Why, the whole doctrine of material generation is impli-
citl}*^ contained in my answer. When, then, it is asserted that * to
cause u to give^ to produce^ being ' in another entity distinct from the
causal agent, or that ^a cause m that from which a thing results^ —
emanatesj — proceeds^— flows^ it strikes one as something more than
paradoxical to maintain that such expressions ^mean nothing.^ It
is true that they do not go near to exhaust the reality which they
are intended to sketch in by way of a fundamental outline ; but they
effectively serve to define our elementary ideas touching causal
action. And this is saying a great deal.
II. States op Cause,
A Cause is said to be in its second act, when it actually produces
its Effect. It is said to be in its proximate first act, if no one of the
conditions necessary for the production of the Effect is wanting. It
is said to be in remote first act, if either all or some of those condi-
tions are wanting. Thus, for example, (to borrow the illustration
of Taparelli), when a steam-engine is actually propelling the vessel
over the waves, it is in its second act. When the steam is up, — the
cables on board, — the anchor weighed, — ^the helmsman at the wheel,
— ^the captain on the paddle-box, — the plank removed, but the
machine not yet set in motion, — ^it is in its proximate first act.
When the steam has been let off, — the fires out, — the vessel moored,
—the ship's company ashore, — ^it is in its remote first act. To take
one more instance from another and higher order: — ^The intellect sets
before a man some definite good, say, (to put it in the concrete), an
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official appointment in New South Wales. At present, there exists
a mere wish, for the Colonial Secretary has not written ; indeed, the
place is not yet vacant and the wisher has not yet taken his degree.
Still, it comes back constantly into the man's thoughts; and his
will is drawn towards the idea. It is in its remote first act. But our
supposed friend has taken his degree, — ^the place is now vacant, —
the Colonial Secretary has written to oifer him the appointment. It
remains with him to determine whether he will accept or not. He
consults his friends. He ponders over the reasons for and against.
The will is now in its proximate first act. It is in this stage of the
process, patent to self-consciousness, that free-will makes itself
known and felt. At length, the choice is made and the appoint-
ment accepted. The will has reached its second act.
III. COMPABISON BETWEEN PRINCIFIA.NT AND CaUSE.
From all that has been said in this and the preceding Article it
will appear^ that there is a real distinction between principiant
and Cause; and that the former is of wider periphery than the
latter. For, i. Not every principiant is causal; though every
Cause is a principiant. There are principiants in time, order,
series, cognition ; but they are not univocally Causes, ii. When
principiants are causal^ they are not all essentially and positively
causal. Such as possess these properties, are ipso facto Causes.
Thus, certain privations are principiants, not Causes. When, as
sometimes happens, they are included among Causes, the word is
used analogically, iii. A principiant may communicate to another,
existing essence which is numerically 'its own; in which case that
existing essence is not caused. If a principiant produces in another
an existing essence numerically distinct from its own, it is identified
with Cause. Hence, Cause is a sort of species under principiant.
This latter, accordingly, has been given as the quasi genus of Cause
in the description of it which heads this Article.
IV. The relation op Cause to the Categories.
Cause is a true Transcendental; for causality is, so to say, a
property of all Being. Every real entity is a Cause ; and every
real entity, with one Exception, is in turn an Effect. It is a
pregnant remark of the Angelic Doctor, that * everything which
exists must be either a cause or caused ; otherwise, they (?) would
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Causes of Being in general. 157
not have an order relatively to other things ^.' On causality^ there-
fore^ depends in great measure the unification of entities and
consequent unity of scientific cognition. As St. Thomas remarks
elsewhere, 'If diverse entities are in any way united^ there is
necessarily some cause for this union. For diverse entities are not
united of themselves. Hence it is that, whenever a certain unity is
discovered in things diverse, those diverse unities must receive such
unity from some one cause ; as^ for instance, diverse heated hodies
receive their heat from fire^.' Hence, the middle term of de-
monstration is one or other of the causes of the subject and
attribute; and science is defined to be the certain cognition of
things by their causes.
In considering the nature of a Cause, there are three problems
which demand our attention : A. What is the nature of a Cause
considered with reference to its Effect ? £. What is the determinate
concept of an Effect ? C. What is that precisely, which is termed
the influx or causality of a Cause ?
A.
What is the natuke op a cause consideeed with reference
to its effect?
PROPOSITION CXXXI.
Between a Cause and its Effect there exists a relation at
least not-mutuaL
Prolegomenon.
This is not the place to enter upon an examination touching the
nature of relation or its different kinds. But it will be necessary
to explain, however briefly, the difference between a mutual and
not-mutual relation. A mutual relation is that wherein there is a
real foundation for the relation in each of the two terms ; as, for
instance^ in the relation between father and son or between iing
and subject. A not-mutual relation is one wherein the foundation
^ 'Quidquid est in rebus oportet quod causa vei causatum sit; alioquin ad alia
oitHnem non haberent,' (haberet?). Cg, L, III, <fi, 107, 3«,
* *Si enim divena in aliquo uniantur, necesse est hujus unionis oaosam esse ali-
quam; non enim diversa secundum se uniuntur. Et iode est quod quandooanque
in diversis invenitur aliquid unum, oportet quod ilia diversa illud unum ab aliqua una
caQ«a reeipiant; sicut diversa corpora calida habent calorem ab igne.* 1** LXV, i, c.
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158 Causes of Being,
is real in one term only, while it is purely logical in the other.
Such is the relation between science^ subjectively understood, and
its object: or, again, that between the Creator and His creature.
There is a real foundation in science and in the creature; the
foundation of the relation is purely conceptual in the object of
science^ as also in the Creator.
This Proposition follows as a Corollary from the hundred and
twenty-eighth Proposition, in the which it is declared that between
every principiant and its principiate there intercedes a true relation.
For every cause is a principiant. Therefore, that which is a pro-
perty of the latter, will be likewise a property of the former.
The restrictive clause, at least not-mutual^ has been added; be-
cause, in the instance of some causes, notably of the First Cause, a
real foundation of the acknowledged relation is only discoverable in
the Effect..
PROPOSITION CXXXII.
Kot only is the relation of the Cause really distinguished from
the relation which is in the Effect ; but in like manner the
absolute entity of the Cause is really distinguished from the
absolute entity of the Effect.
I. The first Member of the Proposition, wherein it is affirmed
that tie relation in the Cause is really distinguished from the relation
in the Effect^ is plainly deducible from the Prolegomena touching the
nature of a Cause. For it is of the essence of a Cause to com-
municate ; while it is of the essence of an Effect to receive. The
former is naturally independent in its entity of the latter ; while
the latter is as naturally dependent in its entity on the former.
Now, the foundation of relation in the Cause is this communicating
to its Effect ; and the foundation of the relation in the Effect is this
passive receiving from, or dependence on, the Cause. But these two
are really distinguished from each other. Therefore, etc.
II. The second Member, which affirms that the absolute entity of
the Cause is really distinguished from the absolute entity of the Effect ^
is thus declared : i. From induction of experience. For in all the
instances of entities which are accounted to be Causes by the general
verdict of common sense, it is invariably found that the existing
essence of the Cause is numerically distinct from that of the Effect,
as such. These last conditionating words have been added, because
there is nothing to prevent the same being from existing at once
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Causes of Bci7ig in general. ^ 159
as Cause and Effect ; but then, if in the same order of causality, it
must be Cause in relation to one entity and Effect in relation to
another. In no case, however, can a thing be Cause or Effect to
itself. ii. It follows from the descriptive definition given of a
Cause. For Cause is declared to be a principiant which com-
municates being to another entity, or which produces an existing
essence other than its own. And this means really other.
PROPOSITION CXXXIII.
A CauBO is prior in order of nature, but not necessarily in
order of time, to its Effect.
I. The pikst Member of this Proposition, viz. that a Came u
pnor in order of nature to its Effect^ follows from the concept of
Cause, interpreted by the explanation of priority of nature given in
ih^ Prolegomenon to the hundred and thirtieth Proposition. For, if
a Cause is a principiant that communicates being to an entity
distinct from itself, or again, is a principiant that produces an
existing essence distinct from its own ; it is plain that the Effect,
or that which has been caused, depended for its being, — its existing
essence, — on the Cause which originally communicated it. But the
Cause neither was nor is in any wise, as cause^ dependent on its
Effect. Therefore, the Cause is, and must be, prior in order of nature
to its Effect
II. The second Member, in which it is affirmed that the Cause is
not necessarily prior in order of time to the Effect^ needs a more elabo-
rate declaration. First of all^ then, it is commended to us by
experience. For there is no one who doubts that illumination is
the effect of light ; yet it is no less evident that the two are syn-
chronous. Similarly^ action is the cause of passion (i.e. of that
which is received in the entity that suffers) ; yet the passion is
simultaneous, must be simultaneous, with the action. Thus, for
instance^ the impulsion given to a hall ly the cue is simultaneous
with the reception of that impulse by the ball. But here occurs
a difficulty. For, while the Angelic Doctor gives the seal of his
authority to the doctrine maintained in this member of the Thesis,
he seems at first sight to dissent from its application in particular
to the last-mentioned instances. Let us listen to what he says.
* Since the Principiant of motion,' these are his words, ' necessarily
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precedes the term in duration of time, (which must needs be on
account of the succession of motion), and since there cannot be a
principiant, or commencement, of motion without a Cause that
operates to produce it; it needs must be that the motive Cause in the
production of anything should precede in duration of time that
which is produced by it. Wherefore, that which proceeds from
anything without motion, simultaneously endures with that from
which it proceeds ; as, for instance, brightness in fire or in the
sun. For brightness proceeds all at once, and not successively,
from a lucid body; since illumination is not motion, but the term
of motion ^' Now, the reasoning of St. Thomas is, as usual^ suffi-
ciently clear. In motion there is succession ; consequently, the
term of motion,— that is to say, the point at which it is arrested, —
is posterior in order of time to the beginning of the motion, or point
at which it started. But, if the beginning of motion is prior in order
of time to the term ; a fortiori the moving cause must be, in the
same order, prior to the term. Where, however, there is no motion
in the procession of Effect from Cause, there is no intrinsic necessity
for cither priority or posteriority of time ; because there is no suc-
cession. And this is the a priori argument in favour of this Member
of the Thesis. There is no reason either from the nature of causal
influx, or from the essence of a Cause, or from that of an Effect, why
an Effect should not be synchronous with its Cause. Not from the
nature of causal influx ; because not all causality is successive : Not
from the essence of a Cause ; for there is nothing repugnant in the
concept that an entity should exercise causal action at the same
moment in which it exists outside its Causes : Lastly, not from the
essence of an Effect, whose dependence is fully satisfied by that
priority of nature which is the inalienable prerogative of its Cause.
Nevertheless, the above teaching of St. Thomas seems at all
events to cast a doubt upon the relevancy of some of the examples
which have been adduced. For, in a great number of cases derived
from action and passion, — notably in the instance of the cue and the
billiard-ball^ — the causality is one of motion and successive. They
^ 'Cam autem principium mutus de necessitate ierminum motuB duratione prae-
cedat, quod neoefoe est propter motiia suocessionem, nee possit esse motas principium
yel initium sine causa ad produoendum movente; necesse est ut causa movens ad
aliquid producendum praecedat duratione id quod ab ea producitur. Unde quod ab
aliquo sine motu procodit, sunul est duratione cum eo a quo procedit, sicut splendor
in,igne vel in sole. Nam splendor subito et non successive a corpore lucido procedit,
ciim illuminatio non sit motus, sed terminus motus.* Po*: Q. ///, a 13, c.
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Causes of Being in general. i6r
ought, therefore, rather to be relegated to the opposite class, wherein
priority of time is acknowledged. To resume the instance of the
cue, — ^the player, who is the cause of motion, prepares himself,
chalks his cue, forms his bridge, gives the practised swing to his
stroke, and thus communicates the desired motion to his ball. But
all this must take place in succession of time. Wherefore, the
cause is prior in order of time to his eflfect. The answer to this
apparent difficulty will help to elucidate the doctrine now under
our examination. Observe, then, at the outset^ that the example
given by St. Thomas is obnoxious to the same criticism ; since lipAl
and iliumitiatiofi proceed from successive waves of ether. Nor was
St. Thomas ignorant of the fact ; for he expressly connects illumina-
tion with motion. But, such being the case, how can this latter
be synchronous with its cause ? The Angelic Doctor answers, by
reminding us of the fact, that brightness or illumination is not
motion, because it is the term of motion. But the term of motion
is rest. True ; yet this would seem only to increase the difficulty.
For, if there is motion between the sun or other illuminating cause
and the illumination which is term of that motion^ according to
the showing of St. Thomas there must be priority of duration on
the part of the cause. What is the solution of this problem ? It
is easy to perceive that to human thought illumination connotes
the human eye. A body is said to be illuminated, when the waves
of light are reflected from the object said to be illuminated on to
the retina. Illumination, therefore, as we ordinarily understand
it, is the actual impact of the rays of light on the optic nerve. If
the expression be limited to the illuminated object, it will make
little difference ; for then it will mean tie actual impact of the un-
dulations of ether upon that body. The great point to be borne in
mind is, that it is actual impact, — not motion, but term of motion.
Now, tie actual impact of the rays of light is synchronous with the
term of motion, which is either the illuminated object or the eye,
as the case may be. Neither would it affect one whit the cogency
of the illustration, though St. Thomas should have held the emana-
tion theory; for the explanation would hold equally good. To
retnrn now to the example of t/ie cue and the billiard-ball: — In the
illustration it was not intended to introduce the player, or principal
agent ; for here the objection is valid. But the proximate cause, i.e.
the impulsion, or actual impact, of the cue was compared with the
initial motion of the ball as its effect ; and, in this way, there are
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1 62 Causes of Being,
two terms, not motion, — ^to wH, the term in which the cue motion
ceases, and the term from which the ball-motion commences.
This same truth is further confirmed by a fact in caasalitj, to which
attention has been already directed. For it has been noticed that
the same entity, in regard of the same entity, may be at once
cause and effect in different lines of causation. Evidently, there-
fore, in such cases there can be no possibility of any priority in order
of time. This is curiously illustrated in the instance of primordial
matter, about which there will be much to say in the next Chapter.
For primordial matter cannot exist, save in union with some sub-
stantial form ; in other words, it can only co- exist. Consequently,
it cannot be temporarily prior to the composite of which, never-
theless^ it is the material cause. Again : In one way it is the cause
of the form, while in another way the form is the cause of it ;
yet both are of their very nature synchronous.
PROPOSITION CXXXIV.
A Cause in its second act is simultaneous with its efOsct.
This Proposition hardly strands in need of declaration, if the reader
will only recall to mind the explanation given touching the acts, or
states, of a cause among the Prolegomena at the commencement of
the present Article. For a cause in its second act is a cause in its
actual influx; but the actual influx of a cause is neither more nor
less than the effect as produced. The Thesis likewise follows as a
Corollary from the preceding, and from the teaching of St. Thomas
therein contained. In fact, the examples and illustrations are all of
greater cogency here; since in every case the cause is understood to
be in its second act. It admits of confirmation from the doctrine of
relation. For, when the cause is in its second act and the effect
accordingly produced, there arises ipso facto a predicamental relation
between the two. The cause regards its effect; and the effect its
cause. But it is one of the essential properties of predicamental
relation, that the relative and its correlative should be simultaneous
in being as in cognition.
B.
What is the detbeminate concept of an Effect?
As it is of the nature of a cause to communicate, so is it of the
nature of an effect to receive ; with this difference, however, that the
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Causes of Being in general. 163
cause must first be, (according to priority in order of nature)^ before
it can oommunicate, whereas the effect receives by being. In its
case, to receive is to be. Neither does it affect the truth of this
statement^ whether the effect be substantial and complete^ or acci^
dental and imperfect. For although, in the latter instance, the
effect is received in an entity already existing ; yet the cause does
not regard as its formal term and correlative the Subject of the
communication or production, but the communication or production
as received in the Subject. Thus, vrh&afire heats tron, the iron is not
the correlative of fire as cause, but the quality of heat communicated
to the iron as its Subject. For the quality of heat is the effect of
the fire. It follows, that the effect, as such, must offer a passive
influx, (if one may use the expression), — a receptability, by virtue
of which it is essentially dependent on the cause for its entitative
existence. But more of this presently.
C.
What is precisely that which is called the influx, or
CAUSALITY, OP THE CaUSE?
The influx, or causality, of the Cause is nothing else than the
emanation, communication, or production of the effect. It may be
considered under two aspects ; i. as something real in the cause, ii.
as something real in the effect. In accordance with this division,
the following Propositions will afford an answer to the problem.
PROPOSITION CXXXV.
Causality in the Cause is a certain reality whose existence is
either absolutely or conditionally neoessary, as well as suffi-
cient, for the existence of the efibct.
Peolegomenon.
The causality of the First Cause alone is at once absolutely neces-
sary and absolutely sufficient for the existence of any whatsoever
effect. Conditiofial necessity is that which exists as the consequence
of an established order by which it is conditioned; though absolutely^
i.e. antecedently to any established order, no such necessity exists.
Thus, for instance, the verdict of a Jury is necessary and sufficient, in
this country, for passing sentence of capital punishment; but it is not
so in every country. Conditional sufficiency is a sufficiency within
the limit of a certain order of secondary causes, that receives its
appointed virtue and arrangement from the First Cause.
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1 64 Causes of Being.
The Proposition is thus declared.
That reality, whose existence in the cause^ either alone or in con-
junction with other realities in a determined order, renders possible
the existence of the effect^ whose non-existence renders the 'existence
of the effect either absolutely or conditionally impossible, is a reality
whose existence is either absolutely or conditionally necessary and
sufficient for the existence of the effect. But causality^ or the actual
influx of the cause into the effect, is that reality whose existence in
the cause, either alone or in conjunction with other realities in a
determined order^ renders the existence of the effect possible, whose
non-existence in the cause renders the existence of the effect either
absolutely or conditionally impossible. Therefore, etc. There can
be no doubt about the Major, The Minor needs illustration rather
than declaration. It is quite certain, supposing* there to be a First
Cause such as Aristotle demonstrates^ that water could be created by
Him without any intervention of secondary causes. For He Who
can give to other causes the power of producing it, must aforiiori
have the power of producing it Himself. Further : since no second
causes could exist, much less could have the power of producing
water, save by virtue of the prevenient causality of the First Cause;
it is plain that^ whether His influx be immediate or mediate, solitary
or in conjunction, in either case His causality is absolutely necessary
and absolutely sufficient for the production of water. Again : His
Wisdom and omnipotent Will are that Reality in the First Cause,
(to speak after the manner of human thiuking), Whose existence
renders the existence of water possible, Whose non-existence renders
its production absolutely impossible. Tliat which is true of this
effect, is also equally true of all other effect* ; so that the above ex-
planation will cover the other examples without need of repetition.
Now, according to the established physical order, it is necessary to
the production of water that the volume of oxygen^ as compared mth
that of hydrogen^ should be in the proportion of one to two. Such is the
normal constitution of water according to physical law. Therefore^
the combination of one volume of oxygen with two of hydrogen is
conditionally, (that is to say, according to the natural order freely
appointed), necessary as well as sufficient for the production of water,
so far as the material constituents are concerned. This is an instance
of a material cause. Again : In the physical order, the tran^ormation
of the chrysalis into a butterfly cannot be effected without the reces-
sion of the substantial form of the chrysalis into the potentiality of
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Causes of Being in generaL 165
the matter and tlie introduction of the substantial form of the
butterfly. The former is required as a conditio sine qua nan ; the
latter is conditionally necessary, and sufficient in its own line of
causation, for the production of the butterfly. Here you have an
instance of 2k formal cause in the Category of Substance. Once
more : Wafer cannot become hot without the introduction of the form
of heat into it; and its introduction is sufficient to make the water
hot. This is an instance of an accidental formal cause. Lastly :
The accidental form of heat is introduced into the water by the
agency of fire or that which is tantamount to it in calorific energy ;
such agency is necessary and sufficient for the introduction of the
form of heat into the water. Here you have an instance of an
efficient cause. In every one of these examples, the necessity and
sufficiency are conditioned, not absolute. They follow the exigency
of an established order which might never have existed. That
order is reducible in ultimate analysis to the Wisdom and omnipo-
tent Will of the First Cause.
COROLIARY.
Occasion, Condition, Condition sine qua non, are distinguished from
Cause, though some of them have occasionally been called causes ;
because none of the former have that sufficiency which essentially
belongs to the latter, while the condition sine qua non alone can
boast of a like necessity. It is of importance, however, to observe,
that a condition may be, and for the most part is, a cause ; but then
it is the cause of another efiect, not of that particular eSect, rela-
tively to which it assumes the nature of a condition. Thus, for
instance, it is a necessary condition 0/ scientific knowledge, that a man
should be in possession of his faculties ; but the possession of his
faculties does not cause scientific knowledge. So, in like manner*
in order to slake one's thirst with water, it is necessary that the water
should be held in some receiver ; but the vessel does not in any way
slake the thirst. Yet the vessel is cause of the retention of the
water; and a man's intellect in a normal state is cause of his
thoughts. There is a special sort of condition, which is called by
the School removens prohibens ; for it is a condition of the action of
a cause under certain circumstances, that some impediment which
hinders or impedes that action should be removed out of the way.
Thus, the weights in Attwood's machine could not function, so as to
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illustrate the law of gravitation, if the action of the gravitating force
upon them were prevented by the check of some int-ervening ring,
or if the cords became entangled in a part of the frame. Here
again, the releasing of weight or cord is cause of the free action of
the weight, but not of its motion downwards. St. Thomas, follow-
ing the teaching of Aristotle, calls this condition a cause by accident
{causa per aecideni)\ He explains this term in a passage which
gives us a clear insight into its meaning. ^ A primary agent,^ he
writes, * is said to produce an effect both absolutely and by accident.
It is said to effect a thing absolutely, which it effects by its own
proper form ; accidentally, that which it effects by removing an
obstacle. Thus,, the sun absolutely enlightens a house ; but he who
opens a shutter which was an obstacle to the light,' accidentally''^.
Now, though it may be permitted to say colloquially, that a man
who unfastens the shutters or draws back the curtains gives light to
the room;- it is certain that the agency of the man is limited to the
act of unfastening or drawing back, and that the lighting up of the
room is due to the action of the sun. Wherefore, an accidental
cause is no cause at all of the effect of which it is said to be cause
by accident ; although it is cause of the removal of an impediment
to the production of that same effect by another /jause. An occasion,
when not confounded with a condition, is neither sufficient nor
necessary for the production of the effect ; but merely contributes
towards rendering the production more easy or more perfect. Thus,
for instance, it is well to seize tie occasion of a bright, sunny day for
taking a photograph ; though it could be taken when the sky is
cloudy. A condition sine qua nan is a condition in the absence of
which the production of the effect is naturally impossible. Thus,
light is a condition sine qua non of reading or writing. Conditions
not of this class are such as are, morally speaking, necessary to the
production of the effect ; as, for instance, pen, ink, and paper, for
writing. Absolutely, one could write with chalk on a wall.
' i-2»*. Ixxvi, I, e, ; Ixxxv, 5, c. ; Izxxviii, 3, c.
^ ' Agens autem prindpaliter dicitur agere aliquid et per se et per aocidens ; per
86 quidem quod agit Becundum propriam formam, per accidens autem quod agit remo-
vendo prohibens; sicut per se quidem illuminat domum sol, per aocideoB vero qui
aperit fenestram, quae erat obetaculum lumini.' Ma, Q. ii, a. 1 1, c.
I
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Catises of Being in general. 167
PROPOSITION CXXXVI.
Causal inflny, or causality, considered as something real in the
effect, is a mode of imperfect existence or without intrinsio
and absolute necessity, which is called dependence; by virtue
of which an entity exists after such a manner, that it could not
exist without the active influence of a Cause ; but, that influx
of the Cause once given, not only can, but does actually exist.
The truth, as well as meaning, of this Proposition are so mani-
festly contained in the enunciation and declaration of the preceding,
that any exposition would be a waste of time. For its realization
we most await the discussion on particular causes.
PROPOSITION CXXXVII.
Causality, as it is in the cause, — in other words, active causal
influx, — is really distinct from the predicamental relation of
the Cause to its efilBct; and, in like manner, passive causal
influx, — that is to say, causality as it is in the effect,— is really
distinct from the predicamental relation of the efflBct to its
Cause.
The two Members of this Proposition may be considered as one
in the declaration; because the same arguments, servatis servandia^
qoally establish both. Wherefore,
I. Between those entities, one of which can really exist without
the existence of the other, there exists a real distinction. But the
caose can exist as cause of the effect and the effect can remain as
effect of the cause, so that the relation continues, without actual
caQsal influx active or passive. Therefore, the relation of cause to
effect and that of efiect to cause are really distinct from the
caosaUty. TAe Major is axiomatic. Tie Minor is proved by expe-
rience. For in animal generation the parents remain parents of
their offsprings when all actual causal influx has ceased; and, in like
manner, the offspring remain offspring of the parents under the same
circumstances. So^ heat remains in the bed, long after the warm-
ing-pan has been taken away to the kitchen. Moreover, (but this
oonfirmation holds good of ac^^'t;^ causality alone), causality may
exist really, though potentially, in the cause, long before the pro-
duction of the effect ; nay, even though the effect should never be
produced. Thus, a plate qf glass has the power of generating electri-
i
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1 68 Causes of Being,
city; although, as long as it is in existence, it may never be put to
such service. So, a grain of corn Aas tie power, let us say^ of pro-
ducing wheat; although, because it has been ground down to flour,
it is for ever prevented from producing its natural effect. Nor can
it be justly urged that, in such cases, there is a potential effect as
well as a potential Cause. For who does not perceive that the use of
-the word potential is here amphibological ? As applied to Cause,
the potentiality is subjective and real; as applied to the effect, it is
objective and purely conceptual. With much greater show of reason
might it be objected, that potential causality is not actual causality ;
and that it is manifestly with the latter that the present Thesis has
to do. This, indeed must be granted ; yet the concession does not
impair the value of the confirmation. For the actual influx is but
the act of the faculty or power ; if, therefore, the potentiality is
absolute and entitatively independent of all relation, there is every
reason to conclude that its act is in its entity equally free.
II. That reality which is necessarily presupposed as foundation of
a real relation^ must be really distinct from that relation. Bat
actual Causality is necessarily presupposed as foundation of the rela-
tion between cause and effect. Therefore, etc. Again : That reality
from which a relation really results, is really distinct from the said
relation. But Causality is the reality from which results the relation
between cause and effect, as likewise that between effect and cause.
Therefore, etc. To explain : — Two things are required for predica-
mental relation ; to wit, a real foundation, and the actual position of
the term or correlative. Where these exist, the relation at once
arises. These two prerequisites, therefore, are naturally prior to the
relation ; and, if naturally prior to it, are really distinct from it.
St. Thomas confirms and elucidates this argument in an Article
where he is engaged in maintaining, that every finite entity must
necessarily have been created by God. Against the truth of this
proposition he supposes the following difficulty to be urged : * There
is nothing to hinder our discovering an entity destitute of that
which forms no part of its essence ; as, for instance, a man who is
not white. But the relation of effect to cause does not seem to
belong to the essence of entities ; because some entities can be con-
ceived without it. Therefore, they can exist without it.' To this
objection the Angelic Doctor makes the following reply : * Though
relation to a cause does not enter into the definition of an entity that
has been caused, nevertheless, it follows as a property upon what
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Causes of Being in gcficral. 169
belongs to its essence : because, from the fact that an entity is being
by participation, it follows that it must have been caused by another.
Hence, such an entity cannot exist without being caused ; just as a
man cannot exist without being capable of laughter ^.' This, then,
in sum is the argument of St. Thomas. Granted, that to have been
caused does not enter into the definition of finite being ; still it
follows as a property from the essence of such being, just as vui^
bility follows as a property from the essential nature and definition
of man. For finite being is essentially being by participation. But
if being is participated, it must be by communication from another.
Thus the foundation being established and the term, (which is in
this instance the Cause) ; the predicamental relation of cause and
caused, (otherwise^ efiect), immediately arises as a property of all
finite being.
Summary.
Thus far we have seen, that between a Cause and its effect there
exists a predicamental relation ; that, consequently, there is a real
distinction between the two ; and that the relation in the Cause is
really distinguished from the relation in the effect. We have
further seen that the Cause is necessarily prior in nature, though
not necessarily in order of time, to its effect ; yet that Cause, in
its second or perfected act, must be synchronous with its effect.
Again ; we have seen that causality, whether active or passive, is
really distinct from the accompanying relation. Lastly, we have
determined what causality is in the Cause, and what it is in the
effect. It follows from all which has been said, that the word
Cause is univocal; and that, in consequence, there is one cor-
responding formal as well as objective concept. Wherefore, the
general properties that have been enucleated during the course
of this Article, apply equally to all kinds of causes properly so
called.
* ' [Videtur qaod non sit necessarium omne ens esse crestum a Deo.] Nihil enim
proUbet xnTeniri rem sine eo quod non est de ratione rei ; sioui hominem sine albe*
dme. Sed habitudo causati ad causam non videtur esse de ratione entium, quia sine
hac poasunt aliqua entia intelligi. Ergo sine hac possunt esse : ergo nihil prohibet
ene aliqua entia non areata a Deo.*
*Ad primum dicendum, quod licet habitudo ad causam non intret definitionem
entis quod est causatum, taraen oonsequitur ad ea quae sunt de ejus ratione : quia
ex hoc quod aliquid per participationem est ens, sequitur quod sit causatum ab alio.
Unde hujusmodi ens non potest esse quin sit causatum, sicut nee homo quin sit risi-
bilis.' !»• xliv, 1,1".
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1 70 Causes of Being,
There is an animadversion which may possibly be made upon the
doctrine here delivered ; and it would be anwise to pass it over in
silence. It may be said that, when we arrived at the crucial
question touching the intimate nature of the causal influx, the
problem was dismissed with a vague and insignificant declaration,
that causality in the Cause is something necessary and sufficient for
the existence of the effect ; and that^ in the effect, it is a mode of
imperfect or dependent existence^ by virtue of which the Cause is
necessary and sufficient for the existence of the effect. But this
tells one nothing ; for it is already precontained in the primitive
notions of Cause and effect. But that which one desiderates to
know is, the precise nature of this same causal influx. What is
the said necessity and sufficiency on the one side, and the de-
pendence on the other? While denying that the declarations
referred to are vague and insignificant, seeing that they serve to
distinguish Cause from other cognate concepts ; it must be owned
that the exposition is markedly general. But how could this be
avoided, when we are considering causes and causality in general,
by way of introduction ? The general idea of causal influx it is
very difficult to describe, without incurring the danger of obscuring
the simplicity of the concept, and of confounding general with j?ar-
ticular causality. This latter, which is easier to realize, will be
discussed in its place under each separate species of cause.
ARTICLE III.
Division of Causes.
PROPOSITION CXXXVIII.
The commonly received division of Causes into the Material,
Formal, Efficient, Final, is true and adequate.
The present Thesis will be seen to contain two Propositions;
viz. that the alleged division is true^ then that it is adequate. The
former Proposition resolves itself into two ; viz. that the members
of the division really exist, and that they exist as true causes.
Adequacy of division postulates three things ; viz. distinction and
opposition between the several members; — that the members col-
lectively should not exceed, or fall short of, the divided whole,
i.e. that they should not be too many, or too few ; — and, thirdly,
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Causes of Being in ge^ieral. 1 7 1
as a complemeutal perfection, that the division should be im-
mediate, I.e. not resolvable into a higher and more simple division.
Hence, the proof will consist of five parts.
I. The enumebated members of the division really exist
IN NATURE.
Daily experience proves that each one of them exists in nature.
Let us take, by way of illustration, a fact of every day occurrence
amid other innumerable instances derivable from the perpetual
changes, the alternate generations and conceptions^ in the visible
universe. Let us put ourselves in presence of a young bird that
has just broken through its shell. It is evidently made out of
something ; and, — not to go too deeply into the physical part of
the question, — in one way or another it is made out of the yolk of
the egg. Here is the Material Cause, But how is it that the yolk,
or any given part of the yolk is specifically determined to this par-
ticular bird, — say, a thrush, with its wings and other members, its
speckled breast, its life and power of song? That which so de-
termines the matter to be a thrush, and not a duck or bullfinch or
ilaekbird or other winged thing, is the Formal Cause, Again : That
yolk, containing within itself the power of such specific deve-
lopment, claims some external origin. It did not drop from the
clouds. Whence did it come ? From the hen-bird. The parents,
then, are the proximate efficient cause. But the whole process of
generation, gestation, incubation, is subject to an unvarying phy-
sical law, i.e. to a stable order established by the Wisdom and Will
of the Supreme. He, therefore, is the First Ffiicient Cause, But,
Himself infinitely wise and infinitely prudent. He does not act at
random. Why, then, did He arrange for a constant succession of
these thrushes ? Various ends doubtless He had in view ; some of
which we know. Among these, let us say that to afford pleasure to
His rational creature was one. Here we are in presence of a Mnal
Cau^e, Take another instance from art. A sculptor has executed
a piece of statuary. The Material Cause of the statue is the block
of marble out of which it was chiselled. The Formal Cause is the
figure, features, drapery, etc., given to the stone by the labour
and skill of the artist. The Efficient Cause is the sculptor himself.
The proximate Final Cause is the idea ' or likeness intended ; the
remote Final Cause, devotion, fame, money, or whatsoever other
motive, according to the mind of the sculptor. To throw these
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172 Causes of Being,
thoughts into a somewhat more scientific form : To the con-
stitution of a new material substance four things are naturally
requisite ; — something out of which it may be formed, something*
to give to it its specific nature, somebody or something to bring it
into existence, and an end or purpose in its production. But the
first is the Material, the second the Formal, the third the Efllcient,
the fourth the Final Cause. Therefore, etc. The Major is proved
as to each of its Members. For, — somewhat to change the order
adopted in the illustration, — a new bodily substance requires some
being external to itself for its production ; since it cannot produce
itself. How could it do so, when it was nothing before it was
produced? Moreover, every-day experience convinces us that, in
each instance of generation or new production, there is an agent
sufficient to account for it. But the Efficient Cause produces the
entity either out of nothing, or out of something that is pre-
supposed to its causal action. The former would be a creative act,
which is utterly unknown to sensile experience. That something',
then, which is presupposed and out of which the new substance is
formed, is the Material Cause. Thirdly, in order that the said
entity may be new^ it is necessary that the Efficient Cause should
communicate, introduce, something into the pre-existent matter,
by which the entity becomes thU thing specifically. That some-
thing is the Formal Cause. Lastly, since Efficient Causes are not
supposed to act senselessly or at random, (sin9e either they are
intelligent beings themselves or are directed by an Intellect Who
has prescribed their natural operations) ; they must have a purpose
or end in that which they effect. This is the Final Cause.
II. These four Members of the division are true causes, ac-
cording TO THE description OF A CAUSE GIVEN IN THE PRECEDING
Article.
About the first three, viz. the Material, Formal, and Efficient Cause,
there can be little or no doubt. For, a. The Material Cause is that
reality out of which the complete bodily substance is formed ; and
it intrinsically enters into its constitution. It, therefore, really
communicates itself; and communicates itself to an entity really
distinct from itself. For the complete substance is a distinct being
from the simple matter. Thus, — to revert to a former example, —
no one will venture to dispute that the marble block enters intrin-
sically into the constitution of the statue, gives to it a part of its
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Causes of Being in general, 173
entity ; nor can it be doubted that the complete statue is an entity
really distinct from the shapeless, untouched stone, b. The Formal
Cause is that reality in the complete bodily substance, which gives
to it its proper being, or essential nature. For matter is, so to say,
the mere inchoation of its being ; while the Form perfects it and
gives to it its specific determination. Further : It enters intrin-
sically into the constitution of the entire substance^ communicating
its own being to an entity really distinct from itself. For the form
or outlined figure, in and by itself, is not the statue, or the marble;
a proof of which is, that the marble originally existed without it,
and that the image might have been made of plaster of Paris, or
Bath-stone, or wax. An objection might possibly be made to this
illustration^ that the figure or shape given to the marble is acci-
dental, not substantial ; for it comes and goes without any change
in the substance of the stone. And it is true that it is not the sub-
stantial form of the stone ; but it is^ so to say, the substantial
form of the statue. The illustration was taken from art. Never-
theless, the objection afibrds an opportunity of here inserting
a caution. It is true that the exposition of the present Proposition
has embraced material substance and its substantial constituents
only. But there are the same causes at work in accidental compo-
sition. Moreover, with the single exception of the Material Cause,
all these causes are to be found in the constitution of spiritual sub-
stance i and even the Material Cause, though it does not enter into
their constitution, still finds a place there after a manner in acci-
dental information. There are two causes, then^ which contribute
their partial entity to the constitution of bodily substance. Both
are principiants communicating being to an entity really distinct
from themselves, yet together constituting that entity. Therefore,
they are true and proper causes, c. There can be just as little
doubt touching the true causality of the Efficient Cause ; for, by its
own energy, it makes that entity to be, which before was not, and
the production of that entity is the formal term of its action. No
one would be mad enough to maintain, that the sculptor does not
make the statue ; or that the entity of the statue is not distinct
from his own. Indeed, the definition of cause specially squares with
the activity of the Efficient Cause; because, in the instance of
efficient causation, not only is the entity of the effect really distinct
from that of the cause, (for this is common to all the causes), but
the entity communicated by the causal influx is something really
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1 74 Causes of Being,
distinct from the cause, d. The Final Cause is the only one of the
four that can raise any difficulty. It does seem, at first sights hard
to understand, how an intention, — ^a mere logical entity, — can
claim reality sufficient to justify us in assigning to it a real
causality, that is to say, a real communication of being to an entity
distinct from itself ; and how that which is an end can be a begin-
ninp, i.e. can have that priority of nature which is the essential
property of a cause. This question must await its discussion and
solution in the fifth Chapter of the present Book. Suffice it here,
therefore, to observe very briefly that the purpose or intention,
as thought^ is a real entity though accidental and, as such, capable
of energy ; and that the end or purpose, though last in execution,
is first in intention. That the object, (as we are often accustomed
to call it in English), or the end, does really move the Efficient
Cause to action, and not only so but modifies the operation itself, is
patent to ordinary observation. Take an ordinary instance. An
artist, we will suppose, either is himself a political partisan or is
engaged to illustrate some comic paper that is secured for a parti-
cular party. He draws a likeness of some obnoxious statesman
whom he intends to caricature. The sketch is made. The likeness
of the man is there, of course ; bjit so travestied, partly by exag-
geration of peculiarities in feature, form, dress, partly by some
singularity of posture, occupation, or surroundings, that no one, —
probably not even the victim himself, — can help laughing. This
was the purpose of the caricaturist, who was aiming at this effect
in every line of his portrait. Who would venture to say, that this
end or intention has not, in some way or another, communicated
a certain being or reality to the cartoon ? The above example has
the advantage of including under one and the same end the in-
tention of the artist's operation and the intention likewise of his
completed work. The former is the sketch which he has conceived ;
the latter, the motive which suggested the conception.
III. These Four Causes are sufficiently distinct from, and
OPPOSED TO ONE ANOTHER RESPECTIVELY; CONSEqUENTLY, IN
THIS RESPECT THE DIVISION IS A TRUE ONE.
The above assertion is thus proved. Four Causes, — two of which
contribute intrinsically, the other two extrinsically^ to the constitu-
tion of the effect : while of the two that contribute intrinsically,
the one does so after the manner of a purely passive receptivity, the
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Causes of Being in general, 175
other after the maimer of a determining act ; and of the two that
contribute extrinsically, the one does so by a physical, the other
by an intetUiotuU (i. e. intellectual) influx, — are suflSciently distinct
from, and opposed to, one another. But, in the division here con-
tended for, the Material and Formal Causes contribute intrinsically
to the constitution of material substance, but the former as a purely
passive receptivity^ the latter as a determining act; while the Efficient
and Final Causes contribute intrinsically to the same effect, but the
former by a physical, the latter by an intentional influx. There-
fore, etc. The Major is in itself evident ; and any obscurity that
may arise from the newness, to some, of this portion of Scholastic
teaching will be dissipated^ (one may hope), partly by the declara-
tion of the Minor, partly by the exposition of that teaching which
will be given at length in subsequent Chapters. TAe Minor, then,
is thus declared. The Material and Formal Causes are distinct from,
and opposed to, the Efficient and Final, in that the former essen-
tially enter into the constitution of the effect by the joint contribu-
tion of their respective entities to the result ; that is to say, they
are inside the composite substance of which they are the two
constituent parts. On the contrary, the Efficient and Final Causes
are outside the composite substance, — or, more generally, the effect ;
though they really contribute to its production. Thus, — to go back
to our old illustration, — the marble is a real, intrinsic constituent of
the statue ; and so is the figure impressed, or rather expressed^ on
the marble. But neither the sculptor nor his intention enters inside
the work of art. Again : The Material and Formal Causes are
reciprocally distinct and opposed ; because the former is purely
passive, indeterminate, inchoative, while the latter is active, deter-
minating and determinate, perfective. The block of marble, re^
garded exclunvely as material cause cf the statue, is purely passive
and receptive. It is submissive indifferently to any form what-
soever which the sculptor may think fit to give it ; and it is
equally receptive of all possible forms. It is indeterminate. Art
may make anything out of it, — slab, column^ crochet, basso-relievo,
ttatue, etc. It is inchoative ; for, though absolutely necessary for
attempting the piece of sculpture, it exhibits the rudest and most
undefined beginning. The form, on the other hand, which the
sculptor impresses, reduces the submissive receptivity of the block
to act ; that is to say, it makes the block to become actually some-
thing definite. By so doings it determines the marble to one
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1 76 Catcses of Being:
representation, (say, of Moses) ; and, for so long as it remains, ex-
cludes it from either any other representation or difierent kind
of service. Finally, it perfects the whole as a statue, (which may
stand for the specific nature) ; and as t/ie statue qf Moses, (which
represents its individual actuation). In like manner, the Efficient
and Final Causes are mutually distinct and opposed. For the Efficient
Cause jiliydcally communicates being to the effect, as one perceives
very clearly in the generation of living things ; while the Final
Cause does so only intentionally , as has been already said. Thus,
the sculptor, by means of his tools, works into the marble and
produces out of it by physical action the required figure. But his
aim or intention, — if it be the end of his labour, viz. the expression
in the marble of the chosen subject, — does not physically act upon
the block, though it intellectually guides the hand ; if it be the end
or purpose of the work itself, that neither acts upon the stone nor
breathes in the accomplished piece. No one could discover from
the statue, whether it were an effort of patriotism, or of devotion,
or made for fame or for money.
IV. The division is adequate; that is to say, thebe are no
OTHER CAUSES WHICH CANNOT BE REDUCED UNDER ONE OR OTHER
OF THESE FOUR SPECIES.
This Enunciation is plainly enough a negative Judgment. It is
a proverbial expression that you cannot prove a negative. Where-
fore, anything like direct demonstration is not to be expected.
There are, however, two ways of establishing its truth. The one is
indirect, and consists of a challenge to any who cast a doubt upon
it, to bring forward any one instance of an acknowledged cause,
which cannot fairly be ranged under one or other of the kinds here
enumerated. Till they can do so, it is fair to conclude that the
division is adequate. Two instances have^ indeed, been objected,
viz. physical dispositiom qf mutter, and the exemplar cause. As to
the former, they are evidently reducible under tlje Material Cause;
as to the latter, the solution is more difficult, and the question
will, therefore^ be discussed later on. Enough to remark here, that
the difficulty does not attach so much to the reduction itself, as
to the particular cause under which the exemplar should more
fittingly be ranged. As this indirect argument may not appear
satisfactory to some, an appeal is made to authority. And this
is the second confirmation of the truth of the Enunciation now
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Causes of Being in general, 1 77
under consideration. In order to forestall a possible objection, it
may be expedient' to advise the reader that, while authority (whose
evidence is purely extrinsic) cannot, as a rule, be admitted in
science or scientific inquiry, for the very simple reason that science
is based on intrinsic evidence; nevertheless, in questions of in-
tricacy wherein the evidence does not shine in upon us, and
signally in matters of order and division, the consentient judgment
of the wise has a just claim to our attention and sometimes com-
mands our assent. It may assuredly be appealed to with safety in
the present instance ; and it is not too much to say, that the entire
School has accepted the present division which it has received from
Aristotle. This greatest of philosophers proposes, or alludes to it,
in various places up and down his works. Two of these places
shall be quoted. ' Now^ there are four kinds of causes given,' he
writes. < One of these we affirm to be the substance and essence,
(for the ioherefore [of a thing] is traced up to the ultimate deter-
mining reason, and the primary wherefore is a cause and principiant').
The Philosopher calls the form the substance or essence of an
entity, because it ultimately determines the specific nature by an
intrinsic actuation. Hence^ it is the ultimate determining reason,
— the Difference in the definition. * Another is the matter and
subject. A third is the source of the beginning of motion. The
fourth, which is a cause antithetical to the last mentioned, is
the reason why^ and the good ; for this fourth is the end of all
generation and motion \* Again in another place he says : *■ In
one wise, that is denominated a cause, out of which a thing is
intrinsically produced ; as, for instance, the brass of the statue,
and the silver of the cup^ and their genera. After another
way, the species and exemplar. Now^ this is the determining
reason^ or definition, of the essence ; which may be said likewise
of their genera,^ Here, for the better understanding of the text,
it is necessary to interpose two observations. As St. Thomas
remarks, in his commentary on the passage^ the Formal Cause is
here compared with its efiect under a twofold aspect : as its in-
trinsic form, and then it bears the name of species ; as extrinsic
' Tck 8* a7r«K XiyerQi rtrpaxSn, Sty ftiav iihf alrlay ^fup c&ai ri)y obaiay nX rb ri
Ijpf cTmu, {dydyenu ydp rd Sid rl €ls t6v Kiycv iaxarw, alnw 82 Koi dpx4 t6 8<d rl
tfWTVf\ Mpaof tk Ti^K tXrjv mt rb bwoic€ifA€ycv, rpirrpf h\ 6$tv i) d/)x4 Ttjs ittr^€vt,
reriprrp^ 82 ri^ &irriKfifUyrfV cdrkty rafirgt rb 08 iv€Ka Htd Td'ya$6y riXot y^p fwictvt
ml Karf^€V9 vdoi^t roOr' larbf, Metaph. L» I, e 3^ inii.
VOL. H. N
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178 Causes of Being.
to it, — a pattern in the likeness of which the effect is made^ — and
then it is called the Exemplar. The second observation is this:
Genera^ though they assume the place of a Material Cause, as it
were, in the definition of their species, are themselves really forms.
Thus, animal is a determinate essence ; and, though in the defini-
tion of man it stands for the genus, nevertheless, it is obviously
a part of human essence. The Material Cause is only virtually
contained in the definition. Aristotle proceeds with certain illus-
trations : ' As, the relation of two to one in the diapason, and
number simply, and the parts in the definition (or determining
reason). Thirdly, the source of the first beginning of motion or
of rest ; as, for instance, he who has given counsel is a cause, and
the fetther is cause of the child, and in general, he who makes is
cause of that which is made, and he who effects a change is cause of
the change effected. Finally, as the end. And this is the reason
why ; as, for instance, health is the reason why one takes exercise.
For why does one take exercise? We answer, for the sake of
health ; and, making that reply, we think that we have assigned
the cause ^' The Philosopher gives the same division, but with
more elaboration, in the second Book of his Physics, the third and
following Chapters. St. Thomas often introduces it in that inci-
dental and matter-of-course way, which is so strikingly indicative
of something long established and universally admitted. Two
instances in particular have been selected, because they likewise
feerve to elucidate one or two points connected with the present
inquiry. * Now, there are four Causes in all,' he writes. * Of these
two, — ^that is to say, the Material and Efficient, — precede the effect,
according to their intrinsic entity; the Final too, though not in
Entity, yet in intention. But neither way does the Formal Cause
precede, in so far as it is the form. For, since the effect has
its being by means of the form, the being of the latter is simulta-
neous with the being of the effect. But, inasmuch as it is also the
end ;* in this respect * it precedes in the intention of the agent. Now,
^ Atriov Xtytrat tva ii\v rp6'wov i( ov yiyv€ral ri ivwopxovTOs^ oXw 6 x^^^i^ ^^
Air^piairros Kal 6 Apyvpos ttjs ifnaXrjs teax rd roirrav yivq, &K\ov 8i rd tl^o^ ica2 rb Trapa-
8ci7/ia' Tovro 8* iarlv 6 \6yos rov ri fv ttvai /cai rd, Toirrea¥ 7(107, otov rov 61^ ttaaSfv ra
bvo irpds ty tcai SXojs 6 dpiBftds mt rd fiiprf rd iy rf) X6y^. in BBty ^ dpx^ rijt /xtrafiok^i
^ irpijrq i) r^f ^/>c/<^(r(wt, dtov 6 0ov\€b<rai curiot, /ro2 6 mr^p rw riteyoVt mt SKom rd
iroiovy rov woiovfUvov ttal rb fi€Tafi\ip-tKdv rov furafiAXXoyros. Itrt &y t6 riXos' rwro 8*
icrl t6 Off iyttca, oToy rov irfpiwareiy ^ vyicta. 8t«i ri ydp vtpiirarti; <^f*4v, tva vymbrf^
KouL tlir6yT€s ovrojs ol6pL€$a &voZ(dwK4yai t6 atriay. Metaph, L. IV {aliter F), e. a, init.
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Causes of Being in general, 1 79
although the form is the end of operation, to the attainment of which
the operation of the agent is limited ; nevertheless, not every end is
a form. For there is a certain end of the intention over and above
the end of the operation ; as is plain in the instance of a house.
For the form of the house is the end that terminates the work of
the builder. Nevertheless, his intention does not stop there ; but '
(extends) * to an ulterior end, which is a dwelling. So that it may
be stated thus : that the end of the operation is the form of the
house ; but the end of the intention is a dwelling \' Again, else-
where St. Thomas writes : * There are four kinds of Causes, viz. the
Final, Formal, Efficient, and Material ; to which is also reduced
the disposition of the matter, which is not a cause absolutely, but
from a special point of view ^.' The former of these passages con-
tains an observation, to which the attention of the reader is par-
ticularly invited; for it will be of great service later on. St.
Thomas affirms that the introduction of the form is always the
end, or purpose, of the operation of the efficient (»use. It will not
escape notice that, in the second passage, he solves the difficulty
touching the disposition of the matter in the way already suggested.
V. The division is immediate; that is to say, there is ko higher
AND simpler division UNDER WHICH THE AFORE-NAMED CAUSES CAN
BE CONVENIENTLY REDUCED.
This property of immediateness^ though doubtless a perfection, is
not absolutely necessary to a good division. The question might
safely, therefore, have been omitted. But, as it is clearly the opinion
both of Aristotle and St. Thomas, that the present division is imme-
diate^ while Suarez defends the opposite opinion ; it may be worth
while to state the reasons why the author prefers the teaching of the
* 'Causae autem sunt quatuor; quarum duae, scilicet materia et efficienB, prae*
cedunt causatvim secundum esse internum ; finis vero etsi non secundum esse, tamen
aecundmn intentionem ; forma vero neutro modo, secundum quod est forma ; quia
cam per earn oausatum esse habeat, ease ejus simul est cum esse causati ; sed inquan>
torn etiam ipsa est finis, praecedit in intentione agentis. Et quamvis forma sit finis
op'.'mtionis, ad quem operatic agentis terminatur, non tamen omnis finis est forma.
Ya enim aliquis finis intentionis praeter finem operationis, ut patet in dome. Nam
forma ejus est finis terminans operationem aedificatoris ; non tamen ibi terminatur
intentio ejus, sed ad ulteriorem finem, quae est habitatio ; ut sic dicatur, quod finis
operationis est forma domus, intentionis vero habitatio.* Po* : Q. iii, a. i6, c.
' ' Est autem quadruplex genus causae ; scilicet finalis, formalis, efficiens, et mate-
rukHs, ad quam roducitur etiam materialis dispositio, quae non est causa simplioiter,
»d secundum quid.' 2-2»* xxvii, 3, c.
K 2 '
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i8o' Causes of Being.
former to that of the latter. Suarez maintains that one higher and
immediate division would be into internal and external causes ; of
which the former include the Formal and Material, the latter the
Efficient and Final Causes. For, as he argues, since the two first-
named jointly contribute by an intrinsic influx to the constitution
of material substance^ they may reasonably be concluded under that
common characteristic which distinguishes them from the other two
whose causal influx is extrinsic. But higher and more marked still
is the division, he tells us, into causes which communicate being to
th« eflPect by real physical causality, — to wit, the Efficient, Formal,
and Material ; and the Final Cause which communicates by an in-
tentional influx. But it strikes one at once, that this proposed
double division furnishes a sufficient reason for rejecting both. For,
if there is so marked a diflerence between the causality of the Formal
and Material Causes on the one hand, and the Efficient on the other,
as to justify their separation in the former division ; with what
verisimilitude can we consent to their conjunction in the latter ? On
the other hand, if there is so fundamental a distinction between the
Efficient and Final Causes as to require their separation in the latter
division ; how comes it that they find themselves together in the
former? The two divisions destroy each other. Then again, St.
Thomas, in the first of the two passages quoted above, introduces
another equally grave distinction, by virtue of which he includes
under one, as it were, the Material, Efficient, Final, for the reason
that they precede the constitution of the eflTect ; while he signalizes
the Formal Cause as the only one which is necessarily simultaneoas
with the effect. In a somewhat similar manner, the Material Cause
might be isolated from the other three, because it is most imperfect,
inchoate, indeterminate in the order of being ; while the remaining
three are in themselves perfect, determinate. Does not this possi-
bility of varied divisions, in which the same causes are now separate,
now conjoined, point to the fact, that there is so solid a foundatioo
of distinction from the reat in each, as to forbid of higher reduction,
and to fully justify us in cbnsidering this division into four, imme-
diate?
Corollary.
It follows from the several declarations included under this Pro-
position, that there is nothing to prevent one and the same entity
from exercising the functions of more than one cause relatively to
different effects. There is, consequently, no necessity in all cases for
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Causes of Being in gefieraL 1 8 1
a real or material distinction between the four Causes. For the
same form, as Suarez appositely remarks, is the end of generation
or production, is the substantial form of the human body and of
man himself, is the Efficient Cause of locomotion, and is Material
Cause of its own properties of thought and volition. In like man-
ner, quantity is an accidental form of matter, joint Material Cause
of qualities. Efficient Cause of ubication. The reason of this &ct is
clear. For, though there is diversity between the causality of the
causes, there is no repugnance or incompatibility. It is for a like
reason that the same entity may resemble one and have no resem-
blance to another, — ^may be shorter than one, taller than another^ —
be simple in comparison with one, complex in regard of another.
For actual causality connotes a relation ; and a relative changes the
nature of its relation with a change of correlative ; as the same man
is son of one and father of another and brother of a third. But
what is to be said as to the possibility of one and the same entity
exercising different species of causality in relation to one and the
same effect ? From what has been hitherto established^ it is easy to
draw the conclusion that such a combination of causal action is not
impossible ; for the delineation or ^ure in the piece of sculpture is
at once its Formal and Final Cause. But is the possibility general ?
or does it admit of exceptions ? Manifestly there is one exception.
The same entity cannot be at once Material and Formal Cause to the
same effect. The reason is^ that there is sufficient opposition
between the two to render such a combination impossible. The one
is purely passive, the other act ; the one is indeterminate, the other
determinating ; . the former perfected, the latter perfecting. Conse-
quently, a real distinction must alwftys intercede between the Formal
and the Material Cause of the same entity. The same must be said
of the Formal and the Efficient Cause of the same entity. For the
former is intrinsic, the latter extrinsic, to the effect ; and the form
is term of the action of the Efficient Cause, or intentionally presup-
posed as the motive of its operation. Neither can the Efficient and
Final Causes meet in the same entity relatively to the same effect ;
that is, understanding by Final Cause that which, in accordance with
the more ordinary acceptation of the word, it has been described to
be. The reason is, that the End is the formal term of the causal
action of the Efficient Cduse. In a Certain sort, the Material and
Final Causes maybe found in the same entity relatively to the same
effect. For the same bodily substance is at once Subject, or Material
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1 82 Causes of Being.
Cause of accidents and, after a manner, their end ; for the perfecting
of the substance is the immediate purpose of the accidents. Finally,
the form is not the Final Cause of the composite ; on the contrary,
the composite rather is the Final Cause of the form. But it is the
end of operation or generation ; and in this sense only can the
Formal and Final Causes meet relatively to the same effect. It is
now only left to add, that in different orders of causality, an entity
may be at once cause and effect relatively to one and the same being.
St. Thomas calls attention to this fact, and illustrates it by an
example. ' It comes to pass that, according to different genera of
causes, the same entity relatively to the same is a cause at onoe and
effect ; as, for instance, purging is cause of health in the genus of
Efficient Cause ; while health is the cause of purging in the genus
of Final Cause. In like manner, matter is in a certain sense cause
of the form^ in that it sustains the form ; and the form is after a
sort cause of the matter, in that it gives actuation to matter ^.'
Note.
Suarez, in connection with this discussion touching the division
of causes, has introduced to our notice the objective causey as it is
called ; which is no other than the object in its relation to faculty
or act. Thus, for instance, a certain object moves the intellect to
know it, and known, moves the will to desire it. As such, it is
evidently object of esLch/aculty, Let it now be de facto known and
possessed, it becomes object of the act of each faculty. To which of
the members of the above division is the said causality referrible ?
To answer briefly: — As object of the intellectual faculty, it exercises
by means of its intelligible species, or intentional form, the office of
an Efficient Cause. As object of the appetitive faculty, that of a
Final Cause. As object of the act, whether intellectual or appetitive,
it would seem as though it exercised no causality, properly so called;
but it is to be regarded simply as the term of motion. Such is the
conclusion of Suarez, whose Disputation (the twelfth) on the subject
of this Article may be consulted with profit. The writer in this,
as in many other parts of the present work, has largely profited by
the labours of that illustrious philosopher and theologian.
^ *Contingit autem secimdum diverw genera causarum idem respectu ejoadem
eBse cauBao^ et causatum ; eicut purgatio est causa aanitatiB in genere causae efficientis,
sanitas vero est causa purgationis secundum genera causae finalis. Similiter materia
causa est formae aliquo modo in quantum sustinet formam ; et forma est aliquo modo
causa materiae in quantum dat materiae esse actu.* Verii : Q. xzviii, a. 7, <;.
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CHAPTER II.
THE MATERIAL CAUSE.
INTRODUCTION.
No educated man will be tempted to dispute the fact already
signalized in the Introduction to the first Volume, that the Peripa-
tetic, or Scholastic, Philosophy has for a century or two past
become, more particularly in this country, a general object of
distrust and, not unfrequently^ of impatient scorn ; most especially
among those who haye devoted themselves to physical investigation.
It might appear invidious to suggest, that this hostility is princi-
pally due to prejudice and want of acquaintance with the science of
metaphysics; ydi it would be hopeless to introduce the subject
awaiting our consideration to the attention of the reader with any
prospect of success, unless we are allowed to prefer and, to a certain
extent, justify this indictment. For the Scholastic teaching touching
Primordial Matter is one which^ in quite an exceptional manner,
has been a target at which the shafts of adversaries have been
directed. Nay, it has encountered determined opposition from
those even who in other respects have taken the old philosophy
under their protection, according to their lights. This is not the
place for a general inquiry into the apparent foundation and latent
causes of such a prejudice ; though much might be said about
both. Yet, there is one reason for it, whose persistence would
block the way against any chance of progress in our forthcoming
investigation ; and effort must be made to remove it out of our road,
unless even demonstrative conclusions are to prove a sterile labour.
This reason resolves itself into a practical confusion of the respective
spheres of metaphysics and physics. When we say this^ it is not
meant that metaphysics should have no directive influence over
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184 Causes of Being.
physical investigation, after the manner explained in the first Book ;
nevertheless, the respective spheres are, and ought to remain, totally
distinct. Hence, the physical disciplines are entitled to perfect liberty
within their own proper sphere ; and the same should a fortiori be
allowed to the mathematical science. It is the special province of
the former to investigate sensile phenomena and by careful observa-
tion and experiment to reveal the order, in other words, the Uws
of nature by which these phenomena are governed ; while the
latter has for object^ intelligible matter^-^OT the unchanging laws,
or forms, of quantity. Within these limits thus formally defined,
metaphysics has neither wish nor call to enter. But there is a
region beyond, which it claims as its own. Underneath the pheno-
mena of perception and that universal government of bodies which
men call quantity, there are essences, and a supra-sensile hierarchy
of truths. These are claimed by metaphysics as her own. It is no
part of physics, — certainly, as at present understood and pursued, —
to theorize on the essential constitution of bodies ; but to experi-
mentalize on the facts of nature. For her scientific process is exclu-
sively inductive. The suggestion^ indeed, of certain theories^ or of
ways of accounting for facts, or of laws so called of natural operation,
-germane to her special subject-matter and to be afterwards subjected
to the test of experience, — ^is part of her legitimate work ; but if she
oversteps the frontier, she is an intruder. To revert to the special
subject proposed for present consideration, metaphysics begins
where physical research ends. When the latter pursues its investi-
gations touching the elementary parts or constituents of material
substances, it is searching for such parts or constituents as are
capable ^ actual physical separation from each other. If, for instance,
you ask a scientific chemist what he understands by a molecule,
he will tell you that it is the smallest part of a body which can physic
cally exist by itself. If you further inquire what meaning he attaches
to the term atom, he will reply that it is the smallest quantity of an
element, or simple body, which can enter into a compound or be driven
from it. The physicist, therefore, searches after the physical ulti-
mates in the constitution of material substance; and here meta-
physics would allow him the fullest liberty,, with one solitaxy
exception. She, as the supreme science, makes the proviso that
no physical theory shall contravene her own immutable first prin-
ciples. She could not, for instance, tolerate the Democritan theory
of a fortuitous concourse of atoms ; because it is in contravention
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The Material Cause. 185
of the principle of causality. She has nothing to object against
atomic, dynamic, or any other physical theories^ as far as they go ;
provided that they do not offend against, but are compatible with,
those higher tmths of which she is the sole guardian and expositor.
This condition once recognized, let the experimentalist, the analyst,
the observer, expatiate in their own fields at their good pleasure.
All their contributions to knowledge will be valuable ; and will be
grateinlly acknowledged by the queen of sciences, who will know
how to make best use of them, by subordinating them to the
unity of truth. But oAe thing there is that is simply intolerable,
because it involves so manifest a subversion of philosophical order ;
and that is, all endeavour to construct a new metaphysics on the
basis of physical theories. With greater show of reason might
the mathematician cast aside all the laws and pure demonstrations
of his science and build up a new algebra, at the bidding of some
hitherto unobserved aberration in the motion of a celestial body, or
because a conflict of causes has produced certain irregularities in
the orderly working of an instrument. Who would not foresee the
intellectual anarchy that must result from such misplacement?
The only reason why the absurdity is not as piitent in the former
instance is, that metaphysical science, properly so called, is a terra
incognita to the men of thought and of education in our day. That
which goes by the name is a sorry amalgam of logic, ideology,
and pyschology.
These introductory observations will serve to explain the reason
why such a prejudice prevails against the Peripatetic doctrine
touching Primordial Matter. When the metaphysician examines
into the essential constituents of material substance, he has no eye
to physically separable parts. On the contrary, he is free to admit
that it is impossible physically to separate matter from form. They
are, therefore, in a certain sense metaphysical rather than physical
parts of which he treats. To put it more definitely,— ^they are
pkysical constituents, metaphysical parts. Similarly, the chemist
proposes to himself to discover the elements, or sitnple substances,
which form the basis of all compounds^ of nature organic and inor-
ganic. The metaphysician sees that both elements and com-
pounds are composites^ and seeks for the essential constituents
common to all. Let an e^iample serve by way of illustration. In
a drop of water there are many diatoms, which are only visible
under a microscope magnifying, say^ five hundred diameters.
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1 86 Causes of Being.
Select one of them. The body of this microscopic organism is
composed of (speaking chemically, and without prejudice to any
particular theory) a certain number of molecules; each one of
which, again, is composed of atoms of composing elements. We
ask of chemistry to supply us with one of these atoms. Let it be
an atom of carbon^ existing, as it ordinarily does, in a state of
chemical combination with other elements. Isolate it ; let it be
in the structure of that diatom ; that is to say, take it as an atom
of carbon, but existent in that living structure. Let its value be
represented by a fraction with twenty figures, if you will, in the
denominator. Physical science has reached its ultimate. The
metaphysical science takes up the inquiry. First of all, this atom
of carbon is the atom of a diatom at present. It is, therefore, in-
formed somehow or other with life. The diatom dies; but the
atom of carbon remains, — speaking physically. It is not now what
it was before. Virtue has gone out of it. Suppose, again, that,
in the process of decay, it goes forth into the air in combination,
is there seized upon by the grass after a process of decomposition,
and enters into the substance of the grass. Thence we may trace
it to a sheep ; and thence to a human body which returns it, we
will say, to the air. Thus much chemistry, teaches me. But I go
on to inquire : What is that which has been constantly changing,
while the atom of carbon has remained jpotentiaUy the same?
Again : This atom of carbon is in combination with other elements,
say, oxygen; so that out of the combination a new substance has
arisen, in which the carbon only exists potentially. Chemical com-
bination and mechanical mixture are two very different things ; as
one can see in the composition of air and water respectively. In the
former, the atoms of the respective elements remain in act as they
were according to their primitive constitution ; in the latter, they
exist ov\j potentially. Well, — to revert to the original example, —
in the supposed chemical composition what is that new something
that has arisen, which is neither carbon nor oxygen but something
quite different from either? Here, again, there is something or
other which remains the same, and there is a differential. Both
are essential to the compound. What are they ? Lastly, take the
atom of carbon by itself exclusively. We have not done with compo-
sition yet; though carbon is chemically called a simple element.
For there is that in the said atom which is common to iron, sodium,
hydrogen^ and other elements, (otherwise, these would not have
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The Material Catcse. 187
received the common name of material ^stance) ; and there is like-
wise that which distinguishes it from the rest. Therefore, it is
composed, and has parts. But assuredly they are not chemical part0 ;
for this atom is the ultimate of a simple body. They are not in-
tegrd parts ; for it is the supposed constituent of a molecule. What
are they then ? Such is the inquiry of metaphysics.
Now, it is notorious that, in the sensile order, — or rather in
Datore, — ^that which remains the same throughout these changes is
never alone, but is always under some form or another. Not only
so ; but it appears before us as a mass under some geometrical or
other form. li extendi itself before our eyes in space. The
minutest animalcules exhibit this extension, when rendered visible
to the human eye beneath the microscope. Whether you divide a
body physically to secure the molecule or decompose it chemically
to obtain the atom of an element, it is always a complete substance
of some sort; and quantitatively, it is indefinitely capable of
division. You cannot possibly convert the essentially composite
into the simple by physical division or chemical analysis. You
will have body to the last ; and body has extension, mass, composite
essence. With material substance you began ; and with material
substance, after all your efforts, you must end. An atom of hydrogen
is as much hydrogen as a gallon of it ; and the millionth part of a
grain tf calcium is as much calcium as a square foot of it would be.
Neither physical division, therefore, nor chemical analysis will help
OS to discover the essential constituents of bodily substance, as such.
Essences are not patent to the senses ; they are the object of the
understanding. Now, it is these essential constituents of which
we are in search. In the present chapter the inquiry is limited to
that one of the two constituents which has received the name of
the Material Cause.
To begin with, then : — ^Is there a Primordial Subject of all sub-
stantial changes in bodies? If so, what is its nature? Such are
the questions proposed for discussion in the following Article.
ARTICLE I.
Primordial Matter.
Prolegomenon I.
The Material Cause is a cause really, though intrinsically, con-
tributing to the composite being of bodily substance, as itself an
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1 88 Causes of Being,
incomplete substance determinable to such a kind of being. It is
extrinsically thus determinable by the efficient cause ; intrirukaUy,
hj another incomplete substance which is called the formal cause.
Thus, for instance, the material cause of a dog is, loosely speaking,
its body ; the formal cause is Us soul ; the efficient cause, its parents.
Prolegomenon II-
According to a well-known division. Matter is divided into the
out ofwhiehy the in wiick, and the about which. The same Matter is
said to be out qfwhich^ relatively to the entire composite towards the
constitution of which it contributes ; as well as relatively to the
substantial form which is evolved, or educed, out of it : in which,
relatively to the substantial form in its state of union with it:
about which, relatively to the efficient cause. Thus, — ^to continue
with the same example, — the body of the dog is the Matter, (speaking
again loosely), out of which its soul is evolved, in which its soul
exists in union, out of which the complete composite is formed ;
lastly, the Matter about which active generation is concerned. When
the substantial form is not evolved out of the potentiality of the
Matter, — as in the case of man, — there is no Matter out of which^
relatively to the form.
Pbolbgomenon III.
Matter out of which has been subdivided into passing BXid persists
Matter. Thus, for instance, the Matter of straw, wood, paper, under
the action oifire, is called passing Matter ; the Matter of the clay,
when it changes under the same action into brick, is persistent. Sut
this is really a division of little account ; since it is based on that
which is purely phenomenal. It is manifest that, in both cases
alike, the Matter persists under the transformation.
Peolegombnon IV.
Matter is called j9rtm<7r^^^ under a twofold aspect; first, as ex-
cluding any ulterior Subject to which it might be capable of being
reduced, and, secondly, in relation to secondary Matter. That
Matter, then, is primordial, which supposes no preceding Subject
and is itself the ultimate Subject of all changes and forms. Secondary
Matter is that which supposes a preceding Subject. All secondary
Matter, therefoiie, supposes the primordial ; and adds to it some
form and disposition. In proportion to the Hobility of the form
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TIte Material Cause, 189
to be evolved, there is required a more complex disposition of the
Matter ; as is exemplified in vital organisms.
§1.
The present Section is devoted to a twofold inquiry. First of all,
it becomes us to inquire, whether there is such a thing as Primordial
Matter, or an ultimate Subject in all bodily substances ; secondly, if
there is, what are its chief characteristics.
PROPOSITION CXXXIX,
In all bodily Substance there is a Primordial Subject of
substantial changes.
Thefolliming are the proof %: —
I. Whatsoever entities are capable of formal changes, must contain
within them some Primordial Subject of such changes. But all
bodies are capable of formal changes. Therefore, they must contain
within them some Primordial Subject of such changes. The Major
is thus declared. In every change, as we have already seen, there is
that which changes and something that remains. Subject of the
change. Without the presence of this latter, it is impossible even
to conceive of a change. Thus, in a change of toind, the direction
changes, but the air remains the same. So, in a change of health,
the person who has passed from strength to sickness is one and the
same. A 6lock of marble has been made into a column ; then, into a
ilah ; eventually, into paper-weights. But it is the sams stone under
these successive forms. A given intellect conceives first one idea,
then another ; but it is the same intellect and the same soul, persever-
ing under both these forms. The thought has changed, not the
thinker. Now, that persistent Subject either supposes another
Subject, or it does not. If it does not, we have arrived at the Pri-
mordial Subject. The Proposition is established, tf it does suppose
an ulterior Subject, the inquiry returns upon that second ; and so on,
till we finally arrive at the Primordial, unless one would take refuge
in the absurdity of an endless regress. This argument receives con-
firmation from the nature of bodies. For they are composite sub-
stances ; and, forasmuch as they are substances, they exist in and
by themselves^ without the need of any other entity to which they
may cling for support. In this sense it may be said of them^ that
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igo Causes of Being.
they are self-^uJfficienL They, therefore, exclude any Subject or
Material Cause outside ^themselves. On the other hand, they are
composite entities ; that is to say, they are made up of certain
constituent parts. But one part cannot be supported by another,
and that other by a third ; and so on, without limit. There must
necessarily be some ultimate Subject of the rest. But that ulti-
mate cannot be outside the composite substance, for reasons already
alleged. Therefore, it must be among the intrinsic constituents of
the substance itself. That constituent we call Primordial Matter.
The above confirmation needs a word or two by way of explanation ;
otherwise^ its cogency might not be appreciated. It must, then, be
borne in mind, that the argument is derived from the intrinsic con-
stituents of bodily substance ; not from its integrating parts. Tiiere
is no logical repugnance in supposing a body physically composed of
a certain number of molecules, united by mutual cohesion ; which
by their sole union constitute that body, without need of a common
Subject on which they depend. Similarly^ in the dynamic theory,
there is nothing to hinder us from conceiving a number of forces,
gathered into one separate collection by virtue of a mutual attraction
among themselves and repulsion beyond. But, we take from the
former theory a molecule which, in spite of its minuteness, is a
complete substance ; and argue on the basis of its essential and
accidental constituents^ — its Matter, substantial form, extension,
mass, figure, colour^ hardness, etc. The same process applies to
a force; but as its nature, as ordinarily represented, presents
special difficulties to a metaphysician, and as we are here engaged
only in the illustration of an argument, the dynamic theory shall
be reserved for separate consideration elsewhere. The reasoning,
then, in confirmation of the argument amounts to this. A bodily
substance includes a substantial form^ (by which it is what it spe-
cifically is, e.g. carbon^ iron, sodium, and so on), together with
various accidental forms. These inhere in Matter, as all are free
to confess; otherwise, the thing would not universally go by the
name of material. Now, of these constituents some manifestly
depend on others. Thus, colour , as we have seen, depends on exten-
sion. Accidents, in general, depend upon the specific nature of the
body, that is, (as the School would say), on its substantial form.
Thus, iron is hard ; wax is wft: a living animal is warm ; a corpse is
cold: a diamond is solid ; water, liquid ; nitrogen, gaseous. Transform
sugar into carbon and its other constituents by the action of suU
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The Material Cause. 191
phuric acid, all the siveetneas and stickiness are gone. That substan-
tial form ia, in turn^ sustained by some Subject. And this Subject ?
Our analysis must at last be arrested by an ultimate Subject^ unless
the regress be infinite ; in which case the entity could never have
begun to be.
II. A palmary proof of the existence in nature of a Primary
Subject of substantial changes is derived from the never ceasing
interchanges, the corruptions and generations, of bodily substances.
One substance is transformed into another ; and then, the latter is
transformed back again into the former. Hydrogen and oxygeny in
due combination^ are by the agency of the electric spark trans-
formed into water ; and water by the same agency is transformed
back again into hydrogen and oxygen. Water, again, is transformed
into steam; and steam, by condensation, back again into water.
The Matter of a living animal, (its flesh and blood, for instance),
having been transformed into inorganic substances, in the process
of retrograde metamorphosis, becomesyb(w/ of a plant ; and the plant
h^coTXie&food, (that is, enters into the substance), ofa7i afiimal. That
animal may be the very one from which this travelling Matter
originally came. Carbonic Acid, existing in the atmosphere, is
decomposed by plants. The plants, giving up to the air the oxygen
of the compound, retain the carbon for the formation of their several
constituents. Some of these plants, in the form of vegetable food,
supply to animal life their substance containing the carbon which,
distributed through the system in various forms, is brought into
contact with the oxygen supplied by the lungs, and is given forth
in respiration in the form of carbonic add. Here it is again at last;
yet what a journey that carbon has made through the various orders
of nature I Again : The constituents of hydrochloric acid, under
the action of the galvanic battery, may be separated from one
aaother, and obtained in the free state. If these two bodies,
hydrogen and chlorine, so obtained in a free state, be intimately
mixed together in proper proportions and submitted to the action
of a powerful light or of heat, they will again form into hydrochloric
acid. Another notorious fact is the proclivity of organized matter
to return to dust, when the vital principle has departed from it ;
and that proclivity becomes more pronounced in proportion to the
perfection and attendant complexity of its organic constitution.
Take, once more, the instance oi fire. It must be fed ; otherwise,
it will go out. There is something which the wood, turf, or coal.
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I 192 Causes 0/ Being.
gives it, which is necessary to its continued existence. The fuel,
indeed^ passes to sensile perception, as a necessary condition of the
continuance of the fire ; but in passing, it gives and leaves some-
thing to the fire. Now, all these transformations, these alternate
generations and corruptions, would be impossible, unless there
were some common Subject in which all such transmutations could
be respectively effected. That Subject will be the primordial one,
and the Material Cause of these entities.
The Antecedent stands in need of declaration. Wherefore, i. All trans-
mutation or transformation requires a Subject common to each term
of the change ; that is to say^ common to the form displaced and to
the one substituted in its stead. Unless this were so, there could be
no real, entitative connection between the two terms and, as a con-
sequence, no physical change. The first term wotdd be simply anni-
hilated, and the second term created. But both annihilation and
creation are above the power of natural action, ii. If there were
no such common Subject, the whole action of natural agency would
be eliminated, either as impossible or as irrelevant to the generation
of entities. To illustrate this Antecedent^ let us begin with acci-
dental transformations. An accident is newly introduced into a
substance. For convenience' sake, we will take the instance of an iron
bar which is thrust into a furnace. The fire there introduces the
accidental form of heat. Now, first of all, it is in the nature of
accident, that it should inhere in some Subject which sustains it in
its generation and in its complete act. But the heat expels the
contrary form of cold. This latter likewise required a Subject
of inhesion. Therefore, both accidents must be in some Subject.
But why in one common Subject ? Because the displacing cannot
exercise its activity on the displaced form under any other condi-
tion. In the given case, the form of heat is introduced by the fire
of the furnace into the bar ; and in that bar the communicated heat,
inhering as in a Subject, expels from that iron bar the contrary
quantity of cold. But, suppose that the accident of cold were in
some other bar ; the heat in the former bar could not affect it except
by communicating heat, as efiicient cause, to the second bar, which
would cease to be cold by virtue of its own form of heal. In few
words, the change requires a common Subject of both accidents.
Proceed we now to substantial transformations. In these,
again, there are two terms of the change, — two complete sub-
stances. The one perishes ; i. e. it ceases to be in its specific nature.
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The other is newly produced. Furthermore, if we are to put any
trust in the experience of the senses, the desition of the former is
a necessaiy condition of the inception of the latter. Thus, the
destruction of the wood or coal^ (to adopt an ordinary mode of expres-
sion), is necessary to the existence of the fire. The disappearance of
the hydrogen and oxygen is necessary to the appearance of water.
Yet, whence this necessity, unless there be a real connection ? And
how can there be a real connection, unless there be an entitative
synthesis ? And how can there be an entitative synthesis, unless
there be something common to the two terms ? If aU that is sub-
stantial in the former term perishes, and all that is substantial in
the latter term begins to be ; the corruption of the one could have
no causal connection with the generation of the other. Whereas,
on the supposition that the Subject remains the same throughout
the process of transformation, it is easy to understand how the
introduction of one substantial form by the efficient cause should
operate the expulsion of the other. The perseverance of the sub-
stantial forms of hydrogen and oxygen is incompatible with the
existence of the substantial form of water, and therefore this latter
expels the two former ; but this supposes a common arena in which
the battle may be fought. Nor is it possible to imagine that
this destruction of the former complete substance could be the
result of natural activity on the part of some supervening accident,
which might thus form an entitative link between the two sub-
stances^ chasing away the one, and introducing the other. For,
first of allj it is beyond the power of an accident to destroy its own
Subject, or of itself to generate substance. Then, as every accident
naturally postulates a Subject, and as the destruction of the one
suhstance is simultaneous with the generation of the other ; if the
said accident had a hand in both, there must be something common
to both, which is Subject of the accident. It is true that an acci-
dental alteration of the Matter may necessitate a substantial trans-
formation. But, in the first place, that accident acts by virtue of
the efficient form which introduced it into the Matter ; and,
secondly, the constitution of the new substance is not due to the
action of the accident, but to the actuation of a new substantial
form, whose eduction is consequent upon the disposition of the
Hatter, and is caused, mediately and instrumentally by the accident
or accidents introduced, principally by the substantial form of the
efficient cause. But, here again, a common Subject is necessarily
VOL. n. o
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194 Causes of Being,
presupposed throughout the whole process. For how is the efficient
cause to introduce the new form, — to communicate an accident as
its instrument; — if there is no common Subject? AH its action
relatively to the new substance would be superfluous, useless ; unless,
indeed, we are to suppose that its action is creative, in which ease
its previous action on the corrupted substance would have no con-
nection with the new creation. But this is contrary to all experience.
To assume an old illustration : — The Matter of the water ^ in virtue of
the accidental form of heai communicated to it by the substantial
form o{ Jire^ acquires at length a disposition which is incompatible
with the substantial form of water and preparatory for the sub-
stantial form of steam. Consequently, the former makes way for
the latter, which has been evolved out of the potentiality of the
Matter by the action of the fire. But how could this be, if there
were no common Subject of the water and the steam ; unless the
fire destroyed the. water in its entirety and then, by an independent
action, created the steam? But such a hypothesis is absonous.
The same argument is confirmed in a striking manner by the
instance oi food. For that which an animal receives by way of
nourishment is, partially at least, assimilated and absorbed into the
bodily substance of that animal. Now, if there were nothing re-
maining of the food received and transformed by process of digestion,
the whole action of the animal on that food would be superfluous.
That which, by a pleasant fiction, it is supposed to have received, but
has been wholly destroyed inside, can do the creature no good. It
can neither nourish nor repair waste ; for there is nothing left to do
the one or the other. If there is something left, that something
must be a Subject common to the substantial forms, to wit, those
that recede — the forms, let us say, of turnips and water^ — and the
substantial form of the animal, which supervenes. The same argu-
ment evidently applies with equal force to the nourishment of
plants, iii. Unless there were a common Subject, or Material
Cause, of these substantial transformations; all bodily changes
would be transubstantiations. For it is universally admitted that
the substantial form is changed. According to the hypothesis, the
Matter would be diverse. Therefore, the whole substance would be
changed. Not even an accident could remain ; for these depend on
their Subject for their being and continuance. But there is no
room here for the action of natural forces or, in particular, of active
generation. Lastly, it would be unaccountable why the anni-
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The Material Cause. 195
hilation of one should be uniformly necessary to the creation of the
other; saye by having recourse to some Leibnitzianj9f^-^«^/i9>i«J
harmony.
III. The proof of the present Thesis will hardly be complete,
unless we reyert to an argument only referred to per transennam at
the end of the first demonstration. So far^ it has been clearly
shown that there must be a common Subject of these changes and
transformations ; but it has not as yet been explicitly proved that
there must be ^^firBt Subject, or Primordial Matter. This is, how-
ever, evinced by the aid of the principle, that there cannot be an
endless series of Subjects in one and the same composite. You
must, therefore, arrive finally at constituents, which are not them-
selves composed. One of these, — to wit, that which receives the
primary form, — will be the first Subject. There is a striking
illustration of this, borrowed from modem physical discoveries,
which is reserved for the next Proposition.
Note.
This first Subject of bodily transformations is Primordial Matter^
or the Material Cause of all bodily substance; and, for greater
convenience, the latter term will be employed in subsequent
Propositions.
PROPOSITION CXL.
The Material Cause of all bodies is numerically one only.
Paolegomenon.
Primordial Matter is said to be numerically one, not positively ^
but, as one may say), privatively. For numerical unity is posi-
tively predicated of that which has one determinate physical entity ;
as this many this rose, this blue. Numerical unity is privatively
predicated of that which has no basis of numerical distinction. ^ It
is in this latter sense that Primordial Matter is said to be nume-
rically one ;* * because,' as St. Thomas writes, * it is conceived as
deprived of all the dispositions which cause numerical distinction,
or out of which numerical distinction arises ^.'
The proofs of the Proposition are as follows :
I. The first argument is based on the fact of the common and
mutual transmutation of all sublunary bodies. Daily experience
* * Hoc modo didtur materia prima unum namero ; quia inteUigitur sine omnibus
disporitionibus quae fiiciunt differre numero, vel a quibus est differentia in numero/
0/rttte. xxrti {aliter xxxi)^ De PrineipiU naturae, ante med,
O %
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teaches that common and muUw.1 transformations are occarring,
one might almost say, indiscriminately throughout the vast realm
of nature. By mutual transformations is to be understood a change
of one or more substances into another which ^ in turn, is capable of
being transformed back again into the former. By common trans-
formations are signified such transformations as are common to
many bodies. Thus, carbon^ oxygen^ phosphorus^ calcium^ etc. are
one and all capable of being transformed into animal substance.
Now, as far as the induction of nearly six thousand years caa
enable men to judg^, there is scarcely one body, — if one, — ^in the
vegetable or animal world, which is not capable of communicating
some part of its substance by way of food to living things ; which
part, either profitably or noxiously as the case may be, is absorbed
into the substance of the being that receives it, and begins to exist
under the form of that being, at least for a short time. Hence,
atoms (to speak the language of chemistry) may perform a circuit
through the material creation, submitting to multiform com-
binations and resolutions ; returning finally to the starting-point
of their first departure, only to begin their travels anew. Nor
does it matter to our argument, whether the atom contributes
actually or only virtually to the substances through which it
passes, and of which it forms a temporary part ; that is to say,
whether it is absorbed in its own actual entity or in chemical
combination. In the latter, as in the former case, som£thing of it
is there ; so much so, that it can be physically isolated, or, (as the
metaphysician would say) reproduced, by chemical analysis. It
follows, then, that the same atoms may successively belong to any
and every variety of vegetable and animal life ; nay, to lifeless sub-
stances as well. For carbon is found under the form of carbonic
acid in the air, and pure in the diamond. Therefore, the substantial
unity of those atoms seems to be ever changing; for they form
part, now of the air, now of a vegetable, now of a brute animal,
now of a man, then of the air again ; and so on, in ceaseless suc-
cession. We may safely go further and say that such is the general
law of nature. All things are in a perpetual flux and reflux. The
primary elements join hands and let go again, as they move through
the concentric circles of material substance. Yet, as regards some-
thing of their substantial entity, those atoms remain the same
throughout their journeys. The substantial form changes; but
the Matter remains the same, ready to receive the different forms
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The Material Cause. 197
which successively determine its being. Surely, these facts of
nature justify a strong presumption, and more than a strong
presumption, that the Material Cause of all corporal substances is
one and the same.
A remarkable confirmation of the same argument is derived from
comparatively recent discoveries in chemistry, and still more recent
physical discoveries made by means of the spectroscope. All the
known constituents of Matter, ^hi/%ieallif so called, have been reduced
to some sixty-five or sixty-six elements, that is to say, simple sub-
stances in which chemical analysis has been as yet unable to discover
any ulterior combination. In protoplasm, or life-stuff as Professor
Huxley terms it, there exist four of these elements always^ viz.
carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen; two others most frequent ly,
viz. sulphur and phosphorus. Of these six principally, if not
solely, protoplasm in the vegetable as well as animal kingdom is
composed. Iron, another element, enters into the constitution of
the blood of warm-blooded animals, and always in regular propor-
tion, viz. 42 in every hundredth part of red-blood corpuscles.
Calcium and magnesium, under the form of phosphates, enter into
the constitution of the bones. Potassium is required for the mus-
cular tissue; for the secretions, sodium and chlorine. Without
going into further detail, it suffices to say, that the essential ele-
ments in plants are much the same. Thus the main constituents of
the organized matter of living things are reduced to about eleven ;
to wit, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur, phosphorus,
calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and chlorine. Water is
composed, as we know, of two of these, — hydrogen and oxygen ;
while the air is mainly composed of nitrogen and oxygen mechani-
cally mixed. Thus chemical analysis has discovered a comparative
simplicity in the apparently complex constituents of physical matter,
such as to establish a well-founded probability that the number of
these simple bodies is still further reducible. But spectrosopic
observations would seem to have changed this probability into cer-
tainty. First of all, they are supposed to have established the
momentous fact, (though a serious doubt has been recently raised
touching the justice of this conclusion) that the celestial bodies are
composed of the same elements as sublunary bodies. But, secondly,
more recent and carefully conducted observations have afibrded
weighty motive for concluding that most of the so-called elements
of modem chemistry are really compound bodies, capable of ulterior
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198 Causes of Being.
reduction. In an interesting Paper, read on December I2tb, 1878,
before the Royal Society, by Mr. Lockyer, that eminent astronomer
has concluded, from a long series of observations and experiments
that ' the running down of temperature in a mass of matter which is
eventually to form a star, is accompanied by a gradually increasing
complexity of chemical forms.' Consequently, vice versa, an appli-
cation of the dissociating force of heat tends, by separation of com-
pounds, to a simplification of chemical forms. This had been already
partially confirmed by past experiments. But Mr. Lockyer came to
the conclusion^ that the application of a higher temperature, sudi as
that of the electric arc, would, in harmony with the law of conti-
nuity^ produce further simplifications. The result has not belied his
expectations. He has discovered in these bodies, hitherto considered
elements, certain basic lines, common to the spectra of various so-
called elements ; which seems to point to the conclusion, that these
supposed elements are really compounds, having a common base. It
would not be seemly to forestal the conclusions of the illustrious
physicist ; but it would surpiise few who have read his Paper, should
it be eventually regarded as roost probable, if not experimentally
certain, that there are not above two or three simple bodies. Of
course, this would give additional force to the argument in favour of
the present Thesis, derived from chemical discoveries. But that
which is at present certain is amply sufficient for our purpose. B«-
member that, whether the elements be one or fifty, they are complete
substances. We have not yet reached the ultimate Material Cause,
— ^the Subject of these substances. Now, by way of summary, let
us see what these physical facts show. If there is hardly any
limit to the capacity of bodies for mutual, common, successive
transformations, (seeing that the same Matter is repeatedly passing
from inanimate to living substance, and from one grade of living
things to another throughout the range of nature, and back again
in the same or in another cycle); and if the process of every
transformation necessitates a common Subject of its two terms ; is
it not so far plain that the ultimate Subject of these changes must
be one ? Further : If all the complex bodies known in nature
are compounded of two or more of these some sixty supposed primaiy
elements whose numbers are diminishing under more careful obser-
vations, and those elements are constituted of an ultimate Subject
with its distinguishing substantial form ; surely it is reasonable to
conclude that this undetermined Subject, (that is to say, considered
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The Material Cause. 199
apart from any form), is common to them all, and numerically one
only with the unity of indetermination and indifference.
II. The Proposition is also proved by a priori demonstration.
That which is itself uninformed and is indifferently receptive of
any whatsoever substantial form within the range of bodily entities,
as well as of the dispositions necessary for the eduction of one
rather than another, is numerically one only. But the Material
Cause of all bodies, as being the Primordial Subject^ is itself unin-
formed, and is indifferently receptive of all such forms and disposi-
tions. Therefore, the Material Cause of all bodies is numerically
one only.
Tie Major is declared. For, if an entity is equally prepared to
receive any and every form within the sphere of bodily substance,
either immediately, or mediately through the previous reception
of the dispositions requisite for the reception of this or that form ;
there is no reason for a multiplication. But, as nature is not
wanting in things necessary ; so, she is not wont to abound in
things superfluous. Then, in the second place, since Primordial
Matter is uninformed ; there is no possible foundation of distinction
and consequent multiplication. Its plurality is, therefore, a sheer
impossibility. Numerical plurality is derived from individual dis-
tinction, at least in the instance of real entities ; and all distinction
is due to the form whence proceeds specific actuation. For species
gives specific, actuation gives individual, unity. Wherefore, without
forai tiiere is no foundation for plurality. This argument is con-
firmed. Any bodily form whatsoever is capable of being introduced
into any whatsoever portion of Matter, provided that the latter has
previously been fittingly disposed. Therefore, there is no need of
distinction.
PROPOSITION CXLI.
The Primordial Material Cause of bodily entities is not
a complete substance.
The TAesis is tins declared :
If the Primordial Material Cause of bodies were a complete
snbstance, one of two hypotheses must be true. The distinction
and multiplication of bodies must be the result either of super-
venient accidental, or of supervenient substantial, forms. But
neither hypothesis is admissible. Therefore, tie Antecedent is
ialse.
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200 Causes of Being,
To consider the two hypotheses separately: — i. It cannot for
a moment be admitted, that the distinction and multiplication of
bodies is due to accidental forms. For, first of all, it is contrary to
all experience. When an entity is only accidentally changed, we
perceive that it always preserves some remains of its properties,
specific action, dispositions ; and it returns more or less into its
primitive condition, whenever the accidental form recedes. Thus,
for instance, a bar of iron is heated^ and becomes malleable ; but its
chemical affinities remain, — its shape remains unless disturbed by an
extrinsic cause, — it has the same specific gravity. Again : No sooner
does the form of heat recede, than it is as cold as before and
exhibits the ordinary characteristics of iron. Again : Phosphorus
has a natural affinity with iodine ; but in the amorphous condition
it no longer exhibits that affinity. If by the action of heat it be
reconverted into ordinary phosphorus and thus the accidental impedi-
ment removed, it recovers that affinity in all its pristine energy.
Take one more instance : A man is suffering from cataract. The
crystalline lens, — an essential part of the mechanism of vision, —
has become opaque. The patient has become blind of one eye.
In all other respects he is the same as he was before. If the
cataract is successfully extracted, his power of sight returns. But
in generation and corruption of bodily substances the phenomena
are widely different. The substantial identity is lost. Properties,
activities, dispositions, are wholly changed ; and, for the most part,
there is no after possibility of immediate return from the new to
the old nature. Take the caterpillar, the chrysalis in its cocoon, the
butterfly, or moth, for an illustration. The first has feet and locomo-
tion, is soft and often hairy, has a creeping movement, is not en-
dowed with organs of reproduction, while its body-structure is rudi-
mentary as compared with that of the butterfly, though admirably
adapted to its own organic requirements, which are principally
those connected with ingestion and assimilation of food. It feeds
on the leaves and plants of trees. The second is quite different in
external appearance and lives in a dormant state, with its whole
body hermetically closed in by its chitonous integument, — ^buried,
as it were, in its own self-produced coffin, — though preparing forifcs
eventual resurrection. The third has the faculty of flight, with a
structure very distinct from either of the two former, adapted to
its peculiar life and method of motion. Its nervous system, sense-
organs, and muscular apparatus are altogether different and of a
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The Material Cause, 201
higher type. The butterfly never, by any accidental or other
change, relapses into the chrysalis or caterpillar ; nor the chrysalis,
in its torn, into the caterpillar. Take, for another illustration,
He body of an animal,— firist in its living state, then in ieathy and lastly
in a state of decomposition. It was, -in its original state, full of life
and energy^ digesting and assimilating its food, breathing, pro-
pelling its life-blood through its system, moving spontaneously
hither and thither. In the state of death all these functional
properties, that energy and life, are gone. Cold has succeeded to
beat, stiffness to pliancy. Finally, decomposition for the most part
Bets in ; and the corpse resolves into the elementary bodies of
which it was originally composed. In vain would you attempt to
bring back that mass of decomposition to the dead or living body
of the animal. Thus, then, the phenomena of generation and
corruption are experimentally distinct from, and in some respects
opposed to, mere alterations, or accidental changes. There is a
substantial identity permanent throughout the latter. TAe phos-
pkoms w phosphorus^ whether it be ordinary or amorphotbs. But, in
the former, substantial identity is lost. No one would venture
to Bay that a butterfly is substantially the same as a caterpillar^ or
that two gases are substantially the same as one liquid. Experience,
therefore, teaches that the distinction and multiplication of material
bodies are not due to mere accidental forms. No one of sane
mind could conceive^ that the difference between a diamond and a
rose-tree or between a dog and a sea-anemoney or between a viper and
an oak, was purely accidental, — that is to say, constituted by acci-
dental form alone; or that the individual distinction between the
Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of the - University of Oxford is as
accidental as the growth of each from infancy to manhood,
ii. In the hypothesis, then, that the Primordial Material Cause,
(which has been shown to be one), is a complete substance ; is it
possible that the diatinction and multiplication of bodies could be
doe to supervenient substantial forms? This is the second of the
two alternatives. There is but one answer to the question : It
cannot be. The following is the reason why. This complete
substance (which, as is supposed, is the Primordial Matter of all
bodies) must be either composite or simple. But it cannot be
composite. Therefore, if anything, it must be simple. The Minor
is thus proved. A composite substance essentially connotes an
ulterior Subject; consequently, it could not be the primary
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202 Causes of Being,
Subject. For a complete composite substance is composed of a recep-
tive power and its substantial act ; in which case^ the former must be
the ulterior Subject. It may be objected, that the above argoment
may hold good in the case of incorruptible and ingenerable bodies,
if such there be ; but that, in all those bodies which are objects of
experience^ the Primordial Material Cause must be a composite
substance. For it is an acknowledged fact, that the Material Cause
must be variously disposed for the reception of disparate substantial
forms, and that the disposition must be more elaborate in pro-
portion to the nobility of the form introduced by the action of the
efficient cause. Therefore, there must always be some previous
form in Matter, in order to prepare the way for the reception of
each particular substantial form. In a word, — to put it roughly, —
you must begin with body. But such a supposition is inadmissible ;
and the sole argument on which it rests, valueless. For, first of all,
this putative universal primary form has never given any visible
signs of its existence. The properties, common to bodily sub-
stances, are all traceable to the several forms by which these
substances are specifically constituted, and are sufficiently accounted
for by their activity. For clearness' sake, let us consider this
subject in the concrete, and take for granted that^ as modem
chemistry teaches^ there are some sixty elements, or simple bodies.
These bodies, as being elements, are primordial complete substances,
incapable of ulterior physical resolution into yet simpler complete
substance. If, therefore, any further resolution is possible, each
component will be an incomplete substance. Let us call them, in
unison with the teaching of the School, the determinating form of
each element on the one hand, and undetermined Primordial Matter
on the other. In the case of these elements, the actuation of the
Matter by the primitive forms of hydrogen^ oxygen, carbon^ calcium^
and the rest, would not postulate any previous disposition of the
Matter. But its first determination by any one of these forms
would simultaneously give to it its proper quantity and certain
qualities proper to each form. Subsequently, the combination of
two or more elements in varying proportions would dispose the
Matter in those combined elements for the introduction or eduction
of higher forms with new properties accompanying them, or at
least with modifications of the properties belonging to the component
simples; and so onward, to yet more complex combinations and
nobler forms. All, therefore, that the said supposititious form iss
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The Material Cause. 203
evoked to effect, is already amply provided for without it« in-
terference. It is coDseqnently superfluous; for there is nothing
for it to do.
If, then, the Primordial Material Cause cannot be a composite, it
remains to be seen whether it can be a simple, complete substance ;
for this is the second alternative of our dilemma. But this is
likewise inadmissible. For in such case there would be two speci6c
substantial forms together actuating the same portion of Matter;
which is impossible. For these two specific forms must either
actuate the same Matter immediately and independently of each
other, or the one must be the act of the other as already actuating
the Matter. The first supposition may be forthwith dismissed ; for
in such case the one form would not necessarily be subject of the
other ; nor would the complete substance, — ^that is to say, the Matter
as actuated by the precedent form, — be the Material Cause of the
subsequent form. But this is destructive of the hypothesis.
Neither can the second supposition stand. For it is a contradiction
in terms, that one and the same substance should be essentially
constituted in two specifically distinct natures. But each sub-
stantial form of itself essentially constitutes substance in its
specific nature. Therefore, if there were two substantial forms
in one and the same substance, that substance would be essentially
constituted in two specifically distinct natures. It will be seen at
once, that this last argument is equally &tal to both suppositions.
COEOLLAB.y.
It follows from the truth demonstrated in this Proposition, that
no physical element or elements can be the primordial Subject of
material substances. They may be the ultimate or ultimates of
chemical analysis ; but they cannot satisfy for the ultimate which
is the object of metaphysical research. It may be well to notice
how independent the latter is of the former, while the former,
however eventually determined by physical experiment and research,
mxist necessarily submit to the determination of the latter.
§a.
Real Entity op Pbimordul Matfeb.
Having demonstrated in preceding Propositions, contained under
the previous Section, the existence of a Primordial Material Cause,
-—that it is numerically one only, — and that it cannot be a complete
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substance ; it is now necessary to determine the amount of reality
that is attributable to it. Such is the purport of the Propositions
included under the present Section. It will assist the reader, if the
discussion is introduced by a few prefatory observations sufficient to
indicate the course of this inquiry. It is undoubted that Primordial
Matter cannot naturally exist, apart from the actuation of some
substantial form. It co-exists ; but it cannot exist. Consequently,
it is easier to determine the amount of reality that attaches to it,
when it is considered as forming an actual part, or constituent, of
the substantial composite, —that is to say, as actually informed, —
than as reduced by metaphysical analysis to a state of isolation. It
is for this reason that our present investigation commences with
Primordial Matter considered as existing, in the only way in which
naturally it can exist, in complete corporal substance. By the aid
of conclusions thence obtained, it will be easier afterwards to con-
sider it as it is in itself.
PROPOSITION CXLII.
It is certain that the Primordial Material Cause of bodily sub-
stance, aotually informed, — ^that is to say, as existing under the
actuation of its form in a complete substance, — ^has a oertain
real and substantial entity really distinct from the entity of its
substantial form.
To any one who examines the enunciation of this Proposition it
will be apparent^ that there are three Members included under it ;
viz. that Primordial Matter in the complete bodily substance has a
real entity; secondly, that this real entity is substantial; lastly,
that this substantial entity of Matter is really, and not conceptually
only^ distinct from the entity of its form. To take each of these
Members separately : —
I. Primary Matter in complete bodily substance has a
REAL ENTITY.
If the Primordial Material Cause had no reality, it would be
nothing. But nothing cannot be a real Subject of transformations,
generations, or generally of any sort of real change. Therefore,
there could be no generations and corruptions ; because there would
be no common Subject. As a consequence, all so-called substantial
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mutations of bodily substance would be r^uced to a series of alter-
nate creations and annihilations. Moreover, the substantial form
of all material substances, with one exception^ is educed from the
potentiality of Matter. But, if the said potentiality were a poten-
tiality of nothing, it would be no potentiality. Whence, in such
case, the forms ? They could not be evolved, or communicated^ by
secondary efficient causation ; wherefore, one and all would be
created, and all ancestral or other active generation would be not
only superfluous but impossible. Finally, — ^and this is a palmary
argument, — ^the common sense of mankind in every age has in-
stinctively recognized the real entity of Matter in material substances.
II The real entity op the Primordial Material Cause is
SUBSTANTIAL, — that is to %ay^ not accidental.
Primordial Matter enters essentially into the constitution of the
complete substantial composite. But that which is the essential
constituent of a substance, must itself be a substance, however par-
tial^ incomplete, and rudimentary ; otherwise, the essence of a sub-
stance might be in part composed of that which is not substance, —
a contradiction in terms. Again : In complete composite substance,
there is something real added to the entity of the form. But that
something cannot be an accident; for it is an integral part of sub-
stance, qua substance. Besides^ accident presupposes substance
already fully constituted as its necessary Subject. Lastly; Acci-
dent essentially postulates, as its correlative^ a possible Subject of
inhesion. But it is metaphysically impossible that Primordial
Matter should have any Subject of inhesion ; because itself is the
first Subject, and consequently can be subjected to no other.
ni. The SUBSTANTIAL ENTITY OF PRIMORDIAL MaTTER IS REALLY
DISTINCT PROM THE ENTITY OP ITS PORM.
As we have seen, Primordial Matter is indifferently receptive
of any whatsoever bodily form ; neither has it, in itself, even an
initial disposition for the reception of one form more than of
another. Consequently, it is an entity really and physically separ-
able from any of the particular, determinate forms by which it
is hie et nunc actuated ; though it cannot exist in a state of separa-
tion from all form in general. But this would be impossible,
unless there were a real distinction between the Matter and its
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form. Nor can this distinction be a m\7U>r distinction, such as
intercedes between an entity and its mode. For it is impossible
that the substantial form should be a mere mode of Matter,
since it has an entity of a far higher order than that of the Matter.
Besides, the two are sometimes physically separable from each
other ; as in the instance of a man's death, when soul and body
both exist in a state of mutual separation. Consequently, form
and Matter are really distinguishable from each other, as tking
from thing. Lastly, in bodily substance there is a real, physical
composition of Matter and form ; therefore, the entities of the two
are really distinct.
PROPOSITION CXLIIL
The Primordial Material Cause of bodily aubatanoe has its own
actual esaence; yet not without intrinsic and neoesBary re-
lation to the form.
The meaning of the Enunciation is this : Primordial Matter has
a real entity of its own, which is its essence, apart from the
intrinsic actuation of the form ; nevertheless, that real entity of
Matter essentially includes a transcendental relation to the actuat-
ing form. Hence, the Proposition contains two Members.
I. The fi£ST Member^ in which it is affirmed that the primordial
Material Cause of bodily substance has its own actual essence^ is thus
proved. Matter has a real entity of its own, apart from the in-
trinsic actuation of the form ; as has been demonstrated in the
preceding Thesis. But an entity is that which has an essence.
Therefore, the essence of the Matter is really distinct from the
essence of its form ; and the actual essence of the Matter, that is
to say, as existing in the composite, is really distinct from the
actual essence of the form. Furthermore : since Primordial Matter
is a thing that has a real essence of its own, it cannot be in-
trinsically constituted in its own dimidiate entity by its actuating
form. For a form can intrinsically constitute a nature in its
essential entity, only as act of a real subjective potentiality, in
union with which it forms the composite. Therefore, the cauadity
of the form has for its term the composite, not the potentiality.
Consequently, the essential entity of Matter cannot be communi-
cated to it by the form ; for Primordial Matter is essentially a
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simple entity, like its form, and the primary composition results
from the conjunction of the two. The above argument may be
thus confirmed. Every simple entity is of itself constituted in its
own essential nature, and not by the intervention of any other
entity ; for by this it is essentially distinguished from composite
being. But Primordial Matter is a simple entity; because it is
a pure receptivity. Therefore, etc. Again : Whenever a substantial
form intrinsically constitutes an essential nature, the entity so
constituted is ip9o facto a complete substance. But Primordial
Matter is an incomplete substance ; as has been demonstratively
shown in the hundred and forty-first Proposition. Therefore, the
substantial form cannot intrinsically constitute the essential
nature of Primordial Matter. Finally: An additional argument
is derived from the nature of a pure potentiality. For it is of the
nature of a potentiality, that its act is an extrinsic term ; that is to
say, extrinsic to its own essential entity and added to it. Thus,
— to take an illustration from an active potentiality^ — ^the faculty
of the intellect is actuated by a thought. That thought is extrinsic
to the essential entity of the faculty, and supervenes after the
fashion of a real addition. This is plain enough ; for the intellectual
faculty remains essentially the same, before the thought, in union
with the thought, after the departure of the thought. But the
thought terminates the faculty, and is a real addition to it ; since
there is a reality in the faculty which was not there before, and a
reality which, while reducing the faculty to act, forms no part of
its essence. It is true that, in the above instance, the form is
an accidental form, and the potentiality active, not passive. This,
however, in no way affects the argument nor, as a consequence, the
force of the illustration. To resume : — If the form should intrin-
sically constitute the entity of Primordial Matter, Matter would
intrinsically include the form in its own essential definition as
its constitutive, and not as an extrinsic term or addition. It
would follow from this, that Primordial Matter could not be a pure
potentiality, or receptivity. It may be further urged in confirma-
tion of this argument, that, if the essential entity of the Primary
Material Cause were intrinsically constituted by the form, it would
change with every change of form j and, consequently, could not
be numerically one only, which it has been proved to be in the
hundred and fortieth Thesis. Secondly, it would in such case be
difficult to understand, how the entity of Primordial Matter could
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be really distinct from that of the form and could, accordingly,
mate real composition with it.
II. The second Member of the Proposition, wherein it is de-
clared that the Material Cause of bodily substance includes in its
essence an intrinsic and necessary relation to its form, is thus proved.
Every potentiality includes in its essential nature an intrinsic trans-
cendental relation to its own proper act, or form. But Prinoiordial
Matter is a pure potentiality. Therefore, it essentially includes in
its entity an intrinsic transcendental relation to its own proper act.
But the substantial form is the proper act of Primordial Matter.
Therefore, Primordial Matter,— or the Primary Material Cause, —
essentially includes in its entity an intrinsic transcendental relation
to the substantial form.
Note. This transcendental relation of Primordial Matter does not
primarily regard any one form in particular more than another;
seeing that it is indifferently receptive of any whatsoever form.
But it is terminated to substantial form in general. Hence, thongh
there be changes of form in Matter; nevertheless, the essential
relation of Matter to form never changes. For Matter is formally
related to its act ; and it can be actuated by any form indifferently.
PKOFOSITION CXLIV.
In the substantial composite the Primary Material Cause of
bodily substance has, in and of itself, an actuality of existence
really distinct ttom. the existence of the substantial form;
nevertheless, it is essentially dependent on the form for its
existence.
I. The first Member of this Thesis, which affirms that in the
substantial composite Primordial Matter has^ in and of itself, an actu-
alify of existence distinct from the existence of the substantial form,
follows as a corollary from the preceding Proposition, if interpreted
by the light of the doctrine touching actual essence and existence
established in the second Book. For it was there seen that the dis-
tinction between actual essence and its existence is not real but
conceptual; though founded on a reality. If, then^ the actual
essence of Primordial Matter is really distinct from the actual
essence of its form^ it must of necessity be that its existence should
in like manner be distinct from the existence of the form. Then
again : Primordial Matter, as presupposed in order of nature to the
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form, and as Subject out of which and in which the generation of
complete bodily substance is effected, is something actual. But if
something actual, it is something existent and with an existence
after a manner prior in order of nature to the existence of the form ;
therefore, really distinct from this latter. Finally: The actual
entity of complete bodily substance is composed of two partial enti-
ties. Therefore, its integfral existence is composed of two partial
existences ; and as the entities are really distinct the one from the
other, so must the existences be in like manner.
n. Similarly, the second Membeb, in which it is asserted that
tit existence of Primordial Master is essentially dependent on thefomty
follows as a corollary from the previous Proposition. For it was
there shown that the essential entity of Primordial Matter, or the
Material Cause of bodily substance, includes a necessary, intrinsic^
transcendental relation to the substantial form ; therefore, h pari,
the existence of the former must have a like relation to the existence
of the latter. But the only transcendental intrinsic relation which
a pure passive potentiality can have to its determining act, is one of
dependence. For a purely passive potentiality, or receptivity, has
an entity and existence so imperfect that it cannot be without the
assistance of the form. What the definite nature of this dependence
is, will be explained later on.
PKOPOSITION CXLV.
Although the Primary Material Cause of bodily substanoe is not
in such sense a pure potentiality as to exclude metaphysioaly
and some sort of entitative, aot in the oomposite ; nevertheless,
in respeet of the informing act as likewise in comparison with
aot simply and absolutely so oalled, it is truly and properly
denominated a pure potentiality.
Prolegomenon I.
Potentiality, — to repeat a division which has been already given
in the Chapter on possibles, (Book II.), — ^is twofold ; viz. objective and
subjective. That is said to be an objective potentiality, which in
DO sense actually exists itself; though it could exist, if a sufficing
efficient cause should will to produce it. Its existence is possible ;
because there is no extrinsic or intrinsic repugnance. A subjective
potentiality is something of and in itself, as being a capacity for
its act. Subjective potentiality is twofold. There is a passive
VOL. II. p
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potentiality, or pure receptivity of its act. There is also an active po-
tentiality, or capacity for effecting its act, by which, — ^if immanent^-—
it is itself informed. This latter has received under different points
of view the respective names oi faculty, power ^f arcs', and maybe
at once dismissed, as having little or nothing to do with the present
discussion. It should be noticed, however, that an active poten-
tiality is a complete entity within its own Category ; which a pas-
sive potentiality is not. From the difference between objective and
subjective potentiality relatively to actual existence, there arises
some little variation of phrase. A thing is said to be m objective
polentiality^ because in itself it is nothing. But a thing is not said
to be in subjective potentiality, (in other words, it is not put in
obliquo\ unless it is absolutely — in some way or other however
imperfect — an act, and receptive only in some particular way ; as,
for instance, substance is in subjective potentiality to this or that
accident. If it is not act properly so called, it is said to be a sub-
jective potentiality {in recto).
Prolegomenon II.
As many as are the senses of the word potentiality , so many are
the senses of the word act ; for the two are correlatives. Act may
be understood as the correlative of objective potentiality ; and then it
means something actuul and exiting. Or it may be taken for the
correlative oi subjective potentiality; and then it means the inform-
ing act completive of the composite, or the act terminative of a
faculty, according as the potentiality is passive or active. Of
these two, the one that corresponds with objective potentiality is
absolutely act, as being in itself actual ; the other that corre-
sponds with subjective potentiality is relatively or respectively act,
forasmuch as it is act of something else. Both admit of sub-
division. For act, absolutely such, is either simply act or act
somehow. That is simply such, which, by virtue of its own actu-
ality, includes all that formal perfection which composite entities
receive through their substantial form ; as, for instance, an
Angel. It is said to be act somehow {secundum quid), when it
is something, yet so imperfect as to require some act in order
to complete its entity and enable it to exist; that is to say,
though an imperfect something in itself, it only becomes actual in
union with another. It might roughly perhaps be called a half act.
Act, respectively such, is either physical or metaphysical. Of these
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physical act is a physical form really actaating Matter, (if a sub-
stantial form), or substance, (if an accidental form); and consti-
tuting a composite, by the union of itself with its Subject, in the
physical order of things. Metaphysical act is real, but not physical ;
that is to say, the entities are real, yet there is no real or physical
distinction between the actuating and the actuated, but only a con-
ceptual distinction founded in reality, (rationis ratiocinata!) ; as^ for
instance, existence is the act qf essence^ subsistence is the act qfsub^
st4ince^ and the like. With a discrimination parallel to that which
has been signalized in the use of the word potentiality ^ a thing is
said to be in act, {in obliquo), as contradistinguished from that which
is in objective potentiality ; while a thing is said to be act, {in
recto), as contradistinguished from a subjective potentiality. That
which is ahsolutely act has been called entitative by some Doctors of
the School; that which is relatively f%ct,/ormaL The meaning in
hoth expressions is obvious.
Proleqomenon III..
There is a change of phrase in the second Member of the present
Proposition, which it may not be amiss to explain. Primordial
Matter, or the Primary Material Cause of bodily substance, is said
to be a pure potentiality in respect of the informing act ; as also
in comparison with act absolutely and simply so called. The reason
for this difference of expression is to be found in the distinct respect
of Primordial Matter to the two species of acts. For it has a
transcendental intrinsic relation to informing acts ; whereas it has
no intrinsic relation to act« absolutely and simply such, i.e. to
separate or pure forms, yet can be compared with them.
I. The first Member of the Proposition, wherein it is declared
that the Primary Material Cause of bodily substance is not in such
sense a pure potentiality as to exclude all metaphysical act in the com'
posite, is thus demonstrated. That which has a certain transcen-
dental perfection and goodness of its own, does not exclude all,
rather it necessarily includes some, metaphysical act. But Primor-
dial Matter has a certain transcendental perfection and goodness of
its own. Therefore, etc. The Major is thus proved. That which
has a certain perfection and goodness proper to itself, must have
some, at least transcendental, actuality. But transcendental ac-
tuality connotes a metaphysical act. The Minor is proved after
this manner, according to its separate parts, (a) Primordial Matter
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has a certain transcendental perfection proper to itself. For the
integral composite is more perfect than either of its parts ; there-
fore, than its form. But^ if so, Primordial Matter most give to
the composite a perfection distinct from that of the actuating form.
Consequently, it has it to give, (i) Primordial Matter has a tran-
scendental goodness proper to itself. For everything that is ap-
petible, or desirable, is good. But Primordial Matter is appetible
alike by the substantial form and the complete composite ; because,
by reason of its own transcendental perfection, (and not merely as
means to an end), it is agreeable to both. The above argument is
thus confirmed. That which is the first Subject, must have a
partial act of subsistence, proportioned to itself in the composite,
which is at least transcendental ; — in a word, a metaphysical act.
For that which is the primary subject of all bodily substances^ must
have some sort of subsistence proper to itself; since an entity must
subsist in itself before it can, — ^in order of nature, — become Subject
of that which is other than itself.
II. The second Member, which affirms that the Primary Material
Cause of bodily substance is not in such sense a pure potentiality as
to exclude entitative act of whatever kind in the composite^ is thus
proved. A pure subjective potentiality, or receptivity, does not
exclude, — nay, it necessarily includes, — some sort of entitative act.
. But Primordial Matter is a pure subjective potentiality. There-
fore, etc. The following is a declaration of the Antecedent. A pure
subjective potentiality does not exclude all reality, or denote the
simple nothingness of itself. On the contrary, subjective is essen-
tially distinguished from objective potentiality, (as has been already
suggests in the first Prolegomenon) ; in that the former is some-
thing entitalively real, the latter nothing entitatively real, in itself.
But if subjective potentiality is something real in itself, it must
be a real entity in some sort of a way; and, if it be an actml
potentiality, (as it is when in union with its actuating form),
it must be somehow existent, as it were, in its own right. If, then,
it be in any \vay a real entity and really existent qf its own nature^
although necessarily in connection with its form ; it must include
in itself some sort of an entitative act, — that act by which it
is rescued from a state of mere objective potentiality, or of mere
possibility. Again : That which really and properly receives, or is
capable of receiving, actuating forms, must be in some way or other
entitatively real. For how can that which has no real entity, —
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The Material Cause. 213
no actuality of being, — ^be truly capable of receiving anything?
In order to be able to receive, it is first necessary to be. Hence,
Primordial Matter must have some sort of real entity, prior in
order of nature to its actuation and, a fortiori^ to the complete
composite.
III. The third Member, in which it is declared that Primordial
Matter is properly denominated a pure subjective potentiality in respect
of its informing act, is proved in this wise. That which is not an
informing act and in its own intrinsic nature and formal concept
does not include, but positively excludes, any physically informing
act^ but at the same time includes essentially in its nature a
transcendental relation of mere receptivity, (or of passive capacity),
to act or form, is truly said to be a pure potentiality in respect of
its informing act, or substantial form. But such is the entity of
Primordial Matter. For, as we have seen, it is simple ; and, as
such, excludes the possibility of intrinsic composition with any
informing act, so far as its own dimidiate entity is concerned.
Again : Its essence is exclusively that of a passive potentiality, or
receptivity. Further : It cannot exist, so imperfect is its nature,
save by the aid of its substantial act ; which manifestly shows that
it can include in its own entity no physical or formal act.
IV, The fourth Member, which asserts that tie Primary Material'
Cause of bodily substance is properly denominated a pure subjective
potentiality in comparison with act ahsohitely and simply so called^ is
demonstrated as follows. Let us recall to mind what is meant by an
act of this description. It is a complete substance and form which is
absolutely constituted in itself by virtue of its own actuality; such as
is found in the instance of purely spiritual natures. It is intrinsically
in want of nothing outside itself for its own substantial constitution
and existence. But, if Primordial Matter, by reason of its extreme
indigence, excludes all, even actuating, form from its essential
definition and consequently all formal act^ — ^if, besides, it essen-
tially connotes such a dependence on its substantial form that
without that form it cannot naturally exist ; — i fortiori, must it
be considered as exclusive of simple form or act, and as a pure
potentiality in comparison with, not however in relation to, such
acts. Again : That which of all realities is the most indeterminate
and is wholly and indifierently defterminable, is truly •conceived as
a pure subjective potentiality in comparison with that which is the
most perfectly determinate of all finite things. But Primordial
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214 Causes of Being.
Matter is the most indeterminate, and wholly as well as indiffer-
ently determinable, of all realities ; while a simple act is the most
perfectly determinate. Therefore, etc. The Major is evident. For
that which is indeterminate but determinable, is potential of deter-
mination^ that is to say, is capable of receiving determination ; and
that which is most indeterminate and wholly determinable is porely
potential of determination, that is to say, is a pnre subjective
potentiality.
Corollary I.
It follows, that Primordial Matter^ considered exclusively as
it is in itself, is truly said to be a pure, and as it were remote,
potentiality in respect of accidental forms; for. these follow upon
its union with the substantial form and the constitution of the
composite.
Corollary II.
From the declaration of doctrine made in this Proposition it
follows, that it would be ambiguous, if not inaccurate, to speak of
Primordial Matter as being in pure potentiality, without some
addition. For this would sound as though Matter were only in
objective potentiality, that is to say, nothing in itself, and only
existing logically and, — may the expression be pardoned? —
potestatively^ in another ; which is untrue. But it is justly called
a pure subjective potentiality; because a subjective potentiality is
9omething^ albeit the most imperfect and least entitative of all
things. The word j^i^r^ regards physical, not metaphysical act.
Corollary III.
It follows that Primordial Matter is naturally ungenerative, indi-
visible, incorruptible, indestructible. It is unffenerated; because it
is first Subject, and generation is primarily distinguished from
creation, for that it connotes and postulates a Subject in which it
may be affected. This is to be understood of passive generation;
but active generation likewise essentially requires a Subject into
which it may introduce the form. It is ungenerative ; because it is
a purely passive potentiality, and to g^enerate is to act. It is indi-
visible; because it is an unquantified receptivity. It is incorruptible;
because it is simple, and corruption consists in a resolution of parts.
It is naturally indeetruclible ; because annihilation, — ^the only manner
of destruction possible to it, — is beyond the power of any natural force.
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Hence, lastly, it is not naturally subject to either addition or
subtraction.
C0HOLLA.11Y IV.
Primordial Matter cannot exist without information by some
form. Hence, in all substantial changes, the recession of an exist-
ing form is dependent on the accession^ or introduction, of another.
The former is expelled by the action of the latter. Whether this
later be dispositive and transitory or completive and final, in no
wise affects the truth of the doctrine. Primordial Matter can never
remain alone. It requires some act.
§3-
The doctrine op St. Thoma.s touching Primordial Matter.
As the present Chapter embraces a question of exceptionally grave
interest and importance, in face of the many and divergent theories
teaching the fundamental constitution of material substances, which
have in turn been advocated from the earliest times up to this
present^ and as no part of Scholastic Metaphysics has been so ruth«
lessly assailed by gnostic and agnostic,. if indeed in the rank oi
its assailants gnostic there be ; the author has judged that it
would be conducive to the main purpose of this Work as revealed
in the title, if he presented the teaching of the Angelic Doctor to
the reader under a separate Section, For much the same reason he
has thrown together, in the succeeding Section, all the difficulties
and arguments indirectly or directly marshalled against the truth of
the doctrine in general, and against each Proposition in particular.
That St. Thomas acknowledged the existence of Primordial
Matter, or of a first Subject of bodily transformations, is beyond all
doubt. Nor was it possible to anticipate otherwise from one who
was 80 ardent an admirer, and so faithful a disciple, of the philosophy
of Aristotle. As a fact, questions about vXiy crop up over and over
again throughout his Works. Its metaphysical position, (as one may
call it), he determines, in accordance with the enunciation of the
hundred and tAirty-nifUi Proposition. ' Matter,' he tells us, * is the
first Subject which is not in any other ^.' And, again, in another
place ; ' It is of the essential nature of Matter,' (he is evidently re-
ferring in both passages to Primordial Matter), ^ that it cannot be
* 'Quia nutoria ett subjectum primum qnod non est in alio.* 4 d. xii, Q. it «• i*
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in any other ; bat that itself should be the first Subject ^' That
he considers the first Subject of bodily entities, — in other words,
Primordial Matter, — to be numerically one only, in accordance with
the teaching of the hundred and fortieth Proposition, is equally in-
disputable. For it is not only to be gathered indirectly from his
declarations^ (presently to appear), as to its indistinction and indi-
visibility ; but he categorically affirms it in the following words :
* You must know that Primordial Matter is said to be numerically
one in all things ^ ; ' i. e. in all bodily substances subject to genera-
tion and corruption. It is necessary to introduce this conditioning
clause, because of certain other passages in which St. Thomas makes
an exception to this statement in favour of the celestial bodies
which, in accordance with the physical theories of his day, he sup-
posed to be incapable of generation or corruption, and consequently
to have a Primordial Matter diflerent from that of sublunary
bodies. As the said theory is supposed to have been exploded by
subsequent observation, (though that has been rendered somewhat
doubtful, as it would seem^ by the observations of Mr. Lockyer); it
suffices to call attention to the fact and there to leave it. That
Primordial Matter, in the judgment of St. Thomas, is not a com-
plete substance, can be established by the most abundant evidence.
Thus, for instance, he informs Brother Sylvester, * That is called
Matter, which has being from something that accrues to it ; because
of itself it has incomplete being, or rather none at all *; ' that is to
say, it cannot exists but only co-exist. That he does not intend to
reduce Primordial Matter to utter nothingness, will appear from the
next quotation and from others that are to follow. It must be re-
membered, in connection with this subject, that the word being^ (as
was fully explained in the second Book), represents two distinct
concepts ; viz. that of essence, and that of existence. This latter
Primordial Matter by itself cannot have ; because that which exists
is in act ; and a pure potentiality excludes any physical act of whatso-
ever sort. But it may, — nay, must, — ^have a partial entity, however
intrinsically dependent upon form. Hence, St. Thomas observes,
that ^Although Matter cannot exist by itself; nevertheless, it can
^ ' De ratione matoriae est quod non sit in alio, sed qaod ipsa sit piimum sabjec-
tum.' Spmiu, a. 2, e., infi.
* *ScieDdum est etiam, quod materia prima dicitur una numero in omnibus.*
Ofuae, XXXI, {alUer XXV I J), De prineipiia naturae, ante med,
' * Materia didtur, quod babet esse ex eo quod sibi advenit> quia de se esse incom-
pletuTD, immo nullum esae habet.' Ibidem, in init.
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The Material Cause. 217
be considered by itself^.' Bat, if it can be metapbjsically considered
by itself, it must have some reality, or object of consideration.
Again : The same Doctor in many passages^ (some of which shall be
now g^ven), ascribes to Primordial Matter the extremest imperfection
of being. These passages establish two points. First of all,
according to the teaching of St. Thomas, Primordial Matter has an
entity of some sort, — is something real. Secondly, it is nevertheless
not a complete sabstance. ' Primordial Matter,' he says, * is the
most incomplete of all entities ^.' Again : ' Every thing is active, in
proportion as it is Being in act. Wherefore, by how much certain
entities have greater deficiency* of Being, by so much are they
less active. This is plain in the instance of Primordial Matter;
in which there is no active potentiality, because it holds the lowest
grade among entities ^.' Once more : ' Since Matter/ he remarks,
' as such, is in potentiality, the primordial material principiant must
be foremost in potentiality and so, most imperfect^.' Lastly, in
another place, he distinctly asserts the impossibility of Matter
being terminated to existence without its form. Tliese are his
words : ' Being %t%elf is the proper act, not of the Matter, but of
the whole substance. For to he is the act of that of which we can
predicate that it is. Now, Being is not predicated of Matter, but
of the whole ^.' Two interesting and instructive passages will serve
to crown this part of the teaching of St. Thomas, which corre-
sponds with the first three Propositions in the present Article. The
Angelic Doctor proposes to himself the question, whether Matter
without form was prior in order of time to Matter informed. That
it is in some sort prior in order of nature^ follows as a necessary
consequence from the fact that it is, as St. Thomas asserts, the first
Snbjeot of all forms. In solving this problem, he argues as follows :
' It is impossible to admit that the informity of Matter preceded
* 'QuamTis materia seoundnm se one non poasit, tamen poteit seoundum se conai-
deiari.' VerU. Q. iii, a. 5, 3».
* *NiiIlo modo . . . rabstantiae Bpirittiales ad esse saum requirant materiam pri-
mam, quae est inoompletiaaimam inter omnia entia.' Spiritu. a. 1, e., v, m.
* 'Unomquodque est activnm, secundnm quod est ens acta: unde qnanto aliqua
habent defidentias esse, tanto mlnos sunt activa : sicut patet de materia prima in qua
non est actiTa potentia, quia tenet tdtimum gradum in entibiis.' 3 d. xiv, a. 4, e.
* 'Cmn enim materia, in qoantom hi^usmodi, sit in potentia, oportet quod primnm
prindpiom materiale sit maxime in potentia, et ita maxime perfectum.' i** iv, i, e.
' 'Ipsmn esse non est proprios actus materiae, aed sabstantiae totios; ejus enim
actus est esse, de quo possumus dicere quod sit. Esse autem non didtur da materia^
aed de toto.' Cg. L. II, &», 54..
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2i8 Causes of Being.
ill time its information and distinction. As to the point of in-
formation, indeed, the thing is evident. For, if unformed Matter
had preceded in duration, it would have been then already in act ;
because its creation involves this.' St. Thomas, as will presently
be seen, maintains that Matter cannot possibly be generated. That
it is not sole reason of its own existence, is yet plainer. But he
professes to accept its creation in time^ — ^that is, its concreation, —
on faith in a Divine Revelation. To continue with the quotation :
— ' For the term ' (or, insult) • of creation is Being in act ; but that
which is act,, is form. Therefore, to say that Matter preceded
without form, is to say that Being in act is without an act ; which
involves a contradiction. Nor can it be said^ that it had eome
common form; and that, afberwards, different additional forms
supervened' by which it received distinction. For this would be
identical with the opinion of the ancient physicists, who laid it
down that Primordial Matter is some body or other in act, — as, for
instance, fire, air^ water, or something betwixt and between.
Whence it followed, that to he made was really nothing else than to
be altered. Because, since that preceding form gave actual being
in the Category of Substance, and caused their being this some-
thing,' (i. e. this specific entity), ' it followed that the supervening
form did not make Being in act simply, but made Being in act
sucAy which is the province of an accidental Form/ This last sen-
tence requires, perhaps, a little elucidation, St. Thomas, then,
argues that, if there were a preceding form common to all Matter,
that form would actuate Matter, and so constitute one common
complete composite substance with its specific nature. For this is
proper to every substantial form. But, if so, every form that
came afterwards to the same already informed Matter could only
inform a completely constituted substance, — a being that is tAig
eomething. It could^ therefore, only modify it by making this same
being, already definitely complete, snchy — that is to say, with such
and such accidental distinctions. But this would be to alter, not to
make. Now, to proceed with the quotation : ' And so, the later
forms would be accidents^ whose result is not generation but
alteration. Hence^ it must be afiBbrmed, that Primordial Matter
was created neither wholly without form nor under one common
form ; but under distinct forms.' Therefore, it is not a complete
substance. * Wherefore, . . . the informity of Matter, as
Augustine says, did not precede its information or distinction
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The Material Cause. 219
in time, bat in origin or nature only ; in the way that potentiality
ifi prior to act, and a part to the whole ^.' From the above
passage we gather, i. That, in the judgment of the Angelic Doctor,
there is such a thing as Primordial Matter; ii. That it is the first
Subject of all substantial forms ; iii. That it is not a complete sub-
stance ; iy. That it must have been concreated under the actuation
of more than one distinct form. The second of the two promised
passages is taken from the same Article ; and consists of an answer
to a difficulty, suggested by the Mosaic Cosmogony as given in the
first Chapter of the Book of Oenesis. The difficulty may be thus
stated. It is there said that ' the earth was void and empty ' (Gen.
i. 2); by which, as St. Augustine understands it, is designated
Primordial Matter. Therefore, according to this interpretation of
the words of Moses, unformed Matter preceded in order of time
Matter actuated by its forms. To this objection St. Thomas gives
an answer, from which the following extract is made : ' Augastine
maintains that under the name of earth and water^ (referring to the
words of Moses already quoted, and to those others^ ' darkness was on
the face of the deep* and again, * the spirit of God moved over
the waters,^ iiideni),^ is understood in this place simply Primordial
Matter. For Moses could not convey the idea of Primordial Matter
to a rude people, except under the likeness of things which they
knew. Hence he represents it under the likeness of many things. He
does not call it water only, or earth only, for fear that Primordial
Matter might be considered as really earth or water. Nevertheless,
' 'Impontbile est dicere quod informitas materiae tempore praecesserit vel forma- ,
tSoMni ipmnn vel distinctionem. Et de ibrmatione qnidem mamfestam est. Si enim
Bateria infonnis pneceasit duratione, haec erat jam in actu ; boo enim creatio importat.
CreatioDts enim terminus est ens actu ; ipsum autem quod est actus, est forma. Dicere
igitor materiam praecedere sine forma, est dicere ens actu sine actu, quod implicat
ooDtnifictioDeia. Nee etiam potest did, quod habuit aliquam fonnam communem,
et portmodum supeKrenenint ei foimae divvnae, qoibus sit distincta^ Quia boo esset
idem cum opinione antiquomm natnialimn* qui posnemnt materiam primam esse
aliqnod corpus in actu, puta ignem, aerem, aut aquam, aut aliquod medium : ex quo
sequebatur quod fieri non esset nisi alterari. Quia, cum ilia forma praecedens duet
ON leta in genere substantiae, et fiftoeret esse boo aliquid, sequebatur quod super-
veoisM forma non ftoeret simplioiter ens actu, sed ens aetu boe, quod est proprium
fimse aocidsntalis ; et sic sequentes formae enent accidentia^ secundum quae non
■ttwiditnr gmisratio, sed alteratio. Undo oportei dicere, quod materia prima neque
fint creata omnino sina fonna, neque sub forma ana communi, sed sub fonnis distinctis.
Et its, si informitas materiae referatur ad oonditionem primae materiae, quae seoun-
dam se non babet aliquam formam, informitas materiae non praeoessit formationem
Ku distfakctionem ipsius tempore, ut Augustinus didt loo. dt. supra, sed origine seu
naiura tantum, eo modo quo poientia est prior actu, et pars toto.' i** IzTi, i, o.
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220 Causes of Being,
it has a resemblance to earth, seeing that it is the substratum
of forms ; and to water, inasmuch as it has an aptitude to be in-
formed by different forms. The earth, then, is ' void and empty ^^ or
invisible, and incomposite> for the reason that Matter is cognized
by means of the form. Hence, considered in itself, it is said to be
invisible, or empty ; and its potentiality is fulfilled by the form \*
St. Thomas does not flinch, one may see, even before the seeming
authority of St. Augustine ; but stoutly maintains his point, that
Primordial Matter could not possibly have preceded substance in
order of time. Neither, retorts the Doctor, could St. Augustine have
meant to suggest anything of the kind. It is plain, on tbe con-
trary, that he considered Matter to be unintelligible and empty of
existing reality without form. Consequently^ he could not have
supposed its pre-existence in its unformedness.
Let us now proceed to determine^ whether the teaching of the
Angelic Doctor confirms the conclusions touching the reality of
Primordial Matter, which are embodied in the hundred and foHy-
seeond^ hundred and /brfy-tAird, and hundred and forty-fourik
Propositions. It is there maintained, first of all, that Primordial
Matter^ as existing under its actuating form in the constituted
composite, has a real substantial entity really distinct from tbe
entity of its form ; and consequently that, considered in and by
itself, it has an imperfect entity and existence of its own, though
with intrinsic dependence on the form in both cases. Now, as to
the first point, the opinion of St. Thomas has been unequivocally
declared in the passages already quoted. For, when he asserts that
Primordial Matter is the most imperfect of all entities and, again,
that it is incapable of generation and was therefore created, he
manifestly implies that it has some real entity of its own; and
when he Airther proceeds to declare that it could not have existed
alone but must have been concreated with its forms, he virtually
asserts its necessary dependence on form for its entity and exist-
^ * AugostinuB eniin yult quod nomine teme et aquae signifioetnr in hoc looo ^Ma
materia prima. Non enim poterat Moyses rudi populo materiam primam exprimera
nid tub similitudine rerum eiB notarum. Unde et sub multipliei mmilitudine earn
ezpiimit, non TocanB earn tantum aquam, vel tantum terram, ne videatur secondom
rei veritatem materia prima esse vel terra vel aqua. Habet tamen similitudinem cam
terra, in quantum subddet formis ; et cum aqua, in quantum est apta formari diyersa
fbrmis. Secundum hoc ergo dicitur terra inanis et vacua, vel invisibilis et inoompo-
sita, quia materia per formam oognoscitur. Unde in se oonsiderata dicitur invisibiiii
vel inania \ et ejus potentia per formam repletur/ i** Ixvi, i, i".
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The Material Cause. 221
t
ence. Furthermore : The passages about to be quoted in order to
exhibit the teaching of St. Thomas as to the second point, will
a fortiori establish the truth of the first. For, if Matter, considered
as it is in itself apart from the form, has its own partial entity ;
takings into consideration that it is first Subject and universal
recipient of bodily forms, it must retain that same entity in com-
plete substance. In confirmation, then, of the second point, let us
hear what St. Thomas has to reveal concerning the reality of
Primordial Matter. ' That is called Primordial Matter,' he writes,
' which is in the Category of Substance, as a sort of potentiality,
cognized apart from species and form and even privation ; but,
nevertheless, susceptive of forms and privations'.* Now, the
description here given leaves no doubt, that the Doctor is speaking
of Primordial Matter considered apart from all form. Yet of it he
declares that it is in the Category of Substance ; while, on the other
hand, we know that none but real things find a place in the Cate-
gories. Then again, he' adds that it is really susceptive of forms
and privations. But nothingness is not in a condition to receive
either the one or the other. Proceed we to another passage : 'Although
Primordial Matter is without form ; nevertheless, there is in it an
imitation of the First Form. For, however weak the being that
it has ; still, that being is an imitation of the Fiii^t Being ^.' Here
again, there can be no doubt that the writer is alluding to
Primordial Matter in and by itself ; yet he compares it with Ood,
and declares that its being is an imitation of His Being. There-
fore, it has a being of its own. Once again : In pursuance of the
same line of thought, St. Thomas makes elsewhere the following
striking observation : * When Avicebron argues thus : There is
some Entity which is cause of motion, itself unmoved, to wit, the
First Maker of things, therefore, there is something which is moved
and acted upon only; his conclusion must be granted. But
this is Primordial Matter, which is pure potentiality ; just as
God is pure Act ^.' In the above passage St. Thomas contrasts
^ 'Id oommuniter materia prima nominator quod est in geoere lubetantiae, ut
potentia qnaedam intellecta praeter omnem speciem et formam, et etiam praeter pri-
ntionem ; qnae tamen est Busceptiva et formarum et privationam ; ut patet per Au-
gnstinum . . . et per PhiloBopham.' Spiritu. a. i^ e. in init,
* * Quamyifl materia prima sit iiiformiB, tamen inest ei imitatio primae formae :
quntumcunque enim debile esse habeat, illud tamen est imitatio primi entis* Verit.
Q.iii.a.5. i«
' 'Sciendum est tamen, quod cum Avicebron sic argument atur : IS^t aliquid quod
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222 Causes of Being,
Primordial Matter with God, — taking (so to speak) the two opposite
poles of Being, — God, the infinitely Perfect, pure Act, first efficient
Cause, Immutable, on the one hand ; and Primordial Matter, the
most imperfect, pure passive potentiality, efi&cient of nothing, subject
to the causality of all bodily forms, on the other. But the argument
of Avicebron would be utterly nugatory, if Primordial Matter had
no entity of its own. Yet St. Thomas acknowledges its validity ;
and on the strength of it institutes the comparison alluded to
above. Once more : In a parallel passage, the Angelic Doctor
returns to the same contrast, in order to put in clearer evidence the
pure potentiality of Matter. These are his words: 'Primordial
Matter which is the first recipient holds the same place relatively
to passive potentiality^ as God Who is first Agent holds relatively
to active potentiality. Wherefore, Matter is its own passive
potentiality; as God is His own active Potentiality^.* The
argument needs no elucidation. But it is of importance to notice
that, when God is said to be His own active Potentiality, active
Potentiality is identified by St. Thomas with pure act. All idea of
mere facultative capacity, capable of a perfecting act though not
itself in actj must be here rigorously excluded ; otherwise, God
could not be pure Act ; and (which is, of course, a secondary cod-
sideration) the contrast instituted would suffer. To add one other
quotation: — St. Thomas writes^ 'Matter, if its nature could be
defined, would have for difference simply its relation to form ; and
for genus, merely its substantiality^.' There cannot be a doubt
that St. Thomas is here considering Primordial Matter in and of
itself; for, considered as existiug in the integral composite, its
relation would not be to form in general but to thie specific form.
In the imagined definition, then, he ranges Matter under the Cate-
gory of Substance ; while he assumes for difference its essential
intrinsic dependence on form. The reason of this is, that an in-
complete, as opposed to complete substance^ is differentiated by its
est iiiovens non motum, scilicet primiu factor rerum ; ergo ex opposUo est aliquid quod
est inotum et patiens tantum; hoc concedendum est. Sed hoc est materia prima, quae
est poteotia pura, sicat Deus est actas purus.' i** czv, i, 2°*.
^ ' Hoc modo se habet materia prima, quae est primum recipiens, ad potentiam pas-
sivam ; sicut se habet Deus, qui est primum agens, ad potentiam activam. £t ideo
materia est sua potentia passiva, cdcut et Deus sua potentia activa.' i d, iii, Q. 4.
a. 7, 4™.
* * Materia autem, si ejus essentia definiretur, haberet pro differentia ipsum saum
ordinem ad formam, et pro genere ipsam suam substantiam.* Quol. ix, a. 6, 3".
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The Material Catise. 223
dependence on a partner substantial constituent ; while, of the two
incomplete substances, Matter is distinguished from form, in that its
dependence on this latter is one of pure receptivity or passive
potentiality.
It now remains to show the correspondence between the teaching
of the Angelic Doctor and that given in the hundred andforty-ffth
Proposition and in the accompanying Corollaries. It is maintained
in that Proposition that, though Primordial Matter is not a pure
potentiality in such sense as to exclude any even metaphysical
act, still it is truly denominated a pure potentiality in respect of
form of whatsoever kind. In the third Corollary it is further
stated, that Matter is naturally ungenerated, ungenerative, indi*
visible, incorruptible, indestructible. In the fourth Corollary it is
added that Matter cannot exist, saye under the actuation of some
form. The first and second Corollaries have here been purposely
omitted ; because the latter is purely technological, while the subject
of the former requires, and will receive, separate consideration.
Previously to tracing this conformity, it will be of advantage to
introduce a passage from St. Thomas, which will throw considerable
light on the Scholastic use of the two terms, potentiality and act.
' To be the first potentiality,' writes the Doctor, * does not corre-
spond with Matter according to the original signification of the
word ; because the word, potentiality^ was primarily instituted to
signify the principiant of action. But secondarily, in a transferred
sense that also which receives the action of the agent is said to
have potentiality. And this is passive potentiality. So then, as
operation or action, in which active potentiality finds its comple-
ment, answers to active potentiality ; in like manner, that which
answers to passive potentiality, as being its perfection and comple-
ment, is called act. It is for this reason, that every form is called an
act, — even the separate forms themselves^.' ' In the instance of these
latter, however. — that is to say, of separate or pure forms, — it must
not be supposed that the term is used in the sense of a physical act ;
^ * Ease primam potentiam non oonvenit materiae seoundum principalem significa-
tionem potemtiae ; quia, ut dictum est in corp. art., potentia primo imporita est ad
significandum principium actionis ; sed secundo translatum est ad hoc, ut illud etiam
quod recipit actionem agentis, potentiam habere dicatur. Et haec est potentia pas-
aiva. Ut, sicut potentiae activae respondet operatao vel actio, in qua completur poteii-
tis activa ; ita etiam illud quod respondet potentiae paasivae, quasi perfectio et com-
plementum, actus dicatur. Et propter hoc omnia forma actus dicitur, etiam ipsao
funoae separatae.* i d. xlii, Q. i, a. i, i*".
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224 Causes of Being.
as it is in the case of bodily forms, or imperfect substances. For
these latter physically inform and actuate the Matter ; while the
former are separate from it and are complete in themselves. They
are, nevertheless, metaphysically acts; forasmuch as their objective
potentiality is conceived to be actuated by their existence.
It is a clear deduction from the above that, according to the
mind of St. Thomas, Primordial Matter is a pure potentiality
relatively to informing forms, (incomplete substances), and in
comparison with separate forms, (complete substances). But the
Angelic Doctor is yet more explicit elsewhere. For, first of all, he
tells us, 'The act, relatively to which Primordial Matter is in
potentiality, is the substantial form. Wherefore, the potentiality
of Matter is no other than its essence ^.' So again, in regard of
the substantial composite: 'Properly speaking,' he writes, 'that
which is in potentiality to substantial Being is called Primordial
Matter ^.' To these passages may be added the greater number of
those already quoted in this Section ; wherein it is asserted that
Primordial Matter is a pure potentiality in relation to its form.
That St. Thomas gives his imprimatur to the third Corollary, will
appear from the following quotations. ' You must know,' he writes,
' that Primordial Matter is neither generated nor subject to corrup-
tion ^' In another place he introduces with approval the authority
of the Philosopher : * Aristotle proves that Matter was not gene-
rated, because it has no Subject from which it can be derived^;'
in other words, as Primordial Matter is the first Subject, it cannot
be generated, because generation postulates a subject of the gene-
rating act. Again : Touching its incorruptibility he writes : ' In
whatsoever entities there is composition of potentiality and act,
that which holds the place of primary potentiality or first subject
is incorruptible. Hence, even in corruptible bodies Primordial •
Matter is incorruptible *.' He adds the words, ' even in corruptible
^ * Actus ad quern est in potentia materia prima, est substantialiM fonna ; et ideo
potentia materiae non est aliud quam ejus essentia.' i** Izzvii, i, 2'^.
' * Proprie loquendo, illud quod est in potentia ad esse substanttale, didtur materis
prima.' Opusc. XXXI, (oZ. XXVII), in init,
* * Sciendum est quod materia prima, et etiam forma, non generatur neqne oo]Tum>
pitur.' Ibidenit veraui med,
* * Aristoteles in 1 Physic, probat materiam esse ingenitam, per hoc quod non habei
subjectum de quo sit.* !•• xlvi, i, 3™.
B * In quibuscunque est compositlo potentiae et actus, id quod tenet locum primae
potentiae sive primi subjecti, est incorruptibile. Unde etiam in substantiis corrnptiln*
libus, materia prima est inoozruptibilis.' Cg. L. II, e*, 55.
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The Material Cause, 225
hodi€9y in contradistinction to the heavenly bodies, which in his
time were supposed to be incormptible. Finally, let us hear what
he has to say touching the indivisibility of Primordial Matter. ' It
is not in accordance with Matter,' he writes, ' to be divided into
parts, save in so far as it is cognized under quantity ; on this latter
being removed, there remains an indivisible substance ^.' There is
another striking passage to the same effect, which shall be set
before the reader. But that its bearings may be the more readily
grasped, it is necessary to explain in few words the subject of
discussion. St. Thomas is occupied in proving that there cannot
be more than one Angel of the same species ; and, in consequence^
that each Angel must be specifically distinct from every other. He
proves this, first of all, on the hypothesis that they are immaterial.
He then proceeds to argue that, even if they should be material
and composite, (provided that the supposed Matter of which they
are composed be not corporeal, earthly), we must arrive at a like
conclusion. For, — now we proceed to quote his words, — * In the
instance of all those entities whose Matter is assumed to differ
entitatively, if that Matter is of the same order in both, (as^ for
instance, the Matter of entities subject to generation and corruption
is one), it must needs l^e that the diverse forms by which it
receives diverse Being should be received in diverse portions of
Matter. For one portion of Matter cannot, at one and the same
time, receive opposite and disparate forms. But it is impossible
to cognize diverse portions of Matter, unless there be previously
cognized in Matter dimensive quantity, at least indeterminate,'
(that is to say, as represented in the concept), *by intervention
of which it can be divided ; as the Commentator ' ( Averrhoes) ' says
in his Work on the Substance of the worlds and in his Commentary
on thefirH Book of the Phyeice, The reason of this is, that, on the
separation of quantity from substance, the latter remains indi-
visible, as the Philosopher says in the first Book of his Physical. *
* * Hateriam autem dividi in partes non oonyenit, niri secundum quod intelUgitur sub
qnantitate ; qua remota, renumet substantia indivisibilis, ut dicitur ' i** L, 2,c.
' * Qnorumcamque materia secundum esse differre ponitur, oportei, li ista materia
Mt eJDsdem ordinis in utroque, (sicut materia generabUinm et corruptibilium est
ana), quod divenae formae secundum quas diversum esse aociptt, redpiantur in diver-
lU partibus materiae. Non enim una pars materiae diversas formas oppositas et dispsi-
ntM nmul recipere potest. Sed impossibile est in materia inteUigere diversas partes,
niii pneintelligatur in materia quantitas dimennva, ad minus Interminata, per quam
dindatnr, ut dicit Conmientator in libro de substantia Orbis, et in i Pbydc, quia,
VOL. II. Q
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226 Causes of Being.
This passage has been quoted at length, because it lends the weighty
authority of St. Thomas to three important propositions. For it
is therein declared, not only that Primordiaf Matter is indiyisible,
but also that it is one and the same in all sublunary bodies ; and,
finally, that one and the same portion of Matter cannot at the same
time receive opposite and disparate forms. To this last may be
added, that, (as will be seen later), the same portion of Matter
cannot at the same time be actuated by two substantial forms even
of the same species ; otherwise, either Matter would cease to be the
principle of individuation in the sense explained in the third Book,
or, there could be two essences in the same individual. That the
being of Matter is essentially dependent on the form, is cate-
gorically affirmed by St. Thomas. ' Form gives being to Matter \'
are his words. So, again, ' You must also know ihat, though
Primordial Matter does not include in its essential concept any
form ; . . . nevertheless, it is never stripped of form ; because of
itself it can never exist. For, seeing that it includes no form in
its essential concept, it cannot be in act ; since to be in act, can
result only from the form. It is, therefore, only in potentiality '.'
§4.
DIFFICULTIiib.
As the difficulties and objections urg^ against the doctrine con-
tained in this Article are of more than ordinary interest and
importance, and as they are also not a little heterogeneous ; it has
seemed good, (as we have already forewarned the reader), to collect
them in one under a separate Section. Some there are, which
directly or indirectly impugn the entire Scholastic teaching touch-
ing the existence and nature of Primordial Matter ; while others
are directed against one or other of the Propositions in particular.
The whole doctrine is indirectly attacked, by the proposal and
advocacy of other theories in preference to that which has univer-
sally obtained in the School ; directly, by arguments that impugn
separata quaniitate a BubBtantia, remanet indiviaibillB, at in i PhyBio. Philoeophas
didt.' 2 d. iii, Q. I, a. 4, e.
^ * Simpliciter loquendo, forma dat esse materiae.' 0^pu$o, XXXI, {aliter XXVU)*
init. See the whole of this treatise.
' * Sciendum etiam, quod licet materia prima non habeat in'Bua ratione aUqaam far-
mam, . . . materia tamen nunquam denudatur a forma. . . . Per se autem nunquam
potest esse ; quia, cum in ratione sua non habeat aliquam fomam, non potest esse in
actu, cum esse actu non sit nisi a forma ; sed est solum in potentia.* Ihidem, r. med.
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The Material Cause. 227
the existence or nature of Primordial Matter as understood and
taught by the Scholastics. Accordingly, there are three classes of
difficultiea, which shall be taken in the order just given.
A. The fikst class includes the principal rival theoriet which
hate been proposed in place of the Scholastic doctrine. Now, there
are two ways in which such proposals may be made. A theory
touching the ultimate constituents of bodily substance may be
advocated, simply on the ground that it satisfies the needs of
physical inquiry and corresponds most nearly with the experience
of sensile phenomena ; quite irrespectively of ulterior metaphysical
examination into the essences of such entities. Thus presented, it
cannot be justly treated as antagonistic to the teaching of the School,
or as a difficulty to be confronted ; and the sole duty of metaphysics
in such case will be to see, whether it satisfies those universal
principles of human thought and of ontological truths to which all
knowledge, scientific or other, must conform. But again, the same
theory may be proposed as a professed solution of the metaphysical
problem, and be avowedly set up in opposition to the Scholastic
theory ; and then it confronts us as a stumbling-block to be removed
out of the way. These theories, therefore, as they are presented in
succession before the reader, will be submitted to this twofold
treatment. It will concern us to know whether and how far they
are tenable in themselves as phifsical theories, and whether they
afford a satisfactory answer to the metaphysical problem. It is
hardly necessary to repeat^ that the present examination is meta-
physical. Of course, every theory concerning the ultimate consti-
tution of bodies should fit in with the latest discoveries of physical
science. On the other hand, physical theories, (so to term them),
must answer to another and higher requirement. They must har-
monize with those universal laws of thought, from which no dispen-
sation is possible. It is most necessary to insist again and again on
this important condition.
I. The theory which is among the earliest, — and has been, under
one form or another, the most persistent, — is the purely Atomic ;
according to which, the ultimate constituents of all bodies are
supposed to be atoms, that is, indivisible substances. Hence the
name. There are two separate questions which are essentially in-
cluded under this, as under every other, theory concerning the con-
stitution of material substances. These concern, the one that which
Q2
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228 Causes of Being.
may be called the matter, the other the form, of corporal consist-
ence. The former regards the atoms themselves; the latter, the
principle of atomic union. Let us consider the two apart ; for as
to each there has been, during the progress of the ages^ considerable
variety of opinion, i. Touching the atoms themselves, some main-
tain that they are only mechanically or physically indivisible. Such
would seem to have been the idea of Democritus, of Epicurus, and
in our own day, of Sir William Thomson. According to others, —
Boscovich, for instance, and Leibnitz, — they are mathematically in-
divisible. The former would consonantly admits that the atoms
might have integrating parts ; and would certainly have extension,
dimensions, shape. The latter, on the contrary, maintain, that these
atoms are mathematical points, without extension either intrinsic
or extrinsic, without dimensions, without shape. According to one
theory^ the number of these atoms is finite ; according to another,
— that, for instance, of Anaxagoras, — their number is finite in each
separate body, but infinite in nature as a whole ; while, according
to a third, of which Leibnitz (not to mention others) is an advo-
cate, the number is infinite in each body, — nay, as Leibnitz main-
tains, in each particle of a body. Again: Some, — ^for instance,
Democritus, — teach that these atoms, or corpuscles, are all homo-
geneous ; others, as Anaxagoras, that they are partly homogeneous,
partly heterogeneous, while Leibnitz asserts that each atom is
difierent from its neighbour. Lastly, according to one theory, the
atoms have only extrinsic motion in space. Such would seem to
have been the idea of the ancient atomists, and certainly was the
idea of Boscovich. According to another theory, the atoms have
only intrinsic motion, such as Leibnitz attributes to his Manadi;
according to a third, they have both local and intrinsic motion, as in
the vortex rings of Helmholtz, assumed by Sir William Thomson
to be the true form and nature of the atom. ii. As the atomic
physicists difier respectively in their account of the atoms them-
selves; so they likewise differ in the principle of their union, by
virtue of which they coalesce to form a particular body. Democritus
attributes it to a fortuitous concourse ; Anaxagforas, to commixture
and separation ; Leibnitz, to a pre-established harmony ; Sir
William Thomson, to the varied vibrations, * knottedness,' and
' linkedness ^ of the vortex rings.
Setting aside, for the moment, the specific difierences in these
multiform theories and assuming the atomic theory, under its
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The Material Cause. 229
generic form, as teaching that the ultimate constituents of bodily
substance are atoms, or physically indivisible entities, this theory
seems to commend itself by its correspondence with the experience
of the senses and the phenomena of nature. For it is plain to sense
that every body, potentially at least, consists of integrating parts
which, up to a certain point, are capable of actual mechanical
separation. Those mechanically separated parts admit of further
subdivision ; and these subdivided parts can be further subdivided,
till we reach the limit of division. The result are atoms; that isto
say, elements incapable of ulterior physical division. We are told,
that ' the smallest organized particle under the microscope contains
about two million molecules of organic matter V There are about five
million red corpuscles in a cubic millimetre of blood. Both these
calcalations are conclusions based on certain facts of experience. If
these molecules are not the last, (which chemically they cannot be,
l)ecause themselves composed of atoms), they must at all events
contain the ultimates. Further, the science of chemistry is founded
upon the supposition, that the ultimates in the constitution of
bodily substance are atoms ; and long-continued experiments in
every direction and of every kind only add fresh force to the truth
of the hypothesis. Finally, it is perhaps the oldest-known theory ;
nevertheless^ it has managed to hold its own to the present hour.
Answek. It cannot be denied that there must be some element of
truth in the atomic theory; otherwise, it would be impossible
to account for its persistent hold on the minds of men, subsequently
even to all the modem advances in physical discovery. But, though
true perhaps as &r as it goes, it is not satisfactory. Let us begin
our examination, by reducing the number of its divergent systems.
We must at once eliminate all such as ascribe infinite number
to these atoms, either collectively, or in each separate body. For
these atoms, infinite in number, are indivisible either physically
only or mathematically also. But^ in either case, the world would
necessarily assume a^ infinite magnitude ; which is repugnant to
reason. Therefore, etc. TAe Minor is thus proved in either hypo-
thesis. If the atoms are only physically indivisible; they have,
each of them, a certain extension and therefore a certain magni-
tude. The number being infinite^ as is supposed ; that magnitude
must be multiplied to infinity. If, on the other hand, they are
also mathematically indivisible^ in order to be able to conceive of
^ Encydop. Brit. (9th ed.) under the word, ' Atomie.'
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230 Causes 0/ Being.
extension, it is necessary to admit certain intervals of space between
them. But these intervals of space must be infinitely multiplied,
in order to correspond with the infinite number of atoms ; and
would thus necessitate an infinite magnitude in the whole collection.
It will, further, be necessary to eliminate all such systems as sup-
pose the said atoms to be mathematical points. For mathematical
points can have no independent physical existence. In so far as
they are accounted real entities at all, (for about this there is a
controversy in the Schools), they belong to the Category of
Quantity and, save by an act of the Divine Omnipotence, could
not be separated from the line which is their immediate, nor from
the material substance which is their ultimate, Subject. The mathe-
matical point must, therefore, be accompanied by the material
substance which it presupposes. Thus we are not only landed in a
composite ; but we find an accident, — that is to say, a quantitative
element, — proposed as sole ultimate of a substance. If, however,
it should be objected that this argument is of little account, since
it is based on the Peripatetic metaphysics and thus amounts in
some sort to a begging of the question ; let us, by way of reply,
gauge our mathematical point, or atom, by a more modern measure-
ment. In our recent systems of philosophy, quantity is not con-
sidered to be an accident really distinct from material substance ;
nor are points, lines, superficies, and other geometrical entities,
treated as other than intellectual abstractions, — derived from the
dimensions and shapes of bodies, — ^having no real existence, or possi-
bility of real existence, apart from those bodies. Judged, then, by
this standard, these mathematical points would fare worse than
under the old philosophy. For they would be denuded of all reality
in themselves ; accordingly, the visible or material world would be
made up of an aggregate of abstract concepts. Thus this form of
materialism resolves itself into a species of mathematical idealism.
Betaking ourselves now to the formal principle of union, it will be
necessary to eliminate the Democritan dream of a fortuitous con-
course, as being in direct contravention of the principle of causality.
We must likevTise reject the Leibnitzian theory of b. pre-establisied
harmony. For it is unphilosophical to attribute all the mutations,
transformations, generations, and corruptions of bodies to the
immediate operation of an external law Divinely pre-established,
rather than to that of natural causes and of a constant order
iwtnn^c in the material entities themselves.
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The Material Cause. 231
Having thus reduced the number of atomic theories by retaining
those only which prima facie are philosophically tenable^ it remains
to institute a critique of the atomic theory in general. Looking at
it, then, metaphysically^ it is a failure; (i.) because it does not
reach the ultimate constitaents of bodies. First of all, it does not
even reach their ultimate integrating parts ; though it may approxi-
mate to those ultimates enough for the practical purposes of physics,
on the hypothesis that their projection subserves these purposes,
which is a subject of grave doubt. The plain reason why it
cannot reach the ultimate integrating parts is, that the feat is
simply impossible. For quantity and quantified material substances
are indefinitely divisible. So long as there is extension^ — ^part out-
side part^ — further division is possible; and any integrant part^
however minute, of any body must have extension. You cannot,
however persevering may be your efforts, mince extended bodies
into mathematical points. It is true, St. Thomas admits that
physically it is possible to reach an ultimate beyond which division
is impossible. But if such ultimate could practically be attained ;
what would be its condition? It is obvious that so long as the
substance is informed by quantity, it is physically capable of further
division ; because it has part outside part in space. Wherefore, the
said ultimate would have been denuded of its quantification, and
ooDsequently would cease to be a body, though, remaining in some
way or other an integral material substance. Secondly, — and this is
far more important, — it does not touch the essential, or substantial,
ultimates of bodies. For, as has been observed before, the atom,
even if we suppose it to be a hona fide atom, remains a complete
substance. To resume a former illustration, — an infinitesimal atom qf
carbon is as much carbon as a mountain qf it would be ; just as a crumb
is as much bread as a loaf. Further : If the original atoms, out of which
all things are supposed to be formed, are heterogeneous ; there is
evidently something common to all, in that all are called, and are,
atoms, — ^that is to say, physical ultimates of bodies, or material
rabstances. On the other hand, there is also something by which
they are gathered into separate groups and mutually distinguished.
Hence, there is composition of some sort. But, if these atoms are
composite like the substances they go to form, we have not touched
upon the ultimate constituents by this mechanical disintegration,
even carried on to its physical limit. If, on the contrary, the
atoms are to be homogeneous, they still essentially require some
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232 Causes of Being.
fundamental principle of distinction, in order to satisfy for the all
but infinite multiplicity of material entities. Therefore, in their
case we have not neared the ultimates. It is for this reason that
Aristotle, in the first Book of the Metaphysics, justly lays it to the
charge of the atomistic philosophers who had preceded him^ that
they limited themselves to the Material, and entirely ignored the
Formal, Cause. As a consequence^ (ii.) the purely atomic theory
does not satisfactorily account for the greater part of physical
phenomena. It fails to explain chemical combinations. One can
see, indeed, how a concourse or commingling of atoms may possibly
multiply to an indefinite extent the external forms, or shapes, of
bodies ; and thus afford ground for individual distinction. But all
this is purely accidental. Let us go on to put the following
questions : How does it happen that there are two collections of
atoms, — each collection with a nature and properties distinctively
its own ; that these two collections coalesce, and from that coali-
tion arises a new nature distinct from either both in its essence
and in its properties, as in the instance of hydrogen and oxygen
which, in due combination, produce water ? How is it that other
collections of atoms ofier themselves to no such combination ? How
is it, again, that the same species of atoms will not combine, if the
necessary proportion is wanting ; or only coalesce up to the measure
of such proportion, and not beyond ? Again : Why is there only
mechanical mixture in one case, while there is chemical combination
in another ? It may, perhaps, be argued, that the circumstance of
the atoms so coalescing being heterogeneous would account for
these and similar phenomena. We answer to this that, unless under
the term, heterogeneous, there should be included something beyond
the mere nature of the atoms, it would in no way suffice to explain
these phenomena. Introduce, indeed, forces of attraction and re-
pulsion ; there might then be something in the objection. But
forces are not atoms. They are, if anything, properties of atoms ;
and their introduction lands us outside the purely atomic theory.
Once more : This theory affords no explanation of the phenomena
of generation and corruption. Why is ancestral generation, under
one form or another, necessary to the production of all living
things ; while inanimate substances are subject to no such law ?
How is it, again, that an animal is at one moment alive, at another
dead, without any sensible dissociation of the component atoms ?
Finally : The atomic theory is deficient from a merely physical
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Tlie Material Cause, 233
point of view. For this division of composite bodies into molecules,
and of elements into atoms, is purely mechanical. It only minimizes
mass ; it does not analyze substance. Nor is there, so far as one can
see, the slightest foundation in reason or experience for supposing,
that either molecules or atoms primordially existed as molecules or
atoms, and were afterwards united by coalition or otherwise into
masses of bodily substance. Bather, everything points the other way.
II. Another early theory, proposed by Empedocles and others, is
the Elemental theory ; in which it is maintained that the original
materials of the visible creation were certain simple elements, from
the varied admixture of which all bodies have been subsequently
formed. It is clearly not necessary for a modern disciple of this
theoiy to adopt as his own the four particular elements, so called,
which were signalized in the olden time ; — to wit, fire, air, water,
earth. He would doubtless prefer to select the sixty odd elements
which have been proclaimed as such by modem chemistry. This
theory commends itself by its apparent correspondence with the
things of nature. Assuming, for the sake of illustration, the truth
of the nebular theory, and that material substance settles down into
all its complexity of form as the result of secular refrigeration ; it is
plain that the gases with which creation began were in volume, not
in separate, isolated, unordered atoms. This may be safely affirmed,
without prejudice to the further question whether the component
atoms are contiguous to one another or no. That which is here
maintained, is simply this : Atoms did not primordially exist in
a state of independent isolation, like dots confusedly made upon
a piece of paper ; but were created from the beginning in family
groups, as constituents severally of volumes of distinct elements, —
Bay, of hydrogen, carbon, calcium, and the rest. From their mutual
and progressively complex combination, it is easy to understand
how all the multifarious bodies, distinct in nature and properties,
should have originated. Further : Atoms, if they naturally exist,
are at the best mere accidents of material substance ; but element
is distinct from element in its own substantial nature.
Aksweb. Treating the subject genetically^ — that is to say, consi-
dering exclusively the actual genesis of the things of nature, — there
are grave reasons, (already in part suggested), why the metaphysician
should range himself on the side of the elemental, rather than on that
of the atomic theory, that is to say, as far as it goes ; for it qeeds
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234 Causes of Being.
completion. But, if we are to take the theory as a metaphysical
exponent of the ultimate constituents of material entities, it is
obnoxious to most of the objections that have been urged against
the atomic theory; to which must be added another peculiar to
itself. For nothing can be an ultimate, which is composed of
integrating parts ; since the parts are prior in order of nature
to the whole. This difficulty, it is true, has been already urged
against the atom ; but in the instance of the latter an effort at least
has been made, however unsuccessful^ to reach the ultimate integral.
In the elemental theory, on the other hand, the elements are
assumed in their primitive or genetic constitution, and not as
resolved into their integrating parts. Therefore, this theory leaves
us further removed from the integral ultimate than the atomic;
while it throws no light whatsoever on the substantial components,
for it begins with the completiC composite. Again : It is chargeable
with an omission, common to it and the preceding theory. The
sole force, by virtue of which the atoms or elements concur, coalesce,
or mingle, must be a force of extrinsic motion (that is to say, of
motion that has an external other for its term) ; so that the coalition
of the constituents is exclusively mechanical. But this leaves us in
an utter incapacity to explain, or account for, the elaborate complexity
of organized structures or the manifold transformations in nature.
III. The Dynamic theory is in high favour at the present time,
more particularly with those whose minds have been specially
trained to mathematical studies. It teaches, that material substances
are simply constituted by varied combinations oi forces, A force,
therefore, is the ultimate of which we are in search. Here will be
the place to introduce the system of Boscovich, who may justly
claim to be the father of dynamical theories ; though his own is not
purely dynamic and therefore, has been already alluded to under
the atomic theory. He would appear to have maintained that all
bodies were made up of atoms, really and mathematically such.
These atoms ' are wholly indivisible points, devoid of extension, which
have been dispersed in an unmeasured vacuum after such manner
that each pair are separated from each other by a certain interval
which can be indefinitely increased or diminished, but can never
vanish altogether, without compenetration of the points themselves;
for I do not admit,' they are the words of Boscovich, * that their
contact is possible in any way^.' Thus these atoms have no exten-
^ * Prima elementa materiae mihi sunt puncta prorsus indiviBibilia, et inextenm, quae
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The Material Cause. 235
sioiiy bat are mathematical points, yet, * each point,' says the author
of this theory, ' has a real mode of existence^ by which it is there
where it is ^^ that is to say, it has its own ubication, or position in
space. These atoms are capable of motion in a continuous path, or
of comparative rest ; which constitutes their vi% inertiae ^. Besides
this, they are endowed with a force that energizes without, by
virtue of which any two atoms either attract or repel each other
according to their distance apart ; which distance also determines
the measure of their force« These points are all homogeneous. A
system of these points occupies a certain space, and constitutes
a body. The repulsive action of these points wards off those of
any other system ; since that repulsion is insuperable by any known
natural power. All action between points and systems of points is
at a distance; for the force produces its effect immediately in the
point which is the subject of its influence, though mutual contact is
impossible. By the variation and combined action of these forces
according to a given mathematical law, Boscovich explains the
phenomena of impenetrability, gravity, cohesion, elasticity, heat,
lights etc. ; in a word, all the facts of nature. The learned writer
of the Article on Atom, in the last edition of the Encyclopaedia Britan^
nica, has added to. the above description of these points of Boscovich,
that they are supposed by their author to possess * a certain mass,
whereby a certain amount of force is required to produce a given
change of motion.' While it may perhaps be granted that this
assertion is true, if accepted as a logical deduction from the theory
in question ; yet, it certainly does not correspond with the expressed
teaching of Boscovich, who explains mass to depend on the number
of points combined in any one body, and apparently limits both the
idea and its expression to systems of points, not to the points indi-
vidually, as they are in themselves ^. Of course, it is difficult to see,
m immenso yacao iia disperte aunt, ut bina quaevis a Be invioem distent per aliquod
intervaUum, quod quidem indefinite augeri potest, et minui. Bed penitua evanescere
noQ poteet, sine compenetratione ipBorum punctorum ; eorum enim oontiguitatem nul-
1am admitto poBsibilem.' TheoHa PhUoMphiae NcUuralis, Pars prima, ». 7.
* ' Quodlibet panctmn habet modum realem existendi, per quern est ibi, ubi est.*
Ibid. SuppUmenta, § i, n. 4.
* 'Id biBce punctis admitto detenninationem perseyerandi in eodem statu quietia,
▼el motus miiformis in directum in quo semel sint posita, si seorsum singula in natura
•zistant.' Ibidem, Part prima, n. 8.
' * Massa corporis est tota quantitas materiae pertinentis ad id corpus, quae quidem
mihi erit ipse numerus punctorum pertinentium ad iUud oorpus/ Ibidem, Pars tertia,
%. 378. * Massa est ut factum ez mole et densitate : moles ut massa diyiaa per
densitatem/ Ibidem, n. 381.
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236 Causes of Being.
save in a mathematical diagram, how a mathematical point can be
subjected to, or potential of, physical attraction and repulsion ; but
it is necessary to take Boscovich as we find him, and one can hardly
imagine his admitting the compossibility of mass with a mathe-
matical point.
Takings then, this theory as it stands, we are justified in elimi-
nating the points, as being, indeed, a mathematical necessity but
a physical impossibility. For how can a mathematical point have
a separate existeuce or an independent entity? It is a further
puzzle to understand how a mathematical point, even were it
capable of separate existence, could possess a real position in space ;
or how an infinite number of such points could constitute mass and
volume.
If, then, we make abstraction of these points, we are in presence
of a purely dynamic theory, according to which the ultimate
elements of bodies are forces energizing spherically without limit,
unless- restrained by the counteraction of other causes. These forces
are either, (as Boscovich would have it), of one kind, attracting or
repelling according to relation of distance from their centre ; or (as
others maintain), of two kinds, — the one attractive and the other
repulsive. Each force, though physically a simple entity, is meta-
physically composed of Matter and form. The centre of the force,
inert, passive, receptive of impressions, is the Matter ; while the form
is the force itself as capable of causing motion in another. The
action of force on force is immediate, but at a distance; that
is to say, though the Subject of the action is distant from the ener-
gizing force, there is no communication of motion by means of
intervening entities and no physical efflux from one to the other,
but the whole action is begun and completed in the subject-force or
point. A conspiration, or system, of such forces constitutes the
material part of a molecule. The form of the molecule is the
determination of all the component, or rather conspiring, forces to
an oscillatory movement round one common centre. Out of these
molecules, of course, bodies are formed.
This theory is far nobler than either of those hitherto considered ;
for we are supplied with that which we have desiderated in the
other two. It is easier now to understand the wherefore of chemical
combinations, how substances are grouped in themselves, how
mutually distinct. No longer are we in presence of an inert mass,
capable . of only communicated motion ; for we are presented with
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The Material Cause. 237
a spontaneous activity, attracting, repelling, and accordingly com-
bining, assimilating, distinguishing, in all directions. It introduces
us to heat^ light, electricity, magnetism, galvanism, as conspicuous
agents in the laboratory of nature. It would seem to harmonize
in an especial manner with the undulatory theory of light, while
extending that principle to other phenomena. It satisfactorily
explains the difference between solid, liquid, and gaseous bodies,
and the reason of their mutual transformation; while the all but
universal porousness of solid bodies supplies a strong argument in
its &vour. Moreover: The existence of forces in the material
universe, is so incontestable, — established as it is by long-continued
observation and experiment, — that it would be now impossible to
exclude it from any physical theory touching the constitution of
bodily substances, which hopes to command any serious attention.
Furthermore : The dynamic theory has at least an eye directed
towards the formal cause; for the natural action of any agent
proceeds from the specific form by which it is constituted. It is
not, then, chargeable with that neglect of which Aristotle has
accused the two preceding theories. Again : The continued reduc-
tion in the number of elements, or simple bodies, as lending
probability to their ultimate resolution into one or two, adds greatly
to the weight of arguments in its favour. Then, the spontaneous
movements in sperm and germ-cells, recently revealed by the
microscope, seem to point clearly in the same direction. Lastly:
Once allow the theory, straightway all the phenomena of bodies can
be subjected to mathematical demonstration or, at the very least,
to mathematical analysis.
Answeb. The last plea, adduced above, in favour of the dynamic
theoiy is one that ought hardly to tell in its favour. For the
mathematical science deals exclusively with the laws or forms of
quantity, or of quantitative Matter simply a9 quantitative, — ^that
which the School has graced with the title of intelligible Matter.
Its formal subject-matter, therefore, is not physically real, though
founded in physical reality. It deals with abstractions, and
those abstractions are metaphysically real; but, as abstractions,
they have no existence outside the mind. To explain: There
can be no question that a pointy a line^ a superficies, exist phy-
sically in nature ; but they exist only as boundaries of quantitative
matter. Abstract them from the bodies of which they are, in one
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238 Causes of Being.
way or other, the limits ; they at once cease to be physically real,
because they are incapable of separate existence. To attempt, then,
the conversion of any one of these quantitative abstractions into
real ultimate constituents of the visible universe, is to violate the
established limits of the sciences, and to pave the way for an
idealistic philosophy. This is the first metaphysical objection to
the theory in question. The said theory is a mathematical dream,
dealing with a professed reality. Physical" forces there are, without
a doubt; but physical forces without a home are wings without
a bird, ideas without a mind. This leads us on ftirther to pot the
inquiry : What is a force ? If we consult our Dictionaries, we shall
find a force described as being ' an active power ; power that may
be exerted.' It is, therefore, an active potentiality. But a potenti-
ality must necessarily belong to something. It is a property, — ^that
is to say, a species of accident, — and accordingly requires a Subject
of inhesion. In the instance of no finite being can its active
potentiality, or force, be identified with its essence or even part of
its essence. Hence, St. Thomas, who is occupied in proving that
the faculties, or forces, of the human soul are not identical with the
essence of this latter but are accidents inherent in it, observes, ' It
is impossible that the proper essence of any created substance should
be its operative power' (i.e. active potentiality). 'For it is mani-
fest, that differing acts are acts of differing entities ; since an act
is always proportioned to that of which it is the act. Now, as
being itself is a certain actuality of essence ; so, operation is a
certain actuation of the operative potentiality, or faculty. For, in
this way, each of them is in act, — essence in the way of being, but
an active potentiality in the way of operation. Hence, seeing that
in no creature is its essence its operation, (for this is peculiar to God
alone) ; it follows, that the operative potentiality of no creature is
its essence, but it is the attribute of God alone that His Essence
is His power ^.' And, indeed, if the dispute is referred to the
tribunal of common sense, the verdict will be in accordance with
the teaching of the Angelic Doctor. What would be thought of
> *■ ImpoBdbile est quod alicujoB essentiae creatae sua essentia sit sua potent ia oper-
ativa. Manifestum est enim quod diversi actus diversorum sunt : semper enim actof
proportionatur ei cujus est actus. Sicut autem ipsum esse est actualitas quaedam
efisentiHe, ita operari est actualitas operativae potentiae seu virtutis. Secundum enim
hoc, iitrumque eorum est in actu ; essentia quidem secundum esse, potentia Tero secun-
dum operari. Unde, cum in nulla creatura suum operari sit suum eiM, sed hoc rit
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The Material Cause, 239
a man who should maintain, that the force of the arm, by which
a weight is lifted, could naturally exist by itself without either arm
or living body; or that the force by which a billiard-player gives
motion to his ball could be separated from ball, cue, player, and
permeate the earth on its own responsibility ? Yet, according to
the dynamic theory, the whole creation of nature is nothing but so
many nebula of forces. But now suppose, for the sake of , the argu-
ment, that these forces could be substances. They are either
substantial emanations or they are not. Well then, setting aside
the &ct that, if they are emanations, they must emanate from
something, other than themselves ; as emanations, they are (accord-
ing to the theories in question) spherical, therefore, spherically
extended. To this, an answer has been suggested. * They are ex-
tended potentially, — true ; they are actually extended, — no.' The
reply is plain. If they are only potentially extended, they are only
potentially spherical ; because spherical is a mode of quantity. But,
if only potentially spherical, they are not in act themselves^ but
potentially forces ; if they are in act, what are they? Mathematical
points ? An absurdity in itself, and involving the necessary con-
sequence that the force after which they are named is an accident
of their being. If they exist as forces, they are of spherical shape
and, consequently, extended. But, again : If they are spherical,
there must be something of which the spherical figure is the limit ;
because to be spherical is a particular mode of extended substance.
Yet we are told, that there is vacuum between force and force. In
this case what becomes of the spherical ? Once more : Each force,
we are told, is infinite in its energy till arrested by the action of an
opposing force. Thus we are introduced to something that is
infinitely spherical,-— or, in other words, to an unlimited limit.
Yet again: If they are spherical and, therefore, extended, they
are composites, — ^integral wholes composed of integrating parts.
We have not, then, reached the ultimate. If they are not eman-
ations, (nor, indeed, do the adherents of these theories pretend
that they are) ; they are nothing, till they act on another. Their
existence is relative. Wherefore, one is nothing by itself. It is
pro ianto a nonentity. But, if one is a nonentity, so must two or
proprimn soliaB Dei : sequitur quod nolliuB creatarae operativa potentia sit ejus <
tU; led 80U118 Dei proprium est ut sua essentia sit sua potentia.' Spiritu. a. xi, in e,
St. Thomas insists on the same truth in Quol L. X, a. 5, c.
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240 Causes of Being.
more be; because relation cannot constitute being or essence,
neither can substance receive its actuality of Being in another.
The above argument may be, perhaps, proposed more clearly in
another form. According to the theories we are at present ex-
amining, the ultimate in corporal substance is essentially a mathe-
matical point ^lu9 an active &culty of causing motion in other
points. Now, the point is confessedly (according to one of these
theories) nothing physical ; nor, whatever the theory may be, could
its physical reality be logically maintained. According to the
same theory, the active potentiality is in itself nothing physically
real. How, then, can two purely metaphysical entities in union
constitute a physical reality? But the composition, we are told,
is metaphysical ; that is to say, a conceptual composition of the
essence. So much the better for our argument How can a
potentiality, albeit active, reduce that which is an abstract mathe-
matical concept, — without any physical reality, — to its substantial
act ; that is to say, constitute it, as the supposed Material Cause,
in a specific essence ? Itself — to wit, the force — is not an act, be-
cause it is on the strength of that which is outside itself alike and of
its supposed material cause ; how can it give act to the point, even
if this latter were capable of actuation ?
Again : This active potentiality, which stands for form in the
said metaphysical composition, is determined in its entire nature
to other points. On that particular point which it is supposed to
actuate, as the essential form, its active potentiality, which is its
entire essence, can do absolutely nothing ; for that point is its own
centre, — its principle of passivity. Its nature has a transcendental
relation exclusively, to other points outside, by virtue of which it is
reduced to act. Therefore, the result of the union between the force
and its point is either a nonentity according to strict metaphysical
consideration ; or, at the best, a property of nothing,— existing, or
conceived to exist, as a mere potentiality by itself. There oonld be
no first act, — the act of being, — for the reasons alleged ; and the
second act, — the act of operation, by which the active potentiality
is actuated, (which in this strange hypothesis must he the first act ;
otherwise, there is no first), — depends wholly on the presence and
subjection of another mathematical point.
Again : If, antecedently to its act, a force is the only ultimate
in the constitution of bodies, it must be something real. If real, to
what Category is it to be assigned ? It cannot be an accident ;
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The Material Cause, 241
for in this case it would require a Subject of iiihesion and, accord-
inglv^ could not be the ultimate. (The present argument obviously
applies to the force a9 a loAole.) Can it, then, be a substance?
Let us see, A force is constituted, — metaphysically composed, —
of two elements, viz. its centre and its energizing potentiality
ad extra. But confessedly neither of these is real ; for both are
described as mental precmons. Is it possible, (to repeat an argument
already suggested), out of the conjunction of two logical abstractions
to construct a metaphysical reality which itself shall serve to form
a real physical body? A defender of the theory may possibly make
answer to this objection that, though a force could not naturally
exist by itself, but must co-exist with other forces; nevertheless,
each force has a metaphysical entity of its own, and is not, there-
fore, a mere nonentity. Just as, in the Peripatetic system, neither
Primordial Matter can exist without its form nor the form without
its Material Cause ; so, one point cannot naturally exist without
another, yet each has an entity of its own however partial and incom-
plete. But it will be seen at once that there is no parallel between
the two cases. It is a lame comparison. For, first of all. Primor-
dial Matter and the substantial form are two intrinsic constituents
of bodily substance, and the latter is first act of the former ;
whereas one force is extrinsic to the other, and the relation between
them of energizing on the one hand and receiving the energy on
the other presupposes the actual constitution of each force in
its complete entity. Then, secondly. Primordial Matter is some-
thing physically real in itself, however imperfect ; and the sub-
stantial form is something physically real in itself. But neither
the one force nor the other is physically real in itself. Nor will
it touch the difficulty to say, that a force is metaphysically real.
For all metaphysical reality is originally derived from physical
realities, and exhibits their essence. But it is of the essence of all
potentiality, that in itself it is not actual. Hence, it is metaphy-
sically impossible that one potentiality should actuate another.
Pinally, it is altogether incongruous that one entity should be
formally constituted in being by an entity extraneous to itself.
Once more : It has been urged by the factors of this special
development of the dynamic theory, — by way of answer to the
objection drawn from the external activity of the force, — ^that its
energy is only j)olefitial in the infinite sphere over which it rules,
but that it is actually, as substantial form, only in the point of
VOL. II. K
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242 Causes of Being.
which it is the substantial act. This explanation^ however, suggests
fresh difficulties. How can an active potentiality substantiate any-
thing ; since itself presupposes complete substance as its necessary
Subject? Then, if it could substantiate anything; how could it
substantiate a mathematical point which is hardly more than a mental
precinon ? It has been said that the mathematical point, antece-
dently to its actuation by the special form, is a subjective poteniialify.
But^ contra, a subjective potentiality is a something physically real
yet imperfect in its own category, and substantially perfectible.
A mathematical point is not physically real, is metaphysically per-
fect in its own Category of Quantity, and is supposed by the theory
in question to be essentially perfected by a quality, — that is to
say, out of its own Category. But this is a contradiction in
terms, and is justly declared to be impossible by the common
consent of the philosophers of the School. Again: How can a
point or anything else be constituted in real being by a transient
activity whose only formal term is outside ? If you abstract from
its spherical potentiality and limit it to what it is actually in the
mathematical point, its essence is lost. For it is defined to be a cause
producing motion outside. It can only give the potentiality that
itself has ; but in its own central point that potentiality is zero.
For answer we are told that the activity of the force ' is neither
properly speaking a substance nor a quality, (which is an accident),
but an essential and substantial property of the material element/
But, first of all, an essential and substantial property is an accident
as much as quality* For an essential and substantial property is a
species of accident, flowing from the substantial essence as a sort of
entitative corollary, though itself no part of the essence. If, then,
this force, or potentiality, is an essential property of the material
element ; in order of nature it presupposes the essence of such element
fully constituted. It cannot, then, exercise the functions of the
form that constitutes that element. Therefore, either the mathe-
matical point must be the integral essence^ in which case the
essence is a mere conceptual abstraction ; or some other form must
be discovered^ about which at present we lack information. To
conclude this first and principal objection: — It is impossible to
make out with philosophical precision what these forces can be^
which are commended to our notice by the theory in question as
being the real ultimates of corporal substance ; and the further the
explanation goes, the greater becomes the difficulty.
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The Material Cause, 243
The next objection is, that the dynamic theory admits the pos-
sibility of the immediate action of an efficient cause on the term
or sabject of that action at a distance. But this is inadmissible ;
as will be evinced in the fourth Chapter of the present Book.
To these must finally be added the objection already brought
against the atomic theories; viz. that the sole formal cause of all
whatsoever combinations of material substances is pure motion.
NoTB. The discussion of the question touching the continuity
of material substance or of quantity in bodies, which is mooted in
the dynamic theory and occupies no unimportant position in it, is
reserved for its proper place under the Category of Quantity. Mean-
while, the remark may perhaps be permitted, that the difficulty expe-
rienced by some physicists in accepting the teaching of the School
on this subject is traceable to a misconception.
lY . The Chemico-elemental theory supplies the deficiencies which
have been signalized in the previous systems ; and, if the inquiry is
exclusively physical, leaves nothing to desire. It has been called the
chemieo^atomic theory; but the former appellation is much to be
preferred. For the atom is rather a mechanical than a physical
ultimate ; if indeed it can be called an ultimate at all. Divide and
subdivide as long as you please, and continue the process by imagina-
tion till the calculation of the fraction becomes a burden ; you are
substantially, even from a purely physical point of view, precisely
where you started. It is the same material substance that it was
before. What advantage^ then, can physical investigation gain by
mincing its subject-matter out of sight ? Accordingly, if we mis-
take not, the chemical formulae are now practically interpreted
according to the principle of volume ; and the constitution of com-
plex bodies is attributed to combinations of the elements, or simple
bodies^ a» such. According to this theory, then, all bodies consist
either of one, (if the body be a simple), or of the mechanical mixture
or chemical union of two or more, (if it be a composite), of sixty-five
or sixty-six elements, which modern chemistry pronounces to be
such. Of course, if it should turn out after all, that these supposed
elements are not simple, but capable of further reduction; this
would in no way affect the theory, which is, that all bodies are
either elements or combinations of elements. It is a further
doctrine of this system, that there is no such thing as a vacuum in
nature. For Matter is twofold ; to wit, that out of which all bodies
K 2
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244 Causes of Being.
are formed and, secondly, the circumambient ether. The ether inter-
penetrates all bodies and surrounds them, occupying^ space. To this
latter are attributable the phenomena of light, heat, electricity,
magnetism, etc. All bodies are integrally divisible. Beach by
mechanical division the physical ultimates, in so Car at least as
they are appreciable ; you have integrant molecules. These mole-
cules are composed of primitive atoms ; that is to say, the smallest
parts of an element, or simple body, physically appreciable. The
molecules are conjoined by molecular attraction, or the physical force
of cohesion. The atoms are combined so as to constitute a molecule
by chemical force. Heat is the opposite principle, or dissociating
force. The atoms of different elements differ in weight, mass, and
shape. Each of these atoms, if itself separate, is a separate sub-
stance. In this theory, the chemical form, (to adopt an analogical
use of the term), is 8u£Scient to account for all the transformations,
or substantial mutations, of bodies from a purely physical point of
view. The system combines that which is true in the atomic, ele-
mental, and dynamic theories ; borrowing from the two former that
which may he physically called the Matter of bodies, and from the
last their form or principle of union. It thus supplements the
elemental theory by help of the dynamic, precisely wherein the
former exhibits its own fatal deficiency.
Answeb. To commence with that which seems to be least solid
in the present theory, let us at once betake ourselves to those sup-
posed ultimates which have suggested the name of the chemico-
atamic theory. These atoms are assumed to be atoms for all practical
purposes ; but it is certain that, at least to metaphysical considera-
tion, they are not really ultimates. For, as long as there is physical
Matter existent, so long there is capability of further division.
Now, the greater number of those physicists who adhere to the
present theory maintain, that these atoms are physically separate
from each other ; so that there is no actual contiguity at any one
point between any given two. Suppose, then, for the sake of the
argument^ any given atom to be further divided, (say by the Divine
Omnipotence); the disintegrated parts, following the general
analogy, must also be in a state of entire isolation each from each.
Where is this to stop, save at those ideal mathematical points
which drift us into the purely dynamic theory? Two principal
arguments have been adduced in favour of this hypothesis of atomic
separation ; but they do not strike one as conclusive. The one
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The Material Cause. 245
is based on the ascertained fact of the porousness of bodies in
general. But surely this phenomenon does not necessarily postulate
an absolute separation ; any more than the regular links in a chain
suppose entire isolation of the links. The second argument is
derived from the elasticity of bodies, and the increased volume of
a material substance in a gaseous as compared with a liquid, and
in both these as compared with a solid, state. But it starts with
the assumption, that there can be no compressibility or capacity for
expansion in the ultimates themselves ; which requires proof. On
the other hand, what are we to say about the circumambient ether ?
Does it come into physical contact with the atoms that are sup-
posed to be enveloped in it? In such case there is a physical
continuity between the atoms through the intervention of the ether.
Again : Ether, too, is a material substance. Is it, then, in like
manner composed of isolated atoms ? If so, there must be vacuum
on all sides, which contradicts one important part of the theory as
exposed above. If, as some advocates of this theory admit, there
are such vacua^ a greater difficulty arises, which we dismiss for the
present. If, on the contrary, ether is not composed of isolated
atoms; why is it necessary that one species of material substance
should be composed of isolated atoms, while another confessedly is
not? Add to this that, in such a hypothesis, the visible creation
would be one continuous body, however multiform in its substance.
Yet it is precisely this continuity which is most emphatically denied.
A defender of the present theory, under a form somewhat different
from that which has been given above, maintains that there can
be no action at a distance ; and asserts it to be commonly held
among physicists now, that ' the attractions and repulsions of atoms
are effected by the medium of an imponderable elastic fluid which
they call ether.' He further adds, ' and, according to a very probable
opinion, atoms, (and the same may be said of bodies), so far as the
effect is concerned, are associated one with another, as though con-
nected by a sort of elastic spiral, on the contraction of which by
compression, the atoms mutually approach each other ; on the dis-
tension of the same by expansion, they mutually recede.' Yet, in
another place, he tells us, that ether also (the supposed elastic
spiral) is composed of discontinuous atoms, and that, consequently,
there are pure vacua between them. Wherefore, as he assures us,
they act on one another by motion towards, and a resultant contact
with, each other. Thus it would seem that the solidity, fluidness.
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246 Causes of Being.
gaseousness, of bodies are due to motion in the ether, not to their
own nature. But again : The existence of the said ether is simply
an inference from known physical facts. It is commended by no
immediate proof of experience, no testimony of the senses. These
are a few only of the difficulties which seem to beset the chemico-
atoffiic theory ; which, however, it may be in the power of those
who are experts in physical investigation to resolve. In the mean-
time, it would make things easier for those who are seeking
information, if the advocates of the theory in question could come
to an agreement among themselves touching certain important
points in its exposition, about which they at present differ.
If, however, we limit ourselves to the elements, (which are gene-
rally confessed to have been first in order of actual genesis), and to
the accompanyiug forces and qualities, either common to all or
proper to each ; the present theory would seem to satisfy all the
requirements of physical science.
But it has not solved, it does not essay to solve, the metaphysical
problem. For, if these primitive atoms differ in weight, mass, and
form ; there must be some real discriminating element within them,
which is adequate cause of such differences. They all agree in being
parts of Matter. They attest their common nature by their mutual
affinities. What makes them specifically distinct from each other?
Whence is it that an atom of hydrogen, for instance, is distinct from
an atom of carbon ? Further : There is corporal Matter, and there
is ether which is likewise a material substance of some sort. What
is the real principle of difference between the two ? Again : Each
part (call it an atom, if you will) is, when separate, a substance by
itself. It either remains a substance after association with other
atoms in the same body or it does not. If it does remain a sub-
stance, it follows that all bodies, as such, are the mere accidents of
atoms ; for millions of substances cannot by mere contact, association,
or interaction, make another substance, themselves remaining sub-
stance; since in such case every substance of the collection would
be two substances, — one on its own account, another by virtue of
its conjunction. The Siamese twins physically cohered. They were
two substances, notwithstanding ; they never made one. If, there-
fore, the atoms in a piece of carbon or sulphur were all substances,
the so-called entity would not be substantially one ; but would be a
heap, or aggregation, of carbons and sulphurs, just as a heap of
stones is not a stone. If, on the other hand, the part does not
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The Material Cause. 247
remain a substance ; what is the principle by which it becomes a
potential part of one substantial whole ? So again : The crystalline
forms of solids are most numerous. There are above two hundred
to be found in carbonate of lime alone. Quartz has hexagonal
prisms terminated with hexagonal pyramids. The crystals of alum
are octahedral; those of Iceland-spar, rhombohedral ; those of
sulphur, partly long prismatic needles, partly oblique octahedra;
those of common salt and of sugar, cubipal. How are we to
account for these varieties of form in simple as in compound
bodies? An answer has been attempted to this question, by
attributing these various forms to the supposed diversity of form
in the atoms ? But this only throws the question further back ;
for it occurs at once to ask, Whence arises the diversity of form
in the constituent atoms ? Moreover, the answer seems very dif-
ficult of application to the case of compound substances. For, if
the atoms of the different elements that constitute the compound
substance remain, each in its state of isolation ; whence comes it
that the composite has a new crystalline form of its own ? How is
it, too, that the atoms, in complex structures more particularly,
appear to lose altogether the crystalline form they at first pos-
sessed? Again: Oxygen has a marked affinity for all metallic
bodies; nitrogen, precisely the reverse. These are some of the
facts which find no satisfactory solution in the present theory.
This is no indictment against the theory, regarded as exclusively
a physical system ; because the questions suggested reach beyond
the merely physical constitution of bodies as subject of experience.
Once more : The atoms which go to form a lump of carbon are
either carbon themselves or not. If they are carbon, they are
substantially distinct from the atoms which constitute a lump of
sulphur. Whence the difference between the two? If they are
not carbon ; how do they become carbon ? Surely, mere association
cannot give them a new specific nature with all its accompanying
qualities. Lastly: There is the great fact of life^ vegetable as well
M animal, which the theory in question does not touch. How is it
that, in one way or another, ancestral generation is necessary for all
fomis of life ? You could, one may presume, produce a counterpart
to the protoplasm of a dog by chemical combinations ; since by
chemical analysis you have discovered its constituents with their
relative proportions. Could you educate and transform your proto-
plasm thus prepared into an animal, and give to it locomotion
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248 Causes of Being.
and other acts of life ? Could you, by any process Imowii in the
laboratory, even produce a hydra or one of the infusoria ?
One remark remains to be added. Though it can scarcely be
doubted, that the elements were originally created in volame;
nevertheless^ it is not impossible that these elements may have been
created with parts actually separate, each from other, by virtue of
their concomitant quantities. It rests with physical science to
determine this by certain induction. Sundry great difficulties seem
to bar the way against such a hypothesis ; some of which have been
here suggested. But, as the question is rather a physical than a
metaphysical one, we may dismiss it with this observation; that
its truth, if irrefragably attested, would leave the teaching of the
School^ touching the essential constituents of material substance,
precisely where it was before.
B. The second class of objections comprises those which have
been directly urged against the Scholastic doctrine generally touching
Primordial Matter,
I. No theory concerning the ultimate constituents of bodies can
be admitted, which is opposed to the teaching of physical science;
for no theory is now admitted by physicists, which does not spon-
taneously flow from experimental induction of the severest kind,
repeatedly renewed, and conducted with precautions which assure to
it the highest physical certainty. But the Scholastic theory
touching the ultimate constituents of bodies is opposed to the teach-
ing of physical science. Therefore, etc. Further : This physical
teaching, which the author of the present objection identifies with
the chemico-atomic theory, gives such a harmonious, clear, solid,
explanation of the phenomena of nature, and exhibits such illustrious
marks of the Divine Wisdom, as not only to persuade the mind but
to fill it with admiration.
Note. The objections which are here quoted, including the
present one, naturally enough, embrace the doctrine of the School
not only touching Primordial Matter but likewise touching the
substantial form, as being the two essential and primary con-
stituents, according to the Peripatetic philosophy, of material sub-
stance. As the nature of the formal cause has yet to be explained
and its existence demonstrated, all concerning it that is absolutely
required in order to meet these objections, will be assumed as a
Lemma from the succeeding Chapter.
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The Material Cause. 249
Answer. The Major must be distinguished. Ifo theory concern^
ing the ultimate constituents of bodies, which is opposed to the teaching
0/ physical science^ that is to say, to certainly ascertained physical
fkets and physical laws legitimately evolved from such facts^ can he
admitted, — ^granted ; no theory concerning the ultimate constituents of
bodies can be admitted, which is opposed to the teacJ^ng of physical
science, that is to say, to some received theory or other,— ^denied.
The Minor must be similarly contradistinguished. The Scholastic
teaching on this subject is opposed to the teaching of physical science,
i.e. to certainly ascertained physical facts and physical laws legiti-
mately evolved from such facts,— denied ; is opposed to the teaching
of physical science, i.e. to some received theory or other, — ^let it
pass. The following is the explanation of the above distinction.
It is granted, then, that no theory, metaphysical or other, concern-
ing the ultimate constituents of bodies can be admitted, which in-
eontrovertibly contradicts physical facts and physical laws certainly
established, because truth cannot be divided against itself; just as
afortiori no physical theory can be admitted, which is incompatible
with metaphysical truth. But that a theory concerning the
ultimate constituents of bodies cannot be admitted which is
opposed to some received physical theory, is justly denied; and
this for several reasons. First of all, the proposition implies, that
there is only one theory generally received among physicists. If it
does not mean this, the assertion would be intolerable ; for it would
come to this, that no one can reasonably hold any other theory
touching this matter than the chemico-atomic, (that is, the one
which happens to commend itself to its author), although there be
other received physical theories among physicists. But there are
de facto other theories accepted by those who have addicted them-
selves to physical science ; as, for example, the dynamic. Then,
again, the assertion virtually inverts the scientific order ; for it as
much as says that metaphysical teaching must depend on physical
theory, whereas the exact reverse is true. If a physical theory is
inconsistent with received metaphysical teaching, it cannot be
admitted ; because metaphysics is the supreme natural science, not
physics. There is another reason which flows from the last men-
tioned. If there is opposition between any received physical theory
and metaphysical t.eaching, that opposition must have arisen from
the fact that the said theory has been transgressing the due limits
of physics and turning metaphysician on its own account. The
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250 Causes of Being.
proper province of physical science is not the essences of things but
their physical constitution, forces, action, and the like, as they
manifest themselves to sensile experience. Whenever, then, the re-
ceived theory is exclusively physical and is hased on the certainty
of legitimate inductions^ the result of careful experiment and obser-
vation, there ^ill be no danger of its clashing with the Meta-
physics of the School ; for truth, though manifold^ is one. A third
and final reason is^ that the proposition in question evidently
supposes metaphysics and physics to be working on the same level
and at the same formal subject-matter ; whereas the fact is other-
wise. Touching the Minor ; so far is it from being true that the
teaching of the School is opposed to physical facts and the approved
inductions of physical science, that, on the contrary, it appeals to
them from first to last as its material subject-matter ; and to these
facts and laws, not within a limited area, but throughout the entire
realm of corporeal being. No one can doubt this, who has even
cursorily looked into the works of Aristotle and St. Thomas.
Further, as touching the second member of the distinction: —
Though the teaching of the School may be opposed to a received
physical theory, (and this explains why the propositifon has been
answered with a let it pass) ; yet, as a fact, there is no physical
theory which so admirably coheres with the Peripatetic teaching as
the chemico-atomic which the objicient is engaged in defending
against all comers ; that is, under its already explained modifica-
tion as the ehemico^lemental theory. Indeed^ as will be seen later
on, it has been forestalled by the Angelic Doctor. The confirmation
of the Major does not in any way interfere with the present answer.
Yet it may be well to observe, in passing, that, if every received
physical theory concerning the ultimate constituents of bodies
* sj)ontaneously fiows from experimental induction of ike severest kind,
repeatedly renewed, and conducted with precautions which assure to it
the highest physical certainty ' ; it is a marvel how it should have
come to pass, that there are more theories than one approved even
now by physicists, and that, even within the limits of the chemico-
atomic theory itself, there should be that dissidence respecting fun-
damental parts of the doctrine, which has been signalized already.
The confirmatory argument is rhetorical rather than dialectic, and
may be safely left to the good sense and judgment of the reader.
But our objector subsumes:
The Scholastic theory is diametrically opposed to the chemico-
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The Material Cause. 251
atomic ; so that, this latter theory once admitted, the doctrine of
substantial forms ip%o facto comes to naught. The aubsumption is
denied; and the objicient proves it thus :
It is evident, first of all, on the evidence of the School itself. For all
its Doctors have been ever the avowed enemies of the atomic theory
under any and every shape. Then, secondly, if the chemico-atomic
theory is once accepted, substantial forms become wholly useless.
Answeb. To the first argument in proof of the subsumj)tio% we
answer as follows. The School did make war in times past against
any and every atomic theory then known, precisely because each one
of them failed to offer that which has been supplied by the chemico-
atomic theory, — viz. a sufiicient principle of substantial union, even
from a purely physical point of view. Hence, (as has been already
remarked), the accusation of Aristotle, that all those old atomic
theories ignored the formal cause. It is true, likewise, that the
supposed existence within one body of isolated atoms, or rather
molecules, gives rise to many serious difficulties from a metaphysical
point of view ; but, let the term atomic be replaced by elemental^
the Angelic Doctor takes the theory for granted and explains it.
Still it does make war even against the chemico-elemental, as against
any other physical theory whatsoever, if it should be offered as a
metaphysical solution of the question touching the ultimate con-
etituents of material substance. Against the second argument we
would, first of all, suggest that if, in presence of the chemico-
atomic theory, the Scholastic doctrine should prove useless \ this
would not evince that it is opposed to that theory. But, secondly, we
reply vdth a distinction. It may, or may not, be useless to physics ;
yet it is not only useful, but necessary, to the metaphysician.
The objieient urges his argument and attempts to prove that, in the
contemplated case, the Scholastic doctrine of substantial form^ would be
useless :
Where there are many substances which, by their own forces,
adhere together and remain in conjunction, in such a composite, as
Peripatetics are free to confess, no physical form is necessary ; and
there is only a sort of metaphysical form which is to be found
simply in the composition and order of parts, such as we see in all
artificial productions, for instance, in a house. But, in the atomic
system, atoms are united together, and remain united, by their
natural powers. Therefore, no physical form is necessary.
Answee. For answer, — the first member of the Major must be
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distinguished : Where there are many substances whichy hy their own
forces^ adhere together and remain in conjunction^ — in such a compose
no substantial physical form is required or possible, — ^granted ; no
accidental- physical form^— denied. The second member is cate-
gorically denied. Not only could there be no metaphysical form in
the alleged hypothesis ; but, even if there could be such a form, it
would be as unlike the accidental arrangement of stones, bricks,
beams, etc., in a building, as the external appearance of a bundle of
sticks differs from the constitutive form of a living tree. "Who
does not know that the metaphysical form is the form of the
essence? How is it possible, then, that any one could acknowledge
its possible presence in an accidental coalition, or association, of
molecules ? Let us now to the Minor : But, in the atomic theory,
atoms are united together^ and remain united, by their natural powers,
is a proposition that must be distinguished : according to a purely
atomic theory, — granted ; according to the chemico-atomic theory,
— there is need of a subdistinction : The atoms and molecules are
united together by their natural powers so, that each one of them
needs a substantial form by which they are essentially distinguished
from atoms or molecules of other bodies, — ^granted; so, that they
need no such substantial form, — denied. But really, save for the
sake of the doctrine impugned, there is no need of any distinction;
since we are compelled to deny the consequent and consequence alike.
There are, in fact, four terms in the syllogism. Atoms are substi-
tuted in the Minor for a number of substances in the Major. Thus,
that is tacitly assumed, which has to be proved ; viz. that they are
complete substances, when united in one whole by their mutual
powers, because they are not in immediate contact, although they
act in unity as though they were connected with a sort of elastic
spiral, — ^and this, remember, naturally not artificially.
But, to resume : — The force of the above distinctions needs evo-
lution ; though the process will oblige us to repeat much that has
been insisted upon already here and there. If a certain number of
complete bodily substances are united together, and remain complete
substances after their union ; that union must be accidental. It
cannot be substantial or essential. Thus, for instance, if a pane of
glass is fixed with putty into a windowframe, the putty, wood, glass,
adhere together by virtue of the natural powers belonging to those
substances ; but they remain glass, putty, and wood respectively, as
they were before. Therefore, there are three somethings which con-
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stitnte wood 09 wood, putty a* putty, glass an glass ; that is to say,
there are three complete substances. Their union is accidental.
The adhenon of a limpet to the rock^ a parasite on a tree^ butter
OK a slice of breads are all examples of accidental union. But, in
these and similar instances, no man of sane mind would judge that
these groups of substances respectiyely were really one substance
because they were accidentally associated. Neither would he call
them by one name. The limpet would still be a limpet ; and the
rock, a rock. Consequently, there would be no need of either a
physical or metaphysical form. But now, let us take an instance
of another kind. There are, we are told, a vast multitude of atoms
in a plate of glass, of different weight, mass, form. How does the
common sense of mankind consider and name that entity ? Is it
one plate of glass, or some hundred thousand million billions of
substances? Will any chemist venture to affirm that any one
of those atoms could naturally continue to exist without the aid of
another atom ? In what way, then, can it be a complete substance ?
Let us take another illustration from two elements, or simple bodies^
oxf^geu and iron. They have a nature very different from each
other. Iron is a metal; oxygen is not. The latter is naturally
gaseous ^ iron is not naturally gaseous. Oxygen in its native state
is a non-conductor of heat and electricity ; iron in its natural state
is a conductor of both. Now, we are taught to believe that two
atoms of these substances will differ in the same way as do the
elements of which they respectively form a constituent part.
What is that which constitutes the essential difference between
them ? To what cause are we to attribute the opposite properties
of the two ? Furthermore : Combine these two simple bodies in
the requisite proportions, viz. two volumes of iron to three of oxygen,
and you form a peroxide of iron, — red hematite^ with a nature and
properties distinct from either. What makes the difference between
the two elements and their compound? There is here no mere
association of ultimates. There is a transformation. For, where
properties are different^ the essence from which they flow must be
different. What is it that gives one essence to a molecule (so-called)
of iron, another to a molecule of oxygen, and yet another to a mole-
cale of red hematite ? You explain the result by the natural inter-
action of forces proper to different atoms ; but, in so doing, you are
assigning no cause of the actual constitution. There are many forces,
if you will, which conspire to produce the effect as efficient cause ;
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but, the effect once produced, what is it that gives to each entity its
specific nature ? The School calls it the substantial form, or formal
cause. Let it be called by any other name; provided that this
something is recognized as necessary and sufficient to constitute that
nature, and to bestow upon it its own distinct essential qualities.
To sum up : — In chemical combinations, there is more than cohesive
union. There is the development of a new substance out of two or
more previously existing, but now remaining only virtually in such
new substance. The combining forces, — ^the affinities between
different atoms, — may account for the prodaction of that new
entity physically ; but they do not give us the formal reason of its
constituted essence. This becomes more conspicuous, when we
mount to living generations and corruptions. Again : We desiderate
the formal reason of the essential distinction of one atom from
another. Therefore, the Scholastic doctrine of substantial forms is
not useless, even in presence of the chemico-atomic theory. Further:
Though there must be an incalculable number of atoms existing,
potentially at least, in every body ; yet^ the common sense of man-
kind judges that body to be one substance. Therefore, the meta-
physical doctrine of a substantial form may be useful in explaining
its acknowledged oneness. Once more : The parts of a inaterial
body, existing as actual parts, are not complete substances ; because
they are not sui juris but are physically dependent on others. If
separated, they become complete substances. Accidental cohesion
or association cannot make them parts ; nor can accidental isolation
of itself make them complete substances. Thus, there are certain
lower orders of animals that you can cut in two ; and each part
becomes an integral living animal. Previous to separation the
severed parts were one animal, — one substantial nature. Now they
are two animals, each having a complete substantial nature and a
distinct existence. Perhaps^ the Scholastic introduction of a sub-
stantial form may be of service to explain this fact, even though
a chemico-atomic theory should prove physically true.
The objector proceeds to a more direct proof of his assertion^ thai tke
doctrine of the School touching this subject and the chemico-atomic thearj
are so mutually opposed^ as to render it impossible to hold to the m
and not reject the other.
' For, in the Peripatetic doctrine, bodies do not consist of atoms
but of two principles, in themselves without extension, from whose
conjunction substance ' (that is, complete substance), ' is originated ;
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whose quantity is continuous and indefinitely divisible. Hence, no
molecular attraction, — ^no attraction between atoms of different
natures ; but only a kind of appetition, on the part of Primordial
Matter, for different substantial forms. In the conjunction of sub-
stances atoms are not combined with atoms^ nor do the heterogeneous
atoms remain unmixed in the composite ; but, on the corruption of
the preceding forms, one new form actuates their matter. Where-
fore, the diversity of bodies does not depend on the diversity of the
constituent molecules ; but exclusively on the substantial form.
But a theory which affirms these thiugs subverts the whole atomic
theory. Therefore, etc'
Answer. For answer, the Peripatetic or Scholastic doctrine shall
be succinctly given, point by point ; so far as may be necessary to
meet the argument.
i. The Scholastic Philosophy does not deny that bodies may be
phyneaUy made up of molecules and atoms ; since, by the fact of
their quantification, they are indefinitely divisible. Nor would it be
in direct contravention of that teaching to suppose that the atoms
are discontinuous physically ; though we should require rigorous
physical proof of such a hypothesis, which has not as yet been
given. Neither would it quarrel with chemists and physicists, if
for convenience' sake they assume atoms as their practical ultimates.
One can only say that elements would seem to serve better, if
determined to a certain unity of volume ; and it appears as though
chemists had come to a like conclusion. For an atom is only an
infinitesimal part of an element, and is practically useless in the
laboratory. But the Peripatetic will say that, whether actual or
only potential, it is not a true ultimate. For it is ponderable^ they
tell us ; and, if ponderable, must have an appreciable mass ; if
mass, extension ; if extension, part outside part ; if part outside of
parti capacity for further division. If we are in search of the real
ultimate, the question from the very nature of the case becomes
metaphysical ; and the School resolves it by teaching that bodily
substance, whether it be an atom or a mountain, is ultimately con-
stituted of Primordial Matter and a substantial form which never
are^ never can be naturally dissociated, though this or that form
may be supplanted by another in the same portion of Matter, as
in the instance of substantial transformations. The objector is
scarcely accurate in describing Primordial Matter as having a kind
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of appetiiionfoT different substantial forma. It i» true that of its
nature it postulates for its own perfectness information by some
form ; but, at the same time, it is indifferent to one as to another
and equally receptive of all.
ii. The Scholastic Philosophy teaches that quantity is an acci-
dent of material substance, so that this latter in its own essence, as
composed of Matter and form, would not be subject to extrinsic ex-
tension ; but it likewise teaches that physically this accident is in-
separable from material substance, since it is a property of the first
and universal form of Primordial Matter, which is . body-form.
Nevertheless, quantity is repeatedly changing in the same body.
Now, it may he^ that quantity, in informing the Matter, so informs
as to render the part that is outside part by virtue of intrinsic ex-
tension physically separate from the other and all other parts;
though one would be loth to say that it is so, till the hypothesis of
dissociated atoms is more convincingly established. In any case, such
dissociation would be^ metaphysically speaking, accidental; conse-
quently, could claim no place in the essential constitution of bodies.
iii. The question of continuity is reserved, as has been already said.
iv. The Scholastic doctrine is perfectly compatible with molecular
and chemical attraction ; since all these are rendered possible by the
quantification of the Matter, (which is an essential property of bodily
substance and coeval with it) on the one hand, and the specific
activity of the substantial form on the other.
V. When it is maintained in the philosophy of the School, that,
in ultimate analysis the two constituents of all bodies are Primordial
Matter and the substantial form ; it does not follow from this, that
in every instance there is nothing but these two constituents. Most
probably such is the case with the elements, or simple bodies ; but
with no others. Has our adversary never heard of such a thing, in
the teaching of the School, as the necessary dispositions of matter for
the evolution of certain substantial forms ? Now, these dispositions
ai^e qualities introduced into the Matter by preceding forms ; and,
as no substantial form recedes till it is expelled by a successor, the
qualities of the former become dispositions for the reception of the
latter, as modified and multiplied, — especially in living things, — by
the efiScient cause of generation.
vi. Physically speaking, the essential difference between bodies
depends upon the Matter as well as the substantial form. This is
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the case even in the instance of simple bodies which, as being
primary, could not admit of any previoas dispositions of the Matter.
For in them the difference of the Matter exclusively arises from the
energy of the informing form which produces, by means of its
accompanying qualities, a distinct ordering of that portion of
Matter which it actuates. In all other bodies it arises, partly from
this cause, partly from previous dispositions.
II. The second argument which merits notice is proffered in the
shape of a question, to which the Scholastic Philosophy is invited
to give an answer. It is the following : Why should two substances
which have combined to produce a certain composite, on the disso-
lution of that composite, return to what they were before ? The pith
of this interrogatory argument may be thus given. The chemico-
atomic theory gives an easy solution to the problem; while the
doctrine of the School gives an answer that is obscure and intricate.
In order to set off this assumption to greater advantage, the objector
supplies the Peripatetic with the reply which he ought to make.
Answer. Without caring to impugn the physical truth of the
answer which the chemist is supposed to give to the question ; the
Scholastic, from his metaphysical point of view, would answer the
question in this wise. Whenever such resolution into the previous
components does take place after the dissolution of the composite
substance, (which is not always the case, since watery for instance,
may be resolved into steam)^ the following is the explanation.
When the dispositions of the Matter belonging to the composite
have become so changed, by the action of some applied force, as to
be no longer fitted to sustain the substantial form of the composite ;
the previous qualities of the Matter, — the result of those previous
fonns and which had remained virtually under the form of the
composite, — ^become explicit and uncontrolled^ and postulate the
evolution of the two original forms from the proximate potentiality
of the Matter into which they had previously relapsed.
ni. *The theory of substantial forms,' says the same objector,
is Dot proved, and rests on no solid foundation.' The Antecedent is
supported by four statements. First, it cannot be proved that
Piimordial Matter is one only; or that gold can be transmuted
into hydrogen, or sulphur into iron. ' But this is their first postu-
late,' (that is to say, of the Scholastics). Secondly, the School in
earlier times believed that the matter of the celestial bodies is
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258 Causes of Being.
different from that of sublunary bodies. Thirdly^ it cannot be
proved that all earthly bodies are corruptible. Finally, it cannot be
proved that there are only four elements; and that these elements
are earth, air, fire, water.
Answeb. It ought not to escape observation, that the JnUcedeni
deals exclusively with the theory of substantial forms ; while the
proof comprises three statements about complete substances and one
about Primordial Matter. This premised, to the answer :
i. Proof of the unity of Primordial Matter has been already given
in this Article. If gold cannot be transmuted into hydrogen nor
sulphur into iron, (assuming the^c^ as well as the elemental nature
of these four bodies, neither of which is by any means beyond reach
of dispute), it is because they are simple bodies, and there could not
be any disposition of the Matter to justify, so to say, the transforma-
tion. For, if simple bodies, they would be the primary determina-
tions of Primordial Matter. But nature never acts without a reason.
Such an impossibility, therefore, — supposing it to exist, — does in no
wise militate against the imity of Primordial Matter. Tot, prior
to the determination of Primordial Matter to its specific form, — say
of ^oldf — it was indifferently receptive of any form. Wherefore,
that same portion of Matter could have become hydrogen, sulphur^
iron, or any other simple body. But the same cannot be said after
its specific determination. For the supposed primary form brings
in its train certain qualities which are incompatible with any other
primary form ; while, on the other hand^ in the case of the elements
there is no efficient cause in nature capable of introducing the form
through the medium of the necessary dispositions. It is not, then,
a first postulate of the Scholastic doctrine, that gold should be
transmutable into hydrogen ; or anything of a like nature, ii. The
belief alluded to may have been a mistake ; though this is by no
means beyond the reach of all doubt as the objector seems to
imagine. In a Paper read by Mr. Lockyer before the Boyal Society,
March ao, 1879, on * Young^s List of Chromospheric Lines, that
eminent physicist thus concludes : ' If, therefore^ the argument for
the existence of our terrestial elements in extra-terrestial bodies, in-
cluding the sun, is to depend upon the perfect matching of the
wave-lengths and intensities of the metallic and Fraunhofer lines,
then we are driven to the conclusion that the elements with
WHICH WE ARE ACqUAINTED HEBE DO NOT EXIST IN THE SUN.' But,
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even if the Scholastica were wrong, what has this to do with their
theory of Matter and form ? So &r is it from being true, that the
belief toaching the incorruptibility of the oelestial bodies is neces-
sary to the said theory, that, on the contrary, it proved a difficulty
in the way, and suggested the hypothesis that there are two species
of Primordial Matter. Modern spectroscopic discoveries, therefore,
if they may be relied on, rather strengthen than otherwise the Peri-
patetic doctrine, iii. That all earthly bodies are corruptible, is an
undoubted conclusion of experience, iv. The belief of the Peripatetics
and Scholastics in the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water, no
more affects the theory in question, than the apparently well-
founded suspicion of Mr. Lockyer that the sixty-five or sixty-six
elements of modem chemistry are not simples for the most part
but compounds, affects the truth of the chemico-atomic theory.
IV. A fourth argument, (if such it may be called), is embodied in
an attempt to lighten the weight of authority which the Scholastic
teaching on this subject can produce in its favour. No such appeal
to authority has ordinarily bee^h made in these pages, — ^that is to
say, whenever there is evidence sufficient to admit of demonstrative
proof; — ^because in philosophy we must rest contented with nothing
short of demonstrative proof and intrinsic evidence, whenever it can
be attained. Nevertheless, in abtruse and difficult questions like
the present, the authority of the wise and the persistence of a doc-
trine in the special homes of thought may prove a safe guide to lead
us in the right direction, and even to determine the judgment in
cases where there is a defect of intrinsic evidence for us. Now^ it is
a grave &ct that the doctrine exposed in the present Article was
maintained by Aristotle, has continued to the present hour^ has en-
listed on its side such men as St. Augustine, B. Albert the Oreat^
St. Thomas, St. Bonaventure, Duns Scotus, and the other Doctors of
the medieval Church together with such men as Suarez, Gonet,
Vasqaez, and a multitude of Philosophers since the Council of Trent.
How, then^ is this supposed appeal to authority met by our dispu-
tant? He urges, first of all, that there have been Schools of
philosophy which have taught the atomic theory. There are, more-
over, eminent physicists who now hold to the atomic theory. These
are safer guides than the Scholastics ; because they conclude from
induction of experience, while the latter conclude from h jniari
deduction. Secondly^ the eminent philosophers who identified
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26o Causes of Bmig,
themselves with the Peripatetic doctrine were ignorant of modem
chemistry ; so that they were unable to form a just judgment on this
particular subject. Thirdly, they took the system as they found it ;
only intent on one point, to make it harmonize with Christian
dogmas. Lastly^ St. Thomas undoubtedly would not have main-
tained the Peripatetic doctrine, had he lived in our times.
Answer, i. There have been Schools in the early ages which
have taught various atomic theories, all of which have been rejected
by our objector; none of which maintained the new chemico-
atomic theory that he advocates. There are, it is true, eminent
physicists who maintain the last-named theory ; just as there are
eminent physicists and mathematicians who hold to the theory of
forces. But neither the one nor the other theory can help us towards
a solution of the metaphysical problem^ whatever account we may
make of them from a purely physical point of view. Again : It is
precisely because physical science, so-called, is based on induction,
that it ought not to trespass on metaphysical ground ; and it is
precisely because the metaphysical science proceeds on h priori de-
monstrations, that its conclusions are immutable and eternal, ii. It
is true that the Peripatetic philosophers in past centuries were
ignorant of modern chemistry, just as there are chemists of this
century who are ignorant of the ancient metaphysics ; but let us
presume that there are disciples of the School in our day who are
not. Does not this fact point to a truth already insisted upon, — ^to
wit, that physical discoveries have a comparatively remote and
indirect bearing upon the subject under discussion^ because the
problem is a metaphysical one ? It has to do with essence, not with
phenomena. Consequently, the two spheres only just touch. Any
physical theory, therefore, which ia exclusively physical and does
not involve a contradiction in terms, (as the dynamic theory seems
to do), is compossible with Scholastic teaching, even though it
should otherwise not be able to boast of verisimilitude, iii. It is
doing scant justice to the crowd of eminent Philosophers and
Doctors of the School, produced or producible in favour of the
Peripatetic doctrine, to suppose that they were not equally avid
after, and careful of, truth in the natural, as in the supernatural
order ; since both are a Divine revelation. Moreover, the teaching
about Matter and form is not a mere excrescence which can suffer
amputation without affecting the body of the Scholastic Philosophy.
On the contrary, it is so interwoven with every part that its re-
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jection virtuaDy involves the rejection of, — we might almost venture
to say, — the whole. Finally, it must be added, that the promi-
nence given to this particular doctrine^ its constant recurrence, the
elaborate commentaries on Aristotle's exposition of it, the care
bestowed on its proper development, conspire to condenm the rash
assumption that the Scholastic Doctors adopted it only because
it was the prevailing theory in their time. iv. The assertion about
the Angelic Doctor is singularly venturesome^ and perilous as a
precedent ; for it might be copied in controversies more sacred. It
is, moreover, absonous to assume that which, from the nature of the
case^ is incapable of verification, without an assigned or assignable
foundation ; and the vaticination is made more distasteful by reason
of the fact that it is St. Thomas who is the subject of it. His
affectionate devotion to the illustrious Stagyrite is manifested in
wellnigh every page of his voluminous writings. He invokes
Aristotle's authority, under the unique title of the Philosopher, on
every subject of importance that does not surpass the limits of the
natural order ; and, in particular, developes the Peripatetic doctrine
touching Matter and form, not only indirectly in his theological
works, but directly both in his Commentaries on the great Phi-
losopher and in Opmcula expressly treating on this subject. He
extends the theory, (if theory it can be justly called), beyond the
earth to the kingdom of Angels, and even to the throne of God.
Rejection, therefore, of this particular chapter in the Peripatetic
Philosophy would mean treason to his most intimate and settled
convictions.
C. The third class of objections comprises those whkh impiign
ike truth of this or that Proposition in particular.
I. The following objection is brought against the hundred and
fmiy-prst Proposition^ in which it is maintained that Primordial
Matter is not a complete substance. It may be thus stated. The
Material Cause is not an incomplete substance ; but is composed of
a substantial potentiality and of a sort of indeterminate or generic
form, such as the body-form, or in other words that of corporeal-
ness. This seems mjore in accordance with the experience of the
senses. For, in all generations and corruptions there appears a
complete substance underlying and supporting the transformation ;
on the other hand, one never comes across this said subjective
potentiality under any of the substantial changes. This testimony
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262 Causes of Being,
of the senses is eonfinned by reason. For in order that a physical
transformation may become possible, it is evidently necessary that
the Matter should be extended, and that the portion of Matter
which is subject of the transformation should be marked off from
other portions of Matter. If it were not thus separated, each par-
ticular transformation must needs transform all nature. But to be
capable of separation, it must be extended. Extrinsic, and even
intrinsic, extension presupposes the actuation in some sort of the
Matter ; the former, because it supposes quantity which is an
accidental concomitant of the substantial form, the latter, because
to have part outside part presupposes actuation and is an evident
result of the substantial form. Nor would such an indeterminate
and generic information hinder the capacity of Matter for more
determinate forms ; for the generic form is evidently compossible
with another specific form. For example^ a dog is first a body^ then
a living body ; that is to say, first the body-form actuates the
Matter, then the specific form of animality.
Answ£r. It has been already proved to demonstration, that two
substantial forms cannot simultaneously actuate one and the same
portion of Matter. For such a hypothesis would be equivalent to
supposing, that out of two substantial beings in act could simul-
taneously exist one substantial entity identical with the other two.
But it is an axiom among philosophers and patent to common
sense, that such a thing is impossible. As to the confirmation
borrowed fVom the testimony of the senses, it should be observed,
that Primordial Matter never is, never could be, subject to the per-
ception of the senses. No essence or partial essence is. The senses
intue phenomena only ; the understanding it is that intues essence.
Besides, Primordial Matter, uninformed, is not actual ; and, there-
fore, is not cognizable by even the Divine Intelligence apart bom
relation to its form. To the second confirmation from reason we
reply, that the Antecedent with its Prosyllogism is granted; bat
the Consequent is denied. To explain : — In all transformations the
Matter remains extended ; and must so remain. But, between the
corruption of the former substance by the expulsion of its substantial
form and the generation of the new substance by the introduction
of the new form, there is an unbroken continuity. In fact, it is
the introduction of the latter form that causes the expulsion of the
former. Extension, then, and separation of the Matter, throughoat
the time previous to generation, are produced by the quantity and
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The Material Cause. 263
form of the ori^nal substance. In the moment itself of generation^
this extension and separation are preserved bj the form then in-
trodnoed as well as by a new act of the quantity. The third con-
firmation is denied. As to the argument in proof thereof^ it should
be observed that the distinction between the generic and specific
form in one and the same individual is a conceptual, not a real, dis-
tinction. Real actuation by a form gives a specific nature to the
entity; and in that form is virtually included the generic form
which is conceived by abstraction as distinct, after the manner in
which universals are formed. No man has ever seen a dog whose body
is neither living nor inanimate, but capable of being either. A rose,
if it exist, cannot \)e only coloured ; but must be determinately of
this or that colour. Imagine, moreover, the absurdities that would
follow, if it were once admitted that a generic as well as specific form
eould really and actually exist together in the same entity. First of
all, there would be as many substantial forms in Henry y for example,
as there are genera in the Porphyrian tree. This, as regards his
body : Then, as to his soul, he would have a spiritual form, another
animal form, and another vegetable form. As each one of these
forms would independently specify his nature, he would possess as
many distinct natures as there are forms by which he is deter-
mined. The notion perishes in its own absurdity.
II. The second objection is directed against the same Proposition.
The Primordial Material Cause, argues the objector, must be a
complete substance. For, in order that it may be able physically
to concur in the composition of a corporeal nature, it must itself
first be. But to be, is to be in act ; and nothing is in act that is not
informed. For everything is actuated by its form. Consequently,
there are two acts, — ^the one of simple being, the other of being of
such or such a nature. Hence, ' the generation of a new material
substance is not the passage of Primordial Matter from one primal
act of simple being to another primal act of being ; but it is the
passage of informed Matter, (retaining its substantial form), from
one act of natural being to another act of natural being. Con-
sequently, it is not a new substance, properly speaking, that is
generated ; but a new substantial nature.'
Answee. The Antecedent is denied. The Major of the argument
in proof must be distinguished. In order that an entity may be in
its own absolute or independent existence, it muet be in/ormedy —
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264 Causes of Being.
granted ; in order that an entity may he^ that is to say, may 00-exist
with another, — a subdisti notion is needed : It must be informed prior
to the co-existence, — denied ; simultaneously with the co-existence,
^granted. The Minor is contradistinguished : JBut Primordial
Mattery in order that it may be able physically to concur in the compom-
tion of a corporeal nature^ must first be, if it should be physically and
in order of time presupposed to the act of composition, — granted ;
if it is physically supposed only in the act of composition, — a sub-
distinction is necessary : It must first exist, — denied ; it must exist,
— a further subdistinction is required : It must exist as a complete
substance in itself, — denied ; it must exist with a partial existence
dependent on its form, — ^granted. Now for the Corollary drawn
from the above syllogism : Consequently ^ there are two act's; — the
first, the one of simply being^ the second^ that of being such or such,
— denied, for this reason. It is impossible that a form should
actuate Matter without at the same time determining its specific
nature. Therefore, in order to be, it must be such. This is equally
true, whether being is meant to stand for essence or for existence.
Finally, touching the canon established on the basis of the preced-
ing propositions : — It is at once admitted, as an undoubted truth,
that the generation of a new material substance is not the passage of
Primordial Matter from one primal act of being to another primal act
of being, at least immediately and physically, whatever it may be
mediately and in ultimate analysis. It is further granted that this
generation of a new substance is the passage of informed Matter from
one act of natural (or substantial) being to another act of natural (or
substantial) being ; but it cannot be granted, for reasons often re-
peated, that the old substantial form remains afber the transmuta-
tion. To resume : Consequent ly^ it is not a new svhstance, properly
speaking, but a new substantial nature^ is a proposition which cannot
possibly be admitted. For an entity cannot be actuated or exist
as substance, without being constituted, by one and the same act,
a substance of this or that particular nature. God does not create,
neither does nature give birth to, genera.
A few observations may be added to this formal answer, by way
of elucidating the distinctions. It is true that an entity must
exist before it can act, at least in order of nature ; and that, in
order to exist, it must be actuated by its form. Moreover, a
complete material substance naturally first exists, even in order of
time, before entering into accidental composition with another:
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l)ecan8e such natural compoeition connotes succession. But an
incomplete material substance, — which is in itself a pure receptivity
and can only co-exist^ since its existence essentially depends on
another^ — need not first be, in order to enter into composition with
the other incomplete substance that completes it. The reason is
this: If an entity is a substance, it is of its essence somehow or
other that it should be capable of subsisting in itself without the
aid of another entity in which it naturally inheres. It is in this
way that substance is distinguished from accident. Now, if a
substantial entity is^ — ca it is, — immediately capable of its own nature
thus to subsist without any diminution of its proper perfection ;
it is a complete substance. If, on the other hand, it is only con-
jointly with another that it can subsist without any diminution of
its proper perfection, and that other is not a Subject of inhesion but
a partner in a composite subsistence, the entity in question is said
to be an incomplete substance. Now, since Primordial Matter is
essentially an incomplete substance, if it could be in act properly
80 called prior to its information by the substantial form, it would
be a complete substance ; because it would not only be capable of
subsistence, but it would actually subsist in and by itself. But
then, what about the succession of time connoted in material com-
position ? We answer, that the law does not apply here ; because
this primordial composition was not an operation of nature, but a
Divine Creation. In the beginning God created the elements or
simple bodies, — be they few or many in number, — out of which the
complex fabric of nature was gradually evolved. It may be, after
all, that the first day's creation of light in the Mosaic Cosmogony
has a deeper signification than was assigned to it previous to the
modem discoveries in chemistry. To resume : — ^It is sufficient, in
the instance of these incomplete substances, that they should
coexist in time, — ^that the passive or receptive element should be
prior in the metaphysical order to the active and completorial
element, — ^and that both in order of nature should be prior to the
composite. In natural generation the simple elements are pre-
existent. Therefore^ the change is from one complete substance to
another; the extension and portioned separateness of the Matter
continuing, as has been explained. As for the distinction virtually
included in the Canon, it must be rejected as inadmissible. For no
tubitance can exist even in thought without a definite, specific nature.
The two are, in it, really one and the same thing represented under
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266 Causes of Being.
two distinct fonnal concepts. An entity is cognized as a sub-
stance inasmuch as it has jaerseity^ (as the School terms it), — that
is to say, a capacity for existing in itself and by itself without any
Subject of inhesion. That same entity is conceived as a nature,
inasmuch as itself is the principle of operation by which it tends
towards the attainment of its appointed end. Hence, in the
abstract, nature is a concept of wider periphery than substance;
for accidents have their own proper nature as well as substance.
But no substance can be actual, which is not of a specifically
determined nature ; or a specifically determined substantial nature
which is not a substance.
III. The Scholastic doctrine is based on the supposition that
Primordial Matter and the substantial form physically compose
substance^ (that is to say, material substance). ' But this supposi-
tion is altogether false ; for it is of the essence of physical com-
position that one at least of the component's should be capable of
remaining in nature on the withdrawal of the other. ... In order,
therefore, that the composition out of Primordial Matter and the
substantial form may be declared to be physical, it is necessary to
affirm that either Primordial Matter or its substantial form should
be capable of remaining in nature on the withdrawal of the other.
But this is impossible^ as has been already proved.'
Answer. The Antecedent is granted ; and the Consequent denied.
To the proof of the Antecedent^ the reply is as follows. The Major
might be granted ; but it would perhaps save trouble if it were
distinguished thus : It is of the essence of physical composition thai
one at least of the components should he capable of surviving on tie
withdrawal of the other^ pretematurally, — let it pass ; naturally
capable of surviving exclusively, — there is need of a subdistinction :
That is to say, in accidental physical composition whether of
substance with accident or of accident with accident, — ^let it pass ;
in substantial composition, — there must be added a further sub-
distinction : In the composition, or mixture, of two complete sub-
stances,— ^granted ; in the physical composition of two incomplete
substances of which one is the act of the other,— denied. The
Minor is granted ; and the Conclusion^ according to the distinction
given under the Major denied. .
These distinctions will be made clearer by a few expository notes.
In accidental composition, a complete substantial Subject is either
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immediately or mediately presupposed. The Subject, therefore,
being a complete substance, can naturally continue in existence
on the secession of its accident; If one accident is the immediate
Subject of another accident, the former may continue to inform its
substantial Subject on the withdrawal of the latter. Thus, in a
heated bar of iron the quantity remains, after the form of heat has
receded. If two complete substances have been mixed or other-
wise combined together, it is plain that either of them can naturally
exist when separated from the other. On the other hand, if there
are two incomplete substances, each naturally necessary to the
existence of the other and both in union constituting one complete
substance^ — as is the case with Primordial Matter and the sub«
stantial form ; it is plainly of their nature that they cannot ac-
cording to ordinary laws exist, either of them apart from the
other. But can they do so supematurally ? In other words, is it
absolutely possible? It is a celebrated question in the Schools,
whether, by virtue of the Divine Omnipotence, Primordial Matter
could exist apart from any form ; and whether a purely material
fonn could exist apart from the Matter. In the present Work it
win be maintained that neither is possible de potentia abaoluta*
But, spite of this impossibility, there may be real physical composi-
tion ; just as quantity cannot exist without limit or limit without
quantity, (and by limit we understand figure or shape), yet there
is clearly physical composition. Neither can it be urged that,
though some limit is inseparable, yet this particular figure is
separable, from quantity; because in like manner some form or
other is inseparable from matter, yet this particular form is
separable.
IV, The fourth and following objections are directed against the
first Member of the hundred and forty -fifth Proposition, wherein it
is asserted that Primordial Matter is not in such sense a pure
potentiality as to exclude some sort of entitative act. The objection
is as follows. There is no entitative act without being ; for being
is the actuality of everything. But Primordial Matter has no
being save through its form. Therefore, it can have no sort of
entitative act in itself.
Answer. The Major must be distinguished. There is no entitative
act mthoiU being^ either absolute and complete or incomplete and
dependent^—- granted ; absolute and complete only,— denied. The
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268 Causes of Being,
Minor is contradistinguished. The form gives absolute and com-
plete entity or being to Matter, — granted; incomplete and de-
pendent,— ^there is room for a subdistinction : It gives being by
reducing the potentiality to act, — granted ; it gives being, in the
sense that it communicates to Matter the special imperfect entity
of the latter, — denied. The distinction will be su£Sciently apparent
to those who have mastered the Propositions contained in the
first Section of this Chapter. Though Primordial Matter is de-
pendent on the form for its actuation ; nevertheless, once actuated,
it has an entity, nay, — ^a partial existence, — of its own, which is
essentially distinct from that of the form and is communicated by
itself to the complete composite.
V. Out of two actual entities cannot be composed an entity
substantially one. But, if Primordial Matter could claim for itself
some sort of entitative act, it and the substantial form would be
two actual entities. Therefore, etc.
Answer. The Major is distinguished. Out of two actual, complete,
and independent, entities cannot he composed an entity substantially
one, — granted, or rather let it pass ; out of two actual, incomplete,
and mutually dependent ew^zV/^*,— denied. The Minor is contra-
distinguished ; and the Consequent, subject to the above distinction,
denied. In reply to the Proposition that out of two actual, complete,
and independent entities cannot be composed an entity substantially
one, answer has been given by preference, — let it pass. For by
chemical combination, out of two or more actual, complete, and
independent substances, (previously, that is, to the transformation),
— such as hydrogen and oxygen, — can be composed an entity substan-
tially one, viz. water,
VI. Primprdial Matter, being a simple being, must be either
entirely potentiality or entirely act ; for it cannot be composed ol
the two. But if this Member of the hundred and forty-jifth
Proposition were true, Primordial Matter would be a composite of
potentiality and act. Therefore, etc.
Answee. The Major must be distinguished. Primordial Matter^
being a simple entity, must be either entirely potentiality or entirely
act, or entirely potentiality and entirely act, under different respects,
— granted; it must be disjunctively either entirely potentiality
or entirely act, — denied. The Minor is contradistinguished. If
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The Material Cause. 269
Primordial Matter does not exclude from itself some sort qfentitative
aety it would be a composite of pote^itiality and act, that is to say, it
would be entirely potentiality in one respect and entirely some
sort of entitative act under a different respect^ — granted ; it would
be partly potentiality, partly act, so as to exhibit anything like
real composition, — denied. This distinction stands in need, perhaps^
of a little explanation. Between objective potentiality and act in
general there is essentially immediate opposition ; so that it is a
contradiction in terms to say, that the same thing is at once in
objectiTC potentiality and either in act or an act. But there is
no such necessary opposition between subjective potentiality and
act. On the contrary, a subjective potentiality is something real in
itself and therefore must include some sort of act ; though it is
opposed to its completorial act which is act simply^ as distinguished
from act somehow. (See the second Prolegomenon to the hundred
and forty-fifth Proposition.) It is, therefore, at once a potentiality
and an incomplete entitative act, not by composition but by a
transcendental identity between the two^ though always with an
essential relation to, and dependence on, its act or substantial form.
This metaphysical truth is more easily and more clearly recognized
in the instance of an active subjective potentiality, such as the
faculty of thought. For who would venture to deny that the
intellectual faculty in the human soul is something real and, there-
fore, in some way or other an entitative act ? Yet, it is not simply
act, till it has been actuated by the informing thought.
VII. Since act and pure potentiality are opposites, their natures
must be proportionate. Therefore, as pure act has nothing of
potentiality included in it; so, pure potentiality has nothing of act
included in it. But Primordial Matter is a pure potentiality.
Therefore, it has nothing in the shape of act included in it.
Ai^swEB. The Antecedent of the mother-syllogism shall be
granted out of respect ; for it is a philosophic axiom. Forsaking,
therefore, for once logical rule, we will throw our distinction into
the Consequent. Thertfore, as pure act has nothing of passive
potentiality, or receptivity, in it; in like manner^ pure passive
^potentiality has nothing of actuating act in it, — ^granted ; therefore, as
pure act has nothing of potentiality of any kind included in it; so,
pure passive potentiality has no act of whatever kind included in it,
there is need of a subdistinction : pure objecfive potentiality, —
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270 Causes of Being.
granted; pure gubf'ective potentiality, — denied. The Mmar of the
second syllogism is granted ; and the Conclusion^ under the given
distinction, denied. To explain : — Pure act, (we here speaj: oi finite
act, because between the Infinite and finite there is no proportion
properly so called), does not exclude active potentiality ; nor, indeed^
all entitative potentiality, seeing that it is capable of elevation into
a supernatural order. A fortiori^ it does not exclude a metaphysical
potentiality ; which is essentially included in the contingency of its
being. That which it does exclude is, a passive potentiality^ or
receptivity, within its own natural limits. In like manner, pure
subjective and passive potentiality does not exclude every kind of
entitative act; for how could it be something independent of
human concept, if it did 7 But that which it does exclude is, any
actuating, or informing, act. The proportion, therefore, is preserved.
Further: Attention must again be called to the fact, that sub-
jective potentiality is not the proper and adequate opposite of pure
act, but objective potentiality. Nevertheless, it must always be
borne in mind that, antecedently to its actuation in the composite,
it is neither partial entity nor act ; because it can only exist in
union with its form.
YIII. If Primordial Matter were anything actual, it must be
either substance or accident. But^ evidently, it cannot be accident;
because, first of all, it is an essential component of bodily substance,
and then^ in the second place, it is so far from postulating a
Subject, that itself is the primordial and universal Subject. But
neither can it be substance. For it is in potentiality, as we are told,
to become a substance ; and potentiality to become a thing cannot
be identical with the thing itself.
Answer. Primordial Matter is not accident, but incomplete
substance. Wherefore, the Major may be granted, as well as the
first Member of the disjunctive in the Minor. But the second
Member of the disjunction, — viz, that Primordial Matter cannot be
substance, — must be denied. Primordial Matter is a substantive
potentiality receptive of the substantial form; and, conjointly
with its form, constitutes complete material substance. But to
say that an incomplete substance, (such as Primordial Matter is in
this hypothesis), has a capacity for becoming substance, is a con-
tradiction in terms ; unless it should be meant, that Matter has a
capacity for becoming, — or, more properly, constituting, — ^a complete
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The Material Cause, 2^1
substanee, which would be true, indeed, but wholly irrelevant to
the argument. One might add, that the same argument would
equally militate against the actual entity of the material form.
IX. St. Thomas, in answer to a difficulty touching the Divine
cognition, makes the following observation: 'Because we lay it
down as a fact, that Matter was created by God, not however
without form ; Matter has, indeed, an exemplar Idea in God, but
not different from the Idea of the composite. For Matter of itself
neither has being nor can be object of cognition V So, Aristotle
affirms, that ' Primordial Matter cannot of itself become object of
cognition 2.' But, if it were anything actually, it could be cognized
directly and of itself.
Answer. Neither St. Thomas nor Aristotle pretends that direct
cognition of Primordial Matter is impossible; but both agree that
it cannot be cognized absolutely and of itself. The reason of this
is, not that Primordial Matter has no entitative act of any sort,
for then it could not be cognizable at all; but that it has a
transcendental relation to form. Therefore, the passive potentiality
is known in its substantial act. Besides, as Primordial Matter
and substantial form are correlatives, they are necessarily together
in cognition, as they are in being ; and the superiority is attributed
to the form, because it is simply act, while Primordial Matter is
only act in a certain sort — ^and that, the most imperfect of ways.
Finally, in the third Section of the present Chapter it has been
shown, from various passages in his Works, that the Angelic Doctor
clearly acknowledged some sort of entitative act in Primordial
Matter.
ARTICLE n.
Tho oauflality of Frimordial Hatter.
In the preceding Article the several causes of Primordial Matter
have been incidentally exhibited, though perhaps they may have
escaped notice. For its formal cause is evidently enough the
substantial form; God is its sole Efficient Cause; union with the
form its proximate, the perfect composite its adequate and ultimate
* !•• XV, 3, 3».
* 4 V tXti Syyttarin itaff aiyHiv, Mdaph, L. VI, (aliter riJ), e. lo, v. fi.
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272 Causes of Being. .
final cause. A Material Cause, from the very nature of the ease,
it cannot have.
Next in order, the question awaits us touching the carnality iUdf
of the Material Cause. At the outset of this investigation^ it will
not be amiss to warn the reader against a possible misconception
which might, if unnoticed, create a hopeless confusion in his mind,
spite of all the efforts that have been made to render the question
of causality as clear as in itself it is. In our day the idea of causality
has become so identified with efficient causality to the exclusion
of any other causal action, that the concept of this specific kind of
causality will involuntarily obtrude itself, whensoever the mind
concerns itself with the question of causation ; spite of persevering
efforts to avoid such confusion. But here, as in the next Chapter,
this conceptual restriction would be fatal to a right understanding
of the subject-matter. For Primordial Matter is not an extrinsic
cause ; that is to say, its causal influx into the production of the
complete composite substance does not proceed from without, but
from within. It is an intrinsic cause and intrinsic constituent.
But if so, it might be urged, how can it be a cause at all ? For the
given definition of a cause is, that it is aprincipiant which essen-^
tially and positively communicates entity to another bein^^ or which
produces an existing essence entitatively other than its own. Such a
definition seems to imply, that the entity, which is denominated
cause, is external to the other entity which is conceived as the
effect. Yet, on closer examination, this prejudice will disappear.
Take Primordial Matter, as it has been already explained. The
entity of the integral composite is, plainly enough, really distinct
from the Matter of which it is composed. Furthermore: This
latter really, and positively, and essentially contributes to the
constitution of the former, albeit intrinsically. Thus, for instance,
the Matter in wood or coal is an entity wholly distinct from fire;
yet it intrinsically contributes to the production of fire. The
Matter in the food which an animal eats is assuredly not the same
thing as that animaVs flesh antecedently to its consumption ; yet it
intrinsically contributes to the renovation and increase of the body.
Wherefore, to conclude : — ^As there is extrinsic, so there is intrinsic
causality.
Having premised so much by way of caution, we may now pro-
ceed to investigate the carnality of the Material Cause. In order
to be capable of determining the nature of this causality, it is
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The Material Cause, 273
necessary to know its effects ; for^ from the nature of the effects,
it is a comparatiyely easy task to infer the true nature of causal
influx. It is further of great importance to know by means of
what element in its Being a cause works. For instance, if one man
persuade another to strike a certain person and the blow is given,
we know at once that the causality of the first mentioned is moral \
for he has worked purely by his will. But^ if he takes the man's
arm and forces him to deal the blow^ it is plain that the causality is
phi/9%cal \ and the actual striker is a mere instrument in the hands
of the principal agent. After having determined these two points^
it will not be difficult to arrive at the iiature of material causality.
Hence, three questions await us; i. What are the effects attri-
butable to the Material Cause? 2. By what does Matter cause?
3. What is the precise nature of its Causality ?
§ I.
The effects of the Material Cause.
PROPOSITION CXLVI.
FassLve generation is caused by the Matter as a passage to the
efibot, rather than as an effect itself.
Prolegomenon I.
This Thesis does not contemplate the elements, or simple mate-
rial substances, as is plain; for they were necessarily created.
Consequently, in their case there could be no generation. It includes
all composite bodies which have been evolved out of the varied
combination of the elements^ in the manner already roughly out*
lined, afterwards to be filled in more explicitly.
Prolegomenon II.
Pamve generation is distinguished from active. The latter is the
action of generation as proceeding from the efficient cause; the
former is that same action as received in the Subject, or Material
Cause.
Prolegomenon III.
A body may be considered either in tAe course, or process, of its
production or as actually produced and constituted in its complete
VOL. II. 'T
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2 74 Causes of Being,
nature. In the former case, it is said by the Schoolmen to be in
fieri ; in the latter case, in facto esse. The former is a species of
motion ; the latter, the term of that motion. As this word, term^
has often been, and will often be again, used in a philosophical
sense either the same as, or cognate to, that in which it is now
employed ; a word or two about its meaning will not be deemed
out of place. Its derivation, as so often happens in other instances,
supplies us with the radical idea, traceable throughout its various
shades of meaning as applied to different objects. A term, then, is
a limit or boundary which determines the extension of a thing. As
applied to time, it limits its duration ; for duration is the extension
of time. Thus, for instance, we speak of a term oft/ears^ — of Temiy
or Term-time, at the bar and the Universities. In Logic, the
Subject and Predicate are called terms; because they are the two
boundaries of a Judgment ; and, for a similar reason, the Major,
Minor, and Middle concepts in a Syllogism are called its terms. In
geometry, a point is called the term of a line, — a line, of a super-
ficies,— a superficies, of a solid. Again : The tioo entities related are
said to be the terms of the relation, for the father is father of the
son, and the son is son of the father; wherefore, the relation of
fatherhood is terminated in the son, just as the relation of sonship is
terminated in the father. So, yet again, a term of thought is the
object which determines its extension. Finally, in dynamics, a
term of motion is that which limits it either way; that is to say, in
its beginning or in its end, — in its point of departure and its point
of rest. The former is denominated by the School the terminus a
quo; the latter, the terminus ad quern. Now, seeing that genera-
tion is, as has been said, a species of motion ; it is this last meaning
of the word that is intended in the present Thesis. It is evident,
therefore, that we are here considering passive generation in fieri,
I. The first Member of the Proposition, wherein it is asserted
that passive generation is caused hy Matter, — in other words, that
Primordial Matter is the Material Cause of generation, — is thus proved.
That which intrinsically contributes to passive generation an
entity really distinct from passive generation itself and, moreover,
contributes that entity as a Subject simply receptive of generation,
is the Material Cause of generation. But these characteristics are
verified in the instance of Primordial Matter. Therefore, etc. The
Major is evident ; for it is nothing more or less than the definition
of the Material Cause. The Minor will require detailed declaration ;
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The Material Cause. 275
for subfective evidence of its truth, (that is to say, the reception of
its objectiye evidence in the mind), depends almost entirely on an
accarate realization of that which is essentially included in the con-
cept oi generation. Generation, then, in fieri is a certain definite
motion in material entities ; to wit, an intrinsic change. Now, ma-
terial entities are subject to two intrinsic changes ; in one of which
all that is universally recognized as substantial remains, but certain
accidental modifications, such as size, colour, shape, and the like, are
changed, — that is to say, these are not the same as they were before.
In the other, everything is seen to change, — substance^ nature, pro-
perties^ as well as Accident ; as in the instance of sugar, when sub-
mitted to the chemical action of sulphuric acid. The former species
of change goes by the name of alteration ; the latter is known as
generation. Such is the teaching of Aristotle. * Since, then,' writes
the Philosopher, ' the Subject is one thing, and the attribute ' (pas-
sion, viBos) — * the nature of which is, to be predicated of the Subject,
— is another, and since each admits of change ; there is alteration,
when the Subject which is perceptible to sense remains as it was,
and a change takes place in its accidents either in the way of
opposites or of mediates between opposites. For instance, the body
remaining in itself that which it was before, is now healthy, now
diseased ; and brass is at one time round, at another angular, but is
itself one and the same. When^ on the other hand, there is an
entire change and nothing in the Subject, perceptible 'to sense,
remains the same, . . . such a change is generation ^' Thus
understood, it will easily be seen that generation has a twofold
meaning, — ^the one generic, the other specific. Here the Angelic
Doctor shall be our interpreter. ' You must know,' he writes, ' that
we use the word, generation, in two senses. In one way we apply
it indiscriminately to all things subject to generation and corrup-
tion ; and, so understood, it is neither more nor less than change
from not-being to being. In another way, generation is restricted
to living things exclusively; and, thus understood, it means the
origin of some living thing from a living principiant in conjunction.
' *Evci84 0^ iffrl ri rb vtroicflfitycv Kot trtpov rh it&Bm h xard, rod iiroietifAhov
U-ffa$ai v4^Key, mi lori /urafioXij kicarkpov rovrw^ iiKK^iwms iiiv iffriv, 5roy inrofih'
orroj Tov IwoKdfUyov, cdi70rjTOv <SvT0St lurafiiCKX-g kv rots airrov ir6$€ffiv, ^ hayriois
otaiy fj ficTo^v* otov t6 ffUfM vyiaivti ital v6ikiy K&yLvti {mofiivoy 7c ravr6 ; Kai 6 xo^iv^s
iTTpoTTwAot, M tk yotyio€i9ffi 6 avrds 7c &y Srav 8* 6\oy fitraffdWy, fi^ vvofUyovroi
fdff^Tov Tiybs in vrotctifiivov tov avTov, . . . yivtiTii Ij^ rd roiovrov. De Generat.
€t Corrupt, L, I, e. 4, init.
T %
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276 Causes of Being.
The special name of this generation ' {in facto esse) * is nativity.
Not everything, however, thus specified is said to be generated;
but that in particular which is produced after the manner of like-
ness. Hence, the for or hair of an animal does not lay ckim to the
character of an oflFspring or son ; but that only which is produced
in the way of likeness : and not of every kind of likeness. For
worms which are produced from animals do not lay claim to the
character of generation and sonship ; albeit there is a generic like-
ness. But, in order to claim the character of this sort of genera-
tion, it is requisite that an entity should be produced in the likeness
of the same specific nature ; just as man comes from man and horse
from horse. In living things, then, that proceed from potentiality
to the act of life, as in men and animals, generation includes both
senses of the word, generation ^' In the instance of inani-
mate bodies, indeed, it is perhaps more usual to designate these
changes from not-being to being as transformations \ though the
word, generation^ is frequently applied to them in chemistry. Before
passing on, it may prove of service to ofier a short explanation of
the teaching of St. Thomas just cited. When he tells us that
generation is a change from not-being to being, he does not mean
that there is no Subject common to both terms ; for then it would
not be a change at all, but a creation. The words refer exclusively
to the new substance which first was not and now, after the
change, is.
There are three things to be considered in connection with the
subject of generation : — first of all, the prerequisites of generation ;
secondly, generation itself; lastly, the subsequent of generation.
The first is, as it were, the term from which the change or motion
begins. The third is the term at which the change or motion
^ * Sciendum est quod nomine generationis dupliciter utimur. Uno modo, oommu-
niter ad omnia generabilia et corruptibilia, et sio generatio nihil aliud eat quam
mutatio de non eeae ad eeae. Alio modo, proprie in viventibus, et sic generatio sig-
nificat originem alicujus viventis a prinuipio vivente conjuncto; et haec proprie dici-
tur nativitas. Non tamen omne hujusmodi dicitur genitum, sed proprie quod pro-
cedit secundum rationem similitudinis. XJnde pilus, vel capillus, non habet ratio-
nem geniti et filii, sed solum quod procedit secundum rationem simiUtudiniSy non
cujuscunque ; nam vermes, qui generantar ez animalibus, non habent rationem genera-
tionis et filiationis, licet sit similitude secundum genus. Sed requiritur ad ratiooem
talis generationis quod procedat secundimi rationem similitudinis in natura ejnsdem
spedd, sicut homo procedit ab homine, et equus ab equo. In yiTentibus igitor, quae
de potentia in actum vitae procedunt, sicut sunt homines et animalia, generatio utram-
que generationem includit.* 1** xxyii, 2, 0.
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The Material Cause. 277
ends. 1. To say notliiBg of the efficient cause, which it will be
more convenient to introduce a little later on, — there are three
things principally required prior, at least in order of nature, to the
generative change. These are, a Subject, a privation, a disposition.
A Subject there must be, as already stated, wherein the change is
effected, and which is receptive of the generating act. This in
ultimate analysis is Primordial Matter. Now^ Primordial Matter
is of itself, as we know, indiflferently receptive of any and every
form. But the proxiviaie Matter, (if one may be allowed the ex-
pression), of all generation is, antecedently to the generative change,
informed by a substantial form with its concomitant properties. It
is necessary, then, to generation^ that it should be antecedently un-
informed by that particular form which is about to be introduced
into it. As it is, however, capable of receiving it, and has become
disposed towards it in a way to be explained presently ; the want of
this form is called a privation. In this sense it miay be, to some
extent, that privation is reckoned among the metaphysical con-
stituents of bodily substance. If, however, generation is taken for
the substance generated, it is plain that privation of the antecedent
form would more appropriately take its place among the aforesaid
metaphysical constituents. But, thirdly, in order that the subjacent
Matter may have its attraction towards the particular form that
awaits it, it must be proportioned to it. For this purpose it is
subjected to certain alterations, or accidental changes, by which
it becomes disposed for the reception of that form. Hence St.
Thomas says, ' In order that any generation may be pronounced
natural, it must be eflPected naturally by the agent, and from natural
Matter proportioned for the purpose ^.' And again : ' In generation
and corruption there is no motion or contrariety, save by reason of
a preceding alteration ; and thus it is according to alteration alone
that there is properly passion, by which one of two contrary
forms is received and the other expelled ^.^ Such alteration is
nothing more or less than those natural dispositions of the Matter,
by which it is made ready for the reception of the new form. In
* * Ad hoc enim quod goDeratio aliqua HAturalis dicatur, oportet quod fiat ab agente
natonliter, et ex materia naturali ad hoc proporlionata." 3 d. iii, Q. 2, a. a, c.
' * In generatione autem et comiptione nou est znotus nee contrarietas, nisi ratione
alterationis praecedentis. Et sic secundum solam alterationem est proprie passio,
secondmn quam una forma contraria recipitur, et alia expellitur.* Verit. Q. xxvi,
a. I, c, v. inii.
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278 Causes of Being,
another place the Angelic Doctor gives us some little insight into the
nature of the genesis of these dispositions in the Matter. ' Because
the natural agent in generation/ he writes, 'acts by transmuting
the Matter into the form, which is effected in that the Matter is
first of all disposed agreeably with the form, and then at length
attains the form, accordingly as generation is the term of alteration ;
on the part of the agent, that which acts immediately must neces-
sarily be an accidental form, answering to the disposition of the
Matter. But this accidental form must act by virtue of the sub-
stantial form, as the instrument of the latter ; otherwise, it could
not by its action introduce the substantial form^' Thus, then,
it would appear that the substantial form of the generating agent
or efficient cause acts upon the subject Matter, not immediately, but
through the instrumentality of an accidental form or quality proper
to itself; which accidental form disposes the Matter by the intro-
duction into it of a form like itself, and thus causes the eduction of
the substantial form by virtue of the efficacy inherent in that sub-
stantial form of which itself is the instrument. Hence it comes to
pass that the alterations, or accidental dispositions, naturally precede
and make way for the substantial transformation. As a fact, these
preparations of the Matter are often going on or developing for
a long time after the generating act of the efficient cause has
germinally, so to say, — or virtually rather, — introduced the ultimate
and completorial form into the Matter ; so that the Matter is
provisionally provided with another transitory substantial form,
ancillary to, and anticipatory of, the form primarily intended by
nature. Thus, for instance, the hen after impregnation lays its
egg. In the Matter, now subjected to the temporary ovicular form
the final transformation, by which the chicken-form is evolved and
the egg-form expelled, does not take place for three weeks. In
the case of a gooie it requires some six weeks before the goslings are
hatched. The eggs of the ApAides, or plant-lice^ are laid in the
autumn; the transformation does not take place till the wanner
days of spring.
^ * Quia eniin agenB naturale in generatione agit tranBmutazLdo materiam ad formanif
quod quidem fit Becundum quod materia primo dispooitur ad formam, et tandem oon-
■equitiur formam, secundum quod generatio est terminus alterationis ; necesse est quod
ex parte agentis id quod immediate agit, ait forma aocidentalis correspondens dispo-
■itioni materiae; sed oportet ut forma aocidentalis agat in virtute formae substantiftlis,
quad instrumentum ejus: alias non induoeret agendo formam substantialem.* Anima^
a. xii, e., v. m.
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The Material Cause, 279
li. So much for the prerequisites of generation. Turn we now
to the consideration of generation itself. As already stated more
than once, generation in fieri is essentially a motion ; for it is a
change. Now, though motion postulates a point of departure and
a point of rest ; yet itself includes neither the one nor the other.
Consequently, generation in fi^ neither includes the complete
substance which is the Subject of the change, with its privation
of the subsequent form, nor the form educed, nor the generated
composite. It begins from the one and ends with the other. But
it essentially requires two things, — ^a field of operation, and an
agent to set it going. We will take the field of operation first.
If there is motion of any kind, there must be a thing moved ; that
is to say, something in which the movement is propagated. But an
intrinsic natural change can be found only in entities subject to a
change of nature ; and a substantial change, only in entities subject
to a change of substantial nature. Such are bodies ; because they
are composite. You cannot subject to either generation or corrup-
tion the human soul or pure forms. Now, of the two substantial
components of bodies, the form, (as is plain), cannot become the
subject of generative motion ; for it is the immediate object of the
motion, either by way of expulsion or by way of introduction. The
two forms, therefore, are the two terms of generative motion. It
must be Matter, then, in which the movement takes place, which
conspires with the movement and without which the movement
would be impossible. Hence, St. Thomas observes that * Matter, as
Aristotle says, is immediately the subject of generation and corrup-
tion*/ Further: Matter passively conspires with the generative
movement towards the production of the composite, by virtue of the
dispositions produced in it by that motion. This is explicitly stated
by the Angelic Doctor. * Matter,' he writes, ^ assists in generation,
not by any action, but inasmuch as it is adapted for receiving such
action. Axid this aptitude is called the desire or appetite of Matter
and the inchoation of the form ^.'
But motion does not only require a field of operation, it postulates
also an agent, or efficient cause, to set it going. If experience is
' 'Sicut in I de Gen. didtur, materia est immediate subjectum generationia et
corruptionis.' i d, xii, Q. i, o. i, 5™.
' * Materia ooadjuvat ad generationem non agendo, sed in quantum est habilis ad
recipiendum talem actionem ; quae etiam habUitas appetitus materiae dicitur et in-
choatio formae.' 2 d. xviii. Q. i, a. a, c, v.f.
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28o Causes of Being.
to be our guide, certainly there is no physical motion, perceptible
to the senses, which is self-commenced. Indeed, such a concept
almost seems to involve a contradiction in terms. For a body at
rest is in a state of indifference as well as of actual inertia, which
indispose it to motion ; — ^the latter, because it opposes a force to
be overcome; the former, because the body, as a consequence of its
indifference, cannot initiate a motion determined in direction and
velocity. Generation, therefore, requires a generator ; as Aristotle
demonstrates in his Work on Generation and Corruption^. But
the generating entity acts by some element of its nature, which is
accordingly the formal eflScient cause of generation. That element
is its substantial form ; for the qualities, through which this latter
operates, assume the character of an instrumental cause. In con-
nection with this part of the inquiry, St. Thomas quotes a conclusion
of the Philosopher, which will serve to throw additional light on
the subject. * Aristotle,' he says, * proves by two arguments, that
forms • . . are reduced to act from the potentiality of Matter, by
the action of a form existing in Matter ^.' In other words, since
the eduction of the form is the approximate effect of generation
and, by virtue of it, the production of the complete composite ; the
form of the generating entity, as constitutive of its essential nature
or principle of tendency, must formally produce the motion of
generation in the subject. But it is the action of the form as
existing in Matter^ and operating as a consequence on Matter
through material accidents. In the case of living things to which
the concept and word generation principally apply, there is some-
thing to be added. Like begets like. The efficient cause^ by the
tendency of its nature, intends (so to speak) to introduce into the
Subject a substantial form specifically identical with, though indi-
vidually distinct from, its own. A generic identity will not do.
A dog does not generate a sparrow ; nor does an acorn produce an
elm. St. Thomas has admonished us of this in a passage quoted
some pages back. And now, his definition, given in that quotation,
will be the better understood. He there defines generation to be
' the origin of a living entity from a living principiant in conjunction^
and adds that the said living entity must bear a specific likeness to
^ L.U.c, 9.
* ' Probat exum Aiiatoteles duplid ratione, quod formae . . . reducuntur in actum
de potentia materiae per actionem formae in materia existentis/ Pc^ Q. yi, a. 3,
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The Material Cause. 281
its principiant. By the word origin he indicates its genus; in
finite being, the origin is the imparted motion that originates the
new substantial composite. The additional words, of a living entity,
limits it to its specific meaning. The living principiant^ in the
instance of finite beings, is the efficient cause. But the most im-
portant part for our consideration just now^ is the concluding phrase.
In generation there must be a physical conjunction of some sort
between the generator and the generated ; which physical conjunc-
tion is effected in the Matter. That the offspring must be bom in
identity of species with its parent, has been already exposed. There
Temains one more thing to subjoin. The action of the efficient
cause and the passive receiving of the Matter, — or rather, that which
is passively received in the Matter, — are one and the same act under
different respects. For the action of the efficient cause is received
in the Matter ; and the motive action in the Matter is imparted
by the efficient cause. As the former, the action regards the active
potentiality of the agent ; as the latter, the same action is consi-
dered in relation to the passive potentiality of the Material Cause.
Jast as a blow of the fist is given by one and received by another ;
but entitatively it is the same act in both. Here is perceived the
physical conjunction necessary to generation.
iii. In the last place, we are to consider the term of generation ;
which is proximately and formally the eduction of the substantial
form out of the potentiality of Matter, principally and, as it were,
tff^^^/a»^%,^-because such is its final cause, — the production of the
composite. The former will engage our attention in the next
Chapter. Touching the latter, there is only this to be observed.
As soon as the new form has informed the Matter, it either modi-
fies or at the least gives a new entitative act to quantity, and
assumes the qualities proportioned to its own specific nature. We
have a striking illustration of this in the transformations of a cater-
pillar into a butterfly, or in that of an egg into a chicken.
Now we are in a condition to declare the Minor. Matter con-
tributes an entity to passive generation, that is really distinct from
the generating motion ; forasmuch as the Subject of motion and
the motion itself are really distinct. Indeed, they are physically
separable. For the Matter existed, before the motion began ; and
it persists in being, after the motion is ended. It is true, indeed,
that the generation of bodily substances must be in some portion of
Matter; for this is common to all physical motion. But there is
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282 Causes of Bein^.
no necessity why it should be paiiicularly in this portion of Matter
more than any other. That it is also intrinsic in the generating
motion^ is also plain ; for the whole is Matter in motion^ or motion
in Matter, indifferently. Finally, there can be no doubt that the
Matter is purely receptive of generation ; for, as Subject, it is
a merely passive potentiality.
II. The Second Member, viz. that passive generation is caused by
Matter as a passage to the effect^ rather than an effect if self ^ is thus de-
clared. The end of generation is the production of the complete com-
posite. Generation is a motion ; and motion essentially regards its
term of rest. A thing moves, whether in the spiritual or material
order, in order to find its appointed end or place of quiet. Therefore,
generation is not a true effect ; because it is a mere passage to the
composite. The appetition of matter is not for motion in and for
itself ; but as the necessary means to an end, to wit, its own specific
at once and individual determination in the production of a com-
plete corporal substance. Wherefore, Matter contributes its entity
to generation and unites itself causally to the motion, in order to
find its ordered rest in its own completion. But, where one thing
is wholly on account of another; there^ in intention, there is
only one.
PROPOSITION CXLVn.
The substantial form, if educed from the potentiality of
Matter, is an effect of the Material Cause.
Prolegomenon.
The parenthesis, if educed from the potentiality of Matter , has
been inserted in the Enunciation, in order to exclude all question
touching the human soul, which, though essentially the substantial
form of the human body and, for that reason, an incomplete sub-
stance, is immediately created by God. With this solitary excep-
tion, all forms of living material substances are evolved from the
potentiality of Matter.
The Proposition is thus declared: — (i) The form is educed
from the potentiality of the Matter ; in other words, the entity of
Matter is necessary to the existence of the form. Therefore,
Matter conduces in its way to the eduction of the form. If so,
it causes the form, (ii) It sustains the form in being. The form
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The Material Cause, 283
so far depends upon it, that it cannot,— at least, naturally,-— exist
without it. Therefore, as its necessary subject, Matter is the
Material Clause of the form, (iii) These arguments receive con-
firmation from a fact to which tbe Angelic Doctor calls attention.
For he remarks that ^ The causality of the generator . . . extends
itself to the form which is reduced from potentiality to act^.' For
the causality of the generator is exclusively received in the Matter.
Therefore, if it extends to the form educed, it does so in and
through the Matter.
PROPOSITION CXLVm.
The information of Matter by the substantial form is an
effect of the Material Cause.
This Proposition has been expressly added^ although its truth is
too self-evident to need any proof or even declaration ; because it
includes the human soul within its periphery. For, though the
soul is not educed out of the potentiality of Matter like other
living forms of corporal substance; nevertheless, its actual in-
formation of the body depends upon the Matter. And let not this
statement be unjustly denounced as a mere subtlety. For, by
virtue of such information^ it is enabled to exercise those lower
faculties of sense, feeling, passion, which otherwise would remain
according to the order of nature in pure potentiality. A man
cannot naturally see without eyes, nor hear without ears, nor feel
without a body. But this information essentially depends on the
Matter, as co-partner of the information. Therefore, the Matter
causes the information after its own manner as material cause,
that IB to say, jpasaively. Besides all this, there is a certain sense
in which the human soul may be truly said to depend meta-
physically on the body. For it was intentionally created to inform
the body; so that its raison d'etre is naturally due to that body.
Once more : It is an incomplete substance, till it is completed by
union with the body that it was created to inform. So then, the
information of the Subject by the form is something really dis-
tinct from the form, — a real substantial mode of that form ; and
> ' Causalitas generantis vel ftlteraatifi non sic se eztendit ad omne iUud quod in
re iiiTeiiitur, Bed ad formam quae de potentia in actum educitur.' a d. l, Q* i, a. a,
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284 Causes of Being.
Matter intrinsically contributes, as a receptive potentiality, to that
information. Consequently, the information is one of its effects.
If this is verified in the instance of the human soul, which is a
spiritual substance ; a fortiori does it hold good in the case of all
the other living forms, which are wholly dependent on Matter.
PROPOSITION CXLIX.
The composite is an effect of the Material Cause.
This Proposition needs no declaration ; since Primordial Matter
has its place among the causes, primarily because of its passive
influx into the substantial composite^ as one of the intrinsic con-
stituents of the essence of this latter.
PROPOSITION CL.
The integral composite is the adequate and, in order of in-
tention, primary effect; the information of Matter by the
substantial form, the proximate and, as it were, formal
effect, of the Material Cause. Passive generation and the
educing of the form are prerequisites, though in a different
order, of the proximate as well as of tiie primary and ade-
quate effect.
I. The First Member of this Proposition, in which it is asserted,
that the integral composite 19 the adequate and^ in order of intention,
primary effect of the Material Cause, is thus proved, (i) It is the
adequate effect. That is the adequate effect of any cause, and con-
sequently of the Material Cause in particular, which includes all the
other partial effects in its own nature. But the integral composite
is thus inclusive. For the passive generation and the educing of
the form from the potentiality of the Matter are the composite in
its course of being produced, — ^in other words, on the road to its
production, {in fieri), — while the union of the form with the Matter
formally constitutes it in its complete entity outside its causes, (in
facto esse). In fact, this latter and the composite are scarcely more
than different concepts of one and the same effect of material
causality; unless, indeed, the union should be considered as a
motion of which the composite is the term, (ii) The integral
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The Material Cause. 285
composite is the primary effect in order of intention. By order of
intention is here understood that which nature maj be said to mean
or aim at in its generating changes. This, in ultimate analysis,
resolves itself into the intention of the Creator Who has imposed
such order in the things of nature. This second Proposition is
self-evident. Who of sane mind could ever be persuaded that
Matter was principally created for the sake of the mere generating
motion, or for the educing of forms in themselves impervious to
scDse, or even for the mere uniting of form and Matter apart from
its result ? Who would fail to discern that it was primarily created
as a cause for the production of those multiform bodies, whose
existence, in the established order is either a necessity, or advantage,
or delight to man ? But, if proof were needed, the statement might
be proved from Aristotle's definition of the Material Cause, viz.
that it is that out of which a thiTig is made. For the only thing,
properly speaking, which is made out of Matter, is the composite
substance. Further : It is only in regard of the composite that the
Material Cause exercises its proper causality; forasmuch as it truly
becomes a constituent part of it.
II. The Second Membeb, which affirms that the information of
Matter hy the substantial form is the proximate and, as it were, formal
effect of the Material Cause, is thus declared. That it is the
proximate effect, is at once seen ; for it is only by the information
of the Matter that the composite is produced. That it is, as it
were, the formal effect of the Material Cause, needs demonstration.
Wherefore, that is the formal effect of the Material Cause, which
answers exactly to the tendency of its nature. But its information,
or actuation by the form, answers exactly to the tendency of its
nature; for Matter, as being a pure subjective potentiality, has
essentially an inclination for its actuation and consequent com-
pleteness. Indeed, without such actuation it is unable to exist.
As, then, it desires existence ; it desires to that end union with its
form.
III. The Third Member wherein it is declared that generation
and the educing of the form are prerequisites of the proximate as well
as of the adequate effect, is thus declared. In order that the compo-
site may be constituted by the information of the Matter, it is neces-
sary that there should be a form capable of informing. If that form
has not been created for the purpose, it must be educed out of the
potentiality of Matter. But, again, according to the established
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286 Causes of Being.
order^ an efficient cause must introduce into the Matter the
generating motion by which the form is evolved. Therefore,
generation and the educing of the form are previously required, in
order that the form may be united to the Matter and the composite
produced.
IV. The Fourth Membee, which affirms that generation and the
educing of the form are prerequisite in another or different order^ the
one from the other ^ plainly follows from the preceding expositions.
For the educing of the form requires previous generation ; but
generation does not necessarily postulate, as a result, the educing of
the form. This is clear in the instance of human generation.
Moreover, the educing of the form is the effect of generation.
Lastly, generative motion precedes in order of time the union of
Matter with form ; as also, of course, the production of the compo-
site. But the educing of the form from the potentiality of Matter
does not precede in order of time either the one or the other ; though
it does precede both in order of nature. The reason of this is, that
generation is action in Matter ; the form is the act of Matter.
COEOLULRY I.
Though at first sight there might seem to be only a conceptual
distinction between the eduction of the form, the union of the latter
with Matter, and the production of the composite, viewed in the
concrete as effects of the causality of Matter ; yet, considered in
themselves, there is a marked distinction. For the form educed is
distinguished from the composite, as a part from its whole. The
union of the form is distinguished from the form itself, as a sub-
stantial mode from the Subject of modification. Again : The form,
as in the instance of the human soul after death, may sometimes
actually exist without this mode ; which is the sure sign of a real
distinction. Lastly; the eduction of the form is really distinguished
from both union and form ; since the former is not essential to all
complete material substances, whereas the two latter are.
Corollary II.
Though generation in its term, as caused by Matter, is identified
in the concrete with the composite substance, yet it is in itself
really distinct from this latter; not only because the process of being
made is really distinct from that which is made, — the being pro-
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duced froni the thing produced, — ^but more especially, because the
composite remains after generation has ceased.
COROLLABY III.
Corruption, or the expulsion of the antecedent form^ has justly
not been reckoned among the effects of the Material Cause ; though
Matter is the Subject in which the expulsion takes place. The
reason is, that such expulsion, or desinence, of the old form is not
directly intended either by generation or in the production of the
composite substance ; though it follows, as a necessary consequence,
from the introduction of the new form. For two substantial forms,
as we shall see in the next Chapter, cannot at one and the same
time inform the same portion of Matter. Besides, corruption is a
privation; and, as such, a nonentity. But a natural operation
cannot have for its term, and a real cause cannot have for its effect,
a no-thing. It is, therefore, rather to be accounted a result (as it
were, accidental), — or a concomitant, — of tlje causality of Matter.
COROLLAEY IV.
Generation and corruption are predicated neither of the Matter
nor of the form, but of the composite. Primordial Matter, as we
have already seen, is ungenerative and incorruptible. Touching
the form, the Angelic Doctor supplies us with a special reason for
its exemption from both. ' It must not be said,' he writes, ' that
the form is made or corrupted ; because to be made ' (i. e. generated)
' or to be corrupted, is the part of that whose it is to he. But to he
does not belong to the form as though existing, but as that by
which something exists ^ ; ' that is to say, the Form is not in itself
an existent entity, but that by which the composite substance is
what it is and exists as such. Wherefore^ it is material substance
that is corrupted by the expulsion of its form from the Matter ;
and it is material substance that is generated by the introduction of
a new form into the same Matter. As, then, in order of nature,
the expulsion of the old form is a necessary condition of the intro-
duction of the new ; the generation of one body is always preceded
by the corruption of another.
* ' Nee eet dicendum, quod forma fiat vel corrumpatur ; quia ejue est fieri et cor-
rampi, cujufl est esse ; quod non est formae ut ezistentis, sed sicat ejus quo aliquid
«*.' SpirUu, a. 3, I2».
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288 Causes of Being.
§ 2.
By what does Matter cause P
This second question is of some moment ; yet, from the nature of
the case, it is more than ordinarily abstruse. It has been apparently
suggested by parallel discussions touching the efficient caase, where
it is more easy to seize the bearings. For the sake of clearness,
therefore, let us preface the present investigation by turning aside
for one moment to consider the efficient cause. Generally speaking,
there are three distinct things necessary in their several ways to
efficient causality. There is, first of all, the efficient cause, — the
immary principiant of the effect. Then, there is the particular
faculty by which the efficient cause causes, — the proximate prin-
cipiant of the effect. Lastly, there are certain necessary conditions,
in whose absence actual causal influx is rendered impossible. . An
example or two will set this doctrine before the eyes. A man, we
will say, has chosen the military profession for his future career.
That choice is a real effect ; and the supposed individual is the
principal cause of it. Proximately, however, it is the man's will
that is the cause ; because it is by that faculty he chooses, not by
intellect, or imagination, or the senses. But now, let us suppose
that the person is a clergyman or a chronic invalid \ he would be
ipso facto prevented from making such a choice, however he might
wish it. It is a necessary condition, then, of all deliberate choice,
that the thing to be chosen should be within reach, — practically
possible. The above example has been taken from the moral order.
Let us select one other from art. It is the sculptor who primarily
produces the statue ; but be does so by the sculptorial habit^ which
supposes a knowledge of the principles as well as a manual dex-
terity,— or, as the Greeks called them respectively, yvworty TroafTKKri
and ifiireLpCay the two constituents of r^xyrj. The sculptorial habit,
accordingly, will be the proximate efficient cause, or that by which
the principal efficient cause causes. Now, let us suppose that the
artist is suffering from paralysis, or that the block of marble is still
at the docks, or that there is an irremediable flaw in the stone ; the
statue cannot be effected. Therefore, in this case, there are at least
three necessary conditions, in defect of which the artist cannot pro-
ceed with his subject, — ^namely, sufficient physical energy, proximity
to the Material Cause, due disposition of the Matter. To transfer
these elements of efficient causality to our investigation of the
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Material Cause ; — it occurs to inquire, Is there here likewise a prin-
cipal and proximate principiant ? in other words, hy what does Matter
cause? Again : Are there certain necessary conditions required in
order that Matter may be capable of causal influx ? If so, what are
they 7 These are the questions which now await our attention.
PROPOSITION CLI.
Principally alike and proximately Primordial Matter intrinai-
oally causes its effect by virtue of its own entity.
This Peoposition is pkoved,
I. DisEOTLY, from the nature of Primordial Matter, which ad-
mits of no distinction between a principal and proximate cause.
The reason is as follows. Wherever such distinction is really dis-
coverable, it arises from a composition^ at the very least metaphysi-
cal, between the entity of the cause and that of the causal fisu^ulty,
or potentiality belonging to that cause. But, in the instance of
Primordial Matter^ its potentiality is its entire essence ; for it is
essentially nothing else but a receptivity^ or passive potentiality.
Consequently, there is no ground for any such distinction ; for the
entity which is the principal principiant is neither more nor less
than its own subjective potentiality which is, if anything, the
proximate principiant. In other and plainer words, since Primor-
dial Matter is nothing but a passive capacity for receiving the form,
its whole essence in act is causal. It exists in causing.
II. Indirectly, from -the impossibility of its being otherwise. If
the potentiality by which Primordial Matter causes is not its own
essence, it is either an accident really distinct from the entity of
Matter or it is some mode really distinguishable from the same ;
for there is no other conceivable foundation for the distinction
between the principal and proximate principiant in the present
instance. But it cannot be either the one or the other. Therefore,
the entity of Matter must be its proximate as well as primary
principiant The two Members of the Minor are thus separately
proved, i. The supposed proximate j)rincipiant cannot be an accident
really distinct from the entity of Matter, For a potentiality is always
proportioned to its act. Consequently, a substantial act postulates
a substantial, not an accidental potentiality. Further : The union
between Matter and form in bodies is a substantial union. But, if
VOL. II. u
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it could be effected by the intervention of an accident, it would Bot
I be a substantial, but merely accidental union. Lastly : If tbere
I were such an accident in Primordial Matter prior to its information
I by the substantial form, it must inhere in the Matter a» an acci-
dental form ; for this, accident of its nature requires. Now, such
inhesive union of the accident with Matter is either caused by the
' intervention of another accident, or it is not. If it is^ the question
returns touching the union of this second accident, and so on, for
ever ; which is absurd. If it does not ; then, seeing that Matter
can be immediately united to the accidental form, what reason is
there for supposing that it cannot be united immediately to the
substantial form ? And this question tells the more^ if we bear in
mind that Primordial Matter is essentially ordered to this union
with the substantial form. ii. TAe jproximate principiant in Pri-
mordial Matter cannot be a mode really distinguishable from the entity
qf Matter. For this passive receptivity of Primordial Matter is its
essence ; so that it cannot be separated from the Matter even by
the Divine Omnipotence. Such separation is inconceivable; nay,
it is a simj^e self-contradiction. Wherefore, it is no mere mode ;
but the quasi diflPerence of Matter ; as the Angelic Doctor says, in
a passage already quoted ^ : ' Matter, if its nature could be defined,
would have for its difference simply its relation to form.'
PROPOSITION CLU
The existence of the Material Cause is not a necessary
condition of its causality.
PaOLEGOMENON.
This and the next Thesis are directed against the teaching of
Suarez on this head, who introduces these two conditions: — ^viz.
the existence of the Matter, and its proximity to the form, — ^in
accordance with his general theory touching the absolute possibility
of preserving each in existence apart from the other. If it may be
permitted to say as much, Suarez is inclined to attribute an in-
dependence of entity to the one and the other, which is certainly
foreign to the teaching of St. Thomas. The reader will do well to
consult the hundred and itinety-sevenih, hundred and ninety-eighth^
^ Article i, § 3, ofthepretent Book.
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the tvH) kunAred and thirds and following* Theses under the same
Section, where this question recurs and is discussed according to its
foil bearings.
Decijlkation of the Thesis.
That cannot with any show of reason be classed among the mere
conditions however necessary of any causality, which is essentially
included in the nature of the latter. But the existence of the cause
is essentially included in the nature of material, as of every other
kind of, causality. Therefore, etc. The Major is evident. The
Minor is thus proved. A thing must le in order to receive. But
the material cause is a receptivity purely and simply such. There-
fore, the existence of the material cause is essentially included in
the natare of its causality. Again: The existence of Matter,
owing ta the exceptional nature of its entity, cannot in strictness
of language be required either as a necessary condition or essential
element of its causality. The reason is^ that Matter has no in-
dependent existence. It would, therefore, be more correct to say^
that the partial existence or co-existence of Matter was an essential
element in the nature of its causality. It is an essential element ;
because the information of Matter by the form essentially includes
the existence of the former, so that its existence and causality are
depoietUia absoluta inseparable.
PKOPOSITION CLIII.
For similar reasons, indistanoe from the substantial form is
not merely a necessary condition of the actual influx of the
Material Cause ; since it is essential to such influx.
Declaeation op the Proposition.
A mere condition, however necessary, is, metaphysically at least,
separable from that which it conditions ; since it is not essentially
connected with the latter. But indistance from its form is an
essential property of material causality and, consequently, of the
Material Cause. The reason is, that Matter is a pure potentiality
and the substantial form is its own act. But it is metaphysically
impossible that a potentiality of any kind should be distant from
its own act. Take the instance of an active potentiality. Who
would not smile to be told that it was a necessary condition of the
intellectual faculty in eliciting a thought, that the faculty should
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292 Causes of Being.
be indistant from the thought ; or that, if the sensitive faculty of
touch is actually to feel the winter's cold, it must be indistant from
its feeling? Yet active potentialities, (such as these are), have
more of entity than a purely passive potentiality which cannot
exist unless actuated by some form. Moreover, since the form
essentially depends both in fieri and in facto esse on the Matter, and
the existence of the Matter from first to last is essentially dependent
on the form ; it is a contradiction in terms to affirm the possibility
of the distance of the Matter from its form.
Let it not be supposed that the discussion contained in this and
the preceding Thesis is a mere dispute about words If such had
been the case, it would have found no room for itself here. On the
contrary, it is connected most intimately with a grave point of
difference between the teaching of Suarez and of the Scotist School
on the one hand, and of St. Thomas on the other. It is difficult to
explain with clearness the Scholastic doctrine touching the nature
of Primordial Matter and its substantial forms, which together
constitute all material substance ; and that which appears at first
sight to involve a difference of little or no moment, may become
very far reaching and important in its issues.
It only remains to add, that there are peculiarities in the union
of the human soul with its body, which modify somewhat the
relation of these two causes j but the consideration of this point is
reserved for the following Chapter.
PROPOSITION CLIV.
Though it is more probable that quantity is naturally insepar-
able from Matter, and although the quantiflcation of Matter
is a necessary condition of generation in order that the agent
may be enabled to communicate the generating motion; never-
thelessy quantity is not absolutely and formally neoessary to
the causality of Matter.
The present Proposition necessarily anticipates in some measure
that which, later on, will form a distinct subject of discussion.
For this reason, the first and second Members will not be established
by proof; but, assumed as Lemmata, will be considered only in their
relation to the main purport of the Thesis. Under these circum-
stances it will be easier for the reader, if we confine ourselves to
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a g^eral declaration and explanation of the Enunciation ; more
especially as the proof of the third Member, which is the only one
that directly concerns us now, will of necessity be included in the
exposition. Wherefore,
L The intent of the present Proposition is to show, that quanti-
tative information is not a necessary condition of the causality of
Primordial Matter. But a diflSculty confronts us in limine. Quantity
is so connatural with Matter, that it is physically inseparable from
it. Now, though Matter is also inseparable from its form, because
its actuation by the form is necessary to its existence; never-
theless, there is a great diflference between the two cases. For the
form is necessaxy to Matter as completive of its substantiality, —
that is to say, in its own substantial nature. The conjoint causality
of the form is essential to the constitution of the composite.
But quantity seems to be congenital with Matter for its own
sake; and whether its iuhesion precedes in priority of order or
accompanies the information of Matter, (about which the Doctors
of the School differ), it belongs to Matter, and only affects the
form, (wherein it does affect the form), by concomitance. This
might perhaps lead one to conclude, that quantitative information
is a necessary condition of the causality of Matter. But such a
conclusion would be erroneous. For quantity is in Matter and is
naturally inseparable from it, because, as Suarez remarks, ' Matter
is an entity of such a nature as to postulate this property ; so that
quantity is a property consequent on the Material Cause, rather
than a necessary antecedent condition of its causality.' Conse-
quently, if by a miracle, — to borrow from the same author, — Matter
should be preserved without quantity, it would still be able, for
its part, to fulfil its office in regard of its form and the composite.
IL But there remains a yet greater difficulty. For, in the
instance of all generated bodies, (and the term, gefierated^ is here
employed in its most extended signification), not only is the Matter
de facto quantified ; but its quantification is necessary to the educ-
tion of the new form and the generation of the composite. True ;
but this necessity does not arise from any causal indigence on the
part of the Material Cause. It is due rather to the indigence
of the agent, or efficient cause, which requires extension in the
subject of its action, in order that it may be able to communicate
the generative motion. Further : The agent requires such exten-
sion ; because, by reason of its own quantitative information, all its
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material forces are subject to the same property. Since, there-
fore, its own action is accommodated to that property, it con-
naturally exacts a like accommodation on the part of its Subject and
transcendental correlative, — that is to say, in the Matter as receiv-
ing motion from it. In a word, the motor is quantified ; therefore,
the moved must be quantified also.
III. Quantity, then, is not absolutely and formally necessary to
the causality of Primordial Matter \ that is to say, it is not necessary
in such sense that Primordial Matter essentially requires to be
informed by quantity, in order that, in any case whatsoever, it may
be proximately capable of receiving or sustaining any form.
This third Member of the Proposition is proved, first of all, from
the nature of Primordial Matter. For the whole entity of the
Material Cause, (to repeat what has been so often said before), con-
sists in its receptivity. If, therefore, it were not proximately and
immediately receptive, it would proximately and immediately be
nothing. If it is proximately and immediately receptive, it is
proximately and immediately causative. Against this argument
it might possibly be urged, that a potentiality may be proximately
and immediately reducible to act ; and yet be subject to a necessary
previous condition. In reply : It must be admitted, that the above
objection holds good in all those cases wherein the condition is
extrinsic to the entity of the potentiality ; but not when the con-
dition is an intrinsic addition to it. For, if it needs such entitative
addition, it cannot be ^ i^*^^ proximately potential. Secondly, it
is proved from the nature of quantity. For quantity is an accident.
It therefore, in order of nature, presupposes a complete substantial
Subject. Accordingly, information by quantity, or quantitative
information, is in order of nature consequent upon the integral
constitution of the composite ; just as, in the same order Matter
and its causality are prior to the constitution of the composite.
How, then, could quantitative information be a necessary condition
of that causality ? Lastly, it seems incongruous, that an accidental
addition should be a necessary condition of an exclusively sub-
stantial causality.
Note.
It is of importance that the reader's attention should be
again directed to the adverbs, ^formally and absolutely necessary,'
as given in the third Member of this Thesis. For, in the evolution
of generated substances, it would seem as though not only quantity
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The Material Cause. 295
bat certain qualitative dispositions also were necessary conditions of
the eduction of this or that substantial form in particular ; — the
former in the way already explained, the latter as conspiring causes
towards the production of this or that composite. Neither is
formally and absolutely necessary to the causality of Primordial
Matter.
§3-
What is causality of Hatter?
The word causalUy may be understood in two different ways;
first, as representative of potential, secondly, as representative of
actual influx of a cause. About the former, in the instance of Pri-
mordial Matter, there can be no question ; for the potential causality
of Primordial Matter is, plainly enough, its own entity. But
a controversy existed in the Schools touching its actual causality.
Some maintained that it is nothing but the entity itself of the
Material Cause. Others pronounced it to be a predicamental rela-
tion ; others, again, the effect of the Material Cause ; others, finaUy,
that it is a real mode really distinct from Matter. The first and
third opinions may be forthwith eliminated from the discussion ;
because in all causes the actual causality is something mediate
between the entity of the cause and the effect. In like manner, the
second opinion must be rejected. For causality is the foundation
of relation which, consequently, presupposes the former. How, then,
can the one be identified with the other ? There only remains the
fourth. But, first of all, it is not universally admissible; and
secondly, in the particular causality to which it truly applies it
needs explanation.
It will conduce towards a solution of this problem to recall to mind
a remark already made ; viz. that the composite, or adequate effect
of material causality may be considered in two ways. For we may
regard the composite either in course of production or in its com-
pleted and enduring constitution. Consequently, the actual causality
of the Material Cause may be considered in reference to the pro-
ducing of the complete substance (in fieri), as well as in reference
to its perfected production (in facto esse). The answer to the pro-
posed question will depend on the point of view from which the
causality of Primordial Matter is regarded. Wherefore,
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PROPOSITION CLV.
The actual causality of the Material Cause, considered in rela-
tion to the generating change, is simply and exclusively paasive
generation. It is immediately such in respect of the gene-
rating motion itself; mediately such, relatively to the educing
of the form, the imiting of form and Matter, as well as the
producing of the composite.
I. The First Member of this Proposition, in which it is declared
that the actual causality of the Material Cause, considered in relation
to the generating change^ is simply and exclusively passive generation^
is thus proved. Of the four opinions enumerated all have been
eliminated, not without reason, save one ; and that one is untenable
in the instance of the generating change. But no other hypothesis
besides these four has been proposed, or can be conceived, save that
which is offered in the present Proposition. Therefore, this last is
established by process of exhaustion. The proof of that part of the
Major^ in which it is asserted, that material causality, in relation to
generative motion, cannot be a real mode really distinct from the entity
of Matter, will appear more appropriately under the second Member.
If any one should wish to assail the Minor, let him bring forward
a new hypothesis that will bear the light. This first Member is
further proved from the nature of Primordial Matter. In order
that a generative motion may be practically or physically possible,
nothing else is requisite save a Subject proximately and imme-
diately disposed to receive the motion. But Primordial Matter,
in and by itself, is proximately and immediately disposed to
receive the motion. Therefore, etc. The Minor is declared. Be-
cause Matter is a subjective potentiality, it includes two things ;
viz. an imperfect entity and, because imperfect in itself, a re-
ceptivity of act or form. But these two elements are sufficient,
in and by themselves, to receive the generating motion. Therefore,
etc. The Minor is declared. An entity of some sort is required for
all motion : You have it. But the motion is generative ; that is
to say, it embraces a substantial form as its proximate term.
In Matter there is a receptivity which is naturally expectant
of a substantial form as the essential condition of its exist-
ence. In a word, there is no need of any medium ; since it is of
the essence of Matter to be passively receptive of a generative
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motion, terminating in a substantial form which it naturally desires
as the condition of its own existence.
II. The Second Member^ in which it is affirmed that the actual
cauMlity of Matter^ relatively to the generative action^ is immediately
passive generation^ is thus proved. The actual causality of Matter,
relatively to active generation^ cannot be the entity itself of Matter
or any predicamental relation for reasons already alleged. It
cannot be the effect, properly so called j not only because, as has
been urged before, causality is something mediate between the
cause and the effect^ but likewise because generation is not properly
speaking an effect^ but the road or passage to an effect. Can it, then,
be a real mode really distinct from Matter; that is to say, a real
modification of Primordial Matter, rendering the latter proximately
susceptive of the generating motion and really intervening between
the receiving and the imparting of that motion ? The answer must
be in the negative ; and this for the following reasons. First of
all, such a mode is superfluous. For, in like manner as the actual
causality of the generating agent is immediately its action emanating
from itself into the Subject ; so, the passive reception of such action
in the Material Cause, or the intrinsic passive concurrence of Matter
with the generative change, (in other words, passive generation), is
itself the causality of Matter, and is equally sufficient without any
addition. Again : In the same way as the result of causation is
caused, so does the cause cause ; for causation essentially includes a
parallel relation to its principiant and its term, as to the one causing,
the other caused. But passive generation, as a result, is caused by
Matter immediately and of itself ; since it is essentially, intrinsically,
exclusively, dependent upon Matter. Therefore, Matter, as actually
causing the generative motion by sustaining it, causes it immediately
and of itself. This reasoning is further confirmed, if we attentively
examine into the nature of material causality. For what is really
meant by saying that Matter causes generation ? It means nothing
more or less than this; that Matter sustains the generative
motion as the Subject in which it is naturally produced, — so
necessarily, that not even Infinite Power could preserve it in a state
of separation from Matter. Is it not obvious, then, that the
Material Cause must sustain it immediately and of itself? For if
a real mode, really distinct from Matter, should intervene ; it surely
would not be impossible to the Divine Omnipotence to preserve the
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generative action apart from the Matter. Lastly^ if material
causality were some real mode added to the Matter ; such mode must
be added by somelAin^y — that is to say, it must have an efficient
cause. If so ; the efficient cause must be either the efficient cause,
or natural agent, of generation, or it must be the educed form, or
finally the Primordial Matter. But it cannot be any one of the
three. Therefore, etc. The Minor is proved, part by part. First of
all, it cannot be the natural agent of generation. For the natural
agent of generation acts by its substantial or accidental form
towards the production of a naturally constituted effect. It, there-
fore, efficiently concurs only towards the introduction or eduction
of the new form ; according to the old adage, that Like begets like.
It might possibly be urged that, though such a mode could not be
the formal term, even partially, of the generating agent ; yet that
it might result, as it were parenthetically, from the formal action of
the agent, in some such manner as heat is generated by chemical
union or resolution. But against this there recurs the fact, that
Matter does not stand in need of this mode; since, as we have seen^
it is quite sufficient for its own essential causality. Besides, this
resultant of a mode either precedes, in order of nature, the formal
action of the generating agent or is simultaneous with it. If the
resultant precedes, it must have been directly caused by a distinct
action of the agent ; which is against the hjrpothesis. If the re-
sultant be simultaneous^ in order of nature, with the generating
action of the agent in- Matter, it is difficult, — ^nay, impossible, —
to understand how it could be a modal preparation of the Matter
for the reception of that action ; the more so, that the resultant of
an action, in order of nature, presupposes the action. But the action
must^ from the necessity of the case, be in the Matter ; therefore,
the causality of Matter, that is to say, passive generation, would
already in order of nature have become actual, prior to the consti-
tution of the mode. Secondly, it cannot be the educed form ; for,
in such hypothesis, the form would cause the causality by which
itself is caused. It cannot, in the last place, be the Matter, or
Material Cause, itself; because then Matter would be the cause of
its own causality, and would be able to produce a mode in order to
effect that of which it was incapable itself. Besides, such a solution
involves another metaphysical impossibility; seeing that Primordial
Matter is exclusively a passive potentiality. Hence it may safely be
concluded, that passive generation is itself hy itself that which
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constitutes the causality of the Material Cause in the generative
change ; whereas, in the effects properly so called of that cause in
the generative change, passive generation is the medium, so to say,
of material causality. This brings us to the third Member.
III. The Thikd Member, wherein it is contended that, relatively
to tie educing of the form, the uniting of the latter with Matter^ and
the producing of the composite^ passive generation becomes mediately the
actual causality^ or causal principle^ of the Material Cause, is thus
declared. The generative movement, received in and sustained by
the Matter, causes the educing of the form out of the potentiality
of the Matter, and consequently causes the uniting of the form
with the Matter from whose bosom the former is evolved. But this
uniting is the producing of the composite. In truth, these three
effects are partial concepts of that which is physically one effect ;
although they are metaphysically real and metaphysically distinct.
Matter, then, by its generative movement received concurs in the
production of these three effects ; but differently. For in the educing
of the form and in the uniting with its form its concurrence is
extrinsic ; whereas, in the production of the composite its causality
is intrinsic.
PROPOSITION CLVI.
The causality of the Material Cause, considered in relation to
the completed union of form and Matter as well as to the
composite in its perfected constitution, ,is its sustenance of
the form as informing.
It is not necessary to consider the two Members of the present
Proposition separately; for it is generally admitted, and in itself is
sufficiently plain, that the union of form and Matter in facto esse
and the production of the composite in facto esse are physically one
and the same thing ; and are metaphysically distinct, only because
of the diversity of habitude or relation referred to above, in which
Matter respectively stands to the one and the other. The Pro-
position, therefore, as a whole, is thus declared.
Since Matter is a potentiality and exclusively such ; its entire
causality must regard its act. Further : Since its potentiality is
purely passive ; its causality must be purely passive in relation to
its act. Therefore, it can only be that of a Subject on which the
form or act depends and by which it is sustained. But it is not
always necessary that the form should depend on, or be sustained
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300 Causes of Being.
by Matter, in regard of its exislence. This we know from the
instance of the human soul. Consequently, it depends on, and is
sustained by Matter, in its capacity of an infbrming form. Yet
again: Form and Matter have a mutual relation to each other,
being causes each to the other ; as will be afterwards explained.
This causal relation, moreover, is prior in order of nature to the
respective relation of the two to the composite. But the causal
relation of the Matter to the form is precisely that of sustaining
the form as an ivforming form. Lastly ; according to its definition,
the Material Cause is the primary Subject. Therefore, its causality
is its subjection ; and its subjection, as is obvious, is to the sub-
stantial form. But it is so subjected ; inasmuch as it sustains that
form in quality of form.
DIFFICULTIES.
I. The formal causality of the Material Cause consists in this,
that it is the potential component of the composite. For it is one
of the properties of the Material Cause, that its causality is in-
trinsic. But, if it consisted in the sustentation of the form as
informing, it would be extrinsic, not intrinsic.
Answer. It must be observed, first of all, that the Material
Cause is denominated intrinsic, relatively to its adequate effect;
but the question now is as to the formal nature of the causality by
which that effect is produced. Then again, it is by one and the
same subjection that Matter sustains the informing form and
helps to constitute the composite. Lastly: Matter, as subject of
the informing form, is an intrinsic cause. For, seeing that the
informing form, as actually informing, informs Matter; Matter
intrinsically enters into the union,
II. The adequate effect of Material causality is the composite,
according to the doctrine delivered in this Chapter. But the
causality of Matter in the composite is to be its potential part, or
receptive component; not, formally at least, the sustentation of the
form. Therefore, etc.
Answer. It is readily granted, that the composite substance is
the principal and adequate effect of the Materiail Cause ; but the
union of Matter with its form is the proximate and, as it were,
formal effect, because by virtue of such union the composite is
ipso facto constituted. ' But the causality of Matter in such union
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consists in the sustentation of the form. Again : Although it is
true that in ultimate analysis Matter is the potential part of the
composite ; nevertheless, potentiality is not its causality so much as
its entity^ and is more accurately predicated of it before, than after^
the constitution of the composite. Neither does the addition of the
words, "part of the composite^ touch the true causality; save in so far
as it seems to connote the substantial union. In other words, that
Matter is potential, is a fact ; but tells nothing directly and ex-
plicitly of its causality. That it is part of the composite, is a fact
which reveals the efed of its causality. But neither each separately
nor both together explain the nature of the causality. Indeed, the
reverse is the case. For, in proportion as Matter exercises its actual
causality, it surrenders its actual potentiality; since it is then
actuated by the form.
The objection is urged.
That which is not made, is not caused. Now^ the formal in-
formation, or material sustentation of the form, is not made ; but
the composite only. If so^ the sustentation of the form cannot be
caused* Therefore, the actual causality of Matter cannot consist in
such sustentation.
Answer. The Major must be denied ; for many things are caused,
which are not made, according to the sense in which made is dis-
tinguishable from caused. The latter has a wider periphery than
the former. Thus, generation, (as all admit)^ is caused by Matter ;
but it is not made by Matter. The expulsion of the antecedent
form in the coirupted, is caused by the introduction of the new
form in the generated, substance; yet what philosopher would
venture to contend that a privation could be made?
ni. Matter is cause of that entity of which it is a principiant.
But it is not principiant of the form, but of the composite.
Therefore, it is in no sense cause of the form, but only of the
composite.
Answbk. The Major may be granted. The Minor must be
distinguished. Matter is not principiant of the form^ that is to
say, of the form as sustained and informing,— denied ; of the
form itself, — there is need of a subdistinction : Matter is not an
intrinsic principiant of its entity, — granted ; Matter is not extrinsic
Subject of its eduction, — ^yet another subdistinction : necessarily, or
in all cases, — granted ; where the form is material, — denied.
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302 Causes of Being.
IV. The causality of the Material Cause in the constituted
composite is the union of the form with the Matter ; for this is
the formal constitutive of the composite. Such is the opinion of
Suarez.
Answer. If this opinion differs in anything but manner of ex-
pression from the opinion defended in the last Proposition, there
are grave reasons for rejecting it. First of all, the act of union
itself belongs rather to the causality of the form than of the
Matter. For it is a mode, properly and solely belonging to the
form. Further : It connotes a certain activity, at least in fieri,
which is incompatible with a purely passive potentiality. Against
this last argument it might possibly be urged, that the union of
Matter and form is actively caused by the informing form, bat
passively caused by the corresponding and sustaining Matter.
Therefore, though in Matter the causality is purely passive ; still,
for all that, it is true causality. But, thus explained, the two
opinions coincide; save in the way of putting them. Nevertheless,
even so, there are objections that occur to this doctrine of Suarez.
- For, first of all, union properly attaches, as has been said, to the
form. Secondly, union is an effect; but causality is something
mediate between the cause and the effect. Lastly, union does not
expressly indicate the causality of Matter; since it is at least
equally predicable of the form.
Here will be the most fitting place to determine, how &r the
theory of an intervening mode, as explanatory of material caus-
ality, is admissible ; in other words, whether, even if the exist-
ence of a mode in the constitution of the composite be conceded,
such mode has any formal connection with the causality of Matter.
Wherefore, towards a satisfactory solution of this problem, let the
following principles be set down by way of premisses, i**. A mode
presupposes in order of nature the actual entity of the Subject
that it modifies. It is in this respect, — as inclusive of its necessary
dependence on a Subject, — that it assumes the nature, so far, of
accidental Being, a**. A substantial mode, (the present inquiry is,
of course, limited to the natural order), connotes two things, viz. a
substantial entity for Subject and the, in some way or other, sub-
stantial incompleteness of such entity. 3**. The only mode sup-
posable, in the case now under our consideration, is the mode of
substantial union by which Matter and form are united. These
principles once admitted, it becomes plain that Primordial Matter
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can become Subject of no mode, till it has been actuated by its
substantial form ; for^ prior to its actuation, it is purely potential
and primarily potential of its act. Consequently, no mode could
enter into its causality,— otherwise, into the reception of the sub-
stantial form. Wherefore, if the mode of union exercises any
causality in the constitution of the complete composite substance ;
it must be referred to the form, not to the Matter. For the
substantial form is an act. Whether the mode of union enters
into the causality of the form, is a question to be determined in its
place. It suffices here, that the mode of union cannot find a place
in the causality of Matter; because that union, considered ex-
clusively as it exists in the Material Cause, is nothing more or
less than the actuation of the Matter^ which only exists in and
by such union with the form. So much is obvious ; since union
with the form differs in nothing, save the mode of conceiving,
from information by the form.
ARTICLE III.
The Material Cause of aooidentfi.
The objects of human thought are manifoldly interwoven ;
because from Unity they spring and towards Unity they return.
Concepts are their intellectual reflex and follow, therefore, the
same law. Hence it comes to pass that, in a Work on metaphysics,
there arises a continual necessity of forestalling, as it were, subjects
of doctrine reserved for special consideration and discussion in later
Books or Chapters, Consequently, it is very difficult for the author
to avoid a certain amount of repetition. Indeed, it is impossible to
avoid it altogether.
The present Article affords an instance in point. This Chapter
is exclusively occupied with the Material Cause of Being ; yet
it was indispensable to the right understanding of the discussion,
that some hints about the formal cause should be introduced into
the last Article. In the present Article some account must be
given oiform generally, of aubstancey accident, quantity , (each of
which will be afterwards discussed at length in its proper place),
as a requisite introduction to the problems awaiting our attention.
The explanations, however, will be as brief as possible ; and
the reader is referred, for more elaborate treatment, to those after-
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304 Causes of Being.
Chapters which are ex prqfesso devoted to the stady of these
entities.
Suhstancej then^ is Being in its own right, so to speak. It stands
by itself, without need of any Subject of inhesion. Thus, a dog
does not inhere, or need to inhere, in some other thing, as heafy
or softness^ or motion does. It is something complete in itself, —
entitatively apart from any other entity. Other things may exist
in it ; but its entity does not exist in any other thing as necessary
to its being. Substance is either composite or simple. Composite
substances are constituted of Matter and form. Such are all bodies^
animate as well as inanimate. Simple substances are only forms.
Kform is* that which g^ves specific nature and actuality to a thing.
As giving actuality, it is likewise called act. That it confers a
specific nature, is more expressly conveyed by the wordy??rf». A
form may be either substantial oit accidental. A substantial form
is either informing or not-informing. An informing form is that
which actuates Matter and constitutes a bodily substance. A not-
informing form is in itself a complete substance ; and is identical
with simple substance. Of such nature are Angels. Accidental
forms actuate and specify only after a manner^ (secundum quid).
For accidents are only half-beings, as it were. They inform sub-
stances already constituted or in act of constitution ; and give
to them a new form or mode of entity which previously they only
had potentially. Thus heat or cold is an accident of iron. Neither
the one nor the other forms any part of the essence of iron ; and
either can come or go, while the nature of the metal remains
unchanged. Accident is called a form, then, because it informs
substance with something for which that substance had only a
capacity before ; or at least had only a capacity, if we look ex-
clusively to its essential constitution. An example shall be given
illustrative of each of these declarations. Heat informs, we will say,
a bar of iron which, previous to the application of the fire, might have
been made hot by similar means but was not. It had then a simple
capacity for heat ; afterwards it was actuated or informed by that
quality. In this latter condition it is, and has received, something
that it was not and had not before. Take another kind of instance :
A man has been bom white ; so that he always has been white from
his birth. But it is no essential part of his nature, that he should
be white ; otherwise, there could be none but white men. There-
fore, whiteness is an accident, even though congenital. Accidents,
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The Material Cause. 305
like substances, may be either material or immateriaL Examples
have already been given of the former. A thought of the mindy an
act of the mlly a sensation^ an imagination^ an act of anger^ are all
instances of immaterial accidents. Of all material accidents qimnUty
is the first. Qualities exist in bodily substance mediately, quantity
immediately ; that is to say, qualities immediately inhere in
quantity and^ through the medium of quantity^ in the substantial
composite. Thus, for instance, that which mankind universally calls
coUmr^ (that reality which is the efficient cause of the sensation), can
only inhere in a body by virtue of the extension or superficies of the
latter. Take away from a material substance its quantity, and it
would at once cease to be visible. It is in the surface of the body^
or to speak with greater philosophical accuracy, it is in the body as
quantified that colour inheres ; not immediately in the substance
itself. Qualities, it may finally be observed, come and go for the
most part ; but quantity is congenital with material substance^ so
that the latter cannot naturally be divorced from it. Nevertheless,
the dimensions of quantity may vary ; as they constantly do in
living things.
These preliminary notions having been sufficiently declared, we
may at once enter upon the subject proposed. The first question
connected with it that arises, is this : Is there a Material Cause of
accidents? If so; in what sense? The second question that
follows is : What is that Material Cause ? The third question may
be thus proposed : If composite substance be the Material Cause,
what relation does the accidental form bear to each of the sub-
stantial constituents, that is to say, to the Matter and to the form ?
A fourth question is naturally suggested by the preceding ones :
Can one accident be the Material Cause of another ? Lastly : It
remains to inquire, Whether immaterial or spiritual substances can
become the Material Cause of accidents of a similar nature to their
own? These five problems will be severally resolved in so many
distinct Sections.
VOL. n. X
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§1.
Is THERE A MaTEEIAL CaUSE OF ACCIDENTS? Ip SO, IN WHAT SENSE?
PE0P08ITI0N CLVn.
There is a Material Cause of accidents.
I. This Proposition is proved, first of all, by the witness of a
universal experience. The argument is precisely the same as that
which has been already used in order to establish the existence of a
Material Cause in corporal substance ; but it has a greater cogency
in the present question, because accidental are more patent to sense
than substantial transformations. Indeed, it is only by means of
the former that the latter become known to us. Who, then, is
there, that has not constantly perceived in himself and other entities
these accidental changes ? At one time, the hair was of a lighter
colour ; then, it became darker ; now, it is grey. Yet all along, I
knew it to be my hair. An apple in the summer shows smaU and
ffreen ; in the autumn, it has become large and red. I know that it
is the same apple ; yet its quantity and colour have changed. The
same loater in the kettle was first cold, then Aot, then grew eM
again. The nugget of gold is drawn out into a thin wire of amazing
length ; and is subsequently reduced to its pristine Jbrm. The dough
\vviB pliant, cohesive, heavy ; the bread is hard, crummy, light. Yet it
is substantially the same apple, the same water, the same gold, the
same leavened dough from first to last. One is obliged to be so
careful in these days of the empire of physical science, that it may
be perhaps necessary parenthetically to disclaim any intention of
being disrespectful to chemistry in our use of these illustrations.
We are taking the phenomena, as they ofier themselves to the
uninitiated mass of mankind. It is on the common sense and
observation of men that the present argument is based ; and this
common sense is for the most part much nearer metaphysical truth
than the teaching of physical science. Nevertheless, it cannot be
denied that a chemical or physical examination of these phenomena
would land us at exactly the same conclusion. Now, in these and
similar instances your man of common sense perceives that there
are some things that are different, — that there are changes from
one thing to another ; yet that there is something or other which
remains the same all through the changes. Moreover, he recognizes
that those changing entities are successively in that one constant
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307
entity. Again : That the ideas and names of green^ redy ioi, cold,
long, thick, sticky, crummy, heavy, light, soft, hard, represent something
real and actual in nature, it never enters into his head to doubt.
Yet, if you would endeavour to persuade him that green could grow
up by itself like a tree, or that heat could form part of a house and
exist by itself like a brick^ or that heaviness could be sold by the
baker like a loaf; he would judge at once that you were only fit for a
lunatic asylum. But what then? Thus much : It is plain that our
man of common sense judges those changing somethings to be real,
yet to be incapable of existing by themselves ; and to be necessarily,
according to the constitution of their nature, in that something else
that keeps them going and on which they depend. Call these
changing and inhesive entities accidents, because they happen to
substance, and his conclusions read, as follows : Accidents are
somehow real things ; but they cannot possibly exist in the natural
order by themselves. They, therefore, require, and evidently have,
a Subject to support them. That Subject, on which the accidents
depend and in which they inhere, is their Material Cause.
II. The same conclusion is deduced from the philosophical con-
cept of accidents ; for this, like all other true concepts, is based on
the judgments of common sense. St. Thomas shall once again be
our guide, in a passage where he gives us the scientific idea of acci-
dent under different shapes. Substantial bodily *,Forms,' he writes,
'and accidents, and other like things, are not denominated beings
as though they exist themselves ; but because by them something
exists ; ' — ^that is to say, receives a new partial existence in the
accidental composite. ^Thus, whiteness is called being; because
the Subject is white,' as, for instance, we speak of the whiteness of
chalk, because chalk is white. ' Hence, according to the Philosopher,
accident is said to be of Being, rather than Being. As, then, acci-
dents and' (substantial bodily) 'forms, and such like as do not
subsist,' (that is to say, do not exist by themselves, independently
of a Subject), ' are co-existences rather than Beings ; in the same
way, they ought rather to be called concreations than creations ^,' —
that is to say, when, as in the case of the elements or simple bodies,
^ 'Formae antem, et accidentia, et alia hujusmodi non dicuntur entia, quasi ipsa
nnt, Bed quia esB aliquid est ; at albedo ea ratione dioitur ens, quia ea subjectum est
album. Unde, secundum Philosophum (7 Metaphys. text, a)^ accidens magis proprie
dicitur entis qiuim ens. Sicut igitur accidentia, et formae, et hujusmodi quae non
ribdstunt, magis sunt coexistentia quam entia : ita magis debent did ooncreata quam
creata.' !•• xlv, 4, e. Cf. Ibid, xc, a, c.
X %
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they are purely the term of the Creative Act. Now, in this place
the Angelic Doctor sets accident before us under a variety of
aspects. It is, first of all, an incomplete form. Then, it is of
Being, rather than Being. Further: It does not subsist. Once
more : It is rather to be called a cause of existence to another than
an existence itself. Finally : It is a co-existence rather than an
existence. Now^ if we rest a moment to take in these attributes of
accident suggested by the Angelic Doctor; it will be found that
each one of them implicitly contains a proof or confirmation of the
Thesis, i. Accident is an incomplete form. This is rather implied
than expressly stated by St. Thomas ; nevertheless, he repeatedly
states as much elsewhere. Accident is an inqpmplete form, —
essentially so. But why ? Not because it is incomplete as a form
within the species to which it belongs ; but because it is of the
species of informing forms. Accordingly, it is essentially incom-
plete in itself and needs completing by some other entity. But
how ? Evidently by some Subject which may ofier itself as Material
Cause of its information, or actuation ; because there is no other
way in which an incomplete form can be completed. Therefore,
accident, as being an incomplete or informing form, essentially
postulates a Material Cause, ii. Accident is of being rather than
being; that is to say, by its very nature, it has a transcendental
relation to some other being whose it is. Such, indeed, is its
essential dependence on that other as to deprive it, so to say, of any
title to the name of Being. The redness of and in a rose one can
understand ; but redness by itself, without relation to some Subject,
is a nonentity. Yet a form can have no other. essential indigence
of an entity distinct from itself and intrinsically necessary to its
beings than as a Subject of information and inhesion. But this is
exactly what is meant by a Material Cause, iii. Accident is not
subsistent; that is to say, it does not exist sui Juris, as pure or com-
plete substantial forms do. Therefore^ it essentially stands in need
of some other entity in order that it may be ; and this entity, for
the reasons already alleged, will be its Material Cause, iv. It is
more truly said to be a cause 0/ existence to another than an «n>-
tence itself; not that it gives absolute or simple existence to that
other, but it adds a new existing entity to that other, which the
latter did not possess before. Heat does not give absolute existence
to the bar of iron, for this it presupposes ; but it causes that the hat
should begin to exist as a hot bar. If then, of itself accident can
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The Material Cause, 309
be hardly said to exist and all its entity, as it were, naturally
belongs to another; that other, for the same reasons^ can be no
other than the Subject, or Material Cause, of accident, v. Acci-
dent is rather a co-emutenee than an existence. But this co-existence
connotes a transcendental relation to some other entity which can
only be its Material Cause, as being that on which its existence
depends and which sustains it in existence.
Note I.
From what has been said, it will appear that there is no
little similarity between an accidental form and Primordial Matter.
For both are such attenuated entities as to be naturally incapable
of existence without the support of another. Moreover, in both
cases that other constituent in the integral composite is the
principal and nobler element. The substantial form is far nobler
than Primordial Matter ; the Subject which, as we shall presently
see, is complete substance, is far nobler than the accidental form.
But there is this wide dissimilarity between the two; that
Primordial Matter is a pure subjective potentiality, while the
accidental form is an act. So again, there is this similarity
between substantial and accidental forms, that both actuate their
respective Subjects, and both give to them an existence in one way
or the other. Moreover, if the substantial forms are exclusively
material, both alike are educed out of the potentiality of their
Subjects, and neither can exist apart from its Subject of informa-
tion. But there are marked differences between the two. For,
—not to repeat their difference of grade as constituents of their
composite, — the substantial form gives specific nature and absolute
existence to Matter. On the contrary, the accidental form pre-
supposes the existence of its Subject and the complete constitution
of that Subject in its essential nature^ only adding thereto a new
accidental manner of existence. Again : Not all substantial forms
stand in need of or admit a Material Cause ; all accidental forms
do. Finally: There are the following differences, among others,
between substance and accident, — differences mentioned here,
because they are germane to the present consideration. All sub-
stance does not postulate a Material Cause; but only bodily
substance. But accident naturally requires such a Subject.
Further : It is to be noticed that spiritual substance may become
I the Material Cause of accidents, as will be seen later on ; though
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3IO Causes of Being.
it does not admit of a Material Cause in its own eonstitation.
Once more : A Material accident cannot become the form of a
spiritual substance.
Note II.
Accidents may be considered in the concrete or in the absiracL
An accident is conceived in the concrete, when it is expressly
represented as in union with its Subject. Accordingly, its gram-
matical form is always adjectival. Thus, Aot water, ^reen fields,
slow travelling, a novel thought, a virtuous man, are examples
of concrete accidents. An accident is conceived in the abstract,
when its proper entity is exclusively represented without connota-
tion of the Subject. Its grammatical form is substantive. Thus,
the abstract concepts of the above concrete examples would be,
ieat, greenness^ sloivness, novelty^ virtue. Out of these two distinct
ways of conceiving accidents has arisen a metaphysical question
which is solved in the following Proposition. The problem is this :
Whether accident in the abstract, — that is to say, considered in-
trinsically as it is in its own entity apart from any relation to
its Subject, — postulates a Material Cause. In other words, Does
accident include a Material Cause as one of its intrinsic con-
stituents ?
PROPOSITION CLVm.
Aocidenty considered in the abstraot, does not admit of a
Material Cause in its own essential constitution ; but, consi-
dered in the concrete, it postulates a Material Cause with
which it enters intrinsically into composition.
I. The first Member of this Proposition, wherein it is asserted
that accident^ considered in the abstract^ does not admit of a Material
Cause in its own essential constitution^ is undoubtedly the teaching of
the Angelic Doctor, In a Chapter of one of his Opuscula^ from
which it will be necessary to borrow more largely in the solution of
one of the difficulties, he (or whoever may be the author of this
treatise) thus declares his mind : ' Since accident is not composed
of Matter and form, genus and difference cannot be assumed in
its case, as in that of substance, — the genus from the Matter, the
diflference from the form ^.* Hence, in the judgment of St. Thomas,
accident in the abstract has no Material Cause in its own intrinsic
^ * Cum aatem accidens non fdt oompositum ex materia et fonna, non potest genus
et differentia sum! in eo, dcut sumitur in substantia geuus a materia, differentia a
fonna.' Opusc. XLIL {alUer XXXIX), De Naiura Generis, (f> 19.
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The Material Cause. 3 1 1
nature. The following is the proof from reason. Accident is
wholly in itself a form, according to the declarations made in the
preceding Proposition. Its oflSce or function is to actuate, — to give
to its Subject a new mode of existence. But this is diametrically
opposed to the nature of a purely passive potentiality. Corporal
substance, indeed, requires a Material Cause to sustain the actuating
form, and so to attain to its own subsistence as a complete entity.
Nevertheless, Matter in itself does not contribute^ except instru-
mentally, to the activity of substance ; it would rather seem as
though in some ways it limits and even hinders that activity. But
accident does not subsist by itself, and is essentially incomplete.
Therefore, in its own abstract Being it stands in no need of a Mate-
rial Cause. Let us suppose, however, for the sake of argument,
that accident is intrinsically composed of Matter as one of its
essential constituents. In such hypothesis the Matter must either
remain the same under diverse forms, or it must perish, with the
form. The first horn of the dilemma could not be reasonably
accepted or maintained. For then a square could be made out of an
angle^ gtpeelness out of bitterness^ softness out of roughness^ love out of
hatred^ a thought out of a desire^ — not in the Subject of inhesion, but
in the accident itself, by a transformation similar to that which
takes place in corporal substance. But what of the other horn of
the dilemma ? If this supposed Matter should change with every
change of form^ it could be of no service to the change itself. For
all change requires a constant Subject remaining the same through-
out. It could not, on the other hand, be of any service to the
informing of the Subject of inhesion; for Matter, if anything,
hinders actuation, in that it is purely passive. Therefore, it would
be entirely useless. But, as the Philosopher observes in his Nico-
machean Ethics y nature makes nothing in vain. Finally: if an
accident were composed of Matter and form, if-s form should be
subject to a like composition ; for there is just as much reason for
the one as for the other. The form, again, of this last-named
composition would be under the same necessity; and so on, for
ever. But to require an infinite series for the producing of a single
entity, — say, of the sweet smell of this lily, is tantamount to the im-
possibility of its production. Whether an infinite series of alternate
generation and corruption be possible or not, is quite another ques-
tion. There is all the difference between an infinite series in pro-
ducing and an infinite series 0/ productions.
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312 Causes of Being,
II. The second Member, in which it is declared that aceideni^
considered in tie concrete^ postulates a Material Cause with which it
enters intrinsically into composition^ — that is to say, with which it
enters into a composition of which itself is an intrinsic constituent, —
agrees with the teaching of the Angelic Doctor. Take in proof the
following passages from his writings : * Properly speakings it is not
consonant with the nature of any not-subsistent form to be made.
But such forms are said to be made ^ (or, produced), ' because the
subsisting composites are made ^ ^ ; that is to say, they subsist and
are said to be made because the subsisting Subject is made^ with
which they enter intrinsically into composition. Again : ' It is of
the nature of accident to inhere and depend ; and consequently, to
enter into composition with the Subject ^.' Once more : In answer
to an objection touching the nature of contrary opposition^ St Thomas
incidentally remarks^ that in substance *the genus is taken from
the Matter; but in accidents the Subject is in the stead of Matter^';
that is to say, that the Subject is the Material Cause of accident
considered in the concrete.
The declaration of this Member of the Thesis is as follows. The
accidental composite, — say, for the sake of illustration, this white
horsCy — is intrinsically composed of the Subject, this horse, and the
quality of white in the horse. In this composition,, the hovM, as
Subject, has in its essentially constituted entiiy a passive capacity
for receiving the colour of white. This colour by information of its
Subject actuates that potentiality. Hence, this is a white horse.
In such composition^ then, the Subject exhibits itself, relatively to
the accidental form, as a pure receptivity, whatever may be its
own substantial constitution and its active powers as it is absolutely
in itself. Hence it is the Material Cause of the accident ; and
accident informs, and so far actuates it, after the same manner as
the substantial form in the substantial composite. The union be-
tween the two is immediate ; and the causality is simply the union
of the Subject with its accident.
^ * Et ideo nulli formae non Bubsistenti proprie convenit fieri, sed dicuntar fieri per
hoc quod comporita subsistentia fiunt.' i«* xc, a, c.
' * Ratio accidentia imperfectionem continet; quia esse accidentifi est inesse et
dependere, et compositionem facere cum subjecto per consequens.' i d. viii, Q. 4>
a. 3, e.
* ' Genus sumitur ex materia ; ... in aocidentibus autem loco materiae est subjec-
turn.* i-2»* XXXV, 4, 2™.
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The Material Cause. 313
DIFFICULTIES.
I. The first difficulty is urged against the first Member of the
Thesis. AU entities that are composed of potentiality and act
must have a Material Cause. But accident in the abstract is com-
posed of potentiality and act ; for, prior to its actuality in some
Subject, it is in potentiality to some Subject. Therefore, accident,
even in the abstract, admits a Material Cause.
Answer. The Major needs to be distinguished. All entities that
are composed of potentiality and act^ both being real and physically
distinct^ admit of a Material Cause, — ^granted; all entities that
are composed of potentiality and act, when the two are not both real
and physically distinct, — we must subdistinguish : admit of a Mate--
rial Cause univocally,— denied ; in an analogical and secondary
sense, — ^let it pass, or even granted. The Minor is contradis-
tinguished. Accidental form, even in the ahstract, is composed of
potentiality and act, which are not both real and physically distinct,
granted ; which are both real and physically distinct, — denied.
The Conclusion, therefore, subject to the given distinction is denied.
It may not be amiss to subjoin a brief explanation of the above
answer. In order to be justified in the assertion that an entity
admits within itself of a Material Cause, it behoves us to show that
such entity is physically composed of a real subjective potentiality
and its real informing act; unless, indeed, one is using the term.
Material Cause, in some analogical or metaphorical sense. But this
is an impossibility, in the instance of accident considered in the
abstract. For accident in the abstract has, can have, no existence.
It is a mental abstraction, based upon concrete accident. If, then,
it has no physical existence itself; how can it be composed of two
constituents physically distinct ?
II. The second objection is directed against the same Member of
the Thesis. It is this. All entities that have a genus and differ-
ence, admit a Material Cause ; for their genus is the Material, their
difference the Formal Cause. But accident has its genus and
difference. For instance, in white colour quality is the highest
genus ; colour, the proximate genus ; whiteness — or rather white —
the difference.
Answer. The argument might be simply ended, by insisting on
the fact that accidents in the abstract are not physical entities ;
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314 Causes of Being.
but concepts of the mind, founded in reality. Since, however, by
accident in the abstract may be meant the entity of the accident as
it is in itself, apart from its union in a given Subject, (for an entity
of its own most assuredly it has, however imperfect ), and as there is
a certain verisimilitude in the objection (for accidents, in some way
or other, do seem to fall under genera and species) ; it will be more
satisfactory to give a direct answer to the difficulty. This shall be
done in the words of St. Thomas. * You must know,' he writes,
' that in accidents, as they exist in nature, there is nothing to cor-
respond with the operation of the intellect in such wise, that they
should be capable of receiving, like substance, the formal nature of
genus and differences. For the essence of accident, as designated
in the abstract, does not apparently represent any real entity.
For the abstract represents a thing as existing by itself. But an
accident cannot exist by itself. Wherefore, accident in the abstract
does not apparently represent any true entity. It is to be observed,
that the signification which is conveyed by names does not apper-
tain to the natures of entities, save through the medium of an
intellectual concept ; since words are symbols of impressions in the
soul, as it is said in the Book Be Interpretatione, Now, the intellect
can cognize separately by themselves entities that exist in a state
of union. But that which is cognized by itself separately, has the
semblance of existing by itself; and, consequently, is represented
by an abstract name which signifies its separation from other.
... In this way, then, by the action of the intellect the abstract
names of accidents represent entities that do indeed inhere, though
they do not represent them as inherent. Wherefore, by the action
of the intellect names are formed as though they were certain
realities to which the same intellect subsequently attributes con-
cepts of genera and species. But there was nothing in the nature
of the entities, on which the intellect could base such universal
concepts. Since, then, accident is not composed of Matter and
form^ in its case the genus and difference cannot be taken, as in
the case of substance, — the genus from the Matter and the differ-
ence from the form; but in each and all of the accidents the
genus must be assumed from that which is first discoverable in it^
and the difference from that which is added subsequently. Now,
that which is first discoverable in any accident, is a special mode
of Being including a certain diversity from other modes of the
same. Thus, for instance, in quantity there is a special mode of
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The Material Cause. 315
accidental being' (entu per aliud, as distinguished from ens per se)^
' viz. that it is the measure of substance' (i.e. material substance) ;
' and in quality, viz. that it is the disposition of substance ; and so
on^ in each case. . . . The difference, however, must be assumed,
in the instance of accidents, from something that is implicitly con-
tained in that mode from which the genus of accident has been
derived. Now, this is discovered in the diversity of principiants
from which the accidents are caused. Thus, for instance, the cha-
racter of measure is found in quantity; and this is common to
every species of quantity. Hence it has received the name of
a genus. But it is plain that successive are of their nature dif-
ferent principiants from permanent entities ; and accordingly, they
have different measures. Hence it is that, when accidents are
defined in the abstract, the Subject is included obliquely in their
definition and in the second place ; which properly belongs to the
difference. Thus, it is said that anubbinesa is a curvature of the nose;
by which snubbiness is distinguished from a curvature in wood ^/
' Sdendam eet igitur, quod in accidenldbuB in renim natora non est aliquid corre-
spondens operationi intellectus, eo modo quo possint rationem generis et differentiarum
redpere, sicut est in substantia. Essentia enim aocidentis designata in abstraoto non
Yidetur ens aliquod significare ; cum abstractum significet ut per se existens : aocidens
sntem per se esse non potest : unde accidens in abstraoto non videtur ens aliquod signifi-
care. Sed significatio quae importatur in nominibus, non pertinet ad naturae rerum, nisi
mediante conoeptione intellectus; cum voces sint notae passionum quae sunt in anima, ut
didtor in libro Perihermenias. Intellectus autem potest seorsum inteUigere ea quae
sant oonjuncta. Illud autem quod seorsum accipitur, videtur ut per se existens; et
ideo designatur nomine abstraoto, quod significat remotionem ejus ab alio. ... Sic
ergo per actionem intellectus nomina abstracta accidentium significant entia, quae
quidem inhaerent, licet non significent ea per modum inhaerentiom. Unde per
Actionem intellectus efficiuntur nomina quasi res quaedam, quibus idem intellectus
postea attribuit intentiones generum et specierum. Nihil vero in natura rerum fuit,
saper quod intellectus fimdaret intentiones universales. Cum autem accidens non sit
compositnm ex materia et forma, non potest genus et differentia sumi in eo, sicut sumitur
in substantia genus a materia, differentia a forma; sed in unoquoque accidentium
gcnoB debet sumi ab eo quod prius in eo reperitur, differentia vero ab eo quod post
ftt^dit. Primum autem quod invenitur in quoHbet accidente, est specialis modus entis
indudens diversitatem quamdam ad alios ejus modes : sicut in quantitate est specialis
modus entis per aliud, scilicet quod sit mensura substantiae ; et in qu;Uitate, quod sit
dispodtio ejus; et dc de singulis. . . . Differentia vero debet sumi in eis per aliquid
quod in illo modo a quo genus acddentis aoceptum est, implicite contineatur. Hoc autem
invenitur in diverdtate principiorum ex quibus causantur ; sicut, verb! gratia, ratio
menstuae reperitur in quantitate, et hoc est commune omni spedd quantitatis, et ab
^ est aoceptum nomen generis. Sed constat, quod successiva sunt di versa priucipia
hi natura sua a permanentibus; et ideo naturaliter diversas habent mensuras* (Exinde
oontinuam inter ac discretam quantitatem distinctio specifica). 'Et inde est, quod
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St. Thomas, then, teaches in this passage, that accidents in the
abstract are mere concepts of the intellect which considers as sepa-
rate and ^ juris entities that only exist in composition with otheis.
Under this abstract and purely conceptual form they have been
treated as though they were subsistences^ and have been divided
into genera and species. Now, though in no case are genera and
species, as such, realities ; yet they are founded in reality. For
composite subsistences, or complete substances, supply a basis for
genus in their Material Part, which is common and indifferent ; for
difference in their formal part, which is specific and discrete. But
accidents cannot show as much reality as this to account for their
division into genera and species ; because in themselves they are
next to nothing. Consequently, though, as modes of their Subject
affecting it differently each from the other, they in the concrete
afford something like a basis for generic distinction, — since, for
instance, quantity is a mode of measure, quality of disposition;
nevertheless, their specific distinctions must be sought for, not in
themselves but in their principiants or causes. Thus, if you would
discover the basis of the specific distinction between continuous and
discrete quantity, you must seek it in the quantified entities them-
selves as the principiants of quantity. For, if it is the nature of
a Subject to be successive, as in a series of alternate corruption and
generations^ or of words in a sentence, or of nof-es in music, or of
moments in time \ its measure must be specifically different from that
of a permanent entity, like the sun or a man or a mountain. Where-
fore, accidents in the abstract cannot, properly speaking, be speci-
fically divided ; forasmuch as, so considered, they are conceptually
separated from their Subject. If the attempt is to be made, the
Subject must be brought back in order to supply the place of a
difference. Thus, snubbiness is a curvature of the nose ; Discrete
quantity is the quantity of successive entities \ continuous, of per-
manent entities : the genitive or oblique case in the second place of
the phrase supplying the differentia. Hence, accidents in the
abstract do not admit a Material Cause, because they are not intrin-
sically composed of Matter and form ; while in the concrete they
require one.
cum de6niuntar aocidentia in absttacto, subjectum poniturin eorum definitione oblique
et secundo looo; et hoc est proprium differentiae ; ut cum dicitur, Bimiias est cuiritaB
nasi, per quod differt aimitas a curvitate quae est in ligno.' Oputc. XLII, {<dUer
XXXIX), de Natura Gencrit, <fi 19.
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The Material Cause, 317
III. The tliird objection is directed against the second member
of the Proposition ; and is as follows. It is contraiy to the teach-
ing of St. Thomas, that accident in the concrete should postulate a
Material Cause with which to enter intrinsically into composition.
For the Angelic Doctor asserts, that ' the Subject is not included
in the representation of the word that stands for accident in the
concrete, as the Commentator says ; though Avicenna was of the
contrary opinion ^.' But, if the accident does not enter into the
representation of accident in the concrete^ accident does not postu-
late a Material Cause ; neither can it enter intrinsically into com-
position with the same.
Answer. There are two ways in which this passage of the
Angelic Doctor may be explained ; each one of which leaves the
truth of the Proposition unassailed. St. Thomas, then, agrees with
AverrLoes in maintaining, that a word signifying accident concretive
does not include in its signification the Subject of the accident.
Now, i. He may mean by the Latin word concretive, substantially^ —
that is, under the form of a noun ; which would be tantamount to
accident in the abstract. Such an interpretation is fully justified
by the context ; for the particular word that excites the discussion
\a gift, which is certainly under a substantive form. But, ii. If the
Latin adverb means, in the concrete, the ensuing is the only possible
and most natural explanation. A word which expresses an accident
in the concrete, — to take an instance, w^eV^,— does not determine its
Subject ; though it connotes some subject or other indefinitely. It
must be a white something ; but it may be a white anything. Any-
how^ that it is a mere question about the meaning of words is ex-
pressly stated by the Angelic Doctor who in the same place main-
tains that the Subject is included in the concept, while he speaks
hesitatingly about the verbal meaning ^. Nor could it for one mo-
ment be supposed that he would here contradict that which in
other places, as we have seen, he has so clearly asserted.
IV. Again : Against the second Member of the present Thesis,
^ 'Subjectum non induditur in Bignificatione nominis significantig accidens oon-
cretiTe, at dicit Commentator (5 Metaph. text. 14), quamYia Avioenna (6 NatunU. part
1, cap. a.) contrarium senserit.* i d. xviii, a. i, 3™.
* 'Hoc nomen donum vel datum, pneter relationem ex qua didtur dooum vel
datum, dat intelHgere rem quamdam quae datur ; quamvis forte non deut partem
BignificatioiiiB nominifl, quia subjectum,' &c., as in the preceding note.
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3 1 8 Causes of Being,
the following objection has been urged. A composition by accident
does not postulate a Material Cause. But accidental composition
is composition by accident. The Major is confirmed by an example.
A heap of stones does not require a real material cause in order to
be a heap ; nor do the bricks^ mortar ^ rafters^ etc. that constitute a
house require a material cause, in order to constitute that house.
Answbe. Let the Major pass. The Minor is denied. There is
the most observable difference between a composition of substances
by accident, — for instance^ an aggregation of stones by the wayside^ —
and the composition of an accident with its Subject. The one is
fortuitous; the other, intended by nature. Again: The one is
extrinsic ; the other, intrinsic. Once more : The former is either
conceptual or artistic ; the other is natural. It is an amphibology
to call both indifferently an accidental composition. Nevertheless,
it is worth remarking that, even in the case of composition by
accident, there is need (speaking analogically) of a Material Cause.
For, in the heap of stones, there is a certain order and proximity
of position which serves in the mind for a form; but then, Ike
stones themselves assume the character of a Material Cause. So, in
the instance of a house : The collocation of materials, the subordina-
tion of parts, the mutual adaptation, &c. for the purposes of habita-
tion, constitute the artistic form; but the materials themselves, as
receptive of the design, are the Material Cause. In fact, these
combinations by accident offer a much greater difficulty as touching
the form than as regards the Matter ; for the former is conceptual,
while the latter is real.
PROPOSITION CLIX.
Accident, by virtue of its own entity considared apart and in
the abstracty postulates a Material Cause, in order that it may
be sustained in its being. Such Material Cause is equally
requisite for the producing, as for the perfected production of
accident; though it is extrinsic to the entity of aooiddnt
itself.
The present Proposition is so manifestly a Corollary from the
two previous Propositions, as to stand in need of only a brief
declaration. For it has been proved in the hundred and Jlfty seventh
Thesis that accident, by reason of its attenuated entity, stands in
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Ihe Material Cause, 319
need of a Material Cause. But in the hundred and fifty^ghth
Thesis it has been shown, that accident in the abstract does not
admit of a Material Cause as intrinsic in its own nature. There-
fore, it must require a Material Cause as extrinsic Subject both of
its production and of its maintenance, according to the exigency
of its nature; for there is no other conceivable function of a
Material Cause. Furthermore : Accident requires this support, not
merely for the sake of union with its Subject, (for thus much even
the human soul exacts); but in order that it may be produced,
and that it may be maintained in being. Both of these reasons
are given by the Angelic Doctor. Touching the accidental union,
he makes this observation: 'Because all accidents are certain
forms superadded to substance and caused by the principiants of
substance, it is necessary that their entity should be superadded to
the entity of substance, and dependent upon it^.' So, somewhat
more generally he remarks : * Whatever the signification given to
it, accident has a dependence on the Subject in accordance with
its nature^.' Therefore, whether accident be considered in the
concrete or the abstract, it includes in its nature a dependence on
a Material Cause. Referring in another place more particularly
to the entity itself of accident as postulatory of such a cause, he
makes the following observation: 'Because to be is the act of
Being, but the verb, to he in, expresses the inherence of accident ;
therefore, to inhere in a perfect (or complete) entity is the essence
of accident, which is necessarily extraneous to the nature of that
entity. For the expression, to inhere^ does not mean that the
essence of accident is in the essence itself of substance ; since
essence is that which most formally belongs to every thing ^Z
Therefore, it is of the essence of accident to postulate a Material
Cause on which, it may depend. Once more : * It is the nature of
^ * Quia enim omnia accidentia sunt formae quaedam substantiae auperadditae et a
principiis eubstantiae cauiatae, oportet quod eorum erae sit superadditum supra ease
■ubstuitiae et ab ipso dependens.' Cg. L. 77, c® 14, v.fi.
' * Quocumque modo significetur aocidens, habet dependentiam a subjecto secundum
niam rationem.' i-i^ liii, a, 3"^.
' *Quia esse est actus entis, hoc autem verbum ''iuesse" est designans inhaerentiam
accidentis ; ideo ineme rei perfectae est esse acddentis, quod eztraneum a rei natura
esse necesse est. Non enim significatur per hoc inesse, quod accidentis esse sit in ipso
Qse substantiae, cum esse sit formalissiiuum omni rei.* Opu$c. XLI, {cUiter XXXVIII),
De Natura Accidentis, <f*. 1, init. The meaning of this passage is plain enough ; but
it is impoesible to express its antithetical force in English.
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320 Causes of Being.
accident to inhere in the entity itself^;' — ^that is to say, im-
mediately. Finally: It is evident from all which has gone before,
that accident stands in need of a Material Cause for its producing
as well as its perfected and permanent production in the accidental
. composite ; for its essential dependence is the same in both cases.
In this respect it is similar to the substantial form of bodies ; for
it is evolved from the potentiality of the substance, as the latter
is evolved out of the potentiality of Matter.
§ 2.
What is the Material Cause op accidents, and what the
NATUEE OP its CAUSALITY?
PEOPOSITION CLX.
Substance is the primary and ftindamental Material Cause
of accident.
This Proposition is nothing more than a Corollary from the
doctrine established in the preceding Section. For, if accident in
general has essentially an entity so attentuated that naturally it can
only co-exist with another on which it depends for its being and
continuance ; it is plain that no accident can be the primary and
fundamental Material Cause of accident, for the former would stand
in need of such a cause itself. Therefore, it must be substance ;
since substance and accident divide all real Being between them.
PROPOSITION CLXL
Any integrating part of corporal substanoe can separately be
the Material Cause of accident.
Owing to the nature of its subject-matter, the present Proposi-
tion virtually contains two Members. For an integrating part of
any body may be either heterogeneous or homogeneous relatively to
other parts of the same body. Thus, for instance, in the body of an
animal, the hone^^ blood, heart, hair, are heterogeneous parts respec-
tively ; forasmuch as they are each dissimilar from the other. But
one hair is homogeneous with another, one piece of skin or of bone
' * Natura acddentis est inessOp uve inhaerere ipd rei.' Ibidem,
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with another piece, one eye with the other, and so on. Hence, as
the Enunciation is universal, it asserts both of heterogeneous and
homogeneous parts, that they can separately be the Material Cause
of accidents. Wherefore,
I. Any integrating heterogeneous part of bodily substance can be
separately a Material Cause of accidents. This is manifest from
experimental induction. Thus, the quantity of one part is different
from the quantity of another part; since, in many cases, one
quantity is physically separate from the other, as in the bloody in
hairs^ bones, etc. Moreover, it is of constant recurrence, that the
qualities in one part are distinct from, and often opposed to, those
in another. For example, the blood has qualities of colour^ liquid--
ness, chemical composition, widely different from, and in part opposed
to, those of the bones. So marked is this quantitative and quali-
tative isolation in the instance of the blood, that Suarez judges this
latter to be an incomplete substance with its own particular sub-
sistence ; and he adds that such was the all but universal opinion
of the School. Further : It is by virtue of the variety of accidental
forms in the diverse parts and organs of living bodies that the
substantial form is enabled to exercise that multiplicity of functions,
80 useful and even necessary to the sustentation of life.
II. Any integrating homogeneous part of bodily substance can sepa^
rately be a Material Cause of accidents. This, too, is manifest from
experimental induction, whenever the homogeneous parts exist in
a state of separation. Thus, in each of the two horns of an ox, in
each of a maiCs nails, in eacli feather of a bird, you have a quantity
and, consequently, qualities in each, proper to each and numerically
distinct. But what is to be said of continuous homogeneous parts
which are only separable, but not actually separate, from each other ?
Pirst of all, let it be borne in mind that, under such circumstances,
they are only potentially parts, divisible, but not divided. Never-
theless, by virtue of its extension any physical molecule or corpuscle
is capable, separately in itself, of being a Material Cause of acci-
dents. Hence it not unfrequently happens that, in one continuous
and homogeneous substance, distinct qualities are to be seen in
different places. Thus, for instance, the same apple is here green,
there red. So, one and the same hair of a badger or the ^mQ feather
of a pheasant or partridge has a variety of colour.
The fundamental reason, which is applicable alike to each Member
of the Thesis, is this. Any bodily substance is not only capable of,
VOL. II. Y
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322 Causes of Being.
but requires accidental information, a^ a natural condition of its
existence. Matter, existing as part of a substantial composite, needs
qualification. The substantial form requires qualities proportioned
to its nature, by means of which it may energize. But, first of all,
any separate part of a body by virtue of its separation requires its
own quantity and^ consequently, its own qualities ; which latter, if
not specifically, are at least numerically, distinct. Secondly, if the
so-called parts are not separate^ they are only potentially parts. In
such case the quantity is actually one, though potentially many
because partitive. But, because it is continuous quantity, it admits,
within the limits of its extension, a plurality of qualities even
appertaining to the same species.
PROPOSITION CLXII.
Substance in virtue of its own potentiality, without the addition
of any accidental or modal entity really distinct firom itself,
is the Material Cause of accident. Otherwise : Substance
receives accident immediately in itself.
Faoleoomekgn.
After having determined the fundamental Material Cause of acci-
dents in the two preceding Theses, it now remains to inquire by
what substance causes in the accidental composite ; in order that
the nature of its causality may be more clearly appreciated. Touch-
ing the question here proposed, there has been a diversity of opinion
in the School. Nevertheless, as the controversy is a counterpart
of that which has been already considered in the preceding Article
relatively to Primordial Matter, and the resolution of the problem
is identical in both cases ; it would not have appeared here again
under the form of a Proposition, had it not been that in the present
instance a special philosophical difficulty ofiers itself^ which is worth
considering. Nor is this all. For while the difficulty referred to
has a special interest and importance of its own which claim our
consideration ; the treatment of it and its solution assume the force
of an obligation, in presence of the &ct that it compromises the
teaching of the Angelic Doctor.
It has been maintained, then, by one School of Doctors, that
substance causes accident and the accidental composite by the inte^
vention of a potentiality really distinct from the substance itself.
Another School has taught, that it causes by means of a real mode.
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The Material Cause. 323
Lastly : Others maintain that substance immediately and of itself
exercises its causality in accident and the accidental composite.
This last opinion it is that is defended in the present Thesis. The
reader should be again reminded here, that a mode differs from an
accident specifieally such, (for, generically understood, accident in-
cludes all modes that are not substantial)^ in its inferiority to the
latter and, as a consequence, in the nature of its inhesion. A mode
has, and can have, no entity whatsoever apart from its Subject.
Hence, it could not be made, even by the Divine Omnipotence, to
exist apart from its Subject; because such existence is a metaphy-
sical impossibility, — in other words, a contradiction in terms. An
accident^ on the contrary, has a real albeit attenuated entity of its
own ; and can, therefore^ exist apart from substance by the Power
of God, though always retaining its natural tendency towards in-
hesion in a Subject, which is essential to it.
The present Proposition is demonstrated by proving that in this
material causality of substance relatively to the accidental compo-
site there can be no intervention, first, of a real accidental potenti-
ality, secondly, no intervention of a real mode. Consequently, the
causality of substance is immediate.
I. There can he no intervention of a real accidental 'potentiality
really distinct from substancCj in order that thie latter may be made
proximately capable of becoming the Material Cause of accident.
The fibst member is proved by the following arguments, i. The
intervention of such a potentiality involves an infinite process. For,
according to the hypothesis in question, the said potentiality is an
accident. Indeed, there is nothing else it could be. Therefore,
the question returns: How does substance become the Material
Cause of this accident ? It must be either immediately by itself
or through the medium of another accident. If the former, the
hypothesis is subverted ; and there is no assignable reason why im-
mediateness of causality should not be conceded in the first instance
as well as in the second. If the latter, again returns the question
about that third accident ; and so on, for ever. ii. The hypothesis
is in open contradiction with the universally admitted doctrine
touching the Material Cause of accident, as enounced in the
hundred and sixtieth Proposition. For if substance be the primary
and fundamental Material Cause of accident ; to whatever length
you may please to multiply your links in the chain of accidents,
you must ultimately arrive at an accident which is immediately
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324 Causes of Being.
united to substance, iii. A third argument is derived from the re-
spective natures of substance and accident in their transcendental
relation to each other. For accident has a natural inclination for
finite substance ; in order that, by informing, it may perfect sub-
stance and impart to substance that which, of itself^ substance
does not possess. Therefore, on the other hand, finite substance
must possess in itself a corresponding inclination and immediate
capacity for such information. If so, the intervention of an ex-
traneous entity is an impertinence. Therefore, it must be rejected ;
according to the time-honoured philosophical axiom, that etUUies
(mght not to he multiplied without a necessity.
II. There can be no intervention of a real mode distinct from
substance, in order that the latter may become Material Cause of
accident.
This second member of the present Proposition is so obviously
demonstrated by the same arguments as those which have been
produced to establish the first, that there is no need of further
amplification.
Note.
Nothing need be added, either touching that by which substance
causes in accident and in the accidental composite or touching
the nature of that causality ; since the conclusions already deduced
concerning the causality of Primordial Matter, hold equally good in
the causality of substance relatively to the accidental composite.
DIFFICULTY.
The one great objection urged against the present Proposition is
seemingly derived from the teaching of St. Thomas. The Angelic
Doctor is discussing the question, whether a faculty of the soul is
the soul itself. He decides in the negative ; adding elsewhere, (for
he repeatedly reverts to the same point in his teaching), that the
faculties of the soul are accidents in the second species of Quality \
— accidents, however, that are properties, that is to say, flowing
from the essence. His primary argument in proof is the following :
* Since potentiality and act divide Being and every Category of
Being, the potentiality and (its) act must necessarily be referred to
the same Category, Consequently, if the act is not in the Cat^ry
of Substance ; the potentiality^ which is denominated such in rela-
» See !•• Ixxvii, i, 5«; SpiriiUt a. 11, c.
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The Material Cause. 325
lion to that act, cannot be in the Category of Substance '/ But, if
it be true that the potentiality and its act must necessarily be re-
ferred to the same Category, substance cannot immediately be the
Material Cause of any accident ; otherwise, the potentiality would
be in one Category and its act in another. There must, consequently,
intervene some accidental potentiality or mode between the two, as
proximate principle of causality.
Answkr. Suarez is evidently troubled with this difficulty; and
though, out of his wonted reverence for the authority of the Angelic
Doctor, he strives to make the best of it, nevertheless, he seems
altogether to deny the truth of the dictum as applied to active
potentialities, and allows only its partial applicability to passive
potentialities. For while somewhat grudgingly admitting its truth
in the case of a passive potentiality essentially ordained to such
act, as Primordial Matter is ; he refuses to own its applicability
to passive potentialities intrinsically included in, and concomitants
of, any complete entity. Sut of such sort is the potentiality in
dispute, — that, namely, of substance as receptive of accident ^.
With all due deference to the opinion of so eminent a philosopher^
there does not seem to be any sufficient reason for all these dis-
tinctions or exceptions. The dictum of St. Thomas, if rightly
understood, is equally applicable to all active as well as passive
potentialities. Previously, however, to entering upon the solution
of this difficulty, it is necessary to interpose two preliminary obser-
vations, i. The distinction between the active potentiality and its
Subject is not in all strictness of language physical. This would
appear to have been the mind of St. Thomas in the special instance
to which he has applied the principle, as quoted above. There are
grave reasons (as it seems to the present writer) for concluding that
he never intended to establish a physical distinction, strictly speak-
ing, between the human soul and its faculties. For, first of all, he
affirms that the human soul is a simple form ^. But, if its essence
and its faculties were physically distinct, it would be a composite.
Then again^ he admits that, if it is considered ' as a potential whole,
' * Cum potenUft et actiiB dividant ens, et quodlibet geniu entis, opoitet quod ad
idem genuB referatur potentiA et actus; et ideo, si actui non est in geneie substantiae,
poteatia quae didtur ad ilium actum, non potest esse in genere substantiae.' i**
Ixxvii, I, c.
' Metaphywioa, DUp, XIV, Sect, 2, wn. 13-17.
' 'QuamTis anima sit fonna simplex, sicut et Angelus.* a (2. iii, (}« i, a. 4, i'"..
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326 Causes of Being.
they* (i.e. its faculties) * belong to its integrity \' Further, he
declares that ^ though the soul may be conceived without its faculties,
it is neither possible nor conceivable that it should be without
them ^.' But, if the psychical faculties were accidents physically
distinct from the soul ; why should it be neither possible nor con-
ceivable that the soul should exist without them ? ii. The second
preliminary observation is this ; that in active potentialities (powers
or faculties) the act may be immanent or transient. For instance,
a thought is an immanent act of the intellectual faculty. But the
act of a physical force is transient, — the attraction of a magnet^ for
instance ; since its formal term is another body, — in the example
given, say, a needle. Now, the transient act may itself be regarded
in two ways ; first, as it is in the potentiality of which it is the act
{entitatively) and, secondly, as it is in the entity that receives it
{productively). Regarded in the former light, it is the form of the
faculty or power ; in the latter, it is the act of an efficient cause.
Under guidance of these premonitions, let us now proceed to
summarize the teaching of the Angelic Doctor touching the present
subject ; and, in doing so, it will be no small advantage to bear in
mind, by way of illustration, that particular problem which has
repeatedly provoked the discussion in the writings of St. Thomas
concerning the soul and its faculties.
In every created substance there are two potentialities and two
acts. There is the primary potentiality to Je, or of being; and cor-
relatively, the primary act qfbeii^. This is called \\& first act. The
act is the form ; in bodies, the potentiality would be Primordial
Matter. The two constitute the specific substance. Hence, the
potentiality is substantial ; the act is substantial. By the union of
the two is completed the essence of the substantial entity, fiat
there is another second act of substance, consequent upon its
essential constitution ; for each one has its own determined, its own
specific operation. And the reason why this operation must be con-
sequent upon the complete constitution of the essence, is this ; a
thing must fe, before it can act or have even the power of acting.
This act is called the second act of substance ; forasmuch as it
follows after the first. It, too, postulates as its correlative a poten-
1 * Simul tamen sunt de integritate ipsiuB animae, inquantum est totum potentiale/
I d. iii, Q. 4, a. a, c.
' ' Undo licet sine illis inteUigatur quid sit anima, non autem animam one eis esse
eet poisibile neqne intelligibile.' Anima, a. zii. 7™.
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The Material Cause, 327
tialitj, or power, of operation. Now, it is on this second act and
second potentiality that the present question turns. Are the two
identical with the first act and the first potentiality ? St. Thomas
repeatedly demonstrates that they are not. Only in one Being are
the two identified ; because all He is and has, is one infinitely pure
Act, remote from every conceivable potentiality. Hence, in Him to
be and to do, are absolutely the same. But in all finite entity
being and operation are really distinct. The one is a substantial,
the other an accidental act. Hence, the first act or the sub-
stantial form is, so to say, exhausted in the actuation of specific
being. In like manner, the substantial potentiality is fulfilled by
the actuation of its substantial form. Thus essentially perfected,
substance can admit of no further substantial potentiality whether
it be passive or active. Neither is it capable of any additional sub-
stantial act. It remains, therefore, that the second potentiality and
the second act should be accidental, — extraneous^ that is, to the
already constituted essence. The reader, however^ may here need
reminding, that the principiant or principiants of specific operation
are not mere accidents in the logical sense of the term; because
they are properties, that is to say, they are rooted in, — flow forth
from, — ^are connatural with, — the essence. Hence, in the case of
active potentialities, the substantial form is the principal, the acci-
dental form the proximate and^ as it were, instrumental principiant.
Wherefore, the active powers or faculties may be terminated by
transient acts which productively go beyond their potentiality, and
are substantial ; because they cause by virtue of the substantial
form. But the entitative^ informing^ or immanent act of the faculty
is, and must be, accidental ; and in the same Category as the faculty
which it informs. Reverse the position ; and the potentiality must
be in the same Category with its act. Accordingly, as the Angelic
Doctor goes on to say, material substance requires qualities, or
certain accidental forms, by means of which its substantial form
may operate. Thus, the magnet has its one substantial form ; but
it requires two powers, — the one of attraction^ the other of polarha^
Hon, — in order that it may be able to operate according to the bent
of its specific nature. For the essential form, as being one and
material, could not at one and the same time immediately energize
in two such different directions. The case is precisely similar with
the human soul. This latter is essentially the form of man, and
gives to him his substantial perfectness and specific nature. Yet,
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328 Causes of Being.
though intellectual and volitive in its nature, — that is to say, as
a substantial act, and, therefore, as first act; the soul cannot
operate immediately or exclusively, in virtue of its own intellectual
and volitive essence. It requires faculties, or active potentialities,
ajs second and proximate causes of its second act^ — that of natural
operation. But why? In order to arrive at the reason, may
it be permitted to put another question? How is it that the
soul, one and simple in its essence, can operate in so many distinct
and often opposite ways at one and the same time ; — vegetatively,
sensitively, imaginatively, intellectually, volitively ? St. Thomas
supplies us with an answer : ' Though the soul is one in essence,'
he writes in a certain place, ^ nevertheless, there is in it potentiality
and act ; and it has a diversity of relation to entities. Moreover,
it adapts itself in different ways to the body, ^nd this is the reason
why> from the one essence of the soul, diverse faculties can pro-
ceed ^.' So again : * Though the soul is a simple form in its essence ;
it is, nevertheless, virtually multiplex, forasmuch as it is the prin-
cipiant of diverse operations ^.' Yet again : ' The soul has a certain
perfection of potentiality which is made up of various faculties^.'
Finally : * The essence of the soul itself is also the principiant of
operation, but by the medium of a fiaculty *.' It seems plain, then,
that St. Thomas did not contemplate a physical distinction in all
strictness of language between the soul and its faculties \ otherwise,
he would never have allowed that the soul was made up of its faculties,
was virtually multiplex^ without the addition of any modifying words.
The first passage quoted evinces this more clearly. For St. Thomas
represents the faculties as the potentiality of the essence of the soni,
which variously corresponds with a diversity of relation to entities.
These faculties are only not the essence, or rather, part of the essence ;
because they belong to that second potentiality which does not enter
into the definition and whose acts are accidental. The same conclu-
sion is deducible &om another passage, wherein St. Thomas replies to
> 'Licet anima ait una in essentia, tamen est in ea potentia et actus, et habet
diversam habitudinem ad res; diveisimode etiam comparatur ad coxpus; et propter
hoc ab una essentia animae possunt procedere divenae potentiae.' Anima^ a. xii, 17™-
' ' Licet anima sit forma simplex secundum essentiam, est tamen multiplex virtate,
secundum quod est piincipium diversarum operationum.' Ibid. a. ix, 14™.
' 'Habens quandam perfectionem potentiae, quae conficitur ex divenis viriboa.'
1 d, iii, Q. 4, a, 2, c,
* * Essentia ipsius animae est etiam principium operandi, sed mediante virtate.'
Ibidem, a».
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The Material Cause, 329
an objection brought against this his teaching concerning the
faculties of the soul. The objection is as follows : * The soul is
nobler than an accidental form. Sut the active accidental form is
its own virtue. Therefore, with much greater reason is the soul
its own faculties.' St. Thomas would seem to have foreseen a
dilemma with which he might be confronted. For should he deny
the Minor y he would be involved in an infinite process ; should he
grant it, he must accept the conclusion. Accordingly, he replies by a
virtual distinction of the Minor^ in these words : * The accidental
form, which is the principiant of action, is itself the faculty or
power of the acting substance ; and there is no infinite process, as
though for every faculty there should be another faculty ^.' But
this would be no answer at all ; if he had supposed a physical
distinction between the soul and its faculties.
Now, perhaps, we shall be the better able to understand the
nature and bearings of the disputed dictum. Considering an act
exclusively as the form by which a potentiality is actuated, nothing
can be plainer than that the potentiality and its act must be in the
same Category ; and not only in the same Category, but in the same
class or species of the same Category. Consequently, if the soul, as
the substantial form of man, were immediate Material Cause of
human acts, — ^for instance, acts of thought or will ; these acts would
be substantial parts of man's essential constitution. Thus the soul
would be partly in potentiality to its own essence ; which is not
convenient. It follows, then, from the absurdity of its opposite,
that the active potentialities of the soul, — the immediate cause of
these accidental acts, — cannot constitute any part of its essence, or
first act. This is further confirmed by the fact that, as substantial
form, it cannot be potential ; because it is pure act. Consequently,
that potentiality must be outside its substantial nature. Therefore,
it most be accidental. Hence we cannot but arrive at the con-
clusion that the faculties of the soul, metaphysically considered, are
no part of its specific nature ; but are rooted in it, — spring out of it,—
are indissolubly one with it, — are its potential manifestations, — and,
in consequence, are integral parts of it regarded as a potential wAole, or
considered as in its second potentiality to its second act. Add to this,
^ ' 10. Anima est dignior quam forma accidentalifl. Sod forma accidentaliB activa
est saa virtus. Ergo molto magis anima est suae potentiae.'
'Ad decimum dioendum, quod forma aocidentalis quae est priacipium actionis, ipsa-
met est potentia vel virtus substantiae agentis ; non autem proceditur in infinitum, ut
Gujuslibet virtutis sit alia virtus.' SpirUUf a. xi, xo™.
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330 Causes of Being,
that these faculties are faculties of the soul which is in vital act in-
tellectual and volitive, and that, as act, the soul is intimately present
with its own active potentialities, — physically one with them, since
these are itself in its second potentiality; — the doctrine of St.
Thomas on this head is completed ^.
It only remains to add a word or two, by way of application, to
other instances than the soul. It is plain that, in the case of
corporal substance, there is a physical distinction between the
qualitative form by which the substantial form operates and the
substantial essence. The active potentialities, however, though
accidents, may terminate in a substantial effect, as in the instance
of animal generation and, generally, in the disposing of Matter for
the eduction and reception of the form ; because they act in
virtue of the substantial form whose instruments they are. Yet,
as regards the immanent act, — ^the act, that is to say, considered
exclusively as the actuating form of the faculty or force, the active
potentiality and its act are in the same category.
As touching a passive potentiality, the doctrine is still more
clear. For a passive potentiality is a pure receptivity; and a recep-
tivity must be Fpecifically proportioned to that which it receives, —
in other words, to its act. If, therefore, it is a receptivity of specific
being, it is substantial ; and the form, — its first act, — is substantial.
If, on the other hand, it is a receptivity of something added to the
specific nature, it is accidental ; and its form will be accidental.
"We are now prepared to face the difiiculty that has given
occasion to the present examination. A material substance, sub-
sequently in order of nature to its own complete constitution,
receives certain accidental forms by means of which the substantial
' There are many, — Suarez, and the ThomiBto generally, — who maintain that St.
Thomas teaches a real physical distinction between the soul and its faculties. Hiere
is one passage, indeed, (i d. yii, Q. i. a. i, 2™) where the Angelic Doctor expressly
uses the term, rtaX distinction; but apparently as opposed to purely logical. As the
question is psychological, its discussion would be inopportune. The arguments in
favour of each opinion are yezy cogent ; and the Thomist interpretation is ably de-
fended in the course of some interesting articles De Poteniiis Animae, which haTO
appeared in the Divus Thomas, (a periodical published at Piaoenza) during 1880.
lliose of our readers who may wish to examine the point for themselves, can consuU
the following places in the Works of St. Thomas, besides those quoted in the above
pages: Verit. Q. ii, a. 14, c, post m. ; Po». Q. ii, a, i, 6»; Anima, a. la, c. ; i»* Kv,
2, 3" ; 3 d, xvii, Q. I, a. a, 6™ ; !•• liv, 3 0., et a" ; Ixxix, i, c. ; i-2»* xlix, a, 0 ; i»*
iii, I, c. If the interpretation of the Thomists and others should prove to be the
true one, it would only render the answer to the difficulty of Suares more complete
and easy.
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Tlie Material Cause, 331
form is enabled to energize outside. If the substance should be
actuated bj these accidental forms; it must previously have
possessed a real capacity for receiving them, — that is to say, a pas-
sive potentiality in their regard. Now comes the diflSculty. For
either that receptivity is every way identical with the substance
or it is not. If the former, the dictum of St. Thomas is erroneous ;
for the act is in such case accidental, while the potentiality is
substantial. If the latter, tlie present Thesis is erroneous ; for
material substance would not then be immediately the Material
Cause of accident. The answer to the difficulty has been already
g^ven implicitly in that which has gone before. It is the material
substance which immediately of itself is cause of the accident ;
but its capacity for receiving the accidental form is to metaphysical ,
consideration accidental, because it is not included in the essence
or definition of the Subject. If it were, it could not be a potenti-
ality; for all substantial potentiality is fulfilled in the Jlrst act, —
that of specific Being, which is the substantial form. But there
is no physical distinction between the substance and its receptivity
of the accidental form; though a metaphysical distinction most
certainly there is. Consequently, the substance of itself, without
intervention of really distinct accident or mode, is the Material
Cause of its accidents. Yet, its receptivity is not its essence, but
a property flowing from its essence; though that receptivity is an
integral part of it considered as a potential whole. Nor is such an
explanation gratuitous. On the contrary, it is the express teaching
of St. Thomas. Relatively to this very question he has the following
remarkable words : * As to passive potentiality, it is manifest that a
passive potentiality which is referrible to a substantial act is in the
Category of Substance ; and that which is referrible to an acci-
dental act is in the Category of Accident by reduction^ in so far as
it is a ^rincipiant and not in its character of a complete species;
because every Category is divided by potentiality and act. Hence,
man in potentiality is in the Category of Substance ; and white in
potentiality is in the Category of Quality ^.' The latter part of the
quotation merits careful consideration. St. Thomas insists upon
^ *De potenda vero passiva maaifestmn est quod potentia passiva quae est ad
actum Bubstantialem, est in genere substantiAe ; et quae est ad actum accidentalem,
est in genere accidentis per i^ductionem, sicut prindpium, et non sicut species com-
pleta ; quia unumquodque genus dividitur per potentiam et actum. Undo poteutia
homo est in genere substantiae, et potentia album est in genere qualitatis.' Anima,
a. zii, 0., in m.
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332 Causes of Being.
it, that the passive potentiality wliich is referrible to an accidental
act must be somehow or other in one of the Categories of
Accident ; following in this, of course, the nature of the accidental
act. But the entity, which is thus potentially referrible to the
accident, need not be accidental in its character of a compleU
species, — i. e. in its specific entity. It is enough that it should be
accidental by reduction; i.e. by reducing it purely and simply to
its capacity of receiving the accident. Thus reduced, it most
find itself in the same Category with its act ; because potentiality
and act dichotomize every Category. The Subject, then, of the
accident need not be in the same Category with the latter ; but
the Subject, considered precisely as potential, (or the potentiality
of the Subject, which is the formal correlative of the act)^ must be
in the same Category with it. Hence, as St. Thomas insists,
loAite in potentiality^^ — ^in other words, the potentiality receptive of
white, — is in the Category of Quality.
It now only remains to consider the instances which Suarez has
adduced for the purpose of showing that the dictum of St. Thomas
cannot be applied either to passive potentialities which are in-
trinsically included in, and concomitants of, an already constituted
entity, or to active potentialities, — i.e. to faculties and forces; for
he admits, as has been said, its applicability to passive potentialities
which, like Primordial Matter, are essentially instituted to their
act. Of the instances of passive potentiality we may omit two.
For the first is taken from the Divine Omnipotence, and is wholly
irrelevant for two reasons. One is, that God is a transcendental
Being, infinitely beyond and above all Categories ; though virtually
and eminently containing all their unmixed perfection in Himself.
The other is, that God is one infinite and infinitely simple Act
Which is His Being. Accordingly, His Nature essentially excludes
all potentiality of whatever kind^ metaphysical no less than pbysicaL
For similar reasons we must omit the second ; for it deals with the
supernatural action of God by His Grace on the human soul or
its acts. Such an example lands us in the first, and has the ad-
ditional disadvantage of forcing us to overstep our limits by
leading us within the borders of supernatural Theology. The
third instance is this : Material substance is capable of quantity.
Most true; and itself is in the Category of Substance but, as
^ St. Thomas haa adopted this partioidar form of expreBsion in order to illuB-
trate the dichotomy : White in po^n^iolt^y,— White in ad.
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The Material Cause. 333
exclusively a recepiibility of that accident, is transferred by re-
duction to the Category of Quantity. The fourth instance is^
quantity u capable of quality. Again, most true. Therefore,
quantity is in its own Category; but its receptivity is reduced to
the Category of Quality.
The only example of an active potentiality shall be given in full.
These are the words of Suarez : * Active potentiality, compared to
its action ae action,' (i.e. entitatively), 'is constituted under the
same Category. But, if by the act of this potentiality we under-
stand the formal term of its action ; it is not necessarily collocated in
the same Category. This is shown by the instance, already brought
forward, of gravitation ; and is applicable to all locomotive potenti-
ality' (or force), ' whether it be attractive, or expulsive, or impulsive;
or the impulse itself, which many consider to be a quality; and, never-
theless, it is not ordained to produce a quality but motion or rest.
And the reason can be given. For an active potentiality, as such,
is not ordered to its act as the imperfect to the perfect, nor so^
that in composition with its act it should make an entity abso-
lutely one ; but as an extrinsic cause to its effect.' In the course
of this his exposition, Suarez has supplied the true answer to his
own diflBculty. For he admits that, if the act be considered
entitatively, the active potentiality must be in the same Category
with its act. All is here granted that the teaching of St. Thomas
postulates. It is plain enough that the active potentiality, qua
active, does not divide each and every Category; for there are
many Categories which exclude active potentiality, — Quantity for
example. But active potentiality, qtut potentiality, takes its place
with the rest. In a word, active potentiality, like every other
potentiality, requires actuation ; and bears a transcendental rela-
tion to its act as to its own proper form. Here the reader should
be warned against a possible error only too common in this matter.
Because active potentialities are active, their potentiality is often
confounded with their activity; that is to say, they are conceived
as in act. Thus, when men speak of % force or power; they often
conceive of it as acting because it is active. Yet, assuredly in order
of nature if not always in order of time, an active potentiality is
first in pure receptivity of its act, before its actuation or informa-
tion. There is likewise another danger, alluded to already, of con-
founding the act of such a power as immanent or entitative with
the same act as transient or productive. In the latter case, the
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334 Causes of Being.
act in union with its Material Cause becomes efficient cause of an
effect ; and then, as St. Thomas and Suarez agree in teaching, the
actuated faculty, as cause, and its effected act in another entity
need not be in the same Category ; since the substantial form is
the primary agent.
§3-
Since corporal substance is a Material Cause of accidents;
what relation does the accidental form bear to the two sub-
stantial components, — Matter and form P
We are now about to enter upon a very difficult, because very
subtile, question. In the preceding Sections of this Article it has
been shown, that there must be a Subject in which an accident
naturally inheres and on which it essentially depends, and that
in ultimate analysis substance is that Material Cause. Now, there
are two facts connected with substance,— one pertaining to its
entity, the other to its generation in the course of nature ; both of
which give occasion to certain problems touching the principle of
its causality as Subject of accidents, that it will be the object of
the present Section to resolve. For, first of all, material substance,
(which is for the present exclusively occupying our attention), is
essentially composed of two constituents, — to wit, Matter and form.
Hence arises the question : Do any or all the primary, or absolute,
accidents inhere immediately in the integral composite, or immedi-
ately in the Matter or in the form and, tjierefore, only mediately
in the composite ? Then, in the second place, we have seen that,
in the generation of bodily substances^ certain previous dispositions
of the Matter are requisite for the introduction or eduction of the
form. Now, these dispositions are plainly enough accidents. Are
these immediately inherent in the Matter or in the quantity of the
Matter independently (so to speak) of either form, — ^that is to say,
of either the receding or of the advenient and substitutive form?
Thus, for instance, there are certain alterations, or accidental
changes, necessary in order that out of the egg the chicken may be
hatched. Considering the question metaphysically, are those acci-
dents proper to the ^gg as constituted by its provisional ovic7il<ir
form ; or to the chicken as constituted by its pullet form ? Or,
are they immediately inherent in the Matter common to both these
substances? In the hypothesis, again, that ceitain accidents are
necessary to Matter as dispositions for the reception of its form
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Tlie Material Cause, 335
and that they inhere immediately in Matter and, through the
medium of the Matter, in the composite; the accidental would
seem to claim a certain priority over the substantial information
of Matter. This gives rise to another question : Is the information
of the Matter by its accident prior in order of nature to its inform-
ation by the substantial form ? Once more : Supposing, (though
by no means admitting), that any or all of the absolute accidents
immediately inform Matter; do they afterwards inform the sub-
stantial form by virtue of the union of the latter with the Matter,
or do they altogether fail of reaching the substantial form ? For
instance, is the hlachness of ebony immediately in the composite sub-
stance (the wood) itself; or is it immediately in the Matter of the
wood, only mediately in the entire substance ? Does it in no wise
affect the substantial Form of ebony, by which this latter is distin-
guished from gold, carbon, oxygen, mahogany, etc. ? The same question
may be put relatively to the complex organisms of living bodies ;
for these organisms are mere accidents of the substance. And here
we catch a glimpse of the importance attaching to a problem which,
at first sight, might seem to be a mere Scholastic subtlety without
a definite issue of any monrent. In the next Chapter we shall be
better able to appreciate its bearings.
Some, if not the greater number, of these questions will be not a
little simplified by assuming, as a Lemma, certain truths concerning
the mutual relation and order of the absolute accidents, which will
afterwards be examined and discussed at length in their respective
Categories. In passing, let it be understood that by the absolute
or primary accidents are understood Quantity and Quality, as con*
tradistinguished from the other seven Categories which are essentially
relative. Now, Quantity is the first accident that informs material
substance, and is the immediate root of all the other accidents ;
since it is through the medium of quantity that these latter inhere in
bodies. It gives to Matter extrinsic extension and divisibility ; but,
like Matter, it is entirely inactive. Qualities are the media by which
the substantial form operates and energizes. These immediately in-
here in quantity; mediately, therefore, in the composite. Thus, for
instance, the redness of the rose^ (that is to say, that entity, whatever
it may be, which causes in us the sensation of this colour), inheres
immediately in the superficies of the petals ; mediately, in the 9uh^
stance of the rose. Hence, quantity has a natural priority to quality.
So much as this we learn from experience. Quantity can be con-
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336 Causes of Being.
ceived, — and even almoBt sensibly represented, — without qnalilies;
as in tbe diagrams of Euclid. But it is impossible to conceive, much
more to represent, quality without quantity, — a colour, for in-
stance, without a superficies. Consequently, all qualitative acci-
dents follow in the wake of quantity, and inform material substance
precisely in the same way as quantity; for it is through the
medium of this latter, (be it remembered), that they inform substance
at all. Wherefore, the investigation for the most part may be
restricted to quantity which wUl stand proxy for the rest.
Let us commence, then, with the easiest question which will
serve for introduction to the others : In any single instance of
material substance, is accidental, prior in order of time to sub-
stantial, information ? in other words : Is Matter in any given case
informed by any accident physically and in time, before it has
been informed by its substantial form ? At the first cui*sory glance
it might seem as though Primordial Matter must be first quanti-
fied, in order to become proximately capable of separation ; then
actually separated by various qualities in each portion, so as to
render it at once fit for the reception of different primitive forms
that reduce it in its separated parts to the various specific natures
of the original elements, whatever and how many soever these
may have been. Nevertheless, such an opinion is quite untenable ;
and has not found one solitary patron, so far as the writer knows,
in any Doctor of the School. Wherefore,
PROPOSITION CLXIII.
In the physioal order, Primordial Matter, the primary sub-
stantial forms, with the quantity and qualities connatural
with each composite substance, were concreated in actual
union ; and thus constituted the elementary bodies, out of
the various combinations of which all other material sub-
stances have been formed.
The Present Proposition is thus Declared.
It is metaphysically impossible that Primordial Matter should
have been created by itself, so as to exist for a moment in a
state of isolation. The reason is readily seen in its very nature.
For Matter is the most incomplete and lowest of entities ; so
much so, that it has been described by the Doctors of the School
as being next to nothing. Further, it is, (as has been seen,) a
pure subjective potentiality, or receptivity. Its actuation is
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The Material Cause. 337
subfiiantial information. Therefore, it is impossible that it should
exist, apart from some form. Hence, it is said to co-exist rather
than to exist. Such is the teaching of the Master of the Sentences,
of St. Thomas, of St. Bonaventure, and of the rest of the Scholastics;
with the exception of Scotns, Suarez, and a few others. These
latter maintain, that the existence of Primordial Matter by itself^
without any form, is not a metaphysical impossibility; and there-
fore, that it is within the reach of the Divine Omnipotence. The
examination of this opinion will occupy us later. Meanwhile, all
are agreed that, as a fact, Primordial Matter was concreated in the
banning with its substantial and accidental forms; so that the<
Yisible and material works of creation were limited to certain
simple bodies out of which, by various combinations, by progressive
corruptions and generations, all the complex varieties of nature
were gradually evolved. The question touching the number and
specific nature of these elementary substances does not concern us ;
for its resolution belongs to physical science and must be deter-
mined, (if ever determined), by experiment^ analysis, observation.
A priori it is more probable that there were two, at least, of these
elementary bodies; because otherwise it would be difficult to
conceive upon what basis any after combinations could proceed.
Certainly, it is easier to realize the possibility of such combina-
tions, in harmony with the teaching of a sound philosophy, with
the aid of a plurality of elements, than in the hypothesis of there
being one only. Whether it should eventually be made evident
that these elements are reducible to hyd/rogen and calciumy or to
these in company with sodium^ magneaiumy carbon^ and so on, is a
speculation most interesting, indeed^ to the metaphysician ; but its
determination must be leflb to the laboratory. It only remains to
add, that all the other substantial forms were gradually evolved
out of the potentiality of the Matter in accordance with the
dispositions of the latter, in a way which will be explained in the
next Chapter; and that all the accidental forms, not actually
present in the primordial elements, were similarly educed out of
the potentiality of those composite substances which respectively
offered themselves as the subjects of these forms.
We now approach the metaphysical problems. The first, because
nearest to the physical conclusion of the preceding Thesis, is this :
VOL. II. z
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338 Causes of Being.
Haw is quantity an accident of bodies ? Is it immediately inherent
in the Matter^ or in the integral composite ? Then, in the second
place^ does it anywise inhere in the substantial form ?
PROPOSITION CLXIV.
Primordial Matter cannot solely or exclusively be the Material
Cause of quantity, which iB no other than the complete
substance.
I. The fiest Member of the present Proposition, wherein it is
contended that Primordial Matter cannot solely or exclusively be the
Material Cause of quantity, is proved by the following arguments.
i. Primordial Matter has not sufficient entity of itself to become,
alone, the Subject of quantity or of any other . accident^ without
previous information by some substantial form. For that which
in itself is a purely passive potentiality, awaiting its first act in its
own Category, and capable of actuation and of existence only by
virtue of such substantial act, cannot be a competent Material
Cause of a form belonging to another Category, previous to its
proper information by its own substantial form. I%e above argu-
ment is thus confirmed. In order that Primordial Matter may
become the Material Cause of any accident, it must either exist
previously to, or simultaneously with^ the accidental actuation;
because a component must exist, if it is to enter into real composi-
tion. Consequently^ it must be possible for Primordial Matter to
exist before, or in, the act of composition with quantity; and
this, antecedently to its substantial information. Sut neither the
one nor the other is possible. It cannot pre-exist ; for then it
would exist of itself. This, however, as we have already seen,
it cannot do; since it postulates actuation. It cannot co-exist;
for then its being would be accidental, because due to an acci-
dental form. ii. It is absonous to imagine that Primordial Matter
could receive its first information from an accidental form;
for of its very nature it primarily postulates information in its
own Category. It is a substantial potentiality; and on that
account its first act must be substantial. If it were first informed
by an accidental form, it would primarily be an accidental com-
ponent ; and only a substantial component, if at all, by virtue of
a previous accidental composition, iii. Substance is naturally prior
to accident; since accident is for the sake of substance, not
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The Material Cause. 339
substance for the sake of accident. Moreover, accident is indebted
to substance for its being and depends on substance for its susten-
tation. Bat, if Matter alone could be the subject of accident,
the order would be in versed. Substance would depend on acci-
dent; since the intervention of quantity would be necessary to
the union of Primordial Matter with its substantial form. iv.
Primordial Matter is purely passive; it cannot, consequently,
become of itself a principiant of emanation. Sut accidental forms
emanate from their Subject; for, not being substances, they have
no absolute, existence. Hence, they are rather that by which a
thing is than themselves that which is. Sut Primordial Matter
cannot actuate; because it is a mere receptivity, v. Although
Primordial Matter has a partial entity of its own ; that entity is
not sufficient to support any accidental form, prior to its own
substantial information. For accident in its essential nature
requires the previous information of its Subject ; forasmuch as it is
Being of Being. Hence, with the partial exception of quantity,
(for quantity is not always an exception to the rule), accidents
differ with the differences of the substantial form. At least, such
is the case with the specific accidents. Let us take an instance.
Figure or shape is a quality of quantity. Now, the figure of a
fsan differs from that of a hird. The shape of a hird differs from
that of a horse ; while the shapes of all three differ from the shape
otsL plant. Let it not be said, that these are instances of quality,
not of quantity ; and that it is this latter which is the subject of
the present Proposition. For, seeing that all qualities immediately
inhere in quantity, one is justified in arguing from the former to
the latter; in such wise that, if Matter of itself is the Material
Cause of quantity, it must likewise be the Material Cause of those
qualities which inhere in and accompany it. Moreover, the sub-
stantial form can only reach the qualitative accidents through
quantity; since it is only through the medium of quantity that
the qualities inhere in the substance of which the said form is the
act But what foundation is it possible to find in Primordial
Matter^ first of all, for the emanation of these accidents, and then,
for their specific diversity; since Matter of itself is wholly passive,
is absolutely indifferent to all forms^ and has no even germinal
principle of selection? vi. In the hypothesis that Primordial
Matter alone is the Material Cause of quantity, the substantial
form would actuate Matter through the medium of its concomitant
z 2
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340 Causes of Being.
accidental form. Therefore, the accidental form would be a more
intimate act of Matter than the substantial form, and would be
indebted for its existence to the former rather than to the latter;
that is to say, it would exist as substance, (for it can exist in no
other way), by accidental actuation, vii. Matter by its jir%t act
becomes complete substance, — that is, an entity existing in itself
absolutely. But is it reasonable to imagine that this could be
effected by an accidental union ? No being can go beyond its own
native capacity unaided. But let us suppose, for the sake of
argument, that quantity could actuate Primordial Matter, ante-
cedently in order of nature to the latter's substantial information ;
in such case, as has been said, it would be the first act of Matter,
making the latter to be actually existent. One is tempted to
inquire, under which of the Categories this new entity is to be
ranged. It must be either substance or accident. But it cannot
be accident ; since it is supposed to exist or rather to co-exist in
itself, without inhesion or appetite for inhesion in another. Besides,
one of its components is substantial. Neither, on the other hand,
can it be substance ; for the reason that it has received its actuation
•and specific nature, (because it is its first act), from an accidental
form. viii. If quantity could inform Primordial Matter ante-
cedently to the latter's substantial information; it would be im-
mutable. For Primordial Matter is immutable ; and, in the given
hypothesis, it is entitatively independent of the substantial form.
In bodily substance, mutability is the exclusive property (if one
may use the term) of the composite. Both Matter and form in
themselves are changeless. But, according to the opinion at present
under censure, quantity is not the immediate accident of the
complete composite, but of Primordial Matter separately. There-
fore, it cannot but be immutable. It might possibly be urged
against this conclusion, that quantity in itself is mutable. But this
is impossible^ For quantity neither admits contraries nor more
and less in its own Category; for great and small, as Aristotle
points out\ though passions of quantity, are in the Category of
Relation. Moreover, it is not in itself active. Therefore, it has
no more capacity for change than Primordial Matter. Accordingly,
in the said hypothesis, it would be immutable. Some have ap-
* "Ert Ty voa^ oiiiv iffrtv ivairrlov. . . . €l fiij &pa rb iroKh Ty hXly^ ^fi tii €?««
hvavrUw 4 Th lUya r^ luicp^' ro&rw 8^ o^S^v iart voahv dWd rSw vp6s ri. Caieg. t.
6. V. TO.
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parently added another argument, (for Suarez alleges and refutes
it) ; yiz. that^ if Primordial Matter were of itself the Material
Cause of quantity, this latter would be incorruptible. Suarez
admits the Consequence; but denies that it affects the question.
He is right. For no accidental form can be, properly speaking,
corruptible. As St. Thomas says, * No accident is, properly speak-
ing, either made or corrupted. But it is said to be made or cor-
rupted, accordingly as the Subject begins or ceases to be in act with
regard to that accident^.' ix. The principal foundation of the
contrary opinion is traceable to the fact, that quantity is seen to
remain apparently the same under the two terms of substantial
transformations. But there could not possibly be such permanence,
if quantity informed either the composite or substantial form;
because, in accordance with its accidental nature, it would change
whenever these change. But it is easy to see that this supposed
foundation is of little or no weight. In order to evince as much,
it will be necessary to anticipate somewhat of the doctrine touch-
ing the substantial forms of material substance, which will be
explained ex profesBO in the next Chapter. There is an exquisitely
perfect gradation in substantial forms; and the nobler virtually
contain the inferior, with a specific addition of eflScacy. Thus, the
substantial form of corporeity is the lowest and first. It is
common to all material substances. Consequently, it is never
alone, never explicit; but is virtually contained in all other
bodily forms. The substantial form of a plants for example,
virtually contains the fofm of corporeity; and adds the more
specific form of vegetative life in which the former is included.
The substantial form of an animal virtually includes corporeity
and vegetative life; but contains, over and above, a sensitive
life of its own. Now, there are accidental properties which
correspond with each of these forms, or acts, of Matter. Hence,
two things: First, that the properties of an inferior form may
remain specifically the same, as generic properties of the superior
form or composite; secondly, that the inferior form, virtually
contained in the superior, together with its specific prpperties may
be metaphysically considered as constituting part of the Matter
^ 'Quia ejus est fieri yel oorrampi, cajus est esse ;■ ideo proprie loquendo nQllum
aoddens neque fit neque ooirumpitur ; sed dicitur fieri vel corrumpi, seoundum quod
Kobjectum incipit vel desinit esse in actu secundum illud accidens.' 1-2" « ex, 2,
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342 Causes of Being.
subjected to the superior form. Let an illustration be taken from
the teaching of St. Thomas. ' In human generation/ he replies,
(in answer to an objection, urged against a Proposition he was
then engaged in defending, viz. that the union of the soul with
the body is immediate)^ ' there are many generations and corrup-
tions following one another in succession. For, on the advent of
the more perfect form, the less perfect gives way. Accordingly,
although in the embryo there is at first the vegetative life only;
when the embryo has attained to greater perfection, the imperfect
form is banished and a more perfect one, which is at once vegeta-
tive and sensitive, takes its place. This eventually receding, the
last and most complete form, which is a rational soul, succeeds to
it ^.' It follows from this virtual inclusion of the v^^tative and
sensitive forms of life in the human soul, that the powers of
nutrition and growth, (which are properties of vegetative life),
and sensitive faculties with locomotive power, (which are supposed
to belong especially to animal life), remain in the living man. Bat
in him they remain as generic properties. Hence, they may be
regarded as contributing to his material part, (for genus is taken
&om the Matter), to be differentiated by the specific form and
actuated afresh by a new act of being ; although the same perfect
form, — that is to say in the instance given, the human soul, —
causes in the perfected composite the respective properties apper-
taining to those inferior forms which it virtually includes in itself.
In this way, each substantial form of material substance virtually
contains within itself corporeity and, as a consequence, introduces
into Matter the property of corporeity, — ^that is to say, quantity;
which, therefore, (in accordance with the explanation just given),
may be regarded as a necessary disposition of the Matter for the
introduction of the specific form, even though this latter brings
along with it into the Matter these so-called dispositions. Now,
these properties, (for there are others besides quantity to which
the present observations apply), remain specifically the same, even
under substantial transformations within the limits of the same
^ * Belinquitur ei^o dicendum, quod in generatione homims vel animalis sant mul-
tae generatioiies et corraptioneB dbi invicem suocedentes. Adveniente enim perfec-
tiori forma, deficit imperfectior. Et sic cum in embryone prime sit anima yegetativa
tantum ; cum perventum fuerit ad majorem perfectionem, toUitur forma imperfecta^
et Buccedit foima perfectior, quae est anima yegetativa et sensitiya sunul ; et ultimo
oedente, saccedit ultima forma completissima, quae est anima raUonalis.* Spiritu. a.
iii, IS*".
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The Material Cause. 343
genus; though they are not numerically the same under both
forms. Therefore, the Material Cause of quantity is hody^ which
is the lowest but universal material composite ; the nearest approach
to which are elements, or simple bodies. Thus much for the
present; the problem awaits further discussion.
II. Thb secokd Member of the Proposition^ in which it is
asserted that the complete substantial composite is the Material Cause
of qtuMtity, follows as a corollary from the former Member. For
no one has maintained, that the substantial form of itself is the
Material Cause of quantity. If, therefore, Matter is not the
Subject; the complete substance must be.
DIFFICULTIES.
The objections that have been brought against this Thesis are of
two kinds. Some consist of arguments levelled against the proofs
by which it has been established ; while others directly challenge
its truth. They are to be found, one and all in the Metaphysics
ofSuarez^. We shall follow the order indicated; and commence
with those which imjpugn the validity of the proofs,
I. It is not true that Primordial Matter has not enough of
entity to be capable by itself alone of sustaining an accidental
form. For Primordial Matter *has its own proper entity which,
though in the Category of Substance it is incomplete, nevertheless,
in comparison with accident is simply entity and a partial sub-
sistence. And moreover, though it depends on the substantial
fonn according to one kind of causality in which Matter may be
said to be united to the substantial, antecedently in order of nature
to its union with the accidental. Form ; notwithstanding, this does
not hinder Matter from being capable of sustaining accidents and,
after another fashion and in another kind of causality, of being
united to them antecedently in order of nature.'
Answer. The Antecedent is denied. -Now, as to the proof: It is
willingly granted^ that Primordial Matter has a certain most im-
perfect entity of its own ; which cannot however be regarded^ in
comparison with Accident, as simple entity. For^ apart from its
act, it is a purely passive potentiality which is absorbed in, or
rather fulfilled by, its substantial act. Neither can it be regarded
> Disp. XIV t § 3, »n. 44-60.
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as a partial subsistence, properly speaking, apart from its act;
for it simply exists and subsists by that act. Apart from its
actuating form, it neither subsists nor exists. Further : As a mere
receptivity, it has a transcendental relation to a substantial form
only; and its capacity is determined within its own Category alone.
Lastly: Whatever is understood by these different kinds of causality;
there is no conceivable way in which Matter can be united to
accident, antecedently to its substantial actuation. For, in order
to become the Subject of an accident, it must first exist ; and it
can exist only in union with some substantial form.
The objection is urged by the following argument a pari. 'The
substantial composite depends on its natural dispositions. For,
when these are removed, it is corrupted or dissolved. Nevertheless,
this does not hinder the same composite from being the Material
Cause of other accidents. Nay, what is more^ the same composite
is the Material Cause of those very dispositions; although, in
another way, it depends upon them. What wonder, then, that
Matter, though it depend on the form, should be capable of being
the Material Cause of quantity.' This is what was meant in the
preceding argument by a different kind or order of causality.
Answer. There is no parity between the two cases. For, first
of all, the composite by itself is an actual, existing entity;
Primordial Matter is not by itself an actual, existing entity.
Hence, the former is capable of being the Subject of an accident ;
the latter is not. Secondly, the substantial composite depends on
its natural dispositions as a condition rather than a cause. It
is, on the other hand, the Subject of other accidents, including
these very dispositions ; therefore, as a cause and not a condition.
Indeed, the argument drawn from such a comparison may be re-
torted. For, as the composite is conditionally dependent on the
previous dispositions^ so that, wanting them, it could not be
generated and, consequently, could not become Subject of any acci-
dent; in a similar way, Primordial Matter is a fortiori so dependent
on its substantial form, that without the latter it could not exist and,
consequently, could not become the Subject of any accident.
Once again the objection is urged by a similar abgument.
* Though Matter depends on form, it can nevertheless be the
cause of that very same form. Therefore, although it depends on
the form, it is capable of being the Material Cause of quantity.
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The Material Cause. ^ 345
The Consequence is plain. For there seems to be a greater repag-
nance between these two relations of dependence and causality in
r^ard of one and the same^ than in regard of different, entities.'
Ai7SWEB. The parity is again denied. For the dependeuce of
Matter on the substantial form is its nature, as being a purely
passive potentiality; and its proper causality essentially arises out
of that dependence. Because it is a pure receptivity, it depends
entitatively on its act; and because it postulates actuation, it
must be Material Cause of its own act or form. The ultimate
reason is, that Matter and form are two incomplete but mutually
completing entities in the same Category; and their relation to
each other is essential. On the contrary, accident (say, quantity)
is perfect in its own Category; though it is of its nature, as
accident, to postulate a Subject of inhesion. But the potentiality
of Matter has no such essential relation to accident; and not
having an essential relation, is incapable, by reason of its exclusive
potentiality, of imbibing it. The confirmation of the Cofiseqtience
must, therefore, be categorically denied. For dependence and
causality are essential to two mutually completive entities in the
same Category; which cannot be affirmed of a complete substance
and an accident.
II. 'We grant that Matter primarily looks to the substantial
form and that, consequently, in the order of intention or purpose,
it is first joined to that form; but not in order of execution. On
the contrary, in this latter order it is naturally first united to the
accidental form as a means towards, or disposition for, the sub-
stantial form. For it often happens that a potentiality which is
primarily ordained to a certain act, in execution first receives
another act by which it is disposed for the former.'
Answer. It is not necessary to determine whether this distinction
between the order of intention and that of execution is of universal
application to the things of nature ; and for this reason. In the
instance immediately before us, it is a question touching a pure
receptivity whose primary act must be its firsl; for it must
be, before it can become a Subject. But it cannot naturally be
actuated and become existent by a secondary act outside its own
Category.
III. * It is not universally necessary that the accidental should
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346 Causes of Being.
be compared to the substantial form as the second act to the
first. For quantity does not seem to be comparable after thia
manner, but only as a natural disposition of the substance bj
reason of the Matter. Similarly, extrinsic accidents, which do
Bot emanate from the form and are not received in it, are not
compared to it as second acts to the first.'
Answer. It is universally necessary that the accidental form, az
act, should be compared to the substantial form^ as act, after the man-
ner of a second act to the first. The words, az act, have been promi-
nently set before the eyes of the reader for the purpose of putting
him on his guard against a latent sophism. Plainly enough, the com-
parison is not between the two forms as such, if it is to be of any
elenchtic value ; but between the two forms as acts of a sub-
stantial entity. The appeal to quantity looks very much like
begging the question. Touching the extrinsic accidents, the same
virtual distinction holds good servatis servandis; and, consequently^
the same relation to the substantial form of second to first act as
in the instance of the absolute accidents. Take the instance of
clothes, or garments. In so far as they are accidents of their
wearer, (and it is only thus that they can be conceived as accidents
at all), do they not presuppose the existence of that wearer? For
if there were no body; to what purpose clothes or raiment? So
again, take the accident of place. There must first be a bodily
substance duly constituted, before you can predicate place; since
a place for nothing is no place at all.
III. ' Even supposing that quantity accompanies the activity of
the substantial form,' (this would seem to be the only intelligible
rendering of the words, qtuintitatem consequi active formam sub-
stantialem. Sot quantity itself has no activity), * the Consequence
is denied; because quantity can flow from the form into the
Matter, and be preserved in it by a succession of forms.'
Answer. If quantity flows from the form into the Matter, it
is clear that the Matter must be actuated by the form ; for the
existence of the form is synchronous with its actuation of the
Matter. Besides, it could not impart quantity to the Matter,
unless it were in union with that Matter. Therefore, quantity
would immediately inform the composite.
IV. TAe following ohjection is directed against the sixth argument
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vn proof. There are two senses in which we may understand
Matter to receive the substantial form through the medium of
quantity; i n the first place, through the medium of quantity^ only
as a disposition or necessary condition. It is in this way that it
can be granted ; and the reasons and Inconveniences urged in the
proof do not tell against this sense. In the second place, through
tie medium of quantity may mean, as a potentiality proximately
receptive of the substaitial Ibmi; and m OKh iwml tke Consequence
is justly condemned.
Answer. The above distinction does not weaken the strength of
the proof; but, on the contrary, seems to establish it more clearly.
For how can a pure receptivity be disposed, through the medium of
an entity extraneous to its own nature, save by actuation ? But,
if it were thus disposed by actuation, this would be its first act ;
and the existing Subject, thus accidentally composed, would sub-
sequently in order of nature receive the substantial form. Con-
sequently, the former would necessarily resolve itself into the latter
hypothesis. Yet no form, accidental or other, can dispose its
Subject save by actuation ; indeed, form is here identical with act.
It now remains that we should examine the arguments which directly
impugn the truth of the doctrine maintained in the Thesis.
V. * Primordial Matter by itself is a sufficient ' (material) * cause
of natural generation, by virtue of the action of a natural agent.
On the other hand, it is of itself indifferent to any whatsoever
form that can be introduced by generation. Hence it follows,
that quantity must be coeval with Matter ; and not exchange or
in any way acquire it by generation. The Consequence is thus
proved. In order that Matter may be capable of receiving the
action of a bodily agent, it must of necessity be preconceived as
itself bodily and extended. For a bodily agent prerequires that its
Subject should be extended and corporal. Nor is it enough that,
during the whole time of alteration previous to generation, the
Subject of such alteration should be quantified ; but it is necessary
that the same should happen in the instant itself of generation, in
which there is a new action proceeding in like manner from a
corporal and extended agent. Therefore, the Subject which is sub-
mitted to such action is also supposed to be corporal and quantified.
It does not, therefore, become quantified by that action either im-
mediately or mediately. For a condition, necessary on the part of
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348 Causes of Being,
the Subject in order that it may be capable of doing duty as a
Subject, cannot be fulfilled by the agent that necessarily supposes
the Subject already fit to be acted upon.' So far Suarez.
Answer. The first Member of the Antecedent must be cate-
gorically denied. In the first place, it is destructive of the Con-
clusion. For Matter by itself is not Matter quantified. But, in the
next place, (face tanti Doctoris), it is erroneous. True it is, that
Primordial Matter is the immediate Subject of generation, but it is
not the sufficient Subject; for it must previously, by convenient
dispositions, be proportioned to the form that it is about to
receive. This is the teaching of St. Thomas, ' In order,' he writes,
' that any generation may be called natural, it is necessary that it
should be efiected by a natural agent, and of natural Matter pro-
portioned to it. If either of these two is wanting, the generation
cannot be called natural^.' Hence, one reason for the necessaiy
creation of elements in the beginning. Primordial Matter is
undoubtedly the only Subject that remains on all sides immutable
in a substantial transformation. But it never is, — it never can
be, — lefb by itself. As a fact, in generation the antecedent form
together with its accidents remains, till the supervenient form
with its accidents is ready to take its place. It is the old hct of
motion and rest over again. Then, secondly, quantity and in
many instances some of the qualities of the receding form remain
specifically the same; though they receive a new actuation and,
consequently, a new existence. Again : The second Member of the
Antecedent needs a distinction. That Primordial Matter^ in the
abstract and antecedently to all information, is indifferently recejptive
of any whatsoever substantial form^ — ^granted; that Mati-er, as
proximately proportioned to this or that natural generation, m
indifferently receptive of any whatsoever substantial form, — denied.
The Consequence deduced must likewise be distinguished. Thai
quantity must be coeval with Matter, as co-existing in nature under
each and all of corporal forms, (forasmuch as quantity is the
property of Corporeity which is the primary substantial form
included in each and all of the other forms), — in a word, that
quantity must be physically coeval with Matter, — granted ; is co-
^ ' Ad hoc enim quod generatio aliqua natuialifl dicatur, oportet qaod fiat ab agente
natnraliter, et ex materia natural! ad hoc proportionata. Quodcumque autem horam
defuerit, non potest dici generatio naturalis.' 3 d, iii, (J. 3* a. a, e.
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The Material Cause. 349
evalwiii Matter, i.e. informs Matter antecedently in order of nature
to the actuation of the same by its substantial form, — in a word,
must be metaphyncally coeval with Matter, — denied. In like
manner, it must be denied, that qtuintity is not changed or acquired
by generation. The argument in confirmation of the Consequence,
(viz. In order that Matter may he capable of receiving the action of a
bodily agent, it must necessarily be preconceived as itself bodily and
extended), is willingly granted as an independent Proposition ; but
not in its character of a proof. As such, it exhibits an ignoratio
elenchi. Nothing can be more certain than the fact that in
generation Matter must be quantified, in order that the natural
agent may be able to introduce the form into, or rather educe the
form out of, it. Not only must there be quantity ; but there
must be qualities, for the Matter must be disposed. But this in
no wise proves that Matter alone without any substantial form
must be quantified ; for as a fact, Matter, which is the proximate
Subject of generation, is under either one or other of the sub-
stantial forms from the beginning to the end of the generating
motion.
The explanation of this answer will satisfy for the additional
aiguments by which Suarez with great elaboration defends his
position. Wherefore : In natural generation the efficient cause
acts upon a complete substantial composite, informed with its own
quantity and its own qualities. Some of these qualities are
generic ; others, specific. Take, for an example, a palm-tree. Its
powers of nutrition and growth are generic; the increase of its
stem by internal growth without distinction of pith, wood, and
bark, — the parallel veins in its leaf, — the monocotyledonous seed, —
are specific ; because they are properties of the class of endogens to
which the palm belongs. The former belong to it as a vegetable \
the latter are its properties as an endogen. Now, if the generative
change takes place within the limits of the same species, — as, for
instance, in plants and for the most part in animals, — the generic
and specific properties do not pass away in every sense of the word,
for the reason that they are in harmony with the new substantial
form ; although they do not remain, (as has been already noticed),
numerically the same, because they take their reckoning from the
Subject that they inform. In the effected change, they are no
longer the property of the parent but of the offspring. In the
case of generations, (using the term generically), which overstep
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the limits of the species, — as in the generation of water from or^yex
and hydrogen^ in that of steam from water^ — the specific qualities
are expelled from the old substance or substances by the presence
of other accidental forms which are incompatible with their pre-
decessors and cognate vrith the new supervening form. The same
may be said of progressive and provisional transformations which,
though completed within the specific limits^ nevertheless seem to
transgress those limits (metaphysically speaking) in the jproce^a.
Thus, a separated seed of a plant can scarcely be called a living
thing ; though proximately potential of life. Similarly, it would be
paradoxical to affirm that a caterpillar was specifically the same as a
iutterfiy^ or an egg specifically the same as a chicken. The principal
difference between these progressive, provisional, transformations
and those previously mentioned, consists in this; that the one
original cause of the former directs, as it were, the entire complex
generative process from first to last and gives to the Material
Cause a proclivity for its own specific form, — ^together with the
specific qualities accompanying that form, — which is only satisfied
in the final transformation. Hence, all such generative processes
are circular ; ending where they began. Now, in the generative
act the efficient cause impregnates the subjected Matter, as yet
under the dominion of another form, by means of its own specific
qualities. By this impregnation certain qualities are introduced,
which dispose that portion of Matter for the reception of a new
form and indispose it for the retention of the old form. Thus
an alteration is initiated in the old composite ; but the pro-
cess is gradual. Throughout, those qualities retain the virtue they
originally received from the substantial form of the generating
agent by whose commission they act ; so that, if, in the course of
the various transformations, qualities are replaced by those of a
higher order, these latter virtually include the former and receive by
transmission the same assimilating virtue that gradually organizes
the Matter, under its various transitory forms, for receiving tie
final and perfect transformation. With regard to quantity, which
is perfectly passive, it will at once appear that there is no transi-
tion ; because quantity is the generic property of all bodies, but
receives a new act of being with the advent of each new sub-
stantial form.
One more observation is necessary to complete the explanation.
As soon as the substantial form actuates the Matter and expels
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TJie Material Cause. 351
its predecessor, it brings in its train its own specific >qualitie8 which
simultaneously inform the Material Cause. If the substantial trans-
formation is within the limits of the same species ; the specific acci-
dents merely change owners and acquire a new title to existence.
Thus, in generation, Matter from the beginning to the end is never
for one moment destitute of some substantial form ; consequently,
never of quantity. Nor of qualities corresponding with each
successive form. Further: Generation is always preceded by
alteration; that is to say, accidental changes, accompanying the
generative action of the efiicient cause, prepare the way for the
substantial change and dispose the Matter for its union with the
substantial form. Generation would be as impossible without the
presence of qualities as without the presence of quantity, — nay,
more so; for the substantial form of the agent can only act by
the medium of those its specific qualities which it communicates
to the subjected Matter. Lastly: Touching all those accidents
which are necessary for the new substantial composite or for the
proximate dispositive assimilation of Matter to its act, it may be
well to repeat that the form, synchronously with its actuation of
the Matter, introduces both ; though, of course, in order of nature
such introduction is conceived as prior to the substantial constitu-
tion of the composite, so far as the last-named class of accidents
is concerned.
VI. ' It is only reasonable, since Matter has a true and real
essence of its own, though partial, that it should have some kind of
property.'
Answer. It seems contrary to reason, that an entity, which is no
entity previous to its substantial information, should possess any
property at all; since there is no property that do^s not flow from
a constituted essence, and a constituted essence presupposes in
material entities the union of Matter with its substantial form.
VII. The argument upon which Suarez principally relies is
placed last in our series. It is this. In rtian the entire composite
cannot be the Material Cause of quantity. For the human soul
is simple and spiritual ; therefore, it is impossible that it should be
informed by quantity. You cannot quantify consciaumess or will.
The very idea is preposterous. But, if the soul cannot be a
Subject of quantity; neither can the entire composite of which the
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352 Causes of Being.
soul is the principal component. It follows, therefore, that in man
the Matter or material body is the Material Cause of accidents ;
not the integral substance. But if in man; it is more probable
that the same holds good in the instance of all other bodilj
substances.
Answeh, The intrinsic importance of the question, no less than
the undoubted gravity of the objection, seems to require that this
difficulty should be treated with greater care and in a more promi-
nent way than the others. Wherefore,
PROPOSITION CLXV.
Though the soul, as suoh, in its own essential nature is in-
oapable of being informed by quantity; yet, as form or act
of the body, — that is to say, as united with the body, — ^it is
both virtually, and in part potentially, dependent upon
quantity and informed by it.
Lemma.
i. The human soul is an incomplete substance ; because it is
created to inform the body and, by union with it, to constitute a
complete substance. One plain sign of its incompleteness is, that it
possesses certain faculties which it cannot naturally exercise save
in conjunction with the body. ii. The human soul is a spiritual
substance in its essence ; consequently, it is a simple fotm without
parts or possibility of parts. Therefore, it is an independent,
though partial, subsistence ; that is to say, it is capable of sub-
sisting by itself, though that subsistence is incomplete so long as
the soul remains in a state of separation from its body. Hence,
speaking according to the strict language of philosophy a separated
soul cannot be called a person. It is it ; not he ^. iii. The human
soul has many faculties which^ though not its essence, are never-
theless properties flowing from its essence, iv. These faculties are
of two classes, to wit, the superior and the inferior. The superior
^ * Anima est pars humanae speciei ; et ideo, licet sit separata, quia tamen retinei
naturam unibilitatis, non potest dici substantia individua, quae est hypostasis vel sub-
stantia prima ; sicut neo manus nee quaecumque alia partium hominis. £t sic non
competit ei neque definitio personae neque nomen/ i»® xxix, i, 5™.
<Kon quaelibet persona particularis est hypostasis, vel persona, sed quae faabet
completam naturam speciei. Unde manus vel pes non potest did hypostasis, vel
persona ; et similiter nee anima, cum sit pars speciei humanae.' i** Ixxv, 4, 2".
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The Material Cause. 353
are purely spiritual and in their nature are independent of the body.
The lower faculties are vegetative and sensitive. These are in their
nature and exercise dependent on the union of soul with body.
By nature is here meant the intrinsic principle of tendency to-
wards the constituted end of any given entity. These preliminary
truths are borrowed from psychology.
I. The first Member of this Proposition, in which it is con-
tended that the hvman souly as such^ in its own essential nature is
incapable of qvantitatit^e information^ is thus declared. That which
is incapable of extrinsic extension, is incapable of being informed by
quantity. But the human soul by reason of its spirituality is in-
capable of extrinsic extension. Therefore, &c. The Major is evident;
for extrinsic extension is the natural result of quantity, as will be
seen later on. By extrinsic extension is meant the position of part out-
side part in space. The Minor is thus proved. That which is incapable
of intrinsic, is incapable of extrinsic, extension. But the human
mul by reason of its spirituality is incapable of intrinsic extension.
The Major is self-evident, rfnd only needs an explanation of the
term intrinsic extension. Intrinsic extension, then, is the entitative
existence of part ovtside of (or better, distinct from) part. A body, for
instance, might be supernaturally reduced to a mathematical point.
In such case it would have no extrinsic extension. But it would
still have its entitative composition of part distinct from part,
which is essential to material substance, — the result of corporeity,
or its primary substantive form. Extrinsic extension, on the
other hand, gives position in space, (accompanied by mutual im-
penetrability), to the entitative parts ; and is the result of quantity.
The Minor of the last syllogism is thus proved. A spiritual sub-
stance is simple and, as such, incapable of entitative parts. There-
fore, it is impossible that it should have part distinct from part.
II. The second Member, which affirms that the human soul as
form or act of the body is virtually dependent on^ and informed hy^
quantity^ is thus declared. The human soul is perfected in some
way by the material body; so that, while separated from it, it is
in an imperfect and non-natural state. Hence^ it is due to its
essential nature that it should not be permanently separated from
its body; as St. Thomas teaches^. Consequently, though simple
' * Neoesse est autem hoc quod est animftm a oorpore separatam ease, per accidenB
etBe et contra naturam, si hoc per se et naturaliter inest animae ut corpori uniatur.
Non igitnr anima erit in perpetuum a oorpore separata.* Op\k»c. I\(f* I5i> n. 3°.
VOL IT. A a .
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354 Causes of Being.
and spiritual in its essential nature^ it is united with the body
substantially. It must, therefore, in some way or other be united
to the quantity and qualities which inform that body. ' Now, ac-
cording to the teaching of the Angelic Doctor, the respective sub-
stantial forms of vegetative and animal life successively inform
the embryo, previous to its final information by the human soul ;
and, further, those forms are educed from the potentiality of the
Matter by the instrumental ^ency of the sperm cells ^. As there
cannot be two substantial forms in one and the same substance,
the animal supplants the vegetative life ; but, while supplanting,
supplies its place. In other words, the animal virtually contains
within itself the vegetative form^ doing all that the former could
do and much more besides. Finally: The human soul, as form or
act of the body, supplies the place of both vegetative and animal
life; doing their work, only more perfectly. Hence, the human
soul, as substantial form of the body, virtually contains within itself
the forms of corporeity, of vegetative and animal life. Further:
Inasmuch as Primordial Matter is its Material Cause or Subject ;
the soul by a new entitative act gives to Matter corporeity and
along with it its property, — ^that is to say, quantity. As virtually
the vegetative form, it introduces by the same act into the
Matter nutritive and accretive powers and an organism suitable
to each ; as virtually the animal form, it introduces or reconsti-
tutes (if you will) by the same act, a sensitive organism and
sensitive powers. Not that these were not there before the creation
of the human soul ; but in that final and completive transformation,
the actuating soul causes their existence in the Matter under itself
by a new entitative act. As, then, the quantity, nutritive and
accretive forces, under the animal form are numerically distinct
from those which had previously existed under the vegetative
form ; so, the quantity, vegetative and sensitive powers, under
the information of the human soul are numerically distinct from
those that existed under the animal form. Seeing, therefore, that
the vegetative and — at least in the lower class of animals — ^the
animal form are both of them virtually or potentially informable
and de facto informed by quantity; and since the human soul, as
form or act of the body, is virtually both vegetative and animal
form to that body : It follows that it should be virtually capable
* !»• czTiii, I.e.; 2d. xviii, Q. a, a. 3, 0, praetertim adfi. ; Cg. L. 11, «• 89, v. m,;
Po^ Q. iii. a. II, 0. Cf. Cg, L. II, ffi 86.
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The Material Cause. 355
of quantitative information, in so far forth as it is act of the body.
Again : Such a virtual capacity is conformable to right reason.
For, first of all, the human soul is immediately united to Matter,
as to its Material Cause. Yet actuated Matter, apart from quantity,
has (as we have already seen) entitative, or intrinsic, extension ;
why should it be more difficult, then^ that it should be also im-
mediately united to quantity in its character of form and as
viiiually equivalent to the vegetative and animal forms ? Is it
not rather a presumption in favour of such union, that the soul is
the immediate act of organized Matter ? For the difficulty is about
the parts; but it is actuated Matter which really contains the
parts, while quantity only puts them, eo to say, into position.
Secondly, the human soul is limited by quantity aft«r a certain
order. For quantity gives to it a determined presence in space,
according to which it is definitely here or there,
III. The third Member, in which it is further stated that the
human soul, as form or act of the hodi/y is potentially dependetU on
and %7iformed by quantity, is declared as follows, (i) The soul has
vegetative powers by which it nourishes the body and causes it
to grow. Now, such powers must be in some sort proportioned to
their act. But the acts are material and informed by quantity.
Therefore, the powers themselves are in some way or other subject
to quantity. Again : These powers are limited to certain organs,
and can only energize in and through them. They are, as a
consequence, limited, localized, by quantity. The soul, on the
contrary, is wholly and entirely in each and every part of the body.
Once more : How, in particular^ can the soul be cause of nutrition,
assimilation, of material accidents, such as colour, shape, &c., if
the faculty by which it causes these things were wholly exempt
from quantification ? (ii) The soul has sensitive faculties whose
acts are in some sort quantitative ; for, as representative even, they
are purely material. The sensations of colour, of taste, of hardness,
ioflnessy of sounds, oij)ain, are all illustrative of this truth. There
is not one of them that does not necessarily presuppose and sensilely
include quantity. Moreover, these animal powers — ^like those of
vegetative life — are restricted to certain definite organs; so that
the soul cannot see with the nose or hear mth the feet. So thoroughly
is each sense dependent on its appropriate organ that, if there be
any serious lesion of or material impediment in the latter, the
corresponding faculty becomes incapable of eliciting its act. For
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356 Causes of Being.
instance, a man may have an exceptionally sensitive hearing ; yet, if
the meaim auditorius exfemusy—ov sound-passage of the ear, — should
become much swollen by cold or any other cause, he will be made
deaf for the time. In a somewhat similar way, previous indulgence
in a caie or preserves will blunt the discriminating taste of the most
accomplished judge in whies. Again: Every one knows how the
action of ice will deaden feeling, or the sense of touch. In-
dependently of all this, there is the most intimate connection
between these faculties of sense and that mysterious nervous
system which occupies the border-land between mind and matter;
so that, even if the external organ of any sense were in a healthy
and perfect condition, either destruction or paralysis of the nerve-
centre or of the nerve appropriated to that organ would render
any action of the particular faculty impossible. Hence, as St.
Thomas points out, there is a marked difference between the
intellectual and volitive faculties on the one hand, and the vegeta-
tive and animal faculties on the other. For the former not only
emanate from the soul as their principiant, but inhere in it as in
their only Subject ; whereas the latter, while owning the soul as
their source^ inhere in the soul and in their special bodily organ
together, as in their composite Subject. A further confirmation of
this argument is to be gathered from comparing man with the
inferior grades of life. For those same faculties of nutrition and
growth exist in plants whose substantial forms are certainly in-
formed by quantity, and whose powers are subject to the same
information ; while the faculties of sense belong to animals whose
souls or animal -forms in the lower grades^ according to the
unanimous judgment of the School, are likewise quantified. And
hence it is, that there are some animals which can be multiplied by
simple severance. It cannot, indeed, be denied, that these faculties
in the human soul are more perfect and of a higher order, (as a
general, though not universal rule), than in other living things;
just as the powers of nutrition and growth are of a higher order
in an animal than in a plant. But, after all, there is a specific
similarity; for there is a like determination to a particular
organ, a like dependence on the unimpaired condition of that
organ, and a like incapacity for actuation of the faculty elsewhere.
Neither can it be urged with any show of. reason, that these
phenomena can, one and all^ receive a sufficient explanation in the
substantial union of the soul and body; and that the termination
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Tke Material Cause. 357
to quantity as existing in the body is enough, without postulating
any potential or virtual information of the soul by quantity. For
against this demurrer we put in the following pleas. First of all,
in this hypothesis the faculties of the soul should be equally affected
by quantity; because there would be an equal termination. There
would be an equal termination ; because all the faculties would be
equally united to the body through the medium of the soul itself
according to its substantial union. But this is far from being the
case. On the contrary, the soul is formally act of the body, ex-
clusively on the score of its vegetative and animal faculties. The
intellectual and volitive faculties are independent of the body,
are not (as is too often supposed) limited to any particular organ,
and are more free in their energy, apart from the body than
in union with it. It is true that the one faculty has been
portioned off to the brain, the other to the heart; according to
a belief far too general, not to have some foundation of truth
in it. But the belief in question, together with the facts of ex-
perience which seem to confirm it, are both to be explained by the
present action of the said faculties during the soul's union with
the body. For the intellectual faculty cannot energize without
phantasmaia which are sensile in their nature and origin ; and the
more abstract the subject of thought, the feebler and less sustain-
ing will be the phantasma. On the other hand, acts of the will are
intimately connected with, and very often accompanied or followed
by, emotion or passion. Again : The phenomena of vegetative and
animal life, so far as we can see, are precisely the same in man as
in other animals. Yet, in these latter, the vegetative and sensitive
powers are, as Suarez maintains, quantitatively informed ; and are
not merely terminated to a quantified body by union. Finally:
These two classes of faculties, according to the teaching of St.
Thomas, exist in the human embryo, prior to its information by the
soul, as the result of active generation ; precisely after the same
manner as in other animals. If, then, the soul on its arrival assumes
these faculties to itself by a new entitative act ; it does not seem
reasonable to suppose, in face of all phenomena to the contrary, that
the said faculties are translated into another order, however perfec«
tioned they may be by the excellence of that substantial form in
which they are rooted.
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DIFFICULTIES.
I. Accident which inheres in the entire composite affects
simultaneously form and Matter, as though they were one. But
quantity cannot affect the human soul ; because this latter is a
spiritual entity. Therefore, &c.
Answer. Let the Major pass. The Minor must be distinguished.
(Quantity cannot affect^ or inform, the soul in its spiritual essence
and its spiritual faculties, — granted; exclusively as act of the
body and in its virtual and potential entity, — denied.
The objection ts urged. But quantity cannot affect the soul,
even as form or act of the body. Therefore, the distinction is
worthless. The Antecedent is thus proved. That only can l)e
affected by quantity, which is capable of receiving it as an act.
But the human soul, even as form of the body, is incapable of
receiving quantity as an act ; because it is incapable of extension.
It is incapable of extension ; because it is essentially simple and in
itself spiritual. Therefore, the soul, even as form of the body, is
incapable of being affected by quantity.
Answer. The Antecedent is denied. To the prooF: — ^The MajoT,
for the sake of brevity, may be simply granted. The Minor must
be distinguished. Tke human sotil, even as form of the hody^ is in-
capable of receiving quantity as act, that is to say, in its essential
nature as a spiritual entity, — granted ; considered virtually and
potentially as informing, and united with, the body, — denied. The
same distinction will apply to the prosyllogistic proposition that
supports the Minor. The soul^ even as form of the body, is incapabk
of extension entitatively, — ^granted; virtually and potentially,—
denied. Touching this argument borrowed from the simplicity
of the soul, it may be enough — and is certainly necessary— to
interpose a remark that will greatly add to the clearness of the
present answer. As St. Thomas is repeatedly reminding us, thoogh
the human soul is simple, this does not hinder a sort of composi-
tion of act and potentiality ; which may be interpreted in two ways.
One of the two will serve our purpose at present. There is a
certain composition between the soul in its own essential entity
and the faculties which are its properties and, consequently, (meta-
physically speaking), accidental to it. Hence, an immediate in-
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The Material Cause. 359
formation may be possible to the latter^ which would only be
virtual in the former.
II. The next objection is directed against the argument, (which
will be found towards the end of the proof of the second Member),
derived from the union of the soul with organized Matter. Suarez
denies the parallel between the two and, as a consequence^ the
inference deduced. He says that the soul, as substantial form,
gives, but does not receive ; whereas, if infonned by quantity, it
receives^ but does not give.
Akswek. Though there is an undoubted difference between the
causality of a form and that of its Material Cause ; yet it is
scarcely correct to say, that it is all receiving in the case of the
latter and all giving in that of the former. For dependence^
— albeit (as in the instance of the human soul) it may be only par-
tial,— and the presentation of a convenient Subject of inhesion, are
gifts of Matter to its form. Moreover, freely granting that the
causality of the form in general is superior to that of the Material
Cause, if the question is considered in the abstract ; yet, if we
limit ourselves to the causality of the accidental form in particular
as compared with the causality of its Subject, such superiority
cannot be admitted. Neither can it be said that the soul does not
give, in its potential union with quantity; since it endows the
organisms of Matter with veget-ative and sensitive powers by which
the body grows, is perfected, and lives its animal life.
III. If quantity informed the entire composite; the human
soul would be the effective principiant of quantity and mass. But
an incorporeal form seems utterly disproportioned to the office of
being such a principiant. Therefore, &c.
Answer. Corporeity is the first and universal form of material
substance. For every material substance is a body. Yet Suarez
would be loth to admit that Primordial Matter is a body ; or that
Matter, even when informed by quantity antecedently to its sub-
stantial information, (if such a thing were possible), could be body.
For a body is plainly enough a complete substance. Whether, then,
the substantial form of corporeity is discoverable in isolated and
formal union with Matter or only exists in the virtue of other
forms, does not affect the present question. For it must, in any
case, virtually exist in every substantial form that actuates Matter.
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If 60 ; the human soul, as form of the body, must virtually include
in itself corporeity. But, if it virtually includes corporeity, pro
tanto it must be effective of quantity and mass. And what greater
disproportion is there, one is tempted to ask, between the human
soul as virtually including corporeity and the same soul as virtually
including vegetative and animal life, or as informing the pure
potentiality of Matter? But, as virtually the form of corporeity,
it must be virtually informed by quantity.
IV. In the body of a man immediately after death, more
markedly if the death has been a violent one, there apparently
remain for some considerable time the same accidents as informed
the living body, with the exception of those faculties which belong
exclusively to the living and are dependent on the soul. Thus,
for instance, the animal heat^ ^e Jlexihiliiy of the limbs, the form,
the colour, remain the same ; and are subjected to only very gradual
alteration, But^ if the qualities, such as those just mentioned,
remain; we justly conclude that the quantity remains the same,
spite of the change of the substantial form. Therefore, the
quantity does not inform the whole composite, but the Matter
only.
Answer. This difficulty requires to be considered from diflTerent
points of view, if the answer is to be exhaustive. Wherefore, i.
Can we with any certainty determine in every case the precise
moment of death, more particularly when the death is violent?
In decapitation, for instance, can any satisfactory proof be pro-
duced that the soul departs at the identical moment when the
head is severed from the trunk ? It is not sufficient to allege the
physical fact, that the body thus dissevered is incapable of con-
tributing to the functions of vegetative and animal life; even
supposing that the fact can be incontestably confirmed. The
substantial union is not necessarily dissolved as soon as its lower
powers are either paralyzed or otherwise incapable of action. How-
ever, as the general conviction of medical men in the present age
seems to be in favour of the opinion that death immediately follows
upon decapitation, let us proceed to examine into the subject on this
assumption, ii. To repeat an observation already made in early pages,
accidents that belong to the same generic nature do not sensibly
change so long as the transformation is within the limits of the
same genus. But the body of the living man and that of the dead
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The Material Cause. 361
man, till corruption sets in, are generically the same. They are both
human. Hence, under the substantial corpse-form the features,
shape^ dimensions, remain, together with the quantity. Yet, iii.
They will not remain numericolly the same ; because they receive a
new act under the new substantial form. But, iv. Tlie difficulty
is not yet satisfactorily solved ; because, in the instances brought
forward, qualities remain, — such as heat,Jlexihilify, colour^ — which are
looked upon as specific properties . of a living man. By way of
answer it may be permitted to suggest an hypothesis. As in the
generation of man, the embryo is first informed by vegetative and
afterwards by animal life, previous to the union with the soul, at
least in the judgment of the Angelic Doctor; may it not possibly
be, that, on decapitation which renders the body unfit (if so be) to
continue longer as the Material Cause of the soul or even of animal
life, the vegetative form is educed out of the potentiality of the
Matter, till, after an interval more or less protracted, the corpse-
form supervenes? Certainly, there are known facts that favour
the hypothesis. For instance, the nails have been known to grow
after death ; and M. Claude Bernard is our authority for stating
that sugar has been secreted in the liver svhsequently to the same event,
V. It is not universally the opinion of physicists, that the union of
the soul and body is invariably dissolved at the moment of death,
especially if the death should be a violent one. Some anatomists,
among others Professor Soemmering, have maintained^ 'that the
individual consciousness, as well as the perceptibility of pain,
remains in the head for some time after it has been separated from
the body.' vi. One thing is certain, that^ after some time these
lingering accidents make way for those which are properties of the
corpse- form, — to wit, paleness^ rigidity^ icy coldtiess. vii. With
especial reference to heat, (which offers, perhaps, the greatest
difficulty), may it not be justly urged, by way of explanation, that,
as the heat from a man's body will remain in a bed for some con-
siderable time after the occupant has left it ; so the heat, propagated
through the body, may remain long after its efficient cause has
ceased to act? viii. The phenomena, which are thus objected
against the teaching of St. Thomas, offer difficulties hardly less
formidable to the doctrine maintained by Suarez. For, even sup-
posing that the quantity and qualitative accidents should inhere
immediately in the Matter, Suarez does not deny that qualities
dispose for the reception of the new form, or that they follow the
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362 Causes of Being.
nature of the form. How is it, then, that the alleged accidents
remain ; since they indispose the Matter for the reception of the
corpse-form and are foreign to its nature? ix. It seems hardly
philosophical to reject a teaching, otherwise so well grounded in
reason and experience, on the strength of certain facts whose
relation to the question is uncertain and whose origin and cause
are involved in no little obscurity.
PROPOSITION CLXVI.
Though the complete composite is the Material Cause of both
quantity and qualities; yet quantity is with reason said
to follow the Matter rather than the form, while quality
is said to foUow the form rather than the Matter.
This Proposition needs only a brief declaration, i. Quantity is
^aid to follow the Matter rather than the form for three principal
reasons. One is, that it is undistinguished in its entity and
co-extensive with Matter; seeing that all material substance is
quantified, and quantity includes no real difference of species.
Another is, that it is purely passive and knows no other energies
than those of the inhering qualitative forms ; just as Primordial
Matter is purely passive, and has no energy save that of its sub-
stantial form. Thirdly, quantity is the Subject of all qualitative,
as Primordial Matter is the Subject of all substantive, forms,
ii. Quality, on the other hand, is said to follow the form rather
than the Matter, first of all, because it has a variety of species
which inform and determine the quantity, or rather, quantified
substance. Then, secondly, it is active and instrumental agent
of the substantial form.
Note.
These and the like expressions of universal use in the School,
so far from lending any confirmation to the opinion of Suarez,
rather tell against it. For since the qualities immediately inhere
in quantity, if quantity should be said to follow Matter, because
the latter is its Material Cause ; for a like reason qualities must also
be said to follow the Matter, because, — as they immediately inhere
in quantity, — according to the hypothesis they would mediately
inhere in Matter as their adequate Material Cause.
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PROPOSITION CLXVn.
Ko Accident remains numerically the same in the generated,
as in the corrupted substance; although they may remain
specifically and sensibly the same, provided that their
entity is connatural with the newly generated substance.
This Proposition needs no declaration; since it ha^ already
more than once been explained and virtually proved in previous
Theses.
PROPOSITION CLXVin.
In substantial transformations and generations, the quantity
of the corrupted substance does not pass away, but receives
a new actuation with the generation of the new composite.
The same is true of connatural qualities.
This Proposition likewise needs no declaration ; as its truth has
been sufficiently manifested in past discussions.
PROPOSITION CLXIX.
The doctrine embodied in the preceding Propositions of this
Section is confirmed by the authority of the Angelic
Doctor.
The evidence in confirmation of the present Proposition shall be
inaugurated by a remarkable passage in which St* Thomas (or who-*
ever may be the author or compiler of the Opusculum here quoted)
explains at great length the relation of accident to substance.
The ^eat obscurity of the text, (which reads rather like short
notes dotted down for a lecture, or notes taken from the lecture
by a pupil, than an elaborate essay), will plead in excuse for the
accompaniment of a running commentary by way of explanation.
Its author, then, has been engaged in showing, that quantity
and the other accidents of material substance are said to follow
Matter rather than form, because they are extraneous to the
essence of bodily substance; and Matter is more remote from
the perfect essence than form which determines the essence.
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364 Causes of Being.
He now proceeds to explain, with greattT metaphysical precision,
what is meant by the phrase that quantity follows Matfer. * How
quantity follows Matter \' he writes, • is to be gathered from the
forms whose nature it is to inform Matter; seeing that Matter
cannot be known, save by its analogy to forms; as it is said
in the first Book of the Physics, In order, therefore, to a clear
understanding of this question, you must know that certain general
and certain special forms have a natural capacity of inhering in
one and the same Matter^' not together, as two distinct substantial
forms actuating the same Matter; but either as respectively
capable of informing the potentiality of the Matter or, (and this is
more germane to the argument of the Angelic Doctor), forasmach
as one is virtually included under the other, — the more general in
the more specific: 'And that it is of the nature of these special
forms to efiTect in Matter whatever the general forms are naturally
capable of effecting, and more besides ; as Boetius says. Now, it
is of the nature of a form,' precisely and exclusively as form or
act, * to effect nothing saye that which belongs to act,* i. e. to
make a thing actual. * Wherefore, if there should be aught fol-
lowing the entity of Matter, as ordained to one form that is
essentially distinct from another form ; if it does not appertain
to the actuation of Matter as Matter by the form as form, it is
not effected save by means of some other determined form. To
illustrate this point : — There is in Matter a potentiality for some
general form, for instance, for the form of corporeity,' (body-
form), * which gives to it the being of a body, as soon as you
introduce the Matter that has been transmuted into it. A more
perfect form does the same, (and something further) ; since this
belongs to the act/ that is to say, to the actuation itself. An
explanation of this rather obscure passage shall be given by the
^ * Quomodo igitar quautitas aequatur materiam, considerandum est a parte fonna-
rum quae natae Bunt materiam informare, cum materia non sit Bcibilia nisd per ana-
logiam ad formas, ut dicitur i Phys. Ad hujus igitur evidentiam sciendum est, quod
in una et eadem materia natae sunt ioesse quaedam formae generales et quaedam
speciales, quarum natura est in materia faccre quidquid formae generales natae rant
facere, et adhuc aroplius, ut didt Boetius. Forma autem nihil est nata ftusere, nisi
id quod ad actum pertinet. Et ideo si quid fiierit sequens esse materiae in ordine ad
aliquam formam distinctam in essentia sua ab alia forma, si hoc non pertineat ad esse
actu ip»iu6 materiae per ipsam formam, non fit id nisi per aliam formam certam: ut
puta, in materia est potentia ad formam aliquam generalem, sicut ad formam corporei-
tatis, quae dat esse corpus, cum introducta fuerit materia ad illam transmutata; hoc
idem facit forma perfectior, et adhuc ampli.us ; hoc enim ad actum pertinet. Quod
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Tlu Material Cause. 365
help of another quotation immediately to follow. The body-form
is the most general, the universal, form of material substance.
Acting purely ob a form, it simply actuates Matter ; so that body
might truly be described as Matter actuated. Now, a more perfect
and specific form can do as much as this, and more besides. For
instance, the vegetative form actuates Matter, and makes it a
body; just as every material form does. But it efiects some-
thing more. It makes Matter to become a body informed with
vegetative life; and this vegetative life is the specific essence
which goes beyond mere actuation. Wherefore, if there is any-
thing that accompanies the actuated Matter, not only aa actuated,
but as actuated according to such or such a particular esscftce;
such an entity will be the result of the specific action of the specific
form. To take an instance : — Assimilative force^ or power, follows
Matter as actuated by the specific form of vegetative life ; so does
quantity. But there is this notable difference between the two.
The latter accompanies the actuation as such; for all actuated
Matter is body, and there is no body without quantity. But
assimilative power accompanies the actuated Matter, as actuated
by the specific form of vegetative life. To resume : — ' But, so far
as regards Matter, it ' (that is to say, the actuation) * will not be
effected by each form indifferently. For, to be this particular
entity does not enter into its mere actuation ; neither does it
belong to its mere being, but to its own special essence. For
there is in Matter, as we have said, a potentiality receptive of the
body-form; and that form makes it such when it informs it.
The more perfect form does the same, as we have said. But the
more perfect form, though it produces the same effect as the
general form, nevertheless does not perfect the same potentiality
which the more general form would do, if it were there. This is
plain. For the Matter existing under the more perfect form, is
in potentiality relatively to the general form. But this could
not be the case, if its potentiality relatively to the general form
antem ad materiam refertur, non fiet ab utnujue forma indifferenter : hoc enim ease
actualitatis non est, nee ad esse pertinens, sed ad ipsam suam essentiaro. In materia
fiamque est potentia ad formam corporis, ut dictum est, et hoc facit in ilia cum ei
infuerit : hoc etiam facit forma perfectior, ut dictum est. Sed foi-ma peri^ior, licet
&ciat idem quod facit forma generalise non tamen eamdem perficit potentiam quam
perficeret forma genera1ior,,si inesset. Et hoc manifestum est: nam materia sub forma
perfeota existens, est in potentia ad talem formam: quod non contingeret, si ejus
potentia ad illam formam esset perfecta per aliam formam. Id igitur quod potest fieri
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366 Causes of Being.
were fulfilled bj the latter/ This needs a little explanation.
The writer says, then, that Matter does not exhibit, so to speak,
the same potentiality for actuation by the general, as it does for
actuation by the specific, form; — to express it otherwise, in the
latter case the Matter must be specially disposed. A sure proof
of this is, that Matter under ' actuation of the specific form retains
a capacity for being actuated, (in the event of the retirement of the
latter,) by the more general form. Thus, for instance, the Matter
which is now in a plant may be hereafter under the form of
coal. But such could not be the case, if the vegetative form
exhausted the potentiality of Matter for the body-form. To
continue: — * That, therefore, which admits of being efiected in
Matter by diverse forms, is in a state of indifference relatively to
the many forms and to the one perfect form ; for it looks simply
to a composite arising out of the union of Matter and form, whence
there arises actual being. Since in this composite there cannot
be more substantial entities under one form than under another ;
there follows from one form everything which is found in distinct
composites as the result of distinct forms.' That is to say, in all
that exclusively belongs to mere actuation or substantial existence,
each composite has that which the other has, or that all the rest
put together can have ; for they are, each and all, material sub-
stance in act. The writer proceeds : ' But the proportions (or
dispositions) which appertain to such a portion of Matter in
particular, ordain it determinately for the reception of distinct
essences of forms, so that its potentiality which looks to one
given form is fulfilled by no other ; even though that other may
have efficacy and perfectness abundantly sufficient to efiect what-
ever the other forms have been wont to effect, and yet more. If,
then, there should happen to be accidents that are consequents of
Matter in its relation to the general form, they necessarily accom-
in materia per diversas formas, indifferenter se habet ad plures, et ad usam perfectam:
hoc enim spectat ad ipsum constitutum ex materia et forma, cujuB est esse actu. In
quo cum non possint esse plura esse substantialia sub una forma quam sub aliqua
alia forma, per unam formam sequimiur omnia quae in diversis per divenas formas
contingunt. Proportiones vero quae pertinent ad Uiam materiam, ordinant earn ad
diversas essentias formarum determinate: ita quod potentia sua quae est ad unam
formam, non perficitur per aliam, licet alia fuerit abundans in virtute et perfectione
ad faciendum quidquid aliae formae facere consueverunt, et amplius. Si qua igitur
accidentia sunt consequentia materiam in ordine ad formam genendem, necessario
consequuntur eam, vel secundum esse actu quod ab ilia recipit, vel secundum perfeo-
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The Material Cause. 367
pany Matter in one of two ways ; — either as concomitants of its
actuation by that form or as concomitants of the perfectioning^^
by that form in jpariicular^ of a potentiality which can be satisfied
by no other form/ That is to say, any accidental concomitants —
in other words, properties — of the general form may be regarded
as following Matter in two ways, accordingly as Matter is con-
ceived as actuated by the general, or as actuated by the specific,
form. In the former point of view it is regarded as a property
of the composite ; in the latter, as a preparation for the reception
of the specific form. Td proceed with the quotation : — ' When,
then, such special form perfects the Matter and reduces it to act ;
then, the accident, — which accompanies the Matter as disposed to
that special form that perfects the potentiality of Matter according to
a determinate grade in essence, — will be present with the essence of
the Matter as perfected, not destitute of form, but in its relation to
the act of that composite. Such is the Matter in which accident
finds its being ; for an entity is a Subject of accident, in so far as
it is actual.' That is to say, those accidents which are consequents
of the general form, — say, the body-form, — do in nowise inform
the Matter prior to its actuation. For, whether we consider
them as properties of the general, or as dispositions for the
reception of the specific, form ; in either case they are de facto
the consequents of actuated, not unformed Matter. Tlie writer
goes on to say: ' From this it is easy to understand what is meant
by accident following Matter in its order of relation to a general,
or to a particular, form. For the expression does not regard the
simple actuation of Matter ; since this takes place indifferently
in Matter under one substantial form as under many. But it
refers to the essential nature of the accident in relation to the
potentiality of the Matter, which cannot be perfected indiscrimi-
nately, but by a determined form proportioned to the essence of
tioDom potentiae suae per iUam formam solum, quae non potest per aliam formam
perfici. Quando igitur talis forma sola perficit materiam, et fiicit esse aotu in ea;
tunc aoddens quod materiam consequitar in ordine ad illam formam quae perficit
potentiam materiae secundum oertum respectum in essentia, aderit essentiae materiae
perfectae, non nudae, sed secundum actum illius compositi. £t haec est materia^ in
qua aocideos habet esse : est enim aliquod subjectum acddentis, secundum quod est
actu. Ex quo &cile est scire, quid sit aocidens sequi materiam in ordine ad formam
generalem, vel in ordine ad formam specialem : hoc enim non respicit esse actu aoci-
dentis, cum hoc indifferenter sit in materia ab una forma et a multia. Sed respicit
esaentiam ejus respectu potentiae materiae, quae non potest perfici indifferenter, sed
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368 Causes of Being.
such Matter.' That is to say, the expression accident foUmt
Matter in its relation to this or that form does not refer to the
mere actuation of accident; for any substantial form would be
sufficient, (as it is certainly necessary), for that^ without distinction
or difference. But it alludes to the essence, or nature, of tbe
accident, as proportioned to, or proportioning for the reception of,
this or that specific form. To resume : * For, if it were to be
referred to the actuation of accident, no distinction could ever be
made between accidents as ordered to one form rather than to
another; since their actual being and all that appertains thereto
are caused indiscriminately by any whatsoever more perfect form,
as we have said. Hence, when any perfect form, which effects
whatever other forms are wont to effect in all that regards
actuation, is received in Matter ; all the accidents, according to
the entity they have, follow the actuation of that composite which
is the result of such perfect form. The essence^ however, of the
accident does not follow the actuation ' of the composite ; ' but
follows Matter in its order of relation to that form whose alone
it is to perfect the essence in accordance with the particular
receptivity proportioned to receive it. Such an accident is
quantity, as well as those accidents which are in different pro-
portions in compound bodies ; for instance, whileness and blackness^
The writer adopts these two instances in illustration ; because
colours^ (using the term in its vulgar acceptation), are among the
most generic qualities of material substance, and it is to such that
his remarks apply. To resume : * Wherefore, such accidents, on
the withdrawal of the perfect form and the destruction of the
species, remain in their essential natures; but receive now one
actuation, now another. For, when the perfected entity perishes,
per oertam fonnam essentiae illius xnateriae proportionatam. Si enim referendDm
esaet ad ease actu aoddentis, nunquam distingueretur inter accidentia quae sequuatar
materiam in ordine ad unam formam vel ad aliam formam: cam esse acta, et quidqaid
ad ipsum pertinet, indifferenter sit a quacomqae fonna perfectiore, ut dictum est
Unde» cum aliqua forma perfecta in materia recipiatur, quae facit quidquid slise
formae fftcere solent de his quae ad actum pertinent, omnia accidentia secundum esse
quod babent, sequuntur esse actu illius compositi, qaod ab ilia forma perfecta; esae
vero aocidentis ipsius nou sequitur esse actu, sed sequitur materiam in ordine sd
formam cujus solum est illam essentiam perficere secundum potentiam ad earn ordina-
tam. £t tale accidens est quantitas,.6t ea quae sunt secundum diversas proportionet
in mistis, ut albedo et nigredo. Et ideo talia accidentia, forma perfecta ablats ei
destructa specie, manent in essentiis suis, aliud et aliud esse actu habentia. Non
enim, re perfecta perennte, pent ordo materiae ad formam generalem, sed potins per
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The Material Cause. 369
the relation of Matter to the general form does not perish ; but
rather is perfected by it in the actuation which it receives.' For
instance, when a plant dies^ it becomes for the time an inanimate
body till corruption sets in. The Matter, therefore, previously
actuated by its vegetative form, preserves its relation to the body-
form through the disposition of its generic accidents ; and is,
together with these accidents, actuated by the newly educed form
of corporeity, or rather by another general form under which the
body- form is virtually contained. St. Thomas proceeds: *And
this is the reason why dimensive quantity remains in a body
living alike and dead ; and similarly, whiteness, and blackness, and
the scars of wounds^ which have been received in quantity.
Neither is there a passing -away of accidents; and this for the
same reason. For the origin and root of the accident remains ;
in that the same Matter with its order of relation to the general
form remains^ although there is a transition in actual being.
(Hence,* — that is, owing to this transition, — *it comes to pass,
that there is a manifold change of colour in a body dead and
living; which could not take place, if colour had not different
actuations). This arises from the diversity of acts or forms in
the existent thingsj one of which, however,' (to wit, the body or
body-form), ' is not changed in its essence ; and it is this essence,
that the accidents aforesaid,' (that is to say^ quantity^ loAUeness,
hlaehnesSy scars of wounds, etc.), followed *. On the other hand^
accidents that follow the Matter in its ordered relation to a
special form, such as sAajpe, (for in every species there is a
determined shape : Wherefore, among all the other determinate
accidents, sAaj)e alone, of itself, reveals the species of any entity;
' The wording of this paragraph is very obscare ; fortunatelj the sense is clear
enough. The author has ventured to introduce a parenthesis, as seemingly best
adapted to preserve the continuity of the axgument.
earn perficitur in esse actu. £t ideo in vivo et mortuo quantitas dimensiva manet, et
similiter albedo et nigredo et vestigia vulnerum quae in quantitate recepta sunt. Nee
est acddentium transitns propter hoc ; manet enim origo et radix aocidentis, eadem
materia in ordine ad fonnam generalem remanente, licet sit transitus in esse actu.
Inde est quod diversimode mutatur color in vivo et mortuo ; quod non contingeret,
nisi aliud et aliud esse aotu haberet : quod est ratione diversorum actuum existentium,
quorum tamen alteram in esse non est mutatum, et illud sequebantur praedicta acci-
dentia. Accidentia autem quae sequuntur materiam in ordine ad formam specialem,
cujusmodi est figura» (in qualibet enim specie est certa figura. Et ideo inter onmia
alia accidentia certa sola figura speciem rei cujuslibet demonstrat : alia est enim figura
VOL. II. B b
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370 Caiises of Being,
for the shape of a man is one, the shape of a horse is another),
cannot remain, save in an equivocal sense^ on the destruction of the
species. Nevertheless, the shape of an individual man remains
the same ; just as the quantity remains in which it inheres, since
shape is a quality in quantity. For all the accidents of an
individual are common accidents ; not so, specific accidents.
Wherefore, the former follow Matter in its order of relation to the
general form ; while Matter is the principiant of individaation,
under definite dimensions ; and these are common accidents.' It
may at first sight seem strange, that accidents proper to the
individual should be designated common ; those of a species
as not common. But two things must be borne in mind. One
is, that accidents do not individuate. They, like their Subject,
are individualized by actuation, or existence. The other is, that
accidents are called common or proper according to their essence.
Now, dimensive quantity is common to all material substance;
while the horse-shape^ for instance, is proper to the horse. Daniel
Lambert was principally individualized by his fatness; yet fatness
belongs to other animals as well as man. In what sense material
substance is said to receive individuation from Matter under
determinate dimensions, has been already explained in the third
Book. St. Thomas thus concludes : ' If, on the other hand, there
are in some sense accidents that follow the form, like quality and
some that are principiants of actions and passions' (or receivings),
* they do not remain on the destruction of the species, save in an
equivocal sense ; since they are no longer capable of the same
actions. Other accidents there are that follow the form, which
do not leave any likeness even of themselves behind; as, for
instance, risibility and the like.' Active potentialities, or faculties,
are principiants of action^ and belong to the second species in the
Category of Qualit}". Passions, or passive qualities, form the third
hominiB, et alia equi), dettructa specie rei, non poasunt manere, nisi equivoce. Maaet
tamen eadem figrura individui hominis, siout e^ quantitas in qua est : eat eidm figun
qualitas in quanUtate. Omnia enim accidentia individui sunt commuziia accidentia,
Bed Bpeciei accidentia non : et ideo sequuntur materiam in ordine ad fonnam genen-
lem; cum materia sit principium individuationis sub dimensionibus oertis, quae Bunt
quaedam accidentia communia. Si qua autem accidentia sunt quae sequuntur fiarmam,
sicut qualitas, et quaedam quae sunt principia actionum et passionum, non manent
forma destructa nisi equiyove, cum non possint in easdem actionee amplius. Alia auteoi
accidentia sunt sequentia formam, quae neo etiam similitudinem aliquam poet se relin-
quunt, ut risibile et alia hujusmodi.' Opxisc, xli {aliter xzxviii) (f* 1.
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The Material Cause, 371
species. Blushing^ whiteness, blackness, heat, cold, are instances of
passions.
Let as briefly sum up the conclusions of the Angelic Doctor, in
so far as they bear on the doctrine of the present Section, i. All
accidents really and physically inform the composite, receiving
their actuation in it ; for they really follow upon the constitution
of the composite. Nevertheless, considering the question meta-
physically, the essence or entity of the accident, as distinct from*
its actuation, may be conceived as following the Matter or as'
following the form ; accordingly as the nature of the accident has
an affinity, on the one hand^ for the passivity and potentiality of
the Matter or, on the other hand^ for the determinating activity of
the form. Hence, quantity is said to follow Matter^ because it
is purely passive and receptive of qualities. For a similar reason,
certain passive qualities are said to follow the Matter. On the
contrary^ active qualities^ as instruments of the substantial form^
are said to follow the form. ii. Further : Since there is a grada-
tion in substantial forms and their accompanying properties^ and
since the higher and more perfect forms virtually include the
inferior; the properties of the inferior or general form together
with the general form itself may be justly regarded, from a
metaphysical point of view, as dispositions of the Matter for the
reception of the superior or specific form. iii. Hence, the essences
of certain accidents that are properties of the generic form re-
main in the composite actuated by the specific form; while the
essences or natures of others, which are specific, disappear. But^
iv. The entities of such accidents as remain throughout the sub-
stantial transformation receive a fresh actuation, or existence, from
the new substantial form in the new composite ; so that they are
not numerically the same in both substances. This is in exact con-
formity with the uniform teaching of St. Thomas. For instance^
talking of a substantial transformation in which heat remains as
a quality under both terms of the change, he remarks that the
heat * remains specifically, but not numerically^ one and the same ;
because the Subject does not remain the same *.^ v. The properties,
whether generic or specific, though from one point of view they
may be regarded as prior to the constituted composite and from
' 'Gum ergo ex hoc aere fit hie ignis, calor manet idem specie, sed augmentatos;
son tamen idem numero, quia non manet idem sabjectum.' Sjpiritu. a. iii, 19^.
B b 2
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372 Causes of Being.
another point of view as subsequent to it; nevertheless, become
physically actual or existent at the same time as the Matter, by
the one same act of the substantial form. Thus, it may be said
with reason, that the substantial form brings all its own accidents
in its train.
That important point of the doctrine of St. Thomas, wherein he
teaches the gradation of substantial forms and the virtual inclusion
of the inferior or generic in the superior forms and how, in con-
sequence, the inferior may be regarded as forming part of the
Matter receptive of the superior form, is clearly enforced in the
following passage. * It is the same form numerically^/ writes the
Angelic Doctor, 'to which an entity owes it that it is substance, and
that it is in the last most special species, as well as in all the inter-
mediate genera. It remains, then, to be observed that, since the
forms of the things of nature are like numbers^ in which the species
differs with the addition or subtraction of a unit, (as is said in
the eighth Book of the Metaphysics) ; we must understand the
diversity of natural forms, by which Matter is constituted in
diversity of species, to be due to the fact that one form adds a
perfection which goes beyond another form. For instance, one
form constitutes Matter in bodily entity only. (For this must be
the lowest grade in the forms of animals ; because Matter is only
in potentiality to/ that is, receptive of, * bodily forms. For things
that are incorporeal, are immaterial ; as has been shown in pre-
ceding Articles). But another more perfect form constitutes Matter
in corporal being and, further, gives to it living being. Again,
another form gives it both corporal and living being and adds,
over and above, sensitive being. So is it in like manner with
other forms. It behoves us, then, to understand, that the more
perfect form, (accordingly as, in union with the Matter, it con-
^ * Oportet ig^tur dicere, quod eadem numero forma per quam res habet quod sit
Bubstantia, et quod sit in ultima specie specialissima, et in omnibus intermediis gene-
ribuB. Relinquitur ergo dicendum, quod cum formae rerum naturalium sint sicut
numeri, in quibus est diversitas speciei, addita vel subtracta unitate, ut didtur in 8
Metaphjs. : oportet intelligere diversitatem fonnarum naturalium, secundum quu
constituitur materia in diverns spedebus, ex hoc quod una addit perfectionem super
aliam, ut puta quod una forma eonstituit in esse corporali tantum : (hunc enim oportet
esse infimum gradum formarum animalium, eo quod materia non est in potentia nisi
ad formas corporales. Quae enim incorporea sunt, immaterialia sunt, ut in prwice-
dentibus ostensum est). Alia autem perfectior forma eonstituit materiam in esse
corporali, et ulterins dat ei esse vitale ; et ulterius alia forma dat d et esse oorpotsle,
et esse vitale, et super hoc addit ei esse sensitivum ; et sic est in aliia. Oportet ergo
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The Material Cause, 373
stitutes the composite in the perfectness of a lower grade), may be
regarded as material in relation to a higher perfectness ; and so on,
as you go upwards. For instance, Primordial Matter, as already
constituted in corporal heing^ is the Matter relatively to that
ulterior perfection which is life. Hence it is that hody is the
genus of living hody ; and animated, or living, is the difference.
For the genus is taken from the Matter ; and the difference, from
the form. Consequently, in a certain sort of way, one and the
same form, as actuating the constitution of Matter in an inferior
grade, is midway between Matter and itself, inasmuch as it con-
stitutes Matter in a higher grade.' That is to say, the living
form of a dog, for instance, by one and the same act constitutes
Primordial Matter a body and a dog. Therefore, considered as
substantial act of body exclusively, it becomes (as it were), a dis-
position of the Matter for receiving itself as the more perfect
living dog-form. In this wise it constitutes itself midway between
Matter and itself considered in its ulterior perfection. St. Thomas
continues: *Now, the Matter,' (i.e. as actuated by one of these
specific forms)^ 'regarded as constituted in substantial being ac-
cording to the perfection of an inferior grade, can^ in consequence^
be regarded as subject to accidents. For substance in that lower
grade of perfection must necessarily have some accidents of its
own, which of necessity must be inherent in it. Thus, for instance^
from the mere fact that Matter is constituted in corporeal being
by forms, it ipso facto follows that there are dimensions in it, by
virtue of which Matter is cognized as divisible into distinct parts ;
tbat so, according to its distinct parts, it may be capable of re-
ceiving diverse forms. Furthermore, from the fact that Matter is
intelUgere quod forma perfectior, secondum quod simul cum materia compositum con-
Btituit in perfectione inferioris graduB, intelligatur ut materiale respectu ulterioris per-
fectionifl, et sic ultorius procedendo ; utpote materia prima, secundum quod jam eon-
Btitata est in esse corporeo, est materia respectu ulterioris perfectionis, quae est yita;
et exinde est quod. corpus est genus corporis viventis ; et animatum, sive yivens, est
differentia. Nam genus sumitur a materia, et differentia a forma; et sic quodammodo
una et eadem forma, secundum quod constituit materiam in actu inferioris gradus, est
media inter materiam et seipsam, secundum quod constituit eam in actu superioris
grados. Materia, autem prout intelligitur constituta in esse substantiali secundum
perfectionem inferioris gradus, per consequens intelligi potest ut aoddentibuB subjecta.
Nam substantia secundum ilium inferiorem gradum perfectionis neoesse est quod faabeat
quaedam accidentia propria quae necesee est ei inesse; sicut ex boo quod materia
coQstitaitur in esse oorporeo per formas, statim consequitur ut sint in ea dimensiones,
per quas intelligitur materia divisibilis per diversas partes, ut sic secundum diversas
Bui partes possit esse suBceptiva diversarum formarum; et ulterius ex quo materia
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374 Causes of Being.
cognized as constituted in a definite substantial being, it can be
cognized as capable of receiving accidents by which it is disposed
for further perfection ; and by these means Matter becomes fitted
for receiving further perfection. Now, these dispositions are pre-
supposed to the introduction of the form into the Matter by the
efficient cause ; although ' (really) ' they are certain accidents, not
properties of the form, which however are caused in Matter
only by the form. Hence, they are not presupposed in Matter
before the form, as though they were' (really) 'dispositions for
receiving the form ; but the form is the rather presupposed to
them, as cause to its efiects. In this way, therefore, since the
human soul is a substantial form, because it constitutes man in a
determined species of substance ; there is no other substantial form
between the soul and Primordial Matter/ (which is the precise
point discussed by St. Thomas in the Article from which this
quotation has been taken), ' but man is perfected by the rational
soul itself according to the different grades of perfection, so as to
be hody^ and animated body, and rational animal.' In this passage,
(besides much that is confirmatory of the doctrine contained in the
previous quotation), we have a very lucid statement and demonstra-
tion of the truth, that quantity and those other accidental dis-
positions, as they are called, for the reception of the form are not
really in Matter as their exclusive Material Cause, antecedently to
its actuation; but that they are effects of the actuating form
which prepares its own pathway and, as such, inhere in the com-
plete composite.
This last point, which assumes an important place in the present
discussion, is still more clearly maintained by the Angelic Doctor
in a passage which could in no case have been omitted here, since
it incidentally includes a statement that seems, at first sight, to
contradict that which St. Thomas has so clearly laid down in the
intelligitur constituta in esse quodam substantiali, intelligi potest ut susoeptiTs aeci-
dentium quibus disponitur ad ulteriorem perfectionem, secundum qnam materia fit
propria ad ulteriorem perfectionem suscipiendam. Hu j uamodi autem dispodtiones pne-
intelliguntur formae ut inductae ab agente in materiam, licet sint quaedam accidentia
propria formae, quae non nisi ez ipsa forma oausentur in materia ; undo non prae-
intelKguntur in materia formae quasi dispositiones, sed magis forma praeintelligitur
eis, sicut causa effectibus. Sic igitur, cum anima sit forma substantialis, quia oonsti-
tuit hominem in determinata specie substantiae, non est aliqua alia forma substantislis
media inter animam et materiam primam ; sed homo ab ipsa anima rationali perficitor
secundum di versos gradus perfectionum, ut sit scilicet corpus, et animatum corpus, ei
animal rationale.' Animas a. ix, c.
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Tfie Material Cause. 375
two quotations just g^ven. In the Article about to be brought
before the notice of the reader, St. Thomas proposes to himself this
problem : Whether the rational soul m united to fhe body hy the inter-
vention of accidental dispositions. He decides in the negative. For,
' It is impossible/ he writes, ' that any accidental disposition should
intervene between body and soul, or between any substantial form
whaisoeyer and its Matter. And the reason is, that since Matter
is in potentiality to all acts according to a definite order, of neces-
sity that which is simply first among the acts is cognized as first
in Matter. But the first among all the acts is actual being. It is
impossible, therefore, to cognize Matter as warm or quantified,
before it actually is. But it has actual being by means of the
substantial form which causes being simply . . . Hence, it is im-
possible that any accidental dispositions whatsoever could pre-exist
in Matter, prior to the substantial form^.' With yet greater
clearness, in his answer to the first objection made against his
resolution of the question, wherein it is urged that there cannot be
a diversity of substantial forms in Matter, unless distinct portions of
Matter are presupposed, and that to presuppose distinct portions of
Matt^ is to presuppose dimermve quantity as a disposition, the
Angelic Doctor makes the following reply. * A more perfect form
virtually contains whatever is proper to inferior forms; conse-
quently, existing one and the same, it perfects the Matter in
different grades of perfection. • For it is one and the same form
essentially, by which a man is actual being, by which he is body, by
which he is living, by which he is animal, by which' he is man.
Now, it is plain that appropriate accidents' (properties) ^accompany
each genus. As, then, Matter is preconceived as perfected in
being before the concept of its corporeity, and so for the rest ; in
like manner, the accidents, which are properties of Being, are
preconceived before corporeity. In this way dispositions are pre-
conceived in Matter, prior to the form; not in regard of the
^ 'Impossibile est quod aliqua dispositio accidentalia cadiit media inter corpus et
toimam, vel inter quamcumque formam substantialem et materiam suam. Et hujus
ratio est, quia cum materia sit in potentia ad omnee actus ordine quodam, oportet
quod id quod est primum simpliciter in actibus, primo in materia intelligatur. Primum
autem inter omnes actus est esse. Impossibiie est ergo intelligere materiam prius esse
calidam, vel quantam, quam esse in actu. Esse autem in actu habet per formam
sabstantialem, quae facit esse simpliciter, ut jam dictum est (art. 4 hujus quaest.).
TJnde impossibiie est quod quaecumque dispositiones accidentales praeezistant in
materia ante formam substantialem/ i*** Ixxvi, 6, c.
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376 Causes of Being,
entire effect of the form, but of its •subsequent effect*;' that is to
say, these dispositions are preconceived before that ultimate and
completorial effect of the form, (as isolated by conceptual abstrac-
tion), which specifically constitutes the nature ; not of the entire
effect. For this would include simple actuation, — ^the first of all
conceivable acts substantial or accidental; and would exclude all
previous dispositions of Matter as being metaphysically impossible.
In these two passages^ more pronouncedly in the second, the
Angelic Doctor introduces into his orderly grades of substantial
forms one that he represents as anterior to corporeity, viz. that
which contents itself with giving actual being to Matter. But
this would seem to contradict his statement, previously cited, that
corporeity is the first and most general form in the order of con-
stitution of material substance. , Yet the contradiction is only ap-
parent. St. Thomas in these last quotations is looking at the
question from a purely metaphysical point of view; and meta-
physically speakings a thing must first he^ before it can be 9uch or
such. Wherefore, the entitative act is prior in order of nature to
the specific constitution. But if, on the other hand, we look to
the essence of material substance, (for the former priority is verified
in the case of every whatsoever entity), as one may say, physically;
the first, necessary, universal, form is corporeity, by virtue of
whose g^eat property,— quantity, — Matter becomes capable of
division and, as a consequence, of* receiving distinct and various
forms. For body, of itself, would indifferently embrace all Matter.
Such an explanation is not ready-made for the occasion ; it is the
explicit teaching of St. Thomas. Thus in an Article which is
devoted to precisely the same problem, the Angelic Doctor proposes
to himself a new objection against his doctrine, which is this.
Dimensions exist in Matter antecedently to the elemefU^farms. But
dimensions are accidents and presuppose some substantial form or
other in Matter. Otherwise^ accidental heing would go before sui-
^ * Farm a perfeotior virtute continet quidquid est inferionim foimarom : et ideo um
et eadem existens perficit materiam secundum diversoe perfectionis grados. Una eniin
et eadem forma est per essentiam, per quam homo est ens actu, et per qnam est
corpus, et per quam est vivum, et per quam est animal, et per quam est homo. Mud-
festum est autem quod unumquodque genus consequuntur propria accidentia. Sicat
ergo materia praeintelligitur perfecta secundum esse ante intellectum oorpomtatis, et
sic de aliis ; ita pmeintelliguntur accidentia quae sunt propria entis, ante corporeita-
tem : et sic praeintelliguntur dispositiones in materia ante formam, non quantum ftd
omnem ejus effectum, sed quantum ad posteriorem.' Ibidem, »™.
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The Material Cause. 377
sianlial. TAereforey antecedently to tie form of a simple element^
there pre-ewists in Matter some other substantial form ; k fortiori,
therefore^ antecedently to the human soul. To the objection St.
Thomas replies as follows : * Every generic as well as specific entity
is accompanied by the accidents proper to such genus or species.
Wherefore, no sooner is Matter cognized as perfected in the nature
of this genus which is hody^ than dimensions, which are the proper
accidents of this genus, can be cognized in it ; and thus, diverse
element-forms will follow upon a conceptual ordering in Matter,
according to its distinction of parts ^ ;' that is to say, though really
and physically the elementary form, — say, hydrogen, — gives cor*
poreity and quantity to Matter, just as the human soul does;
nevertheless, in the intelligible order corporeity gives dimensive
quantity to Matter, as preparatory disposition for the reception of
the element-forms. In another of his works St. Thomas expresses
himself in a similar way. These are his words: ^Quantitative
dimensions are accidents that accompany corporeity which is con-
sociate with entire Matter. Hence Matter, already cognized under
corporeity and dimensions, can be cognized as separated into distinct
portions ; in order that so it may receive forms in ulterior grades
of perfection. For though it is essentially the same form that
gives to Matter its different grades of perfection ; nevertheless, it
is conceptually different ^*
It now only remains to see whether the authority of St. Thomas
can be invoked in support of the answer embodied in the hundred
and sixty -fifth Proposition to the palmary argument of Suarez^
based on the spiritual nature of the human soul. St. Thomas, then,
in discussing the question, Whether a spiritual substance can be united
to a body^ in the course of his resolution of it writes as follows :
* In so far as the human soul surpasses the entity of corporal being
and is capable of subsisting and energizing of itself, it is a spiritual
^ 'Qnodlibet ease generis vel specie! consequuntur propria accidentia illius generis vel
speciei; unde quando jam materia intelligitur perfecta secundum rationem bujus gene-
ris quod est corpus, possunt in ea inteUigi dimensiones, quae sunt propria accidentia
bujus generis, et sic consequentur ordinem intelligibilem in materia, secundum diversas
ejus partes, diversae formae elementares.' Spirilu. a. iii, 18™.
* 'Dimensiones quantitativae sunt accidentia consequentia corporeitatem, quae toti
materiae conyenit. Unde materia jam intellecta sub corporeitate, et dimensionibus,
potest intelligi ut distincta in diversas partes ; ut sic accipiat diversas formas secundum
nlteriores perfectionis gradus. Quamvis enim eadem forma sit secundum essentiam,
quae diversos perfectionis gradus materiae attribuit, ut dictum est, (art. 4 hujus
quaest.), tamen secundum considerationem rationia differt.* i«* Ixxvi, 6, 2^,
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378 Causes of Being.
substance ; but in so far as it is brought into contact with Matter
and communicates its entity to Matter^ it is the form of the
body^/ Here St. Thomas commences by drawing a distinction
between the soul as a spirit and the soul as form of the body.
But such a distinction has evidently enough no foundation in the
essential nature of the soul which is simple. W^here, then, has
the Angelic Doctor discovered it ? He shall tell us himself. * The
soul/ he writes, ' since it is a part of human nature^ does not possess
the perfection of its nature save in union with the body. This is
apparent from the fact, that in. the virtue or efficacy of the same
soul there are certain faculties emanating from it, which are not
the acts of bodily organs, (and in respect of them it surpasses any
proportion with the body); and, again^ there are other facalties
emanating from it, which are the acts of bodily organs, (and this,
inasmuch as it is capable of being conjoined with corporal Matter^.'
Yet more clearly does he enforce the same doctrine in another place.
The problem debated is. Whether ail the faculties of the soul are in
the soul as in their Subject, St. Thomas solves it in this wise:
' That is the Subject of an energizing faculty, which is capable of
energizing; for every accident denominates its proper Subject.
Now, it is the same entity that does energize and that is capable of
energizing. Hence, of necessity the faculty belongs to that, as
to a Subject, whose the energizing is; as the Philosopher too
remarks in the beginning of his Work on Sleep and Waking. Now,
it is manifest that there are certain energies of the soul which are
brought into play without any bodily org^an, — as, for instance, think-
ing and willing. Hence, the faculties that are the principiants of
these energies are in the soul as in their Subject. On the other
hand, there are certain energies of the soul, which are brought into
play by means of bodily organs ; as, for instance, sight by means of
the eye^ hearing by means of the ear. It is the same with aU the
energies of the nutritive and sensitive part. Wherefore, the facul-
^ * In quantum igitur supergreditur esse materiae oorporalis, potens per se subsistere
et operari, anima humana est substantia spiritualis ; in quantum Tero attingitor a
materia, et esse suum communicat illi, est corporis forma.' ^ipirifu. a. 2, e. v.^
' ' Qnde anima, cum sit pars humanae naturae, non habet perfectionem suae naturae
nisi in unione ad corpus ; quod patet ex hoc quod in virtute ipdus animae est quod
flu ant ab ea qiiaedam potentiae quae non sunt actus organorum corporalium, se-
cundum quod excedit corporis proportionem ; et iterum quod fluant ab ea poten-
tiae quae sunt actus organorum, in quantum potest contingi a materia corporali.'
Ibidem, 5*".
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The Material Cause, 379
ties which are the prineipiants of sach operations, are in the com-
posite as in their Subject, and not in the soul only^.' Add one
more passage to this Lemma from psychology ; and all the material
will be ready to hand, from which to draw the required conclusion.
St. Thomas is discussing the question, Whether all the powers of the
soul remain in the soul after its separation from the body. He dis-
tinguishes, as before, between the faculties of the upper and of the
lower part of the soul, — to adopt a familiar mode of expression
which would seem to be sanctioned by the Philosopher in his
Nicomachean Ethics, (L. i, c. 13) — ; and allows that the former
remain and energize after death, because they are in the soul as
in their Subject. Then he goes on to say : * There are, on the other
hand, certain faculties that are in the composite ' (or rather, in the
two together, that is, in soul and body) * as in a Subject ; and of
such sort, are all the faculties of the sensitive and nutritive part.
Now, on the destruction of its Subject, the accident cannot remain.
Hence, on the corruption of the composite or conjunct, these facul-
ties do not remain in act ; but only remain virtually in the soul,
as 'in their principiant and root V The precise meaning of these
last words he interprets for us in another place. ^ These faculties
are said to remain/ he observes, 'in the separated soul as in their
root, not that they are actually in it ; but because the separated
soul is endowed with such virtue that, if it should be united to
the body, it could again cause these faculties in the body as it
could also cause life ^.' Once more : ' The faculties of the soul are
^ 'Respondeo dioendum, quod iUud est subjectum operatiyae potentiae quod est
potens opeiari: omne enim accideoB denominat proprium subjectum. Idem autem est
quod potest operari, et quod operatur. Unde oportet quod ejus sit potentia sicut
•ubjecti, cnjus est operatio, ut etiam Philosophus dicit in prindpio lib. de 8omno et
Vigilia. Manifestum est autem ex supradictis, qu. 76, art. i, ad i, quod quaedam
operationet simt animae quae exercentur sine organo oorporali, ut intelligere et veUe.
Vnde potentiae quae sunt harum operationum principia, sunt in anima sicut in sub-
jecto. Quaedam vero operationes sunt animae quae exercentur per oigana corporalia,
sicnt visio per oculum, auditus per aurem; et simUe est de omnibus aliis operationibus
nutrifeivae et sensitivae partis. Et ideo potentiae quae sunt talium operationum prin-
cipia, sunt in conjuncto sicut in subjecto, et non in anima sola.* i** Ixxvii, 5, c.
* * Quaedam vero potentiae sunt in conjuncto sicut in subjecto, sicut omnes potentiae
sensitivae partis et nutritiyae. Deetructo autem subjecto, non potest aocidens rema-
nere. Unde corrupto conjuncto, non manent hujusmodi potentiae actu, sed virtute
iantum manent in anima sicut in principio yd radice.* i*® Ixxvii, 8, c.
' * Hujusmodi potentiae dtcuntur in anima separata remanere ut in radice, non quia
sini actu in ipsa; sed quia anima separata est talis virtutis ut d uniatur oorpori, itcrum
potest causare has potentias in corporoj sicut et yitam.' Anima, a. 19, 2™.
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380 Causes of Being.
not its essential or integral, but potential parts \' From the doc-
trine to be collected from these passages, then, we are entitled to
conclude, (i) That the soul is virtually a vegetative as well as an
animal form to the body. But these two constitute what is called
the inferior part of the soul, by which alone it is fitted to inform
the body. Wherefore, as actuating Matter and as substantially
united to the body as its form, the soul is virtually capable of
quantitative information ; that is to say, in so far as it is virtually
equivalent to the vegetative and animal forms. Further : The
lower faculties of the soul are properties ; yet they inhere in the
bodily organ as in their partial Subject. But they can only inhere
there ew accidents ; for they are accidents in their own nature,
and are altogether extraneous to the substantial entity of the body.
Moreover, they inhere in their respective organs ; all which pre-
supposes the substantial information of Matter. Consequently,
they inhere in quantified Matter; and so intimately, that they
cease to exist when separated from their organ. Therefore, they
are somehow informed by quantity; for all qualities, (and they
are of the second species of quality), inhere in Matter through the
medium of quantity. But these faculties emanate from the soul
and are potential parts of it. Hence, (ii) We have a right to con-
clude that, according to the teaching of the Angelic Doctor, the
soul \& potentially capable of being informed by quantity, (iii) Lastly :
St. Thomas says that 'the shape of the body comes from die
soul ^ ; ' if so, likewise the quantity. Indeed, he expressly says
as much in passages already quoted. Therefore, Matter is not
informed by quantity previous to its information by the soul.
Therefore, quantity informs the complete composite; but the body
formally, the soul virtually and potentially.
^ 'Potentiae animae non sunt partea essentiales, vel int^graleB, aed potentiales.'
Ibidem, 4'".
' * PotiuB figure corporia est ex anima.' Spiritu. a. 4, 9™.
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The Material Cause. 381
§4.
Can one accident be the Material Cause of another?
PROPOSITION CLXX.
One acoident can be the proximate Subject of another acci-
dent and, consequently^ can exercise a proper material causality
in relation to it.
This Proposition has been already established incidentally daring
^he discussions of the previous Section. It needs exposition, there-
fore, rather than proof. Accordingly,
I. It is stated in the Enunciation, that one accident can be the
proximate Subject or Material Cause of another accident ; because it
is impossible that it should be the ultimate Subject. The reason is
plain. If any accident could be an ultimate Subject, it would
ipso facto cease to be an accident. For a natural tendency to inhere
in another as in a Subject is of the essence of an accident. If,
therefore, an accident could naturally, (for of supernatural acts
there is now no question), be the ultimate Subject ; it would have
no such natural tendency. But this means that it would not be an
accident.
II. Accident can be the proximate Subject of another accident ;
that is to say, it may be necessary that substance should be first
informed by one accident, in order that, by this accidental composi-
tion, it may be capable of mediate information by another accident.
Thus^ for instance, in order that a body may be capable of becoming
hot or soft^ it must first be extended and therefore informed by
quantity. Imagine, if you can, a mathematical point exhibiting de-
grees of heat or becoming palpable. In like manner, a superficies is a
prerequisite of colour; but superficies is a species of continuous
quantity. The same may be said of shape^ and of qualities in general.
III. Not every accident can proximately inform another acci-
dent,— in other words, can inform substance through the medium
of another accident. The reason is that, in the order of accidental
forms, there must necessarily be sl first or last, (according to the
chosen starting-point for the analysis), which immediately inheres
in substance. That first or last, in material substance, is quantity.
lY. So far all is plain and beyond controversy in the School.
But now there arises a question, about which opinions are somewhat
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382 Causes of Being,
divided. It is mooted and decided in the second Momber of our
Proposition, wherein it is declared that one accident can exercise a
proper cau%alitt/ in relation to aiwther accident. It may be as well
to add that this resolution of the problem claims the authority of
the greatest Doctors of the School in its favour. The question,
then^ is this: Is the accident in which as in a Subject the other
accident inheres a mere necessary condition, as it were, of the
inherence of the latter in substance \ or is it the partial Material
Cause, exercising a real causality, as Subject, in the subsequent
accidental composite ? To set the question in the phraseology of the
School : — Is the said accident Subject only ut quo^ or rather utqwod?
If we examine the point by the light of experience, assisted by the
nature of the accidents themselves ; there will be little difficulty
in coming to a right conclusion. Let us take a few instances,
beginning with the accidental mode o^ figure or Bhape, It imme-
diately inheres in quantity; and mediately by means of quantity
in bodily substance. Does it, or does it not, inhere in quantity as
a true, though partial. Material Cause ? Let us see. It is, abso-
lutely speaking, capable of separation from the substance ; because
quantity is separable from the substance. The Omnipotence of
God could preserve the material substance without quantity, and
quantity without the material substance. In the former case the
material substance could have no shape. All this is possible;
because, there is no metaphysical repugnance. But can I even
conceive figure or shape as separable de potentia absoluta from
quantity? There is a metaphysical impossibility in the way. Ex-
perience has proved to us that a body may often change its shape ;
but it never does so without changing its quantity. It is plain,
then, that the dependence of shape on quantity is more intimate
and, in one way, more absolute than its dependence on substance.
Therefore, we are justified in concluding that quantity exercises a real
causality in the instance of shape. Much the same may be urged
touching the accident of ubication, or local presence. It is impos-
sible to conceive a definite occupation of space without extension.
When we turn to spiritual accidents, the evidence becomes much
stronger. Take a Aabit, In order to fix the mind to some definite
instance, let us select honesty. A habit, as we know from ethics, is
a certain quality by which a faculty is enl&bled to act with ease and
promptness when occasion offers. Honesty is, of course, in the
will. It is, therefore, a spiritual quality inherent in the will, by
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The Afaterial Cause. 383
which a man is enabled with ease and promptness to act justly with
iiis neighbour whenever occasion offers. Now, the will is an acci-
dent,— that is to say, ik^^t facultative will, — for it is a property of
the soul. Therefore, this accidental quality, — the habit of honesty,
to wit, — ^inheres immediately in another accident, the faculty of
the will. Is it possible for any one to maintain, that the will exer-
cises no material causality in relation to the habit, bearing in mind
the way in which habits are formed ? Another instance would be
science, or the scientific habit. Would any one venture to say that:
the intellect is only a necessary condition, in order that science
may be able to inhere in the soul ; or that it exercises no material
causality in regard of that habit ? The a priori reason why the
faculties exercise a material causality in regard of their habits, is.
this; that habits are ordained as helps to those faculties of which
they are the habits. But a yet clearer instance is to be found in the
acts of the- faculties, — the immanent and vital acts more particu-
larly. These immediately inform the faculty which elicits them,
and through the faculty the soul. Here, if anywhere, it is plain
that the accident, acting as immediate Subject really in itself, —
though not hy itself, — sustains the accidental act. Who could be
persuaded to believe that the intiellect was a mere condition of the
presence of a thought in the soul ?
§5-
Can simple oe spiritual substance be Material Cause of
accidents ?
PROPOSITION CLXXI.
It is not in the nature of spiritual subcftanoe to admit a Material
Cause of which itself is intrinsically composed.
This Proposition needs no proof; for spiritual substance is im-
material.
PROPOSITION CLXXIL
Spiritual subsisting, or oompletCy substance can be the Material
Cause of accidents proportioned to its nature.
This Proposition is thus declared. There is only on6 Spirit Who
is infinitely perfect, infinitely simple Act, and Whose Nature ex-
cludes all whatsoever conceivable potentiality. Supposing, then,
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384 Causes of Bmig,
for the moment, (the truth of the supposition will be afterwards
demonstrated in its place), that there are other Spirits finite and
created; they will be to a certain extent potential and, conse-
quently, capable of accidental perfectionment. There must be
potentiality of some sort in them ; otherwise, they would be pure
act. This they cannot be, if finite and created : it is a contradic-
tion in terms. A finite being cannot be infinite ; nor can an imper-
fect being be perfect. But a being who is pure act is infinite
and infinitely perfect. To continue :— Since they are Spirits, their
potentialities would be active. These would be faculties ; — ^the two
faculties of intellect and will. These two faculties would be capable
of repeated acts and of habits of acts. Hence, they would be
capable of information by spiritual accidents; from which would
arise an accidental composition or, as St. Thomas discriminately
calls it^ conjunction. So much will sufiSce at present touching this
most interesting question ; for it will recur, when we come to treat
of the Category of Substance.
PROPOSITION CLXXin.
Spiritual form, although an incomplete substance^ is capable
of being the Material Cause of accidents proportioned to its
nature.
This Proposition is proved by the same arguments as those which
have been adduced in the preceding Thesis. The only instance of
such a form, so far as we know, is the soul of man. There has been
occasion more than once, in former Sections, to enter into an exa*
mination of these accidents ; so that it will be unnecessary to go
over old ground. The faculties of the human soul are accidents ;
and the habits and acts of those faculties are accidents. This is
most clearly demonstrable in the case of acts. For an accident is
that which can come and go, while the substance or essential nature
remains untouched. But thoughts, acts of the will, sensations, ima-
ginations, acts of emotion and passion, come and go and come
again ; while self, — the egOy — remains as it was and ever will be.
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CHAPTEK III.
THE FORMAL CAUSE.
ARTICLE I.
Form in general and its divisions.
Since all our ideas are originally derived from those objects
which are subject to the perception of the senses, and since words
are the symbolical expression of ideas ; it cannot but be, that a
study of the sensile objects which gave to the words their primitive
meaning should assist us towards forming a clearer concept of
those more recondite realities, to the representation of which the
same words have been subsequently applied. This observation
notably applies to the subject-matter of this and the preceding
Chapters. Let us begin, then, by looking at Form from this point
of view.
It may be reasonably concluded that the term Formy in its
primitive signification, was chosen to express the outline of bodies ;
indeed, this meaning of the word remains in common use to the
present day. Thus, we speak of the beautiful form of a crystal,
of a beech-tree^ of a swan, of a greyhound. It was also applied
afterwards to productions of art. Thus, it is said of a table or
other piece of furniture, that its form is convenient,— of an arch^
that it is well-formed,— of a lamp, that its form is light and
gracefiil, — of a statue, that its form is in exquisite proportion. In,
both classes of instances the word expresses something perceptible
to the senses. Let us examine the two separately, and assume a
crystal as our instance of a natural form^ or shape.
Before us^ let it be supposed, there lies a specimen of quartz.
It appears under the form of a hexagonal prism, terminated by
hexagonal pyramids. The substance, quartz, we call the matter ;
VOL. II. c c
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386 Caiises of Being,
while the hexagonal prism, terminated by hexagonal pyramids, is
the form. Try to imagine the quartz without any external form
whatsoever : it would become an indeterminate something scarcely
perceptible by the sense& For the qualitative accidents, — colour,
to take an instance, — require and presuppose a superficies ; and a
superficies physically connotes a form, or shape, of some sort. The
form, then, may be said to practically render it actual to sense.
Again : Supposing it possible that the existing lump of quartz
should be deprived of all shape, it would be perfectly indeterminate,
indifferent, to one form more than another, — ^that is to say, withm
the limit of those crystalline forms that quartz assumes. Its form,
then^ determines it to one ; and it is incapable of other forms for
so long as its hexagonal form continues. Moreover, from the time
that it first became a quartz-crystal, it had this hexagonal form
by virtue of which it is de facto a crystal. Once more: The form
of the crystal is in no slight degree indicative of the specific
mineral ; so that in many cases a practised mineralogist would be
able from it to draw a comparatively safe conclusion as to the
nature of the specimen. It is true that the form alone is not
always a sufficient indication, because it may be conmion to more
than one mineral; consequently, it will be necessary for him
perhaps to take likewise into account the colour^ refractive power,
cleavage, hardness, even the taste. But still, after all, the form
would be of prominent service in enabling him to determine the
species. Thus, the oblique rhombohedral shape oft he crystal, com-
bined with other indications, justifies the judgment that he is in
presence of a specimen of Iceland-spar ; and the oblique octohedra
or long prismatic needles, together with the yellow colour, tell him
that he is fingering a sulpAur crystal. Similarly, the cubical form,
together with the peculiar taste, assures him that he is dealing
with salt. In the instance of living things, however, the external
form determines much more clearly and independently to a sensile
cognition of the species. For, as St. Thomas remarks in a passage
quoted in the preceding Chapter, the external form is indicative of
the species. A bird has one kind of shape, — a fish, another,—
reptiles, another,— quadrupeds, another. Any one can tell by the
outline, whether the being we are looking at is a cat, or a swan, or
a serpent, or a salmon, or a plant ; even prescinding from colour,
height, &;c.
If we now pass on to artificial entities, — that is to say, to objects
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which have been fashioned by the hand of man, — the analysis will
afford still more satisfactory results. A carpenter has in his shop^
(we will say), a block of mahogany out of which he makes a round
table. The mahogany is the matter, the table-shape is the form,
of this piece of furniture. Now, it is plain that this mass of wood,
before the carpenter began upon it, was capable of being made into
anything. It was equally capable of being made into a chair, of
forming a side-board, or a wardrobe, or a chest of drawers^ or a
balustrade, &c. Further, in its primitive unformedness it Was of
itself indifferent to whatsoever shape. Now, however, that the
carpenter has impressed upon it by saw, chisel^ and plane, the form
of a round table, it is determined to one shape ; and for so long as
it continues to be a round table^ it is incapable of receiving any
other shape. If it is turned into something else ; this can only be
done at the expense of the table-form. It cannot at once be a table
and a chair. Again : That piece of wood was &om the first capable
of receiving the table-form, like any other ; in other words, it was in
potentiality to that form. When the workman's labour is completed,
it is in actual possession of the form ; and the table is in act. Once
more: This tablenshape was antecedently communicable to other
kinds of wood, to stone, to marble, and the like ; it is determined
to this individual table by the piece of mahogany that it actually
informs. Yet again : The wood and the shape together constitute
the table which is the composite artificial entity. Again: This
table-form cannot exist outside its wood ; neither is it that which
is made, nor is the wood that which is made, but the table.
Wherefore, the table is made out of the piece of wood shaped in
such a manner. Finally: You know the nature of the piece of
furniture, the purposes for which it serves, its so-called proper
operation, from its form. No one for an instant would imagine
that it was made to sit down upon, or to hang up dresses in, or
to serve as fence to a staircase. It is evidently intended to support
plates, books, and the like.
From the above analysis of these primitive uses of the term,
/brm, we may gather the principal characteristics of the same in
its relation to its Subject, which form the foundation of its specific
meaning in Metaphysics, i. The Subject, or material cause, is
that element in the constitution of composites, which is inde-
terminate, indifferent, potential; yet determinable, capable of
differentiation and actuation. So much we have seen in the
c c ^
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preceding Chapter, ii. The Form is that other element which
determines, differentiates, actuates the matter, iii. Out of the
union of these two arises the composite, iv. Neither the Fonn
nor the matter is made, but the composite ; though the composite
is made to be that which it is by virtue of the Form, principally
at least, y. The Form is of itself communicable to many matters,
or Subjects^ and is individually determined by the Subject.
Hence, prior to its existence in the Subject, it is a universal.
vi. The Form determines the specific nature of the composite,
vii. It is the source of the natural operation of the composite,
proportionately to its nature, viii. It cannot, however, natunJlr
exist outside of the composite, ix. A plurality of Forms speci-
fically the same in one and the same Subject is impossible.
There is another term that will occur over and over again in the
present Chapter; and it is therefore proposed to submit it to a
like analysis. There can be little doubt that the word, acty was
originally employed to express a human deed, — something done by
a man. Indeed, this continues to be its signification in ordinary
speech. Infien^ — that is to say, during the course of its produc-
tion,— it is commonly called action ; in facto ease^ — that is to say,
in its completed production which is the term of motion, — it is
properly speaking act. Thus, to give an example, the blacksmith
is at his forge hammering a bar of iron on the anvil. The seizure
of the hammer, the swing of the arm, are action; the blow inflicted
on the iron is the act. So, — to take another instance, — a man
resolves to draw up his testament. The deliberation about it,
the weighing of motives for and against, the seeking for advice,
are the action ; the final determination is the act. Now, let us
proceed to analyze this second instance. It is suflSciently plain
that the supposed person could not have made up his mind, as it
is called, unless he had a free-will ; — in other words, unless he had
in his soul a power, or faculty, of freely choosing. What, then,
is there observable about this faculty, or active power, before
the idea of making his testament came into the man's mind?
Evidently enough, it was in a complete state of indifference and
indetermination with regard to the said testament. Let us further
suppose, for the sake of making the matter more clear, that this
determination to make his testament is the first choice the supposed
testator has ever made in his life. In such case his will up to this
time has been purely facultative, or — as it might be otherwise
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expressed — in simple potentiality. He has a will, but he has never
used it before. In that previous time his will was capable of
choosing* anything and was indifferent to everything. Further :
In itself it is an imperfect entity, and useless so long as it remains
merely what it is. But the question of the testament turns up ;
and the human will is set going. It decides in favour of making the
testament. We will now look at it^ as \\i appears in its completed
election. There is something new in the will, which was not there
before. The faculty is in act. It has become perfected, and has in
a certain sense attained to the fulness of entity which its nature
admits. At the same time its previous condition is changed. It
has so far lost its indetermination^ and is determined to one. It is
no longer indifferent, so far as the drawing up of the testament is
concerned ; and, provided that the purpose remains unchanged, it
is individually completed. If there should be a change of purpose,
it will be by virtue of a new act. In like manner, the blacksmith,
—to recur to the first example, — ^has a muscular power in his arm ;
and he might put it to service in a multitude of ways. He might
fell trees, or carry burdens, or train for a pugilist, or go through
his drill as a soldier, or exhibit as an acrobat, or take to ship-
carpentering, as to a multitude of other things. One thing is
certain ; that, till he employs it in some way or other, his strength
of arm is of little use to him. As a fact, however, he uses it on
his anvil. It comes into act ; and by the act is determined in one
particular direction. Moreover, the bodily faculty is perfected by
something within itself added to itself, and may be said to exist in
the natural fulness of its entity.
Let us collect what has been learnt by this analysis, i. In all
created things act and potentiality are correlatives. A potentiality
supposes an act as natural term of its perfectness ; an act supposes
a potentiality as that from which it must spring and in which it
must inhere, ii. The potentiality by itself is indeterminate, in-
different, imperfect, as it were dimidiate being; having a natural
inclination towards its act, forasmuch as every entity naturally
tends towards its own perfection, iii. The act is perfective of the
potentiality, and determines it to one. iv. The act specifically
informs the potentiality, — that is to say, it reduces the latter in
one way or other under some particular species, v. It must be
borne in mind, however, that there is a considerable difference,
even as touching the present comparative analysis, between a
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passive^ and active potentiality such as we have been contem-
plating. The difference will be seen more plainly as we advance
in this Chapter.
Such, then, are the principal elements that constitute the
transcendental concepts of Form and Act.
PROPOSITION CLXXIV.
Every Form is an act.
Frolegohenon.
As St. Thomas declares in passages quoted during the coarse of
the preceding Chapter, there are two acts common to every entity.
These go by the names of the first and second acts. The first act
is that of being. Since all finite entities were once not-being,
but capable of being ; they were in potentiality to being. That
potentiality is determined by the act of existing. (In the Infinite
Being there is no such potentiality; accordingly He is pure Act,
and first and second Act in One). Such is the first act. Ag^ain :
Every entity, once constituted, is determined to a proper and
specific operation by which it naturally tends towards its con-
stituted end. This is the second act; and it is called second,
because a thing must first exist, in order to energize. The Angelic
Doctor in the following passage explains the division, as it might
seem at first sight, after a somewhat different manner. ' The act
of a Form,' he remarks, ' is twofold. One is operation, — as, for
instance, to impart warmth, — which is the second act. Such act
is attributed to the supposit of the Form,' — ^that is to say, to the
integral, subsisting, substance. ' But the other act of a Form is
the informing of the matter, which is the first act ; — as, for in-
stance, to quicken the body is the act of the soul. Such act is not
attributed to the «upposit of the Form ^.* It is easy to see, how-
ever, that St. Thomas is here speaking of the twofold act of the
Form ; whereas in the present Prolegomenon it is question of the
^ 'Duplex est actus foimae. XJnua qui est operatio, ut calefiusere, qui est actus
secunduB ; et talis actus fonnae supposito attribuitur. Alius vero actus fiinnae est
materiae informatio, quae est actus primus ; slcut yivificare corpus est actus animae ;
et talis actus supposito formae non attribuitur.^ Verit. Q. xxvii, a. 3, 25"".
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twofold act of an integral entity. Nevertheless, a little con*
sideration will serve to show that the respective divisions exactly
correspond. For, in composite substantial entities the sapposit,
(which is no other than the integral substance perfected in its
subsistence), is constituted in its essential Being by the formal
actuation of the matter. Similarly, the constitution of the
accidental composite is no other than the information of the sub-
stance by its accident. This is the first act, which is existential.
As soon as the composite has been perfectly constituted in being,
it commences its natural operation which is founded in the Form.
This is the second act, which is operative.
I. The Proposition is, first of all, proved generally.
That which determines a potentiality to its act, completes its
entity, gives to the composite its specific nature, and is principiant
of its proper operation, (understanding the terms, specific nature
and proper operation^ in all the latitude of their relation to what-
soever composite), is truly and metaphysically an act. But every
Form determines a potentiality to its act, completes its entity,
gives to the composite its specific nature, and is principiant of its
proper operation. Therefore, etc. The Minor is evident from the
previous analysis of the concept of Form, and wiU be confirmed in
the second proof.
II. The Proposition is further declared by a separate examination
into the nature of each of the different classes of Forms.
Note. It will here be necessary to anticipate the various
divisions of Forms given at the end of this Article.
i. The Proposition is verified in the instance of Forms that enter
into physical composition with their respective Subjects, a. We
will begin with a consideration of the substantial Forms of bodies.
The Subject of such Forms, — that out of which they are evolved,
in which they inhere, and by which they are sustained, — is
primordial matter which, as we have seen, is a pure passive
potentiality. The substantial Form determines, actuates it, and
gives to the substantial composite, constituted by the two, its
specific entity and natural operation. But this precisely is, to be
an act ; forasmuch as it evolves the potentiahty of matter into its
first, and the composite or supposit into the second act. b. The
same may be said proportionally of accidental material Forms,
which likewise enter into physical composition with their Subjects.
For, though the Subject of an accidental Form is not a pure
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potentiality since, on the contrary, it is presupposed as constituted
in the perfectness of its substantial nature ; nevertheless, it is a
pure potentiality in relation to the accidental Form, — that is to
say, it is capable of receiving it, or of receiving its opposite, or of
receiving some other accidental Form distinct from it within the
limits of the same species. By the information of the accidental
Form such potentiality is reduced to act ; and the Form determines
it, not simply to he^ (for this it is already), but to be specifically
such or such — for instance, white or red or black, moist or dry,
hard or soft, square or round, and the like. By the accidental
Form, therefore, the substantial entity is perfected, not in its
subsistent substantiality, but in its adventitious complement of
being ; and the substantial Form is endowed with instruments or
organs, as it were, by means of which it may be enabled to
exercise its operations on entities outside itself, c. The same re-
marks apply, as is plain, to modes either substantial or accidental.
ii. The Proposition is also verified of immaterial, or spiritoal,
Forms which do not enter into physical, but only into metaphysical,
composition with what may be considered as their Subject.
a. Let us consider, first of all, finite spiritual Substances. These
pure Intelligences are called Forms, not because they physically in-
form as material Forms do ; but because they are complete specific
natures in themselves, definite, determined to perfectness, sources to
themselves of their natural operation. Consequently, as Forms they
connote no physical Subject; as acts, no really distinct passive
potentiality. Such connotation in the instance of substantial Forms,
(and with these alone we are at present concerned), is limited to
those which are material. Hence, at first sight it might appear as
though not physical alone, but even metaphysical, composition and
a metaphysical Subject were excluded ; since these Forms are,
really, so to say, their own Subject. An examination of this
apparent difficulty is necessary to an adequate declaration of the
present Thesis, and will serve to throw light on certain difficult
words of the Angelic Doctor, which are not to be understood with-
out some labour of thought. Since every finite entity has being by
participation, — that is to say, is not cause of its own being, but
receives it from another ; there is always room for a real, though
metaphysical, distinction between its essence and its existence. It
is for this reason that contrary attributes are respectively predicable
of the two, as has been pointed out in a preceding Book. Conse-
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quently, the two may be mutually considered, each relatively to the
other, as alternately Subject and Form, potentiality and act. To
explain : — We may consider the participated existence of any finite
entity in one of- two ways, viz. either as actually conferred, or as
conceptually belonging to the nature. If we regard it as actually
conferred, existence will be the first act, physically speaking, of the
thing. As a fact, antecedently to its creation, its essence is in
objective potentiality, and is reduced to act by its real production.
This doctrine holds equally good, whether the substance be material
or spiritual, and whether the entity be substance or accident. It is
on this subject that St. Thomas has the following remarks. ' It is
manifest that the First Being, Who is God, is infinite Act ; inas-
much as He has in Himself entire plenitude of Being, not contracted
to any generic or specific nature. Hence, it is of necessity that His
very Existence should not be existence implanted, as it were, in
some nature which is not His Being or Existence ; because in this
case it would be terminated, or limited, to that nature. Hence we
say that God is His own very Being. But this cannot be said of
any other. . . Everything, therefore, that comes after the First
Being, seeing that it is not its own being, has been received in
something, by reason of which its said being is contracted. Thus,
in every created thing the nature of the entity which participates
in being is one thing, and the being itself that is participated is
another. Moreover, since everything participates in the First Act
by assimilation, inasmuch as it has being ; it follows of necessity,
that the participated being in each and every entity may be com-
pared to the nature which participates in it, as act to potentiality.
Wherefore, in the nature of corporeal things matter does not parti-
cipate in being of itself, but by virtue of the Form ; for the Form
informing the matter, makes it actual, as in the instance of the
soul informing the body. Accordingly, in composite entities we
may contemplate a twofold potentiality and a twofold act. For,
first of all, matter is as a potentiality relatively to the Form ; while
the Form is its act. Again : The nature, constituted of matter
and Form, is as a potentiality relatively to simple being,' (exis-
tence) ; ' forasmuch as it is capable of receiving being. Supposing,
then, all foundation of matter removed ; if there remains any Form
of a determinate nature subsisting of itself, not in matter, it will
still be compared to its being,* or existence, ' as potentiality to act.
I do not say, as a potentiality separable from act, but, as one that
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394 Causes of Being,
is ever accompanied by its own act. After this manner, the nature
of spiritual substance, which is not composed of matter and Form, is
as it were a potentiality relatively to its own existence ; and so, in
spiritual substance there is a composition of potentiality and act
and, consequently, of Form and matter, always supposing that every
potentiality may be called a Form. But this, nevertheless, is not a
proper mode of expression according to the common usage of
terms ^.' It must be owned that the above passage stands in need
of explanation ; for it is very hard for those to understand, who are
not well acquainted with the teaching of the Angelic Doctor.
Wherefore : St. Thomas first of all remarks that Being and being,
(that is to say^ Essence and Existence), are absolutely identical in
God ; so that there is no place for even a metaphysical distinction.
The reason is, that He has in Himself, and is. Plenitude of Being.
If it were not so, He would not be God. For if His being, or
Existence, were imbibed (so to say) in any specific nature, It would
be limited to that nature ; consequently, He would be neitlier infi-
nite being nor infinite Being. From this it follows, that His
Essence is His Existence, and His Existence His Essence. But all
finite beings exist by an existence in which they participate from
God, and are by their derived existence assimilated to the infinitely
* ' ManifeBtum est enim quod primum ens, quod Deus est, est actus infiaitus, ntpote
habens in se totam essendi plenitudinem, non oontractam ad aliquam naturam geDeru
yel speciei. Unde oportet quod ipsum esse ejus non sit esse quasi inditum alicui natu-
rae quae non sit suum esse ; quia sic finiretur ad illam naturam. Unde dicimos, quod
Deus est ipsum suum esse. Hoc autem non potest dici de aliquo alio. . . . Omne igitnr
quod est post primum ens, cum non sit suum esse, habet esse in aliquo receptum, p«r
quod ipsum esse oontrahitur. .Et sic in quolibet create aliud est natura rei quae par^-
ticipat esse, et aliud ipsum esse participatum. Et cum quaelibet res participet per
assimilationem primum actum inquantum habet esse ; neoesse est quod esse partici-
patum in unoquoque comparetur ad naturam participantem ipsum, sicut actus ad
potentiam. In natura igitur rerum oorporearum materia non per se participat ipsom
esse, sed per formam; forma enim adveniens materiae £acit ipsam esse actu, sicut anima
corpori. Unde in rebus oompositis est considerare duplicem actum et duplicem poten-
tiam. Nam prime quidem materia est ut potentia respectu formaei, et forma est actof
ejus ; et iterum natura oonstituta ex materia et forma, est ut potentia respectu ipsias
esse, inquantum est susceptiva ejus. Remote igitur fundamento materiae, si remaneat
aliqua forma determinatae naturae per se subsistens, non in materia ; adhuc oomparar
bitur ad suum esse ut potentia ad actimi. Non dioo autem ut potentiam separabilem
ab actu, sed quam semper suus actus comitetur. Et hoc modo natura spiritualis sob-
stantiae, quae non est composita ex materia et forma, est ut potentia respectu sui esse.
Et sic in substantia spiritual! est compositio potentiae et actus, et per consequens
fbrmae et materiae ; si tamen omnis potentia nominetur forma. Sed tamen hoc non
est proprie dictum secundum communem usuir nominum/ SpirUu. a. i, e,, v. fi.
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Self-existent. Hence, their specific nature^ or essence, is in a certain
true sense a potentiality relatively to existence ; since themselves
might never have been, and once were not. When any one of these
entities is produced, something begins to exist; — ^in other words,
existence is received from the First Caose by something. That
iomeihing is, — can be, — ^nothing else save the nature, or essence.
Thus the nature in the instance of finite beings can be compared to
its received existence as a potentiality to its act* It is determined
to be by its being. It follows that there is a real foundation for
conceiving finite entities as metaphysically composed of nature and
existence. Consequently, bodies, or physically composite substances,
exhibit a twofold potentiality and a twofold act. For there is pri-
mordial matter as the first potentiality; and the substantial Form,
as the first act. In addition, there is the composite nature, made
up of matter and Form, as the second potentiality; and existence,
as the second act. The former are physical ; the latter, meta-
physical. Now, pure spiritual finite Forms cannot exhibit the
first potentiality and the first act; but they include the second.
Hence, their specific nature is as a potentiality to the first act of
existence ; and their existence is the first act. But, on the other
hand, the specific nature is the metaphysical Form, and the existent
supposit is the Subject ; consequently, the Form must be the
potentiality and the Subject the act. This, however, is an entire
inversion of the order. It is the act, as we have seen, which
answers to the Form, because both are determining and perfecting ;
while the potentiality answers to the Subject, since both are indeter-
minate and receptive of perfection. Accordingly, St. Thomas takes
care to point out, that it is contrary to the established usage in philo-
sophy to call a potentiality a Form. Here it is that the special diflS-
culty occurs. Now, cannot this divergence be reconciled? Let us see.
As has been remarked before, there are two ways of regarding
the existence of finite entities. The one is, to consider it as actually
conferred in such wise that the entity really exists outside its
causes. It is thus we have hitherto contemplated it. But it may
likewise be considered conceptually or metaphysically, — ^that is to
say, we may conceive of the entity as existentially complete, as
though existing, — just as x>eople speak of the coming man. Thus
the entity is considered as a subsistence, or supposit, which is sub-
stance in its ultimate completorial perfection. So considered, the
conceptual existence, or individuation, or rather the supposit, (which
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396 Causes of Being.
is how the substance would naturally be, if it existed), may be re-
garded as the Subject^ and the specific nature as the Form. It is
precisely this latter which is commonly called the metaphysical
Form, as we shall see later on. Finally, St. Thomas seems to
admit a further division of act into firstly first, secondly first, and
second acts ; — the firstly first, the Form ; the secondly first, exis-
tence ; the second, operation. For, though the division occurs in
an objection, he implies assent to it in his answer ^. In this way
spiritual Intelligences are in themselves the first, are determined to
the second, and are principiants of the third. From the above ex-
position it is concluded that, however the metaphysical composition
of spiritual substances may be conceived, it always remains true that
these pure Forms are acts.
b. Let us now turn to spiritual accidents. That there are such
accidents, no one can doubt who has looked into the workings of
his own soul. For we are conscious that there are thoughts daily
passing through our mind and choices proceeding from our will,
which come and go while we remain substantially the same. They
are not we^ but in us. They are the terms respectively of the
faculties of intellect and will. Now, these faculties are poten-
tialities, indifferent, indeterminate. They are determined, one by
the thought, the other by the volition ; and thought and volition
are accidental Forms. Consequently, these accidental Forms are
acts. It is precisely the same, of course, with the thoughts and
volitions of pure Spirits.
c. Finally, logical Forms in proportion to their nature are like-
wise acts. For the matter of a thought, — all that in it which is
representative of the object, — is in itself indeterminate and capable
of receiving any Form of thought ; hence, the apposite adoption of
the two names in logic. Let us suppose, by way of illustration,
the sensile perception of a horse awakened in the soul ; and that it
becomes a subject of thought. It is plain that the sensile percep-
tion and its object are indeterminate, and indifferent as to how they
are conceived, whether under the Form of a simple idea or of a
Judgment, in the abstract or concrete, as a universal or a singalar
or a particular, as a source of induction or deduction. The mind
cognizes it under one or other of these logical Forms, which acta-
ates, determines, the concept.
* Yerii, Q. ?•, a. 8, obj. lo.
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III. The truth of the Proposition is confirmed by the authority
of St. Thomas. 'As operation or action,' writes this Doctor,
* which is the complement of active potentiality corresponds with
active potentiality; so^ that which corresponds with passive poten-
tiality as its perfection and complement, is called act. Wherefore,
every Form is called act, even separated' — that is, spiritual —
* Fornis themselves ; and God, Who is the Cause of all perfection,
is called First and Pure Act ^.'
Note I. It is worth noticing, that the English word act is not
an exact counterpart of the Latin actua^ nor the English action of
the Latin actio \ as may be seen from the above quotation. In the
present Chapter act is used in its strictly philosophical meaning.
In the illustration of the blacksmith and of human operation, given
in the analysis at the commencement of this Article, act and action
are used in their English acceptation.
Note II. As St. Thomas declares in the quotation just made,
God is Pure Act, — ^that is to say. He is Act that excludes all what-
soever potentiality. Wherefore, as the same Doctor points out, * He
is by His essential Nature Form 2.' But this entire question is
reserved for the ninth Book.
Note III. Any notice of the exemplar Form has been omitted
for a like reason.
PROPOSITION CLXXV.
Every Form is properly a cause, but proportioned to the
nature of the composite.
Pboleodmenon.
In the Enunciation the words, hut proportioned to the nature of
the composite, have been added, because evidently the causality of
the Form must be determined by the nature of the composite. In
physical composites the Form will be physical, and the causality
^ * Sicut potentiae activfte respondet operatio vel actio, in qua completur potentia
activa ; ita etiam illud quod respondet potentiae passivae, quasi perfectio et comple-
mentum, actus dicatur. £t propter hoc omnis forma actus dicitur, etiam ipsae formae
separatae; et illud quod est principium perfectionis totius, quod est Deus, vocatur
actus primus et purus.* i d. xlii, Q. i, a. i, i™.
^ ' Est igitur per essentiam suam forma.* i<^* iii, 2, c.
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398 Causes of Being,
as a consequence physical. These are the primary objects of
inquiry. In metaphysical composites the Form and therefore it«
causality will be metaphysical. Similarly, in logical composites
the Form and its causality will be logical.
Declar^lTion op the Thesis.
The Angelic Doctor gives a proof of the present Proposition,
which shall form the text of its exposition. *Now, we find in
certain Forms/ he writes^ 'a twofold relation; the one to that
which is formed according to them,' — to wit, the composite, — ' as,
for instance, knowledge is related to him who has knowledge ; the
other, a relation to that which is external, — as, for instance, know*
ledge, — ^is related to the knowable. This second relation, however,
is not common to every Form, as the first is. The term Form,
then, imports the first relation only. Hence it is, that Form always
denotes the relation of a cause. For a Form is in some sort cause
of that which is formed according to it ; whether the formation be
by way of inherence, as in intrinsic Forms, or by way of imitation,
as in exemplar Forms ^. Hence, every Form is in one way or
another a cause, even exemplar Forms.
It will be remembered, that in the second Article of the preced-
ing Chapter cause was defined to be a principiant which essentially
and positively communicates being to another entity, or which
produces an existing essence other than its own. Wherefore, two
elements are necessary and sufficient in order that an entity may
be truly denominated a cause, — viz. a distinction between the
cause and the effect, and moreover a communication of Being to
the effect by the cause. Let us now apply the test of this definition
to the various kinds of Forms.
I. We will begin with the physical composite and, first of all,
with material substance ; because the term. Formal Cause, is espe-
cially applied to this latter, as being its principal analogate and
^ * Invenimus autem Id quibusdam formiB duplicem respectum : unum ad id quod
secundum eas formatur ; sicut scientia respicit acientem ; alium ad id quod est extra,
sicut scientia respicit scibile. Hie tamen respectus non est omni fonnae oommnnia,
sicut primus. Hoc igitur nomen forma importat solum primum respectum ; et inde
est quod forma semper notat habitudinem causae. Est enim fonna quodammoda
causa ejus quod secundum ipsam formatur, sive fonnatio fiat per modum inherentiae,
sicut in formis intrinsecis, sive per modum imitationis, ut in formis ezemplaribos.'
Verit. Q, iii, a. 3, c, inf.
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The Formal Cause. 399
also because it is here that the truth of its causality is more
plainly recognised. Wherefore, i. It is plain that the physical com-
posite,— that is to say, the material substance, according to the
present train of thought, — is an entity, or essence, really distinct
from the Form; for the former includes, whereas the latter ex-
cludes, the matter. Furthermore, as will be explained at greater
length later on, the material substance is that which is constituted ;
while the Form is that by which the material substance is consti-
tuted. In the instance of man^ the reality of the distinction
becomes most clear. For the human soul, which is his substantial
Form, is not man ; since the definition of man includes an organ-
ized living body of which the soul is the act. Similarly, the sub-
stantial principle of vegetative and of animal life in plants and
irrational animals is not identical with the plant or animal itself;
because it does not include the organized matter. The same is
plainly to be seen in works of art; for no one would contend that
a statue, for instance, is really the same as its form, since the
former includes the marble as well. ii. Further : It is equally
plain that the substantial Form positively communicates being to
the material substance ; as is clearly seen, if we compare a living
entity with that same entity in death. The same is manifest
a priori ; for the Form actuates the matter and, by actuating the
matter, constitutes the material substance. Therefore, it positively
communicates being to this substance, iii. To these general
elements, which are characteristic of all causes, may be added by
way of supplement that which is peculiar to the material and
formal causes, — viz. that the causality is intrinsic. Thiais equally
evident ; since the Form, like the matter, is a real physical part or
component of the substance.
The same three characteristics are verified in the instance of
accidental Forms, proportionately to the imperfection of their
nature. For, i. Accidental Forms are really and entitatively dis-
tmct from the subject which they inform. Thus, whiteness in a
iDhite man is something physically distinct from the substantial
nature of man ; otherwise, every man would necessarily be white.
Similarly, to be grey-headed or bald is really distinguishable from
the old man himself; if, it were not so, he would have been grey-
headed or bald from his cradle. As a fact, accidents are repeatedly
changing in one and the same Subject. Thus, living things are
obnoxious to constant change in height, size, shape, colour, and the
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400 ' Causes of Being,
rest. In like manner, the same volume of water is now cold, now
hot ; the same bar of Iron is bard at one time, soft at another.
But these things could not be, unless these accidents were phy-
sically distinct from their subject, ii. The accidental Form posi-
tively communicates being to the accidental composite, — in other
words, to the integral entity composed of the substance and its
accident. For the substance has received something real which it
had not before, as in the instance of warm water ; or it has at the
first received something real which is an addition to its own essen-
tial nature. Thus, a dog in its specific essence is indifferent to any
particular colour. Thia dog is black and tan ; and such particular
accidental Form gives to it an additional perfection. The same is
discernible in spiritual accidents. A thought, for instance, is a per-
fection,— immediately of the intellectual faculty, mediately of the
soul. No one would maintain that he gained nothing by a fresh
thought or volition. Yet it is not he; otherwise, whenever it
came and went, he would oome and go. iii. Lastly : The nature of
an accident is of itself sufficient evidence that its causality is
intrinsic ; for it has an essential tendency to inhere in the Subject
of which it is the accident. Hence the well-known description of
accident^ that it is Being of Being (ens entis).
2. Similar characteristics are proportionally discoverable in the
metaphysical Form. For^ if by process of intellectual abstraction
we consider the supposit or person as the Subject and the specific
nature as the Form ; it is evident that the latter is at aU events
conceived as distinct from the former. Later on we shall see that
there is a real minor distinction ^ between the two. It is no less
plain that, thus conceived, the specific nature communicates a sub-
stantial perfection by which it is assimilated to a definite Proto-
typal Idea in the Mind of God^ and receives its specific determina-
tion and perfection of nature. Lastly : It cannot be called in
question, that this specific nature is intrinsic in the supposit. If,
on the other hand, by metaphysical analysis we divide an essence
into its material and formal parts, — speaking logically, into its
proximate genus and specific difference ; it will easily appear that
the latter is conceptually distinct from the former, that it gives a
real being to an entity conceptually distinguished from itself, and
that it is intrinsic to such entity. Thus, for instance, animal in
* See Proposition LXV.
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The Formal Cause. 401
man is only conceptually distinguishable from rational ; though in
themselves the two are really distinct. Now, taking animal and
rational in the abstract, it is obvious that rational adds to animal a
real perfection which the latter has not in its own nature ; while
man^ which is the entity conceptually produced, (so to say), or
constituted, is distinct from rational^ which is the metaphysical
Form. Once more: Evidently, in man rational is intrinsic in
animal.
After a similar manner logical Forms, in proportion to their
nature, exhibit the same three characteristics. They are distinct,
as logical entities, from the matter of the thought^ (all that is
representative of the object) ; since the same object may be con-
ceived under many different Forms. Furthermore : These Forms
communicate a logical entity to the conceptual representation,
which is a real perfection in its own order. Finally : Such Form
is intrinsic in the idea or cognition.
Division of Forms.
I. All Forms are either material or spiritual. Material Forms
enter into the composition of material substances, or bodies ;
spiritual Forms either subsist of themselves or qualify spiritual
substances.
II. Material as well as spiritual Forms are either substantial or
accidental. All bodily substances whatsoever are constituted by
their substantial Form. Simple bodies and compound bodies
whether inanimate or animate, — elements, plants, animals^ — all
have their substantial Form by which they are specifically what
they are. Spiritual substantial Forms, with one exception, subsist
in themselves and do not enter into intrinsic and substantial union
with matter. Consequently, they are substances in every way
complete. The one exception is the human soul, which is lowest
among spiritual Forms ; for, though a spiritual substance, it
is created to inform a body. Hence, it is an incomplete substance
in itself; since, in common with animal Forms, it possesses
faculties of nutrition, growth, sense, imagination, passion, which it
cannot reduce to act except by the help of organs of the body.
Material accidental Forms are found in greater or less abundance,
proportionally to complexity of structure, in all bodies. Aptitude
to inhere in substance either immediately or mediately is a part of
VOL. II. D d
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402 Causes- of Being.
their essential nature. Spiritual accidental ForiM inhere in spirituid
substances, but do not enter into physical composition with their
Subjects. Such are the faculties of the human soul and the
respective acts of these faculties. Under accidentfi are included
modes.
Each one of these just mentioned is properly and physically a
Form.
III. Metaphorical Forma are conceptual, yet founded in reality.
They are either the specific nature of an entity, conceived as
informing and determining the supposit, or they are the specific
difference^ (as logicians would call it), actuating conceptually the
proximate genus.
IV. Logical Forma are the moulds, shapes, or again laws, of
thought. They go by the name of Second Intentions.
V. There are Forms of inAerion, such as are all those hitherto
mentioned; and Forms by imitationy which are designated as
exemplar Forms. Of the latter no account will be taken here, as
they will have a Chapter to themselves.
VI. God is the Form of Forms, — ^absolute Form, because absolute
Act. But He will not be directly considered in the present
Chapter; because all such questions are reserved for the ninth
Book.
In the following Articles of the present Chapter the principal
place will be given to material Forms; for it is in them that
formal causality primarily manifests itself. Wherefore, first of all
will be established the existence, then the eduction out of the
potentiality of matter, then the order, after that the causality,
finally the unicity, of material substantial Forms. Next in sac-
cession will follow an inquiry into the nature of the metaphysical
Form. After that will be treated the question touching accidental
Forms, their causality, effects, eduction from the potentiality of
their Subject. Lastly, the nature of modes will be considered; as
inclusive of artificial Forms. Two Appendices will be added ; the
one, on the teaching of the Angelic Doctor concerning the genesis
of the material universe; the other, on the signification of the
terms, Form, formal^ formally^ — matter , material, materially.
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The Formal Cause. 403
AETICLE* 11.
The existenoe of material substantial Forms.
B7 a material substantial Form is understood one of the two
intrinsic constituents of bodies, which informs and actuates the
matter or second intrinsic constituent and^ t(^ether with this
latter, constitutes the material substance. Now, the first question
that naturally occurs is this : Are there such things in the material
world as these substantial Forms? It would obviously be useless
to inquire with much labour and expenditure of time into their
nature, causality, production, effects, and the like ; if tiiere should
chance to be any scepticism as to their existence or reality.
Hence tbe Schoolmen are wont to say, generally of any theme,
that the primordial question is, whether there is such a thing,
{pnmo quaerUur an 8^it)\ then afterwards comes the question,
what sort of a thing it is, (deinde quaeritur quid sit). The first
point, therefore, which we have to determine is, the real existenoe
of these Forms in nature.
Previously, however, to entering on the proposed discussion, it
will be of advantage to clear away two difficulties, one of which
affects the legitimacy of the discussion, while the other indicates
a doubt as to the possibility of proof.
First of all, it may be doubted whether the whole question
bearing upon the material and formal causes properly belongs to
the metaphysical science, and not rather to physics ; since it really
amounts to nothing more or less than an inquiry into the nature
and constitution of physical entities. The last remark is true ; but
then it diould be remembered, (as there has been occasion to notice
more than once before), that the same reality can be the material
object of more than one science, provided that the formal object is
distinct, — in other words, provided that each science regards the
material object from a distinct point of view. Now, physics con-
templates material substances, accordingly as these are patent to
sensile perception and are subject to experiment and observation ;
while metaphysics contemplates them in their essential nature, and
in so far as they are included under the universal principles of
Being. But among these principles no one, for reasons already
stated, holds a more important place than the principle of causality
in all the breadth of the term. Since, then, the material and
D d 2
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404 Causes of Being.
formal causes are two out of the four ; it is plain that an inves-
tigation of them must form a necessary part of metaphysics, whose
alone it is to determine the essential nature of all causation. To
this may be added that, since deduction has been almost banished
of late years from the physical disciplines, we no longer posseas
that which may be strictly called physical science ; consequentlj,
it is more than ever incumbent on metaphysics to examine into,
and determine these momentous problems. Lastly, — and this of
itself is enough to settle the point, — ^the Philosopher discusses
the question of these causes in his MetapAysics as well as in his
Physics.
The other difficulty touches, as we have said, on the possibility
of proving the existence of substantial material Forms. It is urged
that we can know nothing certainly which is not patent to the
senses. But it is universally admitted that both primordial matter
and the substantial Form are altogether beyond the reach of the
senses, and are only present to these through the medium of the
accidents. For answer, it is granted that matter and Form are
not objects of sensile perception, and that (^ themselves the senses
exclusively represent the accidents of substance. But the Ante-
cedent must be peremptorily rejected as utterly false. It simply
ignores another and primary factor in the acquisition of human
knowledge, — the intuitive faculty, — or else misapprehends its
native operation. But an explicit refutation of this sophism would
betray us into a purely ideological inquisition, which is outside the
range of metaphysics. Let it suffice, then, to say, that the specific
operations and properties of bodies are patent to the senses by the
accidents; and that from these, by help of the principle of causality
established in the fourth Book, it is comparatively easy to deduce
the existence of these two intrinsic constituents of material sub-
stances. If, however, there should chance to be a reader of these
Volimaes, who refuses to acknowledge the interaction of secondary
causes in natural phenomena, and still clings to the unphilosophic
doubtings of Hume, let him spare himself the profitless labour of
proceeding further in our company and retire writhin the limits of
his professed agnosticism. Or rather let him employ himself in
explaining to himself and to the common sense of his fellow-meu,
how on the principles of his adopted scepticism he can rationally
account for the astronomical predictions of almanacs, for hereditary
transmission and selection in physiology, for the computations of
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The Formal Cause, 405
geological time and the formation of strata^ for the distinction
between brute matter and vegetable or animal life, and for the
personality of human action.
PROPOSITION CLXXVI.
Substantial Forms exist in nature.
I. The first Argument in proof of the present Thesis is based
upon the facts of consciousness and of experience. We are
supremely conscious that there is something within us, which
links on the past, (so far as memory reaches), to the present in such
wise as to give us fullest assurance and certainty that each one of
us, during the whole of that defined period, remains personally
identical with his own self. This consciousness of personal identity
does not forsake us even in our dreams. However strange and
inooDgruous the phantasmata which have been awakened in the
soul through the influence of material condition or otherwise, the
Me invariably accompanies them. "We never dream that we are
not ourselves or without ourselves. It is always I, — ^not another, —
that wend my way through dreamland. So imperative is this vital
self-consciousness as to compel each of us with an irresistible
impulsion to acknowledge as his own a long series of thoughts,
words, and actions, which has been momently extending during
a course of many years. In not a few instances men would be
glad to rid themselves of the sense of responsibility, if they could ;
but they cannot. The spontaneous judgment cannot be driven
from their mind, — ' It was I thought this, I that said that, I that
did so and so ; ' even though these facts have taken place many
years before. Again: I am conscious of sensations, feelings,
passions, imaginations, thoughts, volitions, — passing and repassing;
and I know all along that they are mine. I am conscious of life,
and it is my life. Moreover, I am conscious that I have a body or,
at least) of internal modifications which are, as it were, echoes of a
body. I feel pain, and local pain. I am conscious of local move-
ment. I am out of breath. My senses help me. I see, feel, hear,
myself; and the internal senses correspond with the external.
I am sensible that I see myself; I feel that I feel ; to speak and to
hear are to me identical. Thus I come to know with a certainty
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4o6 Causes of Being.
which no philosophistic sophisms can weaken, that I ha^e a body
which is truly mine, and that, spite of changes about which
physicists are copious, it has somehow or other been mine for so
long as I can remember. I can even point to scars in it, that are
the result of incidents in my childhood. Further: I am con-
scious that it functions at my will in many cases, — ^that its organs
of sense, nutrition, locomotion, are organs by which I perceive,
assimilate, move. It and all its parts are my exclusive possession.
Tet I know that the matter out of which it was formed was not
always mine, and that at my death, (when the soul leaves it), it
will belong, for a time at least, to other material substances.
Consciousness, then, testifies to the existence in myself of a ^iritual
Mometking which is lord paramount, — source of life to the body, —
cause of its specific nature, — origin of thought, wiU, feelings
sensation, imagination. But this same consciousness teaches me
something more. I am intimately aware of certain psychical and
corporal phenomena in niyself, that are ever changing like the
figures in a kaleidoscope. Thought succeeds to thought^ volition
to volition, sensation to sensation^ passion to passion, smallness to
size, colour to colour ; for eveoi these last, though immediate objects
of sensile perception, consciousness refers to me. Of all these and
the like I am conscious ; yet I am equally conscious that the ne
remains the same through all such modifications, gathering all np
into its own unity. The former are in no wise essential to my
being ; the Me is. Wherefore, this spiritual something is no mere
accident, — whether function or act.
Such are the &cts, which consciousness supplies, firom whieh we
may presently draw our metaphysical conclusion. Let us now
betake ourselves to the common testimony of experience, which will
afford a striking confirmation of the fiicts of consciousness. We
find our fellow-men universally subject to the same impression as
ourselves; and this their conviction about themselves we instinc*
tively share with them. There is not one sane man that we oome
across through the whole current of our lives, who does not speak
and act from day to day and from year to year with a certain and
resistless conviction that it is he^ — the same — , all the way through,
and that all those word and acts are chargeable to him. Nor
have we, his friends and acquaintances^ any m<H*e doubt about the
matter than himself. All the proceedings of social, civic, poll-
tical, life are irremoveably based on this conviction. You could not
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The Formal Cause, 407
JQ^y hang a man for a marder oommitted many yean before,
unless you are sure that it was he, the same, who ^ then did it. It
would be positively cruel to put the executioner's rope round the
neck of the mere temporary function of a brain*bladder. How
coald a tradesman claim the payment of a yearly account from his
costomer, if this latter were quite another individual from the one
who had originally ordered the goods ? His only chance would be
to enforce ready-money transactions ; and even then^ he must be
expeditious with his change and receipt, for fear lest the person-
ality should be transferred in the interim. Yet^ how has our friend
or acquaintance altered from the time we first knew him ! He was
a youth then, with all the charms of life's spring-tide upon him.
Now he is in declining years, with the furrows of care on his face
and thin grey hairs upon his head. Then he was open ; now re-
served. Once he could run, and climb, and run with the foremost ;
now he moves slowly on with the help of a stick. His character
and appearance have undergone a marked change; nevertheless, we
do not entertain a mementos doubt of his identity with the com-
panion of our boyhood. So, then, experience reveals the same two
factors in human life as those to which consciousness bears witness ;
viz. a something permanent and unchanging in our feUow-men, and
other things that are ever changing. Once more : Experience leads
us to an acquaintance with death. We visit the body of some
relative or friend laid out for burial. It is not possible to mistake
the body. The form, the features, the size, certain bodily pecu-
liarities, are all there ; but what a change ! No voice, — ^fixed,
glassy, eyes, — ears that cannot hear, and hands that cannot beckon,
and legs without motion, — ^the body pale^ stiff, icy cold. Life has
gone out of it. When we steal softly to the chamber of death, we
go to gaze on a corpse, — ^not on him.
Now to look at these fsusts of consciousness and experience meta-
physically : — It would appear from what has been stated, that in
each and every man there are certain real entities which we call
accidents^ because they only happen to the man. They come, and
they go, and they change, unintermittingly throughout the course
of life. These may, therefore, be eliminated, as being irrelevant to
the present discussion. But^ along with all these giving to them
their temporary unity of collection^ there is something that persists
one and the same, — ^the apparent root and Subject of these acci-
dents. This something persistent is not psychical only, but bodily
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4o8 Causes of Being.
as well ; for in common estimation it is always the same body of
the same soul. Such bodily identity, so far as it is independent,
has its sole foundation in the apportionment of primordial matter.
We may, consequently, eliminate this element likewise ; more par-
ticularly as the question about it has been already discussed in the
previous Chapter. So much, however, is plain, that a man is not a
rational animal because he has a body; since irrational animals,
plants, minerals, have bodies too ; and, moreover, the bodily part is
ever changing owners. Laptly, if such were the case, a corpse
would be a rational animal. There is^ then, another substantial
constituent in man, which gives to the entire composite its specific
nature, — in other words, which causes man to be a rational animal.
It is principle of life, thought, will, feeling, passion, sensation,
imagination ; so that, when it leaves the body at the moment of
death, these faculties, one and all, leave with it. It is moreover,
substantially united to the body; so that, before it actuated the
embryo, this latter was not a man, and after it leaves, the body
ceases to be a man. This union, is so intimate, that the said sub-
stantial constituent gives life and faculty to every organ, to every
portion of the body. It is everywhere within the limit of that body;
and is the source of its vegetative and sensitive life. Such sub-
stantial composite is called the soul. Now, what can be surely
gathered from these premisses touching the causality of the soul in
the constitution of the human composite ? Thus much : It, and it
alone, actuat.es the primordial matter which is the ultimate in the
organized body that has been prepared for it. It is the only other
substantial constituent ; and it alone causes the composite to assume
the specific nature of a man. But this is precisely what is meant
by a substantial Form. Neither will it do to object that such
union is not intrinsic or substantial ; because, first of all, were such
the case, the soul could not give substantial life to the body, nor
would all vital operations necessarily depend upon it. Then, in the
second place, the Me that thinks and wills and feels would be only
adjacent to the body that represents it to sense. Hence, there
might be a duality, but no unity such as the Me postulates. The
conclusion, then, is certain, that the human soul is the substantial
Form of the body ^.
* This is one of those very rare instances in which a metaphysical truth, by reason
of its intimate connection with the Divine Revelation, has been defined by the Catho-
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The Formal Cause. 409
On the strength of this conclusion it is inferred that all bodies
are similarly actuated by a substantial Form. As to all living
bodies, whether animal or vegetable, the deduction seems to be
irrefragable, since the facts and consequent premisses are identical.
It is true that the l^uman soul is spiritual and, in consequence, has
faculties of thought and will, neither of which can be univocally
predicated of the souls of animals or plants. But then it must be
remembered that it is not the substantial Form of the body in
virtue of these faculties ; on the contrary it exercises these faculties
independently of the body. Any sane psychology must reject, (as
the Doctors of the School rejected), the materialistic opinion of
some modern physicists, that intellect and will either reside in, or
function by means of, certain special organs ^. Accordingly, con-
sidering the human soul exclusively and formally as the act of the
body, these spiritual faculties have nothing to do with the question.
So then, for all that concerns the actuation of matter, the instances of
man, animal, and plant, are identical. In each there is a principle
of life from which as from their source proceed certain faculties
common to the three. In each the loss of that principle of life is
death, with its accompanying loss of the aforesaid faculties ; and
then the substance ceases to be that which it had been before,
turning into something else. In each this hidden principle of life
actuates primordial matter and organizes a body proper to itself.
Secondly, the same inference includes inanimate bodies. For,
though we are no longer in presence of life, we are nevertheless
cognizant of a substantial element that guarantees to each body its
lie Church as of faUh, The Council of Yienne in a.d. 131 i decreed that * whoever
henceforth should obstinately presume to aasert, defend, or hold, that the rational or
intellectual bouI is not the Form of the human body of itself and essentially, la to be
accounted for a heretic' (quisquis deinceps aaserere, defendere, seu tenere, pertinaciter
praesumpserit, quod anima rationalis seu intelleotiva non sit forma corporis humani
per se et esaentialiter, tanquam haereticus sit censendus). This Canon was afterwards
confirmed by Leo X., in the Lateran CouncU, A.D. 1513, and has been again confirmed
in our own time by Pius UL., in the Brief Etenim non nne dolore, published June
15th, A.D. 1857.
^ There are persons who have been deceived into this fiUse opinion by certain phy-
sical tBuBtB, — such as, for instance, that the brain gets tired by long study, and that an
energetic act of the will has a sensible effect on the action of the heart. But they
mistake the cause. The tired head is occasioned by the efforts of the imagination in
evoking those sensile phantasmata, without the aid of which the soul, so long as it is
united to the body, cannot exercise the faculty of thought ; and the pulsation of the
heart is accelerated, not by the act of the will, but by the impulse of some accompany-
ing passion or feeling.
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4 1 6, Causes of Being.
own specific nature. These lifeless substances, too, have something^
transient and something stable. Size, shape, colour, softness, hard-
ness, heat and cold, may change and come and go ; yet the sub-
stantial thing, whatever it may be, preserves its essential identity.
Whence comes it, then^ that a diamond is always diamond^ — xtok
always iron, — sulphur always sulphur^ — hydrogen always hydrogen,
— to whatever accidental changes they may be exposed, until by
chemical combinations corruption has taken place and a new sub-
stance has been evolved? Each has its own perfectly distinct
nature^ or essence. Whence has it derived such essence ? Not &om
matter; as has been repeatedly proved already. Not firom any
accident ; for it is ridiculous to suppose that a mere accident can
cause the specific nature of a substance. Thus the conclusion is
peremptory that, as in man and in living things there is a substan-
tial Form which actuates the matter and gives to the composite its
speciBc nature ; so, inanimate bodies are constituted in their specific
nature by a substantial Form.
The above argument, drawn from the analogy which all other
material substances bear to man, in so far forth as the latter is oon-
sidered exclusively in the light of a material composite, needs further
enucleation. There are two points, then, in the said analogy, which
seem fully to justify the present conclusion.
i. The first point is based upon the facts given under the second
argument in proof of the hundred and thirty-ninth Proposition. It
has been there shown, that there are ceaseless interchanges between
bodily substances, — ^a continuous series of corruptions and genera-
tions,— which are verified in the instance of inanimate, as much as
in that of living, bodies. By the term, interchange^ is meant, the
passage of matter from one substance to another, and its return to
a substance specifically the same as the one from which it origin-
ally started. Thus, for instance, the matter of an inanimate sub-
stance such as carbon, together with the special properties of the
element, passes into some vegetable substance, thence * into an
animal, thence into man ; and it finally returns to the inanimate
substance of carbon with which it conmienced« Now^ man partici-
pates to the full in this interchange. He assumes to himself, by
way of nutrition, from the matter that is in aninaals, in vegetables,
in inanimate substances. Moreover, corruptions and generations
follow precisely the same law in his case as in that of all other
material substances^ so far as mere vegetable and animal life are con-
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censed. If, then, (as is moBt certain), the determining and regu-
lative element in the midst of these substantial changes of matter
is the substantial Form, in the instance of man; it reasonably
follows that the determining and regulative principle in the midst
of precisely similar changes should be also the substantial Form, in
the instance of other material substances.
ii. Man is subject to material alterations, — that is to say, acci-
dental changes. This, again^ he shares in common with all other
material substances. All bodies, inanimate as well as animate, are
subject to the same law. It behoves us, then, to inquire why such
accidents are individuated. Why is the redness of hair ^ for instance,
attributed to James f Why are such a particular j^(?r»» of nose and
colour of the eyes attributed to the same individual ? There must
be a principle of appropriation and of unity somewhere. Tet, it
cannot be in the matter alone for the reasons already stated. It
cannot be in any accident ; if for no other reason^ because it in
turn would have to account for its own appropriation. The ques-
tion, then, must again be put : What is the principle of this same-
ness or identity that reduces under its own unity, in the instance
of every material substance, these ever-changing accidental pheno-
mena ? If in man it is the substantial Form ; it will likewise be
the substantial Form in the instance of all other bodies. However,
let thus much suffice for the present ; since we shall have to con-
sider the argument at greater length under its more general
relation.
To reduce, then, this first argument into logical form : — ^Man, as
man, consists of a substantial Form which is an intrinsic cause in
his substantial composition. Therefore, h pari^ all other material
substances are constituted in their specific nature by a substantial
Form. The Consequent is proved, as follows. All material sub-
stances, as being subject to corruption and generation, (which are
substantial changes), as well as to alterations, (which are accidental
changes), are in these respects under one common law, or order, and
suppose a similar substantial constitution.
II. The second argument in &vour of the present Proposition
is derived from the existence of properties in bodies. The term,
property, is here taken in ita logical sense as expressive of an acci-
dent which is common to all and each of a given logical whole. If
it belongs to a generic whole, it will be common to many species,
yet to none outside the genus; if it belongs exclusively to a
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412 Causes of Being.
species, it will be common to. each and every individual contained
under that species, but to none other. Speaking metaphyBically,
a property is that which, though no part of the essence of an entity,
nevertheless flows from that essence. As the metaphysical whole
is the ultimate species, the generic properties would necessarily
accompany the material part of the essence. Both kinds of pro-
perties^ however^ flow from the integral essence; though in different
order. An instance of a specific property in man is to be found in
the reasoning faculty. Neither angels nor brutes use the syllogism ;
though the causes why they do not use them are, in each case,
diametrically opposite. An instance of a generic property in man
is the faculty of sensation, which is common to all animals. The
present argument embraces both kinds of properties^ though
primarily the specific.
That there are accidents of this kind throughout the realm of
nature, no one can reasonably call in question. Thus, — ^to take a
few examples, — the faculties of speech and of true laughter are pecu-
liar to man. Its curiously constructed tail is a characteristic of the
rattle-snake. It is a property of mammals that they should be
viviparous ; of birds, that they should be oviparous ; of serpents,
that they should be oviviparous. The rhomboidal or polygonal scales
of the ganoidians^-'-oi the sturgeon for instance, — are a property.
That exogenous trees should form their stem by successive additions
and that their seeds should be dicotyledonous and leaves retica-
lated^ is another instance of a property. So is the stinging faculty
in a nettle. Among properties of inanimate bodies may be men-
tioned the cubical crystals of salt, — ^the octohedral crystals of alum^ —
the light specific gravity and inflammability of hydrogen^ — the combui-
tibility of phosphorus, — ^the caustic activity of nitrate of silver, — the
strong attractive power of fluorine, (such that^ according to general
opinion^ it has never yet been isolated), — and the remarkable blue
colour which is the invariable companion of sulphate of copper. In
some of these instances, particularly in those which belong to the
external form^ the property may be destroyed, (so far as it exists in
act), by mechanical means ; but it nevertheless remains potentially
in the substance, ready to become actual when occasion offers.
The facts established, the question naturally arises : Whence
comes in bodies this difference in their relation to different acci-
dents? Why is it that, in the case of all material substances,
some accidents will come and go and come again without interfer-
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The Formal Cause, 413
ing with the nature of their Subject ; while others, on the contrary,
seem to be so completely rooted in the material substance which
^ey modify, that they remain immoveable for so long as this latter
lasts ? There must be some intrinsic cause for such a difference.
Now, speaking within the limits of the order of nature, there are
only three possible causes, intrinsic to bodies, of this inalienability
of a property. Either it is the result of some other inherent acci-
dent ; or it owes its existence to the matter ; or it must be traced
to an intimate connection of the accident with some other sub-
stantial constituent of its Subject. If any other member can be
added to this disjunctive Major, let it be produced. Meanwhile,
the completeness of the disjunction may be taken for granted. But
it cannot depend on some other inherent accident as its ultimate
principle; because this second accident must in turn depend on
something else^ and thus the question is only driven a step back.
It may indeed be, that one accident is inseparably connected with
another; as it would seem, for instance, that rarefaction in most
substances is inseparable from heat. But this would only send us
back to the heat ; for the inseparability of the one is the insepara-
bility of the other, — that is to say, if the heat is inseparable from
the Subject, the accompanying rarefaction will be so in like manner,
and vice versa. Therefore, the question must return : Why, (if it
be so), is the heat inseparable? No accident, then, can be a.de-
quate cause of the phenomena now under consideration. Neither
can the cause be discovered in matter which, as we have seen in the
previous Chapter, is of itself indifferently susceptive of any Form,
equally disposed towards all. Consequently, it remains that there
should be some other substantial constituent of bodies besides matter,
— a constituent which determines the specific nature of the entity,
and brings along with it certain accidents that spring from such
nature as from their source and are, accordingly, naturally insepa-
rable from it. This substantial principiant has been called, at
least since the days of Plato and Aristotle, the substantial Form.
The above argument receives confirmation from another physical
fact. A given material substance behaves itself, so to say, differ-
ently towards different accidents. Of such accidents as it receives
from the action of an external agent, some are so antipathetic to
its nature that it receives them, as it were, under protest, and gets
rid of them as soon as it is left to itself. Thus, a bar of iron is
elevated to a white heat under the action of a furnace ; but no
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414 Causes of Being.
sooner baa it been remoTed from tbe aggressive inflnenoe of the fire,
tban it begins to return to its normal temperature. So, it is
possible to rednoe a ga9^ by tbe application of snffieient piesBure
and of cold, to a liquid, and even to a 9olid, state ; but no sooner is
the said gas withdrawn from the compulsory force of these agents,
than it returns to its former condition of an aeriform fluid. There
is a striking instance of tbe same thing in the vegetable world.
Among the climbing plants the convolvulus and scarlet-runner
twine round tiieir supports against the sun ; the hap and honeysucklej
with the sun. The experiment has been tried of inverting the
direction of the spiral rings of tbe stem ; but it has been invariably
found that the plant will undo the new arrangement and return to
its normal convolutions as soon as it is abandoned to its own spon-
taneous energy. But other accidents a material substance wel-
comes, as it were; often, indeed, they are congenital with it.
Thus, east-iron has a natural tendency to brittleness^ — nitrogen^ to
escape all perception of the senses, — ^the inspissated sap of seam-
many, (convolvulus seammoniay is cathartic. It may possibly be
objected to tbe above examples, that they are properties, and not
mere accidents, of their respective substances ; and, — to confess the
truth, — in the instance of inanimate bodies, it is often difficult to
draw the line between the two. Let us go, then, for a clearer
illustration to the highest order of living bodies. It is indisputable,
that the curliness or particular colour of the human hair ia purely
accidental; yet, if a man naturally has straight hair, not all the
curling-tongs in the world will efibct a permanent change; and
should a young lady with naturally black hair change by diemical
processes the native colour to an auburn or golden hue, nature will
quarrel with the arrangement, as soon as ever it is allowed its own
course. There would seem to be no way of adequately accounting
for these and the like phenomena, unless we acknowledge die
existence of a substantial Form, attractive of tbe one accident^
repulsive of the other.
III. A THIRD i posteriori argument in fitvour of the present
Proposition is derived from the natural apparent subordination
of accidents belonging to one and the same body. It must be
again owned that it is somewhat difficult to establish the £Eust of
such dependence in the lower orders of material being, owing to
the comparatively little we know about them. It may possibly be,
for instance, that there is a latent interdependence between the
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The Formal Cause. 415
power of attraction and the polarity of the magnet ; although (the
statement is made with the greatest diffidence and under correction)
it does not seem as though such interdependence has been esta-
blished as yet. In like manner^ accidents of external form, colour,
smell, taste, hardness or softness^ and the like^ may be interlinked
in a manner of which we, who are the veriest novices in the
laboratory of nature, have no suspicion. Now, it is obvious that
we cannot legitimately construct a demonstration on mere sur*
miaes ; for premisses that are themselves uncertain must conclude in
the uncertain. There is this advantage, nevertheless^ in the in-
dubitable fiicts which present themselves to our notice ; and it is
this. If they do not assist the present aigument, they must
subserve the argument that will immediately follow. Either such
accidents are independent of each other or they are mutually
dependent. If the latter, they confirm the Minor of the present
syllogism ; if the former, they confirm the Minor of the next proof.
They, therefore, assume the force of a dilemma ; and thus establish
the truth of the Proposition under either alternative. Somewhat
more, however, has to be added. There are facts which indicate a
dependence of the accidents informing the same substance on each
other, which are sufficient to create a strong presumption in &vour
of such interdependence, even though we are wholly ignorant of the
connection. Allusion is here made to the correlation of accidents
in an entire class of bodies. In connection with this phase of the
argument much valuable and interesting information is to be found
in the section on Correlation, of Orowthy comprised in the fifbh
Chapter of Mr. Darwin's well-known Book On the Origin ofSpeciee,
The author does not pretend to have discovered the cause of these
correlations, though in certain cases he, as it were, tentatively
suggests a reason ; but he testifies to their existence, which is all
we want ' The nature of the bond of correlation,' be writes,' is
very frequently quite obscure. M. Is. Geoffrey St. Hilaire has
forcibly remarked, that certain malconformations very frequently,
and that others rarely co-exist, without our being able to assign
any reason. What can be more singular than the relation between
blue eyes and deafness in cats, and the tortoise-shell colour with
the female sex ; the feathered feet and skin between the outer toes
in pigeons, and the presence of more or less down on the yoimg
birds when first hatched, with the future colour of their plumage ;
or, again, the relation between the hair and teeth in the naked
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41 6 Causes of Being.
Turkish dog, though here probably homology comes into play?
With respect to this latter case of correlation, I think it can hardly
be accidental, that if we pick out the two orders of mammalia
which are most abnormal in their dermal covering' (skin), ' yiz.
Cetacea (whales) and Edentata (armadilloes, scaly ant-eaters, &c.),
that these are likewise the most abnormal in their teeth.' Then
follow many curious instances of similar phenomena in plants,
which are well worth reading ; and the author concludes as follows :
* Hence we see that modifications of structure, viewed by syste-
matists as of high value, may be wholly due to unknown laws of
correlated growth, and without being, as far as we can see, of the
slightest service to the species.' There is another well-known
instance of this unaccountable correlation of accidents in the human
species, — the coincidence of white hair with pink eyes and defective
sight in the albino.
But we have undoubted facts, upon which the present deduction
rests, revealed to us in the higher forms of material being. In man
the will depends upon the mind. No one can love or appetize the
unknown ; just as, in like manner, no one can detest or avoid the
unknown. An act of the will, therefore, presupposes knowledge or
perception; which means, in other words, that the will is de-
pendent on the intellect. Now, if there be a dependence; such
dependence cannot be attributed to the accidents (the two faculties)
themselves. On the contrary, of themselves, considered exclusively
as accidental Forms, they would claim independence of each other;
since one Form is independent of another /wr^ 8tio. White does not
depend on 9oft^ or sweet on brittle. In like manner, the will would
not depend on the intellect, if there were no fundamental princi-
piant to which the correlation of the two may be traced. But this
principiant cannot be an accident, for the same reasons as before.
Matter is out of the question. Therefore, it must be the substantial
Form. If we stretch the two terms, mind and will^ so as to include
their analogical significates, — those obumbrations of the said facul-
ties, discoverable in certain higher kinds of animals, — ^the force of
the argument is the same.
IV. A FOURTH a posteriori argument is derived from the certain
fact, that unsubordinated and independent accidents are seen to
coalesce in one entity. Thus, for instance, the union of sweetness
with the cubical crystalline form and with stickiness in sugar is
evidently not the result (so far as we know) of any sort of depen-
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The Formal Cause. 417
dence on the part of these three accidents ; for in common salt
there is the sanie crystalline form without the same adhesiveness
and with a taste the opposite of sweet. Nor are these accidents
fortuitously united, seeing that they are always the joint com-
panions of sugar. In like manner the co-existence of a highly
developed nerve-sifstem with the vertebrate structv/re of the human
body is justly to be regarded as an instance of two unsubordinated
accidents united together, since they have no necessary connection
with each other. The complicated nervous system has no necessary
connection with the vertebral structure of the body ; otherwise, the
former would always accompany the latter. Yet such is not the
case ; for there is one section of the Vertebrates, (the Amphioxm or
Laneelet, a sort of lamprey), which is without a skull and is destitute
of the five brain-bladders, its central nervous system being repre-
sented, according to Professor Haeckel, by * this most simple form,
that of a cylindrical tube, the anterior and posterior ends of which
are almost equally simple, and the thick wall of which encloses
a narrow canal ^.' In a word, the central nervous system of this
species of lamprey is limited to a simple back-chord protected by
its surrounding sheath. So, again, the union of a high order of
instinct with a definite organization and nervous system is another
instance of the meeting in one entity of accidents that are indepen-
dent of each other. That they are independent, is proved by the
logic of facts. For among the placental mammals we find the
armadillo and sloth on the one hand, the elephant, dog, cat, on
the other ;*-the former types of stupidity, the latter of sagacious
instinct. Again : the arthropods have a much lower orgpanization
and more simple nerve-system than the vertebrates ; nevertheless,
among the former are to be found the harvesting ant and trap-
door spider (of both of which Mr. Moggridge has given us such an
interesting history^), the termite, (or so-called white ant), the
bee. Of the termites Dr. Nicholson observes, * No higher de-
velopment could well be imagined amongst creatures devoid of the
higher psychical endowments^', i.e. of a spiritual s6ul with its cor-
responding faculties. He adds ' that at least three distinct and in-
dependent families of Insects have attained to this stage, — namely,
the Termites, the Bees, and the true Ants *.^ It is impossible to
* The Evolution of Man, V. i, p. 418.
* Harvesting Ante and trapdoor Spiders. Reeve & Co.
' A Manual of Zoology, ch. zzxiz. p. 346. * Ibidem.
VOL. II. EC
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41 8 Causes of Being.
read the account given by Mr. Moggridge of the harvesting ant
and trap-door spider and that given by Dr. Nicholson of the ter-
mites, without astonishment at the height to which animal instinct
can reach. The instance of the bees it is needless to corroborate by
authority ; since it has been for ages the common theme of poets
and moralizers. Therefore, there is no necessary connection between
animal instinct and any particular bodily structure and organism or
nerve-system, — a point worthy of careful note, especially on the
part of those who are so simple as to take any heed of certain
modern psychological dreams. But again : The colour, smell, shape
of a rose are accidents which exhibit no signs, so far as we know, of
interdependence ; for the colours vary^ sometimes on the same plant,
while roses of the same colour are found to differ in their scent
In like manner^ apart from those of the Channel Islands there are
four leading breeds of cattle at present in this country. Of these
the Eiiglish short-horns are characterized in accordance with their
name ; but occasionally instances will occur of a marked prolonga-
tion of the horn. Some are white, some roan^ some red^ others red
and white. The Scotch Galloways are polled, — that is to say, have
no horns ; and are generally blacky though occasionally of a gn^
roan. The Devons are red all over^ with medium horns. The Eere-
fords are red with white faces, also with medium horns. The colour,
then, is variable even within the limits of the same breed; and
there is no apparent interdependence of colour and possession or
length of horns.
Now, it is notorious that men universally individualize these and
similar collections of accidents ; otherwise, they would not have
become collections of accidents at all in common estimation. To
translate this into other words : — ^The human mind universally
and instinctively recognizes some individual entity in such sets of
mutually independent accidents. Nay, more : Unless its attention
should be specially called to the said accidents, it virtually igpiores
them ; and represents to itself the specific and individual entitj
rather than the accidents that clothe and sensibly manifest it. But
such specific and individual entity, — this objective oneness, — cannot
be a mere fiction of the mind ; for to suppose this is to suppose
that all human perception is a delusion and a lie. The question,
then, arises ; Whence is objectively derived this perception of spe-
cific and individual unity? What is there in the oUject, which
compels the mind to represent that collection of aceicTents as indi-
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The Formal Cause. 419
viduallj and specifically one? Nobody surely could seriously
maintain that it originates with the accidents themselves. For^ —
not to urge the nature of an accident, which in order of nature and
existentially requires a Subject of inhesion, — there is no reason in
the accidents themselves why they should coalesce, and not rather
be distributed ; since their independence of each other forms the
foundation of the present argument, and is presupposed. Besides,
it is a fact that these specific accidents do really exist in a state of
separation. Horns are to be seen in the antelope ; red and white in
damask-roses. Why do men call this particular combination of the
said accidents a Hereford ox ? Moreover, how is it that they have
combined at all ? Again : We cannot think of these and similar
accidents in the concrete, save in connection with something else.
If there are horns, they are horns of something or other ; if we
conceive white or black, it is something that is white or black.
Neither can it be said with any show of reason, (as some have
unjustly attributed to Locke), that the individuality and specific
nature are constituted by the collection itself; for this is to put the
cart before the horse, according to the vulgar adage. A mere col-
lection of imperfect entities cannot do away with the essential im-
perfection of their being. Then again, we come back to the pri-
mitive question : How are we to account for the collection itself?
It would be empty to reply, that the collection arises from con-
tinuous combination and collective isolation in space. First of all,
place is a consequent of being, not being of place. Then, the old
question returns : Whence is it that they are combined, and what
is the cause of their collective isolation ? Furthermore : The old
difficulty presses against both these hypotheses, viz. that in either
case all real specific and individual distinction would be purely
accidental ; and that, accordingly^ man would only by accident
differ from charcoal or hydrogen. Once more : Primordial matter
cannot of itself be a sufficient reason of the said unity, for the same
reasons as before. Lastly: Such specific and individual unity can-
not be derived from any actuation of mere matter by the accidental
Forms ; for, if a like information were possible, the resulting com-
posite would be accidental. Again : Either the informing accidents
in the above hypothesis would be one or manifold. If one only,
there would be no collection ; which is beside the question. If
manifold, there would be many entities ; because there would be no
principle of actual unity and individuation save the accidental
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420 Causes of Being.
Forms, and these are many. Then, the question recurs : Why do
these particular accidents conspire to inform the same portion of
matter, — ^supposing, for the sake of argument, the possibility of tiie
process ? In conclusion : The general consent of mankind negatires
such an hypothesis ; and common sense confirms the verdict. Who
is there that can conceive, — say, red^ smooth, round, — and primordial
matter, save in union with a third factor as necessary to the reahty
of the whole? Well, that thii-d factor must be substantial, as is
evident from arguments already given more than once. It must
also be specifically and in some sort individually difierential, as act
of the matter, — that is to say, it must be capable of establishing
specific distinction and the individuation of existence, (though affcer
a different fashion), to the entity which gathers together within
itself these independent accidents. In addition, it must be sufficient
cause of the selection of the said accidents. All these requirements
are AilfiUed in a substantial Form, and in a substantial Form alone.
V. Another ct posteriori Argument is derived from the alter-
nating corruptions and generations of bodies and from consequent
transformations ceaselessly recurring. But it will be unneoessaiy
to pursue this argument ; as it has already been developed at some
length in the hundred and thirty-ninth Proposition. It is only
necessary to remark, that there the facts were produced to prove
the existence of an undifferentiated primordial matter ; while they
are resuscitated here for the purpose of showing that in bodies there
are differentiating substantial Forms. These two sides of the same
Subject are so essentially intertwined that, in demonstrating the
one, you ipso facto demonstrate the other.
VI. The above h posteriori conclusions are corroborated by a
priori argument. All h priori demonstration is derived from the
causes of the Subject. In the present instance, these causes are
the material, efficient, and final ; for evidently enough the substan-
tial Form has no formal cause, seeing that itself is a pure Form.
There are, then, two members in this demonstration, one of which
is preparatory to the other. In the first it will be shown, that
there is nothing repugnant in the concept of a material substantial
Form ; while in the second it will be demonstrated, from the causes
of this Form, that there is a sufficient reason for its existence.
i. There is nothing repugnant in the concept of a material sub-
stantial Form. This may be evinced in two ways. First of all,
(assuming the Existence of God and the spirituality of the human
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The Formal Cause. 421
soul, — the former of which will be proved in the ninth Book, while
the latter is taken as a Lemma from psychology), it is argued as
follows. To say nothing for the present about pure Intelligence : —
It is evident from the Being of God, that there is a substantial
Form Subsisting but not Informing. It is further evident from
the human soul^ that there are substantial Forms subsisting and
informing. Therefore, there is nothing repugnant in the supposi-
tion that there exists a lower grade of substantial Forms informing
but not subsisting. Nay, rather there seems to be a certain con-
gruity in such a completion of possible gradations. Again: If
there be any repugnance in the concept, it must be either because
the said Form is an act, or because it is substantial, or because it is
a substantial act, or finally because it is the substantial act of
matter. But there is no repugnance in any one of these notions.
Therefore, etc. The Minor is thus proved part by part, (a) There
is nothing repugnant in its being conceived as an act^ because it is
self-evident that there are such things de facto in the established
order of nature^ and ab ease ad posse valet illatio, (that is to say, any
inference &om actual being to its possibility of being is valid).
Thus, for instance, who can doubt that thought is an act of the
intellect, — volition, an act of the will, — sensile perception, an act of
the internal faculties of sense ? (b) Is there, then, anything repug-
nant in conceiving the Form as something substantial? Surely
not, gince substantial entities, according to all sane philosophy are
the root of the rest, and, moreover, the Form of Forms is Substan-
tial, {e) Is there any repugnance discoverable in the conjunction
of act and substantial under one concept ? Let us see. An act
essentially denotes perfection. If, therefore, there is no repugnance
in the concept of an accidental act, but on the contrary such en-
tities really exist, as the examples given above clearly show ; i^br-
tiori there can be no repugnance in the concept of a substantial act,
since substance has a prior claim to perfectness by virtue of its
pre-eminence. Again : As Suarez (from whom these and the fol-
lowing arguments have been mostly borrowed) justly observes, it
would seem as though substance, by reason of its more perfect
entity, would naturally exhibit a repugnance for potentiality rather
than for act. But in the preceding Chapter it has been proved
that there exists a substantive potentiality. How, then, can there
be any repugnance in the concept of a substantial act which is the
correlative of the former ? Lastly, if there be any repugnance in
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422 Causes of Being.
the concept, let it be shown ; for as yet it has not been attempted.
{d) Neither is there any repugnance in the concept of this substan-
tial Form being the act of matter ; since matter as a pure poten-
tiality demands actuation within the limits of its own Category.
ii. Having thus determined the possibility, or non-repugnance, of
these substantial Forms, it remains to demonstrate from their causes
tha^ there is a sufficient reason for their existence, i. This is
proved, first of all, from their material cause. To begin with : —
There is a universal correlation in every Category between poten-
tiality and act. Wherefore, seeing that there exists a substantial
potentiality which lies at the foundation of all bodies, this poten-
tiality naturally postulates its act. That primordial matter natu-
rally postulates its act, is thus declared. That which is essentially
and intrinsically most imperfect in its own entity and has a tran-
scendental relation to something else by which it is made perfect
within its own Category, naturally postulates that something else.
But primordial matter, forasmuch as it is a purely passive poten-
tiality, is essentially and intrinsically most imperfect in its entity,
— because it is a potentiality, has a transcendental relation to its
act, — because it is a substantial potentiality, has a like relation t^
its substantial act by which it may be perfected within its own
Category. Therefore, the existence of primordial matter essentially
postulates the existence of a material substantial Form. 2. A
sufficient reason for the existence of material substantial Forms
is discoverable in their efficient cause. Their efficient cause is
either the First Efficient Cause, Who is the Ultimate Efficient
Cause of all finite being, or secondary causes. As to the Former,
everything is possible to Him, which does not include a meta-
physical impossibility, — that is to say, a contradiction in terms.
But it has been proved in the first member of this a priori
argument that there is no such impossibility, or contradietion.
Therefore, etc. In the second place, should it be a question of
secondary causes, it is plain that, if the production of these Forms
is necessary to the constitution of the visible universe, efficacy
will not be wanting to the immediate agents : since nature never
fails in things necessary. It will be premature to say anything
further about this secondary agency, since the subject will eogage
our special attention in the next Chapter of the present Book.
3. A sufficient reason for the existence of material substantial
Forms is esi)ecially demonstrated from their final cause. The final
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The Formal Cause, 423
cause of substantial material Forms is the constitution, integration,
essential completion of bodily substances. But, presupposing the
intended existence of the actual order, the accomplishment of this
end is an absolute necessity. Therefore, the existence of material
substantial Forms is equally necessary. The accomplishment of this
endy — that is to say, the constitution, integration, essential com-
pletion of bodily substances, — is an absolute necessity ^ because other-
wise there would be no external world at all. For primordial
matter has a Being so attenuated as to be absolutely incapable of
existing apart from some Form ; consequently, without the Form
no matter. Again : For the sake of the argument let us suppose
thai matter could exist of itself, independently of the Form ; what
would be gained ? In itself it is invisible ; therefore, it could not
become an object of the senses. In itself without distinction, it
could oflfer no variety. Again : In itself it is purely passive ; there-
fore, it would be incapable of any whatsoever energy, force, or
operation. Once more : It is wholly undifferentiated in itself, and
contains no even germinal elements of possible differentiation.
How could a purely passive potentiality differentiate itself; since
to differentiate is to energize? Hence, all distinction, variety,
order, natural forces, essential operations, — all classes, genera,
species, variations, — would be impossible in nature. Finally: An
entity scarce worthy of the name of an entity, — a half-being
essentially postulating its perfection from some other entity which,
nevertheless, is not, — ^a passive potentiality awaiting its correlative
act, yet never destined to receive it, — would permanently occupy
the place of the present Cosmos.
Difficulties.
I. The first argument brought forward in proof of the present
Proposition is utterly invalid. It is an argument a pari; and the
parity assumed has no existence. This assertion is proved in the
following way. The fundamental truth from which the reasoning
proceeds is, that the human soul is the substantial Form of the
human body. So far, so good: The opponent, from whom the
present objection is taken, does not call the proposition in doubt.
But then, as he complains, it is concluded from the above fact that
all material substances are in like manner constituted by a sub-
stantial Form; and the premiss does not justify the conclusion.
For this supposed parity * exhibits numberless disparities such as
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424 Causes of Being,
must intercede between a rational, spiritual^ immortal, soul that
is self-subsistent^ and certain bodily, corruptible, incomplete en-
tities.' So infirm, indeed, has this argument been felt to be,
' that it is not used by all the Scholastics, but by the Thomifits
alone who were of opinion that the very being of the body depends
on the soul/
Answer : It is quite true that, if we compare the human soul
with the substantial Forms of other material substances, whether
animate or inanimate, there are striking disparities which cannot
fail of arresting our attention. But it must be observed, that
some of the disparities enumerated in the objection exist only in
the mind of the objector. For instance : Though the human soul
is capable of subsisting by itself, it is to its own loss ; because it
is essentially an incomplete substance. This imputed disparity,
therefore, resolves itself into a very marked parity. The human
soul is an incomplete substance, because it was created to be the
Form, or act, of the human body and, in consequence, cannot
naturally exercise its lower faculties save in union with the body.
Again : According to the philosophy of the School all substantial
Forms, even those of inanimate bodies, are incorruptible ; just as
primordial matter is incorruptible, though for another reason. It
is the integral composite alone which, as we have seen, is subject
to corruption. In consequence of the corruption of the composite
substance which renders the matter incapable of supporting any
longer its original Form, or by virtue of a transformation which
necessarily postulates the recess of that Form, (and these two
reasons are practically one) ; the said original Form may retire
into its former state of potential existence or, as the Schoolmen
say, into the potentiality of the matter, but it can never, properly
speaking, be corrupted. Consequently, the second alleged disparity
results in another observable parity. Nevertheless, it is to be
owned that there are disparities of no mean account between the
two ; for the human soul is a spiritual substance, immortal, and
immediately created by God, whereas all other material substantial
Forms are not spiritual, not immortal^ nor immediately created by
God, but educed out of the potentiality of matter after a way that
will be explained in the next Article.
But the question now arises, whether these confessed disparities
affect in any way the force of that parity which forms the founda-
tion of the argument here impugned ; and it will be seen that,
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The Formal Cause. 425
aooording to the teaching of St. Thomas, they affect the argument
in no other way than to strengthen it. In order the better to
establish this assertion, it will be necessary to introduce paren-
thetically certain truths touching the human soul, which are
borrowed from psychology. First of all, it is demonstratively
concluded that, as St. Thomas puts it, the soul of man ' is imme'^
diaUly united to the body *.' Hence, as the soul is a simple sub-
stance^ it is wholly united to the body in its essential nature
without any intermediary. This immediateness of union, however,
by no means excludes the previous existence, in the primordial
matter portioned out for each human body, of antecedent sub-
stantial Forms which successively prepare such matter, by higher
gradations of organization, for the reception of the created soul.
But no one of these Forms is co-existent with another ; each one
makes way for its better. Hence, there can be no Form inter-
mediate between soul and body in the instant of union. In the
faculties, on the other hand, and concomitant operations of the
human soul, there is an important difference in order of excellence
as well as in order of relation to the body. * It is not necessary/
as the Angelic Doctor observes, * though the soul is substantially
the Form of the body, that every one of its operations should be
effected with the help of the body. . . . For it has been already
pointed out, that the human soul is not of such a kind as to be
entirely immersed in matter; but among all the other Forms it is
the most elevated above matter. Hence, it can act independently
of the body^ — ^that is to say, as though it were not dependent on
the body in its operation ; because not even in its essential being
does it depend upon the body *.' Accordingly, the faculties and
operations of the human soul may be divided into two principal
classes, viz. those which belong to the soul as elevated above
matter and are independent of the body and of any bodily organ^
and those which formally belong to the soul as act of the body and
are dependent on the body and on some particular bodily organ.
* 'Ex praemusiB autem oondudi potest quod anima immediate ooipori unitur.'
Cg. L. II, tfi 71.
' * Non est aatem neoessarium, si anima secundum suam substantiam est forma cor-
poris, quod omnis ejus operatic sit per corpus Jam euim ostensnm est quod anima
humana non sit talis forma quae sit totaliter immersa materiae, sed est inter omnes
alias formas maxime supra materiam elevata ; unde et operationem producere potest
absque oorpore, id est quasi non dependens a corpore in operando, quia nee etiam in
essendo dependet a corpore.' Cg, L. 11, c® 69, in m.
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426 Causes of Being.
This is the unequivocal teaching of the Angelic Doctor, on which
he repeatedly insists. ' Since the human soul,' he writes in one
place, * is a certain Form united to the body, — in such wise, how-
ever, that it is not totally encompassed by the body, as though
immersed in it like other material Forms, but exceeds the capacity
of all bodily matter ; in so far as it goes beyond bodily matter,
there is within it a faculty for intelligible objects. This appertains
to the possible intellect^ — a term peculiar to the Psychology of the
School, which it will not be necessary to explain here. 'In so
far, however, as it is united to the body, it has operations and
forces in which there is something common to it with the body.
Such are the forces of the nutritive and sensitive part^' So,
again : ' Certain powers of the soul there are in it, by reason of its
exceeding the entire capacity of the body; — ^these are the intellect
and will. Hence, such powers are said to be in no part of the
body. But there are other powers common to soul and body.
Wherefore, it is not necessary that each one of these last-named
powers should be wherever the soul is ; but only in that part of the
body which is proportioned to the operation of such power-.'
Once more : Speaking more particularly of the intellectual faculty,
St. Thomas says : * Since, then, the intellect is a faculty of the
soul that stands in no need of any organ, it is not weakened either
of its own nature or accidentally by old age or any other weakness
of body. If, however, there does occur fatigue or hindrance in the
exercise of the intellect on account of bodily weakness ; this does
not arise from any weakness of the intellect itself, but from the
weakness of the powers which the intellect stands in need of, — that
is to say, the imagination and the faculties of memory and of
sensile cognition^.'
' * Cum enim anima humana sit qaaedam forma unita corpori, ita tamen quod son
sit a corpore totaliter oomprehensa quasi ei immersa, sicut aliae formae materiales, sed
excedat capadtatem totius materiae corporalis : quantum ad hoc in quo exoeilit mate-
riam corporalem, inest ei potentia ad intelligibilia, quod pertinet ad intellectum possi-
bilem ; secundum vero quod unitur corpori, habet operationes et vires in quibus com-
municat ei ooipus ; sicut sunt vires partis nutritivae et sensitivae.' Anima^ a. 2, c,
inf.
^ * Potentiarum animae quaedam sunt in ea secundum quod ezcedit totam coqwris
capacitatem ; scilicet, intellectus et voluntas. Undo hujusmodi potentiae in nulla
parte corporis esse dicuntur. Aliae vero potentiae sunt communes animae et ooipori.
tJnde talium potentiarum non oportet quod quaelibet sit in quocunque est anima, sed
solum in ilia parte corporis quae est proportionata ad talis potentiae operationem.* i**
irrrt, 8, 4».
' ' Cum igitiur intellectus sit virtus animae, quae non indiget organo, ut ex prsemia-
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The Formal Cause, 427
Guided by the light of the above Prolegomenon, let us now face
the proposed difficulty. If there be any parity between the human
soul and the other substantial material Forms which, according to
the Peripatetic Philosophy, constitute and essentially complete all
bodily substances ; it is plain that we must seek for the parity, —
not in that part^ (so to speak), or in those faculties, of the human
soul which transcend all capacity of matter and are independent of
it, — ^but in that part, or in those faculties, which are dependent on
matter, and can only energize by means of some particular organ of
the body. For this reason we are bound to leave entirely out of
consideration the intellectual and volitional faculties which are purely
spiritual and independent of the body, and to concentre our atten-
tion on those vegetative and animal faculties that are dependent
on matter and can only operate through some bodily organism.
Is there, then, a clear parity between the soul and other material
Forms of material substance, when the former is thus contem-
plated? The parity can hardly be more complete. The origin,
growth, nutritive process, of the human embyro are identical with
those of other living substances. In other words, the vegetative
life of man is precisely similar to that of a plant or of an irrational
animal. Similarly, the sensitive life in man exhibits identically
the same generic type as that to be found in other animals. There
are the same senses and the same organs of sense; and the same
cerebro-spinal system, which is the citadel of the motor and sensory
nerves, is common to man and to the sculled vertebrates in the
animal kingdom. But these nerves are the special organs of
animal life. There is, however, a still closer analogy. In the
earliest stages of the human embryo, there is precisely the same
development as in all other organised animals of the two primitive
germ-layers, — the exoderm or outer, and the endoderm or inner.
The former is called by physiologists the animal germ-layer,
because, — to borrow the words of Professor Haeckel, — 'it always
forms the outer body- wall with the most important organs of
animal life ; ' the latter is called the vegetative germ-layer, because
it ' gives rise to the inner intestinal wall with the most important
sis (c/68 et 69) paiet; ipse non debilitatur neque per se, neque per accideiui per Benium
vel per aliquam aliam debilitatem corporis. Si autem in operatione intellectus accidit
fatigatio ant impedimentum propter infinnitatem corporis, hoc non est propter debili-
tatem ipsias intellectus, sed propter debilitatem virium quibus intellectus indiget, scilicet
imaginationis, memorativae et cogitativae yirtutum.' Cg. L. 11, &* 79>1>' m.
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428 Causes of Being.
organs of vegetative life.' Now, if the opinion, apparently most
received in the medical profession, be true^ viz. that the haroan
soul is united to the embiyo immediately, or almost immediately,
after conception ; is it not plain that there is an identity between
the action of the human soul and that of all other animal Forms in
the vegetative and sensitive development of their respective em-
bryos? If, however, the opinion of the Angelic Doctor be true,
(which for various reasons the present writer prefers very decidedly
to the one more commonly maintained at present), viz. that there
is a series of provisional and progressive Forms which successively
actuate the human foetus, until the latter has received its ultimate
organic differentiation and postulates a higher than a mere animal
Form ; then the foundation of the parity is strengthened. For the
human soul, on its creation in the body^ takes up the work initiated
by vegetative and sensitive Forms, and carries it on to its mature
perfection after, to all appearance, exactly the same fiishion and
with the same results as though these lower Forms had continued
at their post. Furthermore : There is a striking analogy between
the human soul and the substantial Forms of other animals under
another respect. As all purely animal Forms embrace the func-
tions of vegetative life which are eminently included in it ; in like
manner the human soul eminently embraces in its entity the facul-
ties and functions of both vegetative and sensitive life. Thus at
length it will be clearly seen, that the parity disputed by the pre-
sent objector extends to all living things, — to the vegetable no
less than to the animal world. But can the parity be fairly
extended to inanimate bodies? Let us see. A just distinction
has been drawn between animals and plants, to the effect that the
latter in their process of nutrition absorb inorganic substances and
transmute these into organic; while the former absorb organized
substance and provisionally resolve it into inorganic. Since the
animal either immediately or mediately receives its nourishment
from vegetable substance which has itself been nourished by inani-
mate and unorganized bodies^ and since in the process of animal
digestion the organic substance is resolved into its constituents;
it is evident, (as has been pointed out in the preceding Chapter),
that the same inanimate bodies pass into vegetable, and thence
into animal, substance in some way or other, and after this often
repass more or less into their primitive constitution. By the
process of absorption they lose what may be metaphysically
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The Formal Cause, 429
called their independence, and become partial elements contributing
to the substantial natnre of a plant and afterwards of an animal.
Thus, speaking again metaphysically, they part with their own
complete substantiality, and become subordinate constituents of
another substance. What is the real meaning of all this material
interchange ? Surely, if there exists in the material order a union
so intimate between inanimate and animate bodies, (and about this
there is not the shadow of a doubt)^ so that the constituents of
organized substance can be chemically reduced to those simple
bodies, or elements, which modern chemistry has accepted as such ;
this fact affords grave reason for concluding that, in their essential
constitution, inanimate are substantially constituted in the same
way as living bodies. If they can accommodate themselves so
easily to the substantial Forms of a plant and of an animal ; it
would be strange if they had not originally a substantial Form of
their own, which they re0ume when they are again isolated.
Modern physical theories bear unconscious testimony to this fact,
when they tell us that all animals are gradually developed from an
undifferentiated protoplasm which^ apart from the life attributed to
it, is simply a chemical combination of inanimate substances. Thus,
then, the parity, which forms, the basis of the first argument,
legitimately includes the whole realm of material being.
As to the gratuitous statement, that thiB argument is only used hy
the Thomists who were of opinion that the very being of the body
depends on the soul, two remarks will suffice. First of all, it matters
little who use or who do not use the argument, provided that it is in
itself valid. Secondly, Suarez gives especial prominence to it ; yet
he is as far removed as well may be from the opinion about matter
which the objector describes as Thomist. The truth of this asser-
tion will appear later on.
n. There is no need for these substantial Forms. Therefore,
they are to be rejected. The Antecedent is thus proved. First, * it
is a groundless and false assumption that there is but one primordial
matter common to all bodies; and that therefore the substantial
distinction between body and body is to be attributed to the sub-
stantial Form. If the question should be raised as to how material
substances are substantially distinguished; the plain answer is,
that simple material substances are of themselves primordially dis-
tinguished from one another, and that mixed bodies are distin-
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430 Causes of Behtg,
guished by the diversity of their component substances.' To be
more just to the author of this objection than he is himself to his
own chemi co-atomic theory, it would be better to add to the last
clause in this wise, — a* well aa to the diverse combination of it4
component substances.
Answer. — That the existence of one only primordial matter
common to all bodies is not a groundless or false assertion, has
been made sufficiently apparent in the preceding Chapter ; and the
arguments there adduced have lately received indirect confirmatioa
from the result of the careful and prolonged spectroscopic observa-
tions of Mr. Lockyer, (already referred to), whence it would appear
to be highly probable that the so-called chemical elements are for
the most part compounds, reducible to a much smaller list of
elements. Still more recently, as has been reported, chemical
experiments have awakened a suspicion that chlorine, bromine,
iodine, are not simple substances, so far corroborating the conclu-
sions of Mr. Lockyer \
It would seem, however, that these simple bodies, be their
number small or great, are in the opinion of our opponent pri-
mordially distinguished in themselves from one another; conse-
quently, that they stand in no need of a substantial Form to
account for their differentiation. The Antecedent is willingly con-
ceded; but the Consequent denied. They aie distinguished from
each other by their respective substantial Forms. This our op-
ponent denies. If we ask him, what other principle of specific
distinction is discoverable in them ; he replies that it is to be found
in their simplicity, — that is to say, in the fact that they are con-
stituted of homogeneous particles, molecules, or atoms, of the same
mass and weight, by which they are distinguished from any other
element whose homogeneous atoms, though of the same figure,
mass, and weight, among themselves, are of figure, etc., differing
from those of the former body. Furthermore : He tells us that these
primitive atoms have, all of them, two essential properties at least,
without which they would be absolutely imperceptible if not in-
conceivable,— viz. extension an& power of resistance. As this
theory has been examined at length in the preceding Chapter, it
^ See an interesting discussion in the March and April numbers oiNalun, 1880;
more particularly two interesting communications from Professor Armstrong— one, on
the Dissodation ofChlorinef Bromine, and Iodine in the No. for March 18; the other
on The Density ofChlorinet in the No. for April 15.
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The Forfnal Cause. 431
will not be necessary to enter upon the subject again, save in
so far as it assumes a somewhat new shape in the objection
before us.
It is deserviug of attention, then, that according to this author
all, even simple, bodies which are specifically constituted in their
own right, — a fortiori composite bodies, — have certain generic pro-
perties, in other words, certain properties common to all ; which
properties equally belong to the primitive atoms or molecules of
which they are severally composed. Such are, extension, impene-
trability, figure, ponderability, mass. By these properties they
are all in common distinguished from spiritual substances. Now,
where there are generic properties, (that is to say, properties com-
mon to more than one species), there must be a generic nature
from which these properties essentially flow. If so, the substances
in question cannot be absolutely constituted in themselves, but
must be determined by a specific difference which, in metaphysical
language is termed a Form. To put it more plainly in the con-
crete : — Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, iron, sulphur, sodium, etc., are
all equally matter composed of atoms, extended, impenetrable,
having shape, weight, and. mass. This admitted, why is such a
portion of extended, impenetrable, atomic matter oxygen, and such
another portion iron ? Because of the atoms, say you, — their
difiPereuce in shape, ponderability, etc. ? We cannot admit the
explanation ; because the atoms of oxygen are oxygen ; the atoms
of iron, iron. Consequently, the same question awaits its answer :
IFhy is the one an atom of oxygen, and the other an atom of iron ?
The substantial Form is as necessary for the supposed atom as for
the whole bulk. You have reduced mass to an impossible minimum ;
but you have not destroyed the specific nature. In reply to this
question, however, we are seriously told that the figure, weight, etc.,
of the atom constitute the essential difference. But this is to put
an effect in the place of its cause ; for the shape follows from the
nature, not the nature from the shape, and so for the rest. An ox
is not an ox, because it has four legs, a head and a tail, and lows;
but it has four legs, a head and a tail, and lows, because it is an ox.
So, sulphur is not sulphur because it has such or such a crystalline
form and a yellow colour; but the particular body has such a form
and colour, because it is sulphur. Besides, atoms that have a shape
must be extended; but an extended atom is a contradiction in
terms. An extended entity is one which has part outside part, so
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432 Causes of Being.
that absolutely part is capable of being divided from part ; if, then,
a material or any other entity is truly atomic, — that is to say, inca-
pable of further diY\s\on^^de potentia abaoluta it cannot be extended.
Again : To put this last argument under a somewhat different form.
Each one of these atoms is entitatively composite, must be entttar
tively composite, according to the theory now obtruded on our
notice. For this theory insists on the point, that each atom is essen-
tially extended. Without extension it would be neither perceptible
nor conceivable. But extension, as we have seen, means the exist-
ence of part outside part in the extended substance. Consequently,
each atom must be composed of parts. But components are prior,
at least in order of nature, to their composite. Therefore, as simple
bodies are not distinguished from one another of themselves, bot
by virtue of their atoms ; so the atoms are not distinguished from
each other of themselves, but by virtue of their component parts,
and so on indefinitely, till extension ceases and atoms so called, in
consequence, disappear. In other words: Either your atoms are
extended or they are not. If they are not, then in the hj^thesis
of our opponent, they are not atoms; if they are extended, you
have not reached, and for so lobg cannot reach, either the Ultimate
or the primordial foundation of distinction. Again : According to the
same theory each primitive so-called atom is, and remains after
union or combination, a complete substance. Now, — ^to say no-
thing of the all but infinite multiplication of substances which this
involves even in a single individual such as this dog, — since each
atom by reason of its extension would contain within itself an
indefinite number of substances, — it is natural to inquire : "What is
that by virtue of which a certain number of atoms coalesce so as to
constitute a body ? The objector tells us that it is an attractive
power which is an essential property of the atoms. Good : But,
first of all, how is it that this attractive power specifically differs in
different groups ? Then again : All properties, though flowing
from the essence, are distinct from that essence and presuppose its
constitution. Therefore, they cannot constitute it themselves.
Once more : A property is an accident. Therefore, the cohesion or
combination of the atoms would be accidental. But, if so, the
body thus constituted would not be a substance^ but an accidental
collection of substances. Hence it follows by logical sequence,
that the human soul could not become the substantial Form of the
human body. To put it otherwise : Either the cohesion of atoms
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The Formal Cause, 433
in any given body is essential or accidental. If it is essential, it is
indissolnble ; if it is accidental, this same body which is consti-
tuted exclusively by the coalition of atoms must be accidental
likewise. In reply to the above argument it might be urged, that
the cohesion is doubtless accidental to each atom but essential to
the constituted body; and this is rendered probable from the fact
that the so-called atom can exist without cohesion, whereas the body
cannot exist without the cohering atoms. But ^his answer does
not satisfy the difficulty. For, seeing that the body exclusively
consists of the atoms cohering by mutual attraction ; the body only
differs from the substances of all the atoms, thus grouped in one,
by the cohesion of these latter. The cohesion, accordingly, consti-
tutes the substance of the body^ as really distinguished from the
collective substances of the atoms. If, then^ this coalition is acci-
dental to the atoms, (which our opponent maintains) ; it follows, as
a necessary consequence^ that the accident of one substance can of
itself become the substance of another. If it be yet further urged,
that the substances of the atoms become by coalition the sub-
stance of the body; the reply is obvious. The substances of the
atoms either remain complete substances after cohesion or they do
not. The latter alternative is excluded by the theory in question ;
consequently, the substances of the atoms remain substances after
coalition. If so, the former argument retains its full force. Be-
sides, in this hypothesis the same entity at one and the same time
would be one complete substance and millions of complete sub-
stances ; which is not a little inconvenient as an object of thought.
The difficulties augment, when we come to apply this chemico-
atomic theory to composite bodies. For, — ^to borrow his exposition
from our opponent, — ^all bodies, composite as well as simple, con-
sist of a number of integrating molecules which are homogeneous
with one another and with the whole body. But, in the instance
of compound bodies, these homogeneous composite molecules are
chemically resolvable into homogeneous, or constitutivej molecules.
These last may themselves be composite. The molecules adhere by
virtue of molecular attraction which serves to conjoin the homo-
geneous integrant, as well as the heterogeneous constitutive, mole-
cules. When it serves to conjoin the former, it is called cohesion ;
when the latter^ affinity. According to this theory, then, all
bodies are composed, — or rather, essentially constituted, — of primi-
tive atoms which are substances and continue to preserve their
VOL. II. F f
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434 Causes of Being.
perseiiy, (or subsistence in themselves), while forming oonstitutive
parts of a body. Now, if this hypothesis were true, it is difficult
indeed to understand how bodies that are composed by what is
called mechanical mixture differ from bodies that are constituted
by chemical combination. In the one case as in the other the
primitive atoms must be dissociated ; otherwise, they would cease
to be substances. In both cases there would be mutual attraction
of the respectiv% atoms. It may be perhaps said that the attno-
tion is of a different kind ; since in mixed bodies it would be the
mere force of cohesion, while in chemical compounds it would be
the foroe of affinity. But one is thereupon inclined to put the
question ; Of what nature is this molecular force of affinity ? How
does it essentially differ from the molecular force of cohesion?
What are its specific effects, and wherein do they differ from the effects
of the force of cohesion ? Whence comes it that in the instance of
mechanical mixtures, — ^in wine and water, for instance, or in the union
of oxygen and nitrogen in the common air, — each constituent
remains with its own properties ; whereas in chemically compound
bodies, — water, for example, or sulphuric acid, — ^the constituents
with their properties are not discernible? Is this generation of
what to all appearance is an entirely new substance attributable to
the mere contiguity of atoms of different shape, weight, mass,
together with the interaction of their respective forces ? Such an
answer would not commend itself to the common sense of most
men. Once more : It is impossible to account for the life of plants
and animals, — ^most particularly of the higher order of animals,—
by any given juxtaposition and interaction of molecules and their
constituent atoms. Will force of cohesion or force of affinity cause
birds to fly, or fish to swim, or quadrupeds to move hither and
thither ? Can the one or the other account for the assimilating
power of a plant, its genesis from the seed, its law of growth and of
complex development ? Can either of them account for the senses
of animal life, or for the architectural instinct of the trap-door
spider, the political life of bee and termite, the memory of the
elephant, the fidelity of the dog, the scent of the bloodhound, the
affectionateness of a horse, the domesticity of a cat, the obstinacy
of a pig ? Even, then, if it could be proved that this chemico-
atomic theory, as it is called, were physically true, so fiEur as its
positive teaching goes; it is at least somewhat premature to assert
that it can safely dispense with substantial Forms.
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The Formal Cause, 435
III. The third objection is of quite another order ; for it im*
piigDf the possibility of the Feripatetio, or SchoUistio, teaching on
the snbjeot of substantial Forms. The argument is as follows.
This teaching, more particularly in its connection with the alter-
nate corruptions and generations of bodies^ involves an insuperable
difficulty. For, as we are told, the corrupted substance loses its
substantial Form as a necessary condition of the introduction of
the new Form by which the newly generated substance is consti-
tuted. Nor does it seem to be other than a mere difference of words^
whether we say that the prior makes way for the subsequent Form,
or that the latter expels the former. One thing is certain accord-
ing to the teaching of the School, that the two Forms cannot
coexist in the same portion of matter ; because there cannot be
more than one substantial Form in one individual substance. So
much premised, the difficulty may be thus stated. Either there is
a moment of time in which the two substantial Forms coexist in
the same portion of matter, or there is an interval of time during
which primordial matter exists denuded of all Form whatsoever.
But both members of the dilemma are equally inadmissible accord-
ing to the Scholastic doctrine; for the coexistence of the two
Forms is declared to be impossible, while it is likewise admitted
that primordial matter cannot exist save under the actuation of
some substantial Form. It only remains, therefore, to prove the
truth of the disjunctive Antecedent, This will be more clearly
exhibited with the help of symbols. Let f represent the receding
Form of the corrupted substance, and f the introduced Form
of the generated substance. Further ; let i and 2 represent two
successive moments, — a, the moment in which the new Form is
introduced and the new substwice generated ; i, the moment that
is supposed immediately to precede moment %. Moments are dis-
crete quantities ; consequently, there must be an interval between
each. Therefore, either the two Forms f and V coexist in the same
subject in moment 2 ; or f exists there for the last time in moment
I, and i' begins to exist in moment a. There is no medium; it
must be the one or the other, if we accept the Scholastic doctrine
touching alternate generations and corruptions. It is granted by
the Schoolmen that the former supposition is impossible ; therefore,
we are necessarily thrown back upon the latter. But, if f ceases to
exist after moment i, and f only begins to exist with moment 0, ;
there must be an interval, (viz. the interval between moment i and
Ffa
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436 Causes of Being.
moment 2)> during which the subject is informed neither by f nor
i\ — ^that is to say, during which it is destitute of any substantial
Form. This condition of things is declared by the same autho-
rities to be equally impossible. Consequently, whichever way you
take it, the Scholastic theory about substantial Forms is in contra-
diction with itself.
Answer. First of all, it may be urged with reason, in answer to
the above diflBculty, that it proves nothing, because it proves too
much ; seeing that the same objection will equally apply to every
case of an instantaneous change. Take, by way of instance, a
dying man. He at length yields up his last breath. One moment
he is alive ; the next moment, you say, he is dead. Therefore^ there
is an interval of time during which he is both alive and dead or
neither alive nor dead. Similarly, one moment the sun is above the
horizon; the next moment it is below the horizon. Therefore,
there was an interval of time during which it was either at once
above and below the horizon or neither above nor below the
horizon.
Nevertheless, though this answer relieves the Scholastic doctrine
from the onus of having to sustain by itself the full force of the
difficulty, and though it suggests that a solution there must be;
yet it is obvious that itself does not afford the solution. Let us
now, therefore^ carefully proceed in search of one ; for the present
objection merits much more respectful treatment than its predeces-
sors. It fortunately happens that the Angelic Doctor has repeatedly
proposed to himself this very objection under a variety of connec-
tions, and has supplied us with a full and conclusive answer. As in
other instances, so here, the teaching of St. Thomas shall first be
given in his own words, and then summarized with a view to its
special application to the present difficulty.
i. In the first passage about to be set before the reader, St.
Thomas is occupied in discussing the nature of the change, or con*
version, which according to the Catholic Creed takes place in the
mystery of the Holy Eucharist; and he pronounces that the change
is instantaneous. But to the truth of this conclusion he proposes
the following objection : ^ It is impossible that an entity in one and
the same instant should be bread and the Body of Christ. There-
fore, the instant in which there is for the first time the Body of
Christ is not the same instant as that wherein the bread is there
for the last time. But between any two instants there is a time
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The Formal Cause. 437
Intervening ; as is proved in the sixth Book of the PAy^s. There-
fore, the conversion of the bread into the Body of Christ is succes-
sive ^.' To this objection the Angelic Doctor makes the following
reply: * Between time and an instant there does not necessarily
intervene any mediate time, as there does between two instants.
The truth as regards this question may be seen in the remarks of the
Philosopher in the eighth Book of the PAysies, viz. that when any-
thing from being white becomes black ; during the whole of the time
that measures the alterative movement it was white, but in the lafit
instant of that time it is black. Hence, according to him, we
cannot grant that during the whole of the given time it was white,
but during the whole except the last nou?. Further: Because,
previous to the last now* — instant — * of any given time, it is impos-
sible to admit a penultimate, — just as it is impossible to admit a
penultimate point before the last point x)f a line ; — therefore, it is
impossible to admit a last instant in which the entity was white,
but it is possible to admit a last time. The same is verified in those
changes which are the terms of motion ; as in the instance of gene-
ration which is the term of alteration *.* The difficulty is treated at
length by Aristotle in the place to which St. Thomas refers, whence
he has borrowed his solution ^.
ii. In the next quotation the Angelic Doctor is discussing the
question touching the justification of the wicked, in order to deter-
mine whether the change is instantaneous ; and he urges a precisely
similar objection against his conclusion that it is instantaneous.
The objection is as follows : ' If grace is infused in the soul, it must
be granted that there is an instant in which it is first there. In
^ < Impoflsibile est in eodem instanti eue aliquid corpus Christi et panem. Ergo
non est idem instaoB in quo est primo corpus Christi, et in quo ultimo est panis. Sed
inter quaelibet duo instantia est tempus medium, ut probatur in 6 Phys. Ergo con-
Tersio panis in corpus Christi est suooessiya.'
' ' Inter tempus autem et instans non cadit necessario tempus medium, sicut oadit
medium inter duo instantia. Et Veritas hujus quaestionis apparet ex hoc quod Philo-
sophns dicit in 8 Phys., quod quando ex albo fit nigrum, in toto tempore mensurante
motum alterationis erat album, sed in ultimo instanti iUius temporis est nigrum ;
unde, secundum ipeum, non est da'*'1um quod in toto lUo tempore sit album, sed in
toto praeter ultimum nunc. Et quia ante ultimum nunc alicujus temporis non est
accipere penultimum, sicut nee ante ultimum punctum lineae penultimum ; ideo non
est accipere ultimum instans in quo 6rat album, sed ultimum tempus. Et similiter
est de illis mutationibus quae sunt termini motus, sicut generatio est terminus altera-
taonis.* 4 d. zi, Q. i, a. 3, q. 2, a">.
* Phyn, L, VIII, 0. 8, p. w. p. 263. Cf. D. Thorn, in L Lect. xvii.
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438 Causes of Being.
like manner, if sin is remitted, it must be granted that there is a
last moment in which a man is subjected to sin. But it cannot be
one and the same moment' in both cases/ because in this hypothesis
opposites would be in the same Sulyect at the same time \' Si
Thomas, replying to this objection, imkkes the following noteworthy
observations : ' The succession of two opposites in the same Subject
is to be understood aflter one manner in the instance of things subject
to time, and after another in the instance of those that are superior
to time. For, in the instance of such as are subject to time, you
cannot assign the last instant in which the preceding Form inheres
in the matter or Subject. The reason of this is, that in time yoa
cannot admit before one instant another immediately preceding,
and that in time instants do not follow continuously ; just as neither
do points in a line, as is proved in the sixth Book of the Ph^$ie9\'
(at the commencement of the Book). * But time has an instant for
its limit. Wherefore, during the whole previous time in which an
entity is moved towards one Form, it is subject to the opposite ;
and, in the last instant of that time, which is the first instant of the
time following, it possesses the Form which is the term of piotion^'
iii. In another place St. Thomas is occupied with the problem,
whether the movements of angels are instantaneous or in time ; and
in his solution he repeats the same doctrine with fresh illustrations.
*It is not necessary,' he writes, Hhat there should be anything
intermediate between two terms ; as, for instance, there is nothing
intermediate between time and the term of time.' Here the Angelic
Doctor is using the word term in its most literal, but most generic,
signification. In such sense even motion is the term of its own
term, — rest ; since it immediately precedes and, in such wise, estab-
lishes the limit or boundary, of the latter. Best begins, where
^ ' Si gratis infundatnr animae, oportet dare aliqnod instanfi in quo priaio aniswe
insit ; similiter, gi culpa remittitur, oportet ultimum instans cbre in quo faomo colpae
subjaceat. Sed non potest ease idem instans, quia do oppocita simul ineisent dd«n.*
' * Sucoeaaio duorum oppoaitorum in eodem Bubjecto aliter est conBid«randa In \A%
quae subjacent tempori, et aliter in his quae sunt supra tempus. In his enim qose
subjacent tempori non est dare ultimum instaus in qagt lonnfi pificr sabjeoto iseit; eat
autem dare ultimum tempus et primum instans in quo fonuf^ subaequens inert matensd
Tel subjecto. Cujus ratio est, quia in tempore non potest aooipl ante unum instani aliad
inatans praeoedens immediate, et quod instantia non oonsequenter se habent in tem-
pore, siout nee puncta in linea, ut probatur in 6 Physic., sed tempus terminator ad
instans. Et ideo in toto tempore praecedenti quo aliquid movetur ad unam forman),
Bubest formae oppositae; et in ultimo instanti iUius temporis, quod est primum instans
Bcquentia temporis, h»bet formam quae est terminus motus.' i-a** cxiii^ 7, 5".
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The Formal Cause. 439
motion ends. 'Between two now9 of time, however, there is an
intermediate time. Hence it is said, that it is not possible to assign
the last now in which it,' — a Form,^* was in the term wience, (ter-
minus a qno) ; as, for example, in illumination as well as in the
substantial generation of Rre it is not possible to assign the last
instant when the air was dark or when the matter was subject to
the privation of the form of fire. But it is possible to assign the
last time ; so that at the end of that time there is light in the air
or the Form of fire in the matter. Accordingly, illumination and
substantial generation are said to be instantaneous motions ^/
iv. In another of his Works St. Thomas enforces, only at greater
length, the same doctrine. 'In natural entities,' he writes, 'in-
stantaneous changes are always the terms of motion. The reason
of this is, that changes of this kind have for their terms Form and
privation ; as the generation of fire has ' for its terms ' fire and not-
fire,' — ^not-fire as its term wAence, fire as its term whither. ' Now,
between the Form and the privation there can be nothing inter-
mediate, save by accident ; that is to say, in so far as that which is
deprived of the Form approximates more or less to the Form by
virtue of some disposition for the Form, which disposition is inten-
sified or diminished by continuous motion. Therefore, there must
pre-exist a movement of alteration which is terminated to genera-
tion. Thus alteration has two terms, — the one in its own Category,
(viz. the ultimate disposition which is necessary for receiving the
Form), because alteration is motion in quality; and the other of
another Category, viz. the substantial Form. In the same way
illumination is the local term of the sun, which is an instantaneous
change existing between the Form of light and its privation, —
that is to say, darkness. Now, the ultimate term of any motion
whatsoever that is measured by any period of time is necessarily in
the last moment of time. Hence, since the substantial Form is
a certain term of alteration, the substantial Form is necessarily
introduced in the last moment of that time. But corruption and
' *Nec oportet ewe aliquod medium inter duos terminoB, sicut non est aliqaod
mediimi inter temptu et ierminun temporis. Inter duo autem nunc temporis est
tempna medium. Unde dicnnt quod non est dare oltimum nimc in quo fuit in termino
a qw>; mmi in illuminatione et in generatione substantiali ignis non est dare ulti-
mum instans, in quo aer fuit tenebrosus, yel in quo materia fait sub privatione formae
ignis ; sed est dare ultimum tempus, ita quod in termino illios temporis est yel lumen
in aere, vel forma ignis in materia. £t sio illuminatio et generatio snbetantialis
dicuntor motus instantanei.' i** liii, 3, e.
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440 Causes of Being.
generation concur ; for the generation of one is the cormptaon of
another. Therefore, the term of the corruption of the one, — air,
for example, — and the term of the generation of the other, — ^for
instance, fire, — ^are necessarily in the last instant of the given time.
Now, the term of corruption is not^being. Wherefore, in the last
instajit of the given time there is necessarily for the first time not-
air, and for the first time fire. But, prior to the last instant of
any given time, there is no admitting a penultimate; becanse
between every two instants there is, according to the Philosopher,
an intermediate time. Accordingly, there is no admitting a last
instant in which there is air ; but during the whole time that
measures the alteration there was air, and in the last instant of
that time there is for the first time not-air and for the first time
fire^*
V. Again, in another place St. Thomas remarks : ' The expulsion
of a Form denotes the term of that motion which is ordained to
corruption, and the introduction of a Form in like manner denotes
the term of that motion which precedes generation ; because both
generation and corruption are terms of motion. Now, everything
that is moved, when it is in the term of motion, is disposed in
accord with that to which the motion is ordained. Wherefore,
^ * In rebus naturaliboB mutationea inBtantaneae Bunt temuni motus semper ; enjoi
ratio est, quia hujosmodi mutationea habent pro terminis formam et priTationein,
ricut geoeratio ignis ignem et non ignem. Inter formam autem et privationem non
potest esse aliquod medium nisi per acoidens ; in quantum scilicet illud quod priTstar
forma, magis et minus appropinquat ad formam, ratione alicujus dispodtionis ad for-
mam, quae intenditur yel remittitur per motum continuum. Et ideo oportet prae-
existere motum alterationis, qui terminetur ad generationem. Et sic alteratio faabet
daos tenninos : unum sui generis, scilicet ultimam dispoeitionem, quae est necesntae
ad formam, quia alteratio est motus in qualitate ; et alium alterius generis, scilioet
formam substantialem. £t eodem modo illuminatio est terminus localis solis, qui est
mutatio instantanea ezistens inter formam luminis et privationem ejus, scilicet tene-
bras. Cujualibet autem motus qui mensuratur aliquo tempore, oportet quod nltiiatts
terminus sit in ultimo instanli temporis. Unde, cum forma substantialis sit quidam
terminus alterationis, oportet quod in ultimo instant! illius temporis introdncatnr
forma substantialis. Gorruptio autem et generatio simul cuzrunt, quia genentio
unius est corruptio alterius. Oportet ergo quod in ultimo instanti illius temporis at
terminus oomiptionis unius, ut aeris, et terminus generationis alterius, ut ignis. Ter-
minus autem oomiptionis est non esse. Oportet ergo quod in ultimo instanti ilHia
temporis sit prime non aer et primo ignis. Bed ante ultimum instans alicujus tem-
poris non potest aocipi penultimum ; quia inter quaelibet duo instantia est tempos
medium, secundum Philosophum ; et sic non est accipere ultimum instans in quo sit
aer; sed in toto tempore mensurante motum alterationis erat aer, et in ultimo instanti
ejus est primo non aer, et primo ignis.' Quol. L. vii, a. 9, o.
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The Formal Cause. 441
since the motion of corruption tends to not-being and that of
generation, on the other hand, to being ; when a Form is intro-
ducedy the Form exists^ but when it is expelled, it exists not.
Further : As a Form is said to be introduced when first it exists and
to be expelled when first it exists not ; matter cannot exist without
one or the other Form. Wherefore, in such case the expulsion of
the one Form and the introduction of the other are simultaneous ^.'
vi. In another passage St. Thomas thus pursues the same idea.
* There is a difference/ he writes, * between motion and change ;
seeing that by one and the same motion one thing that is indicated
by an affirmation,' — that is to say, a positive entity, — * is rejected,
and another indicated by a like affirmation,' — a positive entity, — ■
* is acquired.' This special phase of the question, — ^viz. the dif-
ference between motion and change, — which is first introduced to
our notice here, has a notable significancy in relation to the present
question. 'For motion is from Subject to Subject^ as fiays the
Philosopher in the fifth Book of his Physics. Now, by Subject is
meant this something or other designated affirmatively; as, for
instance, white and black,' — ^not, that is to say, white and nol^iohite,
because not-white is negative in its designation, as is plain. ' Hence,
by one and the same alterative motion the white is cast off and the
black acquired. But in the changes, which are generation and
corruption, the case is different. For generation is a change from
not-Subject to Subject, — as, for instance, from not-white to white ;
while corruption is a change from Subject to not-Subject, — as, for
instance, from white to not-white. Wherefore, in the rejection of
one positive and the acquisition of another ' by alterative motion,
^ it must be understood that there are two changes, one of which is
generation, the other corruption total or partial,' accordingly as the
corruption is substantial or accidental. 'Thus, then, if in the
transition from whiteness to blackness we consider the motion
itself; the same motion is represented by the removal of the one
1 * Expukdo formae didt terminuin motus illiua qui est ad ooiruptionem ordinatus ;
efe introductio fonnae didt similiter terminum motus illius qui praecedit generationem;
quia tarn generatio quam comiptio sunt termini motus. Omne antem quod movetur,
quaodo eet in termiuo motus, disponitur secundum illud ad quod motus ordinatur : et
ideo, cum motus oonruptioms tendat in non esse, generationis yero ad esse ; quando
fbnna introdudtur, fonna est; quando autem expellitur, non est. £t quia introdud
didtor forma quando primo est ; ezpelli autem, quando primo non est; non potest esse
materia sine forma hac yd ilia ; et ideo simul est ibi ezpulsio unius formae et intro*
ductio alterius.' 4 d. xyii, Q. i, a. 5, g. a, 0.
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442 Causes of Being.
and by the introdaction of the other. On the other hand, the
same change is not indicated, but distinct changes which are
mntuallj concomitant j seeing that there is no generation of the
one without the corruption of the other \'
There now will follow three very important passages which con-
clude our quotations from St. Thomas touching this difficult and
subtle question.
vii. * Since every change,' writes the Angelic Doctor, ' has two
terms that cannot exist together, (for every change tends towards
the discontinuous,' — ^that is to say, towards a term whither which is
disconnected from the term whence^ ^ as is said in the first Book oi
the Physics); in all motion or change there must be succession,
because the two terms cannot coexist. Consequently, there must
also be time, which consists in the numeration of a b^ore and an
after ; wherein is contained the entire essence of succession. But,
with regard to this one meets with a difference in different changes.
For sometimes there is an intermediate between the term and the
initial of motion, either by the intervention of dimensive quantity, —
such as exists in the local movements of bodies and in the motion
of augment and diminution; or by the intervention of virtual
quantity, the division of which is discernible in the intensity and
remission of some Form, — such as takes place in the alteration of
sensile qualities/ — as, for instance, in more or less black, more or
less sweet, etc. * In these cases time of itself measures the motion ;
because there is a succession in arriving at the term, for the reason
that this latter is capable of division,' — for instance into degrees of
hardness, or miles of road. ' Sometimes, however, there is no
intermediate between the term whence and the term whither; as is
the case with those changes in which there is a change from a
1 ' Differentia est inter motum et mutatioDem. Nam motns nnuB est quo aliquid
affirmative signifioatum abjidtnr, et aliud affinuative adgmfioatum acquizitar. Eit
•nim motua de aubjecto in aubjeotum, nt didtur in 5 Phyaio. : per lubjectum antem
intelligitar hoc aliquid affirmative monstratum, ot album et nigrum. Unde unus motua
alterationiB est quo album abjicitur et nigrum acquiiitur. Sed in mntationibua, quae
aunt generatio et oorruptio, aliter est. Nam generatio est mutatio de non sabfecto in
subjecttim, nt de non albo in album ; corruptio vero est mntado de subjeeto In non
subjectum, nt de albo in non album. Et ideo in abjeotione nnias affirmati et ad^tiooe
alteriuB oportet duas mutationes intelligi, quarum una flit generatio, et alia oomiptio
vel simpKciter vel secundum quid. Sic ergo, ai in transitn qui est de albedine in
nigredinem, oonsideretur ipse motua ; idem motus figuiatur per ablationem imius et
inductionem alterius ; non autem signifieatur eadem mntatio, sed diTersa» tamea se
uvicem oonoomitantes; quia generatio unius non est sine oorruptione alteriBB.' VerU.
Q. xxviii, a. x, c.
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The Formal Cause. 443
priyatioo to a Form, and vi^^ versa ; as occurs in generation and
oormptioA, in iUumination, and in all instances of a like nature.
With these ohapges likewise time is conjoined i since it is obvious
that matter cannot exist at one and the same time under a Form
mid imder its privation ; neither can the air be at the same time
subject to ligbt md darfcnesH. Yet this must not be taken to mean,
that the exodus, or tumsitioi^ from one esireme to the oiher i*
accomplished in time. But one of the extremes, — ^that is to say,
that which precedes and is rejected in the change^^s connected
with some motion or alteration, (as in generation and corruption),
or with the local motion of the sun, (as in illumination) ; and in the
term of that motion is included the term likewise of the change.
In this respect such change is said to take place suddenly, or in an
instant ; because, in the last instant of the time which measured
the antecedent motion that Form or Privation is acquired, not a
yestige of which was there before \*
viii. The next passage is as follows. 'In all motion we must
recognize succession and time in one way or another ; for the reason
that the terms of any motion whatsoever are mutually opposed and
disoonneetedj as is plainly shown in the first Book of the Physic9.
Hence, every Subject of motion is necessarily understood to be first
in the one term of motion and afterwards in the other ; and so»
^ ' Cum omnis mutatio babeat duos termiooB qui uon possunt earn Bunul, (quia omnia
muiatio eat in lOcontiu^eDay ut dici^ur in i Physio.), oporiet ouilibet motui yel muta-
tioni adesse succ^ssionem ex hoc quod non possunt duo termini esse simul ; et ita tern-
pus, quod est numerus prions et posterioris. in quibus conslstit tota suoceestonis ratio.
8ed hoc dWersimode in divenas oontingit. Quandoque enim terasinus motus est medi-
atus principio motus, yel leouhdum medium quaatitatis dimensivae, sieut est In motu
loqaji covporum et in motu angmenti et diminutionis ; vel secundum medium quanti-
tatk yiitualis cujus divisio attenditur secundum intensionem et remissionem alicujus
ibnnae, sicut in aheratione qualitatum sensibiHum : et tunc tempus per se ipsum motum
menaoi^t : quia ad tenainum tuooessive perreaitar, eo quod cUyisibilis est. Quando-
qu9 Yero tennlnus ad quern non est mediatus termino a quo, sicut est in illis mutationi-
bus in quibus est mutatio de priyatione in forroam, yel e conyerso, ut in generatione et
oomiptione, et illimilnatione, et in omnibus hnjusmodi. Et in istis etiam mutationibus
opoftet anaeTum, esse tempus, cum oonstet materiam non sunul esse sab &>rma et pri-
yatione, aec aeiem esse simul sub luce et tenebris. Non auton ita quod exitus yel
transitus de uno extreme in aliud fiat in tempore; sed alterum extremorum, sci-
licet primum quod in mutatione abjicitur, est conjunctum ouidam motui yel altera-
tioni, (sicut in ganeratiooa et ooiruptione), yel motui locali solis, (sicut in illu-
minatione) ; et in termino illius motus est etiam tenninus mutationis. Et pro tanto
mutatio ilia dkitur esse subito yel in instanii, quia in ultimo iastanti temporis, quod
mensurabat motum praeoedentem» acquirituv ilia forma yet privatio cujus nihil prius
inerat.* i d, xxxvii, Q. 4> a. 3, c
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444 Causes of Being'.
conseqnently^ there is snccession. Now, in the motions of bodies
transition from one term to. another occurs in two ways. In one
way it occurs from instant to instant, as it were. Bat this cannot
take place, except when the terms of motion are such as to be
capable of admitting somehow an intermediary between them ; just
as between two instants there is an intermediate time. This can
be plainly perceived in change of place and in alteration, in augf-
ment or diminution ; and such motions are called continuous by
reason of the continuity of that over which the motion passes,
whose property it is to admit of more and less. In the other w^y
transition is made from one term of motion to another, as fix)m time
to an instant. This occurs in motions whose terms aire privation
and Form, betwixt which it is plain that there is nothing inter-
mediate. Hence, the transition from one term to another cannot
take place in such wise as that it should ever be in neither of the
extremes, but in the intervening time. The motions of generation
and corruption are of this sort, as also illumination, and other
similar instances ; of which it must be said, that one term existed
during the whole of the antecedent time, and the other in the
instant at which that time is terminated. Now, changes of this
kind are terms of a certain motion ; as, for instance, the illumina-
tion of day is the term of the local motion of the sun. Hence,
during the whole preceding time that the sun is moving towards
the point directly opposite to it, there was darkness ; but on the
very instant that it arrives at that point, there is light. It is pre-
cisely the same in the instance of generation and corruption, which
are the terms of alteration. Because^ then, there is nothing inter-
mediate between time and an instant^ and because it is impossible
to admit of any instant immediately preceding the ultimate of time;
hence it is that, in changes of this kind, there is a transition &om
one extreme to the other without any intermediate. Neither is it
possible to admit a last time\' — ^because a last time denotes an
instant, whereas a time in tohich last does not, — 'in which the
change was in the term whence ; though there is a last time, which
is terminated at the instant wken it is in the term whither. Where-
fore, changes of this sort are said to be instantaneous ^.'
' Since the EdUio princeps oonfiima the reading, tempui ; the writer has expltined
it as best he could. But his own conviction is, that the true reading is imtant, which
is more consonant with the argument- and with parallel passages.
* * In omni motu oportet intelligere suocessionem et tempus per aliquem modam, eo
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The Formal Cause. 445
ix. Lastly, St. Thomas elsewhere repeats the same solution in
somewhat different terms. These are his words : ' In bodily enti-
ties the two terms of motion or change admit of a twofold bearing.
The one is, that it is possible to assign an instant in which the
term whither exists for the first time, and another instant in which
the term whence exists for the last time. Accordingly, since there
is an intermediate time between any two given instants, it follows
that from one term of motion to another there is made a transition
through time. Wherefore, such change takes place in time, not in
an instant. Now, this occurs, when between the two terms of
motion it is possible to admit something intermediate; as, for
instance, between white and black and between the being here and
there. But there are some terms of change, between which it is
impossible to admit any intermediary, — as, for instance, between
white and not-white, between fire and not-fire, between light and
darkness ; because affirmation and negation are in their very nature
immediate. The like holds good of privation and Form in a deter-
minate Subject. In such' changes, * although it is possible to
admit an instant in which the term whither first exists ; it is never-
theless impossible to admit an instant in which the term whence
quod termini cujudibet motus sunt dbi oppodti invioem et incontixigentes, ut patet in
I Phyric. Unde oportet quod omne mobile inteliigatur eese primmn in uno termino
motus, et posteriuB in altero ; et sic aequitur succeBsio. Sed transire de uno termino
ad altermn in motibus corporalibus contingit dupliciter. Uno modo ncut de instanti
in instans. Hoc autem esse non potest, nisi quando sunt tales termini motas inter
qnoa est aodpere aliqao modo medimn, sicut inter duo instantia est tempus medium,
ut patet in loci mutatione, et alteratione, augmento aut diminutione. £t hi motus
dicuntor continui propter continuitatem ejus super quod transit motus, onjus est plus
et minus aodpere. Alio modo transitur de uno termino motus in alium, sieut de tem-
pore in instans. Et hoc aoddit in motibus quorum termini sunt privatio et foima,
inter quae constat medium non esse : unde non potest sic transiri de uno extreme in
altemmy ut quandoque in nentro extramorum sit^ sicut transitur de instans tie in
instans, ita quod in neutro est xnstantium, sed in medio tempore. Et hujusmodi
motus sunt generatio et oorruptio, et illuminatio, et hujusmodi ; in qnibus oportet
dioere, quod unus terminus erat in toto tempore praecedente, et alius in instanti ad
quod tempus tenninatur. Hujusmodi autem mutationes sunt termini motus cujusdam,
sicut iUuminatio diei est terminus motus localis soils; unde in toto tempore praecedente
quo sol movetur ad punctum directae oppositionis, erant tenebrae; in ipso vero instanti
quo pervenit ad punctum praedictum, est lumen. Et similiter est de generatione et
eorruptione quae sunt termini alterationis. Et quia inter tempus et instans non cadit
aliquod medium, nee est aliquod instans acdpere immediate praeoedens ultimum tem-
poris; inde est quod in hujusmodi mutationibus absque omni medio transitur de uno
extreme in aUud; nee est aodpere ultimum tempus {inttans ?) in qua fuerit in termino
a qwOf sed ultimum tempus, quod terminatur ad instans in quo est in termino ad qtiem,
Et ideo hujusmodi mutationes instantaneae dicuntur.' Quo{, L, ix, a. 9, c.
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446 Causes of Beiftg.
last exists. For since between any g^ven two momttits thete is an
intermediate time ; it would follow that, during thikt intetvening
time^ it,' — i. e. the subject of the change, ' would be in neither of
the two extremes : which is impossible^ since the extremes are
altogether immediate. Since, then, that instant in which the teim
whither first exists is the term of a portion of time ; it must be
said that the term whence remains during the whole of the time
preceding. Consequently, since between the time and the instant
which is the term of that time there is no time intermediate ; the
transition that is made from one extreme to the other is not made
in time, but in an instant. For the term whence first ceases to be
and the term whither begins to be ' in one and the same instant.
' Changes of this kind are said to be instantaneous; as, for example,
illumination, generation and corruption ^*
It now remains to give a methodical summary of the entire doc-
trine of the Angelic Doctor touching this important question, as
contained in the above nine passages. The author is not sorry that
an adequate solution of the difficulty proposed can be fully obtained
only by this elaborate investigation; because it will necesearily
elucidate in an appreciable manner the Peripatetic doctrine touch-
ing the substantial Form. When the reader has made himself
master of the proposed exposition, he will do well to revert to the
said quotations which form its basis. In order to render the task
easier, the number of the quotation, or the numbers of the quota-
^ * Id rebw oorponJibaB duo termini motuB vel mulatioDifl duplioiter poMont m
habere. Uno modo quod sit Msignare installs in quo terminus ad ptem prfBio eit; et
aliud instans in quo terminus a quo ultimo est St sic, oum inter quaelibet duo in*
stantia sit tempus medium, sequitnr quod de uno teimino motos m aliom iiat iMiulhtt
per tempus. Et 00 talis mutatio est in tempore, et non in instantL Hoo anton eon-
tingit, quando inter duos terminos motus est aliquod medimn aodpere, sleat inter albiun
et nigrum, et inter esw bio et ibi Sed aliqui termini mutationis suAt ihUH qaos aofl
est aooipere medium, sicut inter album et non-album, inter ignem et noii-igttem< iatef
tenebrosum et luminoeum; quia afl&rmatio et negatio scmt secundum stf immediata: et
similiter priratio et forma in subjecto determinato. Et in talibus Meet tdt aoc^psn
instami in quo prime est terminus ad guem, non tamed est aodpere ifistsns in quo
ultimo est terminus a quo. Cum enim inter quaelibet duo iastaatia sit tempus medium*
sequeretur quod, in illo tempore medio, in neutro eztrsmorttm eSKt ; quod est ia^XM^
sibUe, cum sint eztrema omnino immediata. Oportet ergo dicere, quod oum iUud in*
stans in quo prime est terminus ad quem nt tenounus alicujus temporis, in toto tern*
pore praeoedenti duret terminus a quo ; et sio, oum inter tempus et instsns, quod «it
terminus temporis, non lit tempus medium, non fit transitus de una eztremitate in
aliam in tempore, sed in instanti. Prime enim desinit ene tenninus a quo, et indpit
terminus ad qwm. Et hujusmodi mutationes dicuntur esse iastantaneae, sioat iUuini-
natio, generatio, et oorruptio.* Quol, L, zi, a. 4. c.
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The Formal Cause. 447'
tions, in which the particular point of doctrine is to be found, will
be given.
All motion that is corporal and sublunary, (for of such only is
there now question), requires two terms, or extremes, with some-
thing in some way or another continuous between them. By a
term is meant a boundary or limit; therefore, the two terms of
motion are the two realities, whatsoever these may be, that limit
or hem in motion. That there must be two such terms, is evident ;
for there must be something from which motion commences, and
something at which it comes to an end. Thus^ in the instance of a
railway-train, there is the terminus from which the train starts^ and
the terminus whither it tends and where it stops. In like manner,
in rifle-practising the barrel of the rifle would be the term whence,
the motion of the ball commenced, and the target would be that to
which it was directed and where it ought to be arrested. In both
these examples^ — as, indeed, in all cases of corporal motion, — ^the
movement itself is contained within the limits or term, of these two
points which constitute its two extremes. The point, or something,
from which the motion starts is called by the Scholastics the ter-
minua a quo, which has been here rendered into English the term
whence; while the point, or something, at which the motion ceases,
is denominated by the School the terminus ad quern, — ^in its adopted
English equivalent, the term whither. Motion may, therefore, be
fitly represented by a line which begins and ends with a point, — >
its two extremes, or terms. Indeed, it is usual to represent motion
geometrically after this manner. Furthermore: In the idea of
motion is essentially included something continuous that connects,
aa it were, the two terms. This is motion specifically so called ; —
the space through which the train moves in the one example, the
trajectory of the ball in the other.
From the above declaration of the nature and constituents of
motion it follows, that in the concept of motion is essentially
included the idea of succession, (vii^ viii). For it is plain that there
is in all motion a real before and a real after, * in which consists the
whole essence of succession.' The same obviously holds good of a line.
Consequently, in the idea of all corporal motion is necessarily
included, or at least connoted, the idea of time which is the measure
of motion in sublunary bodies, (vii, viii). As, therefore, motion
and succession in motion are fitly represented by a line ; so there is
a striking analogy between time and a line, (i).
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448 Causes of Being.
Time consists of two elements^ as it were; and here it is titiat its
analogy with a line proves to be of some service. For a line is
limited between two points which are continuous with the line.
The line between is actually continuous ; but it contains potentially
an indefinite number of points. A point is indivisible ; but a line is
indefinitely divisible. In like manner^ any given portion of time is
limited between two instants which are continuous with it. This
intervening time is actually continuous, but potentially contains an
indefinite number of instants. An instant is a point of time and
indivisible; but any period of time is indefinitely divisible. Hence,
' In time there is something that is indivisible, — ^viz. an instant ;
and something that is enduring^ — ^viz. time \* It wiU be of use to
notice, that the word time, — ^like the word motion^ — ^is* sometimes
used in a specific sense to express exclusively the duration between
two instants; sometimes genericaUy^ as inclusive of the two instants.
It will be particularly important to bear this in mind, while study-
ing the above nine quotations from the Angelic Doctor.
As points of a line, if in act, are not contiguous ; so in time
actual ' instants do not follow continuously,' (ii). If they could,
there would be no reason why they should not formally exist in
time.
It follows as a consequence, that no instant is immediately pre-
ceded by another instant ; just as no point is immediately preceded
by another point. By immediately is to be understood the absence
of anything intermediate^ — which means, in other words, un^
videdly; for, if there is division, there must be something between.
But a point and a moment are divisions of the continuous ; there-
fore, they do not admit of immediate sequence. Hence^ it is impos-
sible that there should be a penultimate instant, — ^that is to say, an
instant immediately prior to the last instant, — in any given period
of time, (ii, iv, viii). Wherefore, between any two given instants
of time there must be something intervening ; and such interme-
diate is time in its specific, or restricted, signification as a motion,
(i, iii, iv). As time, specifically so called, begins from its first
instant, like the line which commences from its generating point ;
so, it is terminated by an instant, just as a defined line is arrested
at a point, (ii). Between time in its specific signification and any
^ * In tempore aliud est quod est indiyuibile, scilicet instaos ; et aliud est qnod
duret, scilicet tempus.* i** zlii, a, 4^.
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The Formal Cause. 449
instant there is nothing intermediate, (i, iii, viii) ; hence, the two
are immediately conjoined, — ^in other words, continuous. Since
time is continuous; the last potential instant of the preceding
portion of time, (in the event of a division, and time is divided bj
contingent facts), will necessarily be the first point of the remain-
ing portion, (ii) ; just as, if we conceive a line to be divided in two,
the last point of the antecedent Section will become the first of the
consequent.
Hence it follows, as an obvious corollary^ that the ultimate term
of every motion measured by time is necessarily in the last instant
of that time^ (iv).
All change is a species of motion according to the generic signi-
fication of the latter; for it contains all the elements which are
discoverable in motion, viz. a term whence^ a term whither^ and
something continuous, — a sort of process, — connecting the two
terms; though this continuous and connecting samelMn^, — this
process, — ^is not necessarily similar to local motion. There is a
marked difierence, however, between motion and change, even in
those instances wherein the two are physically identified. All
change connotes motion ; but not all motion connotes change, save
perhaps analogically. Further: Motion in recto designates the
transit and in Miqno the terms ; whereas change denotes the two
terms in recto and in obliquo the transit. But, — to limit our atten-
tion, (as the nature of the difiiculty now under consideration sug-
gests), to the particular changes of generation and corruption, — >
motion is always from Subject to Subject, in other words, from
positive to positive ; while the change of generation is from not-
Subject to Subject, and that of corruption from Subject to not-Sub-
ject. The distinction will be better understood by introducing an
illustration. There is a motion, we will say, of the fruit of the
black-currant tree from green to black. The motion, then, is evi-
dently from a positive, — green, — ^to another positive, — ^black. But
this one motion includes two changes, viz. the corruption of the
green and the generation of the black. The green which existed
in the term whence of motion ceases to be in the term whither; —
that is to say, the change of corruption passes from Subject to not-
Subject, or from positive to negative. The black, on the contrary,
which did not exist in the term whence of motion, begins to exist
completely in the term whither^ — ^that is to say, the change of
generation passes from not-Subject to Subject, or from negative to
VOL. II. G s
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450 Causes of Being.
positive. The threefold distinction may be symbolically represented
after tbis manner: Motion is from A to B; Corruption is from A
to not- A; Generation is from not-B to B. Hence it follows, that
the same motion terminates in two concomitant changes, — ^those of
corruption and generation, — which are in inverse ratio; so that in
intermediary changes, (such as alterative, or accidental), the cor-
rupting composite decreases in proportion as the generating com-
posite increases, relative to the perfectness of each^ (vi).
From the above exposition it is plain, that the two Forms,
—the one that ceases to be, and the other that commences to be,
in the term whither of such motion, — cannot possibly co-exist, (vii,
viii). Indeed, the same may be predicated in general of the two
terms of all motion whatsoever, considered exclusively as terms of
motion.
There are two kinds of generative and corruptive change. In
one kind there can be something intermediate between term and
term; in the other kind there cannot be anything intermediate
between the two, (vii, viii, ix). This distinction involves distinct
characteristics proper to each kind. Let us, therefore, consider the
'two apart.
a. To begin with those corruptive and generative changes
wherein there can be something intermediate between the two
terms : let us take, by way of instance, the change of water from
cold to hot, — ^assuming, with or without leave of the physicists,
that cold may be metaphysically regarded as a positive quality.
Between hot and cold there is,- no one can doubt, an intermediate,
— ^men ordinarily call it, lukewarm, — and the heat is divisible,
constantly ascending in degree till it reaches boiling point. In like
manner, under the influence of heat wax becomes gradually softer
and softer, till it liquifies ; and a bar of iron becomes redder and
redder, till at last it arrives at a white heat. In a similar way
there is something intermediary between the green and black of
the currant, viz. a middle state in which the fruit appears of a
dusky red. Alterations generally, which are changes in the
qualities of bodies, belong to this kind.
Now, in all changes such as we are discussing it is true that
time is the measure ; because all change is motion, motion neces-
sarily involves succession, and time is the measure of succession.
But time in the strictest sense measures this kind of changes,
' because there is succession in arriving at the term ' whither^ ' for
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The Formal Cause, 451
the reason that it is capable of division/ (vii), in the way explained
above. Hence, in local change, — to adopt one of the illustrations
of the Angelic Doctor, — it is a common phrase, that we shall get
{% time to our journey^s end, and again, that we reached our desti-
nation hy stages, * These motions are called continuous, by reason
of the continuity of that over which the motion passes,' (viii), — in
alterations, for instance^ the continuity of the accidental Form.
In this kind of generative and corruptive change the two terms
can be in two instants ; because, as there is an intermediate some-
thing between them, they can exist in two separate points of time,
(ix); and the continuous time between them would measure the
intermediary between the two terms. 'Wherefore, such change
takes place in time, not in an instant.'
For a like reason, in this class of changes it is possible that the
transition, or motion, should be in neither of the two terms ; that
is to say, while it is in its course from one term to another, (viii).
Thus, for instance, should a pedestrian walk from London to Hen-
ley, the motion of his onward steps, from the time that he gets
outside of London till he reaches Henley, will be neither in Lon-
don nor in Henley, — ^the two terms of his journey. So, — to take
instances already adduced of an accidental Form, — ^the black cur-
rant passes gradually through a ripening process during which it is
neither green nor black, though the motion is ever going on within
the plant; and the water passes through many degrees in which it
is neither cold nor boiling.
h. We now arrive at t^e consideration of the second kind of
generative and corruptive changes, in whose case there is nothing
intermediate between the two terms. It is to this class that the
objection now under review is restricted, for it embraces all changes
that terminate in substantial generation and corruption. Now,
first of all it is worthy of notice that, when there is nothing inter-
mediate between term and term, the change is instantaneous, (iii,
vii, viii, ix). Further : Instantaneous changes are always simple
terms of motion, (iv) ; that is to say, they are always only terms of
motion, as contradistinguished from gradual changes which include
the alterative motion.
Though, absolutely speaking, there is nothing intermediate
between the two terms of substantial generative or corruptive
change ; yet there is something intermediate by accident, — that is
to say, there are certain alterations and accidental dispositions of
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452 Causes of Being.
the Sabject^ which incline it towards receiving the one Form and
rejecting the other, (iv). This alteration has two terms. The one
consists in the completeness, or perfection, of the new qualities and
dispositions and is, accordingly, in the Category of Quality. Snch
is the ultimate disposition of the matter. . The other is outside the
proper category of the Subjects of these alterative changes, thou^
their final cause. This is the substantial Form. Thus^ for instance,
the qualities of matter in a seed undergo alteration^ after having
been sown in the ground. The formal term of that gradual altera-
tion is the ultimate disposition of the matter for the reception of
the plant-Form ; while the completorial term^ as it may be called,
and final cause of the disposition is the plant- Form itself as termi-
nating the generative motion, (iv). This should be carefully under-
stood ; because the former change is gradual, while the latter is
instantaneous, and there is danger of confounding the two.
In all substantial mutations of bodies, there are included in one
way or another three changes, — two principal, and one subsidiary.
These are, the change from the non-existence to the existence of
the new Form, the change from the existence to the non-existence
of the original Form, and lastly the changes, or alterations^ of the
accidents that inform the matter. This last change may be omitted
in our present examination. There remain, then, the two changes
of generation and corruption ; in the former of which the change is
from privation to Form, while in the latter it is from Form to
privation.
Now, it is impossible that Form and its privation should co-exist,
(vii), because the one is an affirmative and the other its negative ;
and these cannot co-exist^ (ix), because A and not-A are dicho-
tomic.
Again : Since the change is immediate, it is impossible that the
motion, or transition, should be in neither term^ (viii, ix). Hence,
all through the change there must be either Form or its privation;
for there is nothing intermediate, (iv). This holds good of both
Forms^ — of the Form of the corrupted, no less than of the Form of
the generated, substance.
Further : It follows that generation and corruption, — ^in other
words, the introduction of the new Form and the expulsion of the
original Form, — are the terms whither of the 'substantial change, (t).
Now, immediate changes, like all other changes, are measured by
time, because there is succession; yet the change itself is instan-
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The Formal Cause, 453
taneous. As St. Thomas puts it very clearly, 'the transition is
made from one term of motion to another^ as from time to an in-
stant/ (vii, viii). To illustrate by the help of a previous example :
— The substantial Form of the seed remains till the last instant of
the motion, when it ceases to be ; and the plant-Form continues
non-existent throughout the whole time of motion till the con-
cluding instant, when it begins to be. Wherefore, during the
whole of the preceding time except the last instant, the term whence
remains, (i) ; and during the whole of the preceding time except
the last instant, the term whither is non-existent.
It has been already pointed out that, in all generative and cor-
ruptive changes, — that is to say, in all changes which terminate in
generation and corruption, — generation and corruption are con-
comitant changes, or concur. Hence, the same motion terminates
in both generation and corruption. Consequently, the first exist-
ence of the new Form and the first non-existence of the original
Form concur in the last instant of the time of motion, (iv).
Since the two terms, — ^generation and corruption, — in substantial
change are immediate ; it is impossible to assign a last instant in
which the term whence (the original, receding, Form) finally exists,
(ii, iii, viii) ; for, if this were possible, the two terms of the change
would not be immediate ; since there is an intermediate between
instant and instant, which would involve an interval between the
final existence and first non-existence of the same Form. In like
manner, it is impossible to assign the final non-existence of the new
Form to a given instant ; for this would suppose an interval and
corresponding intermediate between non-generation and generation,
i.e. between the non-existence and existence of the new Form. But
in both cases it is possible to assign the last time ; because time is
continuous, (iii, viii, ix). Hence it is concluded, that in substan-
tial corruption the original Form remains during the whole time of
alterative motion and of change up to the last instant. In that
same last instant the old Form recedes, and the new Form is first
introduced. Consequently, there is nothing mediate between A
and not- A, or between not-B and B ; while not-A and B are simul-
taneous terms of the twofold change of the one motion in the last
instant.
If the doctrine of the Angelic Doctor, developed in the preceding
pages, be true, (and, if it is not, let it be refuted) ; the answer to
the prpposed difiiculty is simple. When it is assumed in the Major
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454- Causes of Being.
Premiss that, according to the Scholastic doctrine touching the tub-
Bfantial Forniy either there is a moment of time in which the iico
substantial Forms co-exist in the same Subject^ or there is an interml
of time during which the Subject is denuded of any substantial Form
whatsoever; — ^the proposition must be met by a direct negative;
forasmuch as the disjunction is not logically exhaustive. The
proof of the Major must be distinguished. Either^ in instant 2,/
andf co-exist^ orf exists in instant i andf in instant a, or f exists
in instant i + t, (that is to say, the continuous time of which
instants i and % are the terms), — granted ; Either in instant if and
f etc,^ without the additional member of disjunction, — denied. It
should be bo;*ne in mind, that time for us men is measured by the
motion of the celestial bodies which is continuous. Time is, there-
fore, naturally continuous, and has been broken up (so to say) into
portions, in order to be a measure conformable to the interjectional
nature of contingent facts and actions. Hence, discrete time is a
sort of accommodation to the character of the subjects of measure-
ment. Instants are the terms of a duration, or section of time.
IV. It has been objected, that the substantial Form cannot give
specific being to matter, even according to the teaching of the
Scholastic Philosophy. For, as St. Thomas and the Doctors of the
School in general have accepted from the Philosopher and re-
peatedly enforce, there are two acts of created substance. By the
first act each substance is constituted in being ; while by the second
act it is constituted in its natural operation. Now, the simple act
of being is not differential ; for it is first necessary that a thing
should be, before it can be such or such. Then again, the species
of an entity is equivalent to its nature. Bnt nature, according ta
Scholastic teaching, is the principle of operation. Therefore, the
substantial Form is the first act by which being is ; the natural
Form is the second act by which that being is constituted in such
or such a specific nature which is the principle of its essential
operation. It follows, that the substantial Form does not specifi-
cally determine the matter; and that, to this end, there is need of
another which may be appropriately called the natural Form.
Answer, i. It is impossible that a finite entity should be con-
stituted in being, without its simultaneous constitution by the
same act in its specific and individual nature ; otherwise, all finite
being, as actual or existent^ would be first, in order of nature at the
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The Formal Cause. '455
leasts transcendental and undifferentiated, and afterwards reduced
to distinct essence by the real actuation of another Form. This once
admitted, — to omit other patent absurdities involved in the hypo-
thesis^— there could be no possible reason for excluding a third act
and third Form, by which each individual is constituted undei its
species. Hence, Aristotle, with that practical common sense which
is the characteristic of all true philosophy, tells us in his Categories^
that^r^^ substances, (that is to say, individuals constituted under a
determinate species), are the real foundation of all second substances^
(that is to say, of all species, genera, and a/brtiori, of the transcen-
dentals). It is impossible even to conceive a thing really in act, and
yet indeterminate. If an actual entity must be individual^ we
have yet stronger reason for affirming that it must be specifically
determined ; for individuation constitutes division of the ultimate
species which, accordingly, it presupposes. Neither can the con-
stitution of a thing in Being, (that is to say, in its essence), and
the constitution of the same in its specific nature be even meta-
physically distinguished ; since the two are identical according to
the four causes of Being. If we compare the specific nature with
being, (that is to say, existence), there is indeed room for a meta-
physical distinction, but one far enough removed from that which
the objector presumes. For existence connotes individuation ; and
individuation presupposes a specific nature.
ii. The proposition, that it is nesessary/or a thing first to be, before
it can be such or such, is conceptually true; because the human
mind naturally begins with the more universal, and thence descends
to the more definite and contracted. It is possible, by process of
abstraction, to conceive a thing as Being, (not, — mark, — as being),
without conceiving its being such or such ; but we cannot conceive
a thing to be really such, without in some sort conceiving it to be.
Hence, there is a kind of conceptual priority of order which the .
concept of Being can claim over the concept of the specific nature ;
but there is nothing whatever to justify our transforming this
purely conceptual into real priority, or attributing Being to one
Form and the specific nature to another. On the contrary, if being
is assumed in its participial sense' as significative of existence, such
a hypothesis would suppose the individuation of a thing prior to its
specification ; if assumed in its nominative sense as identical with
entity, or essence, the same hypothesis introduces two Forms for
that which is absolutely one act.
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456 • Causes of Being.
iii. The Doctors oF the School never taught that being is the
first act, and the specific nature, or principle of operation, the
second act ; but that the constitution of an entity outside its caases
in its own specific and individualized nature is the first act, while
its actual natural operation is the second. If the theory in question
were true ; this last would be the third act, not the second. It is
further to be noted, that the author of this objection identifies act
with Form ; but, while it is true that every Form is an act, it is
not true that every act is a Form, save in a very analogical sense.
See Proposition clxxiv.
iv. Further: To be necessarily presupposes Being, or at least
connotes the latter. But Being is essence. That same essence,
conceived as the principiant of natural operation, is the specific
nature. There is no possible foundation^ therefore, for any distinc-
tion between the two.
v. This novel introduction of what is called a natural Form is
probably a necessity for the particular dynamic theory which it is
intended to render conceptually complete ; but, forasmuch as the
said theory exhibits that which is accidental to the primordial
Subject as the sole constitutive of the specific nature of material
substance, we may safely be spared any further inquiry into its
demerits.
Y. Against the last argument adduced in favour of the present
Proposition it has been objected as follows : From the Antecedent^
that the constitution, inteffration or completion, of bodily substance is
an absolute necessity, in the hypothesis that the actual order of
nature was intended and willed ; the conclusion has been drawn,
that tie existence of material Forms is, under the same hypothesis, an
absolute necessity. But the conclusion does not appear ta be war-
ranted by the premisses. For, in the first place, the whole force of
the argument depends upon the supposition that there is such a
thing as primordial matter, which most adversaries of the Peripa-
tetic philosophy would be disposed to call in question. Then again,
even assuming the existence of a primordial matter^ the supposed
fact would not render the existence of substantial Forms an abso-
lute necessity; for why should not this primordial matter become
actuated by a definite collection of accidental Forms ?
Answer. As to the first part of the objection it must be observed,
that proofs of the existence of a primordial matter have been already
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given in the preceding Chapter; and it would be impossible to
make progress in any science, if no account is to be made of truths
already demonstrated.
The second part of the objection, though implicitly treated else-
where, merits further consideration. It must be said, then, that no
accident, or collection of accidents could satisfy the final cause of a
substantial Form, — that is to say, the constitution, integration, com-
pletion, of bodily substance. The Antecedent is proved in various ways.
The constitution, etc. of bodily substance, m sucA, means nothing
more or less than the complete constitution of the substantial essence,
or nature. But no essence can be completed, so as to become truly
and of itself one, by a potentiality and act which belong to distinct
and opposed categories. A fortiori^ no essence which is absolute, —
of itself, in its intrinsic constitution, — in its own right,— can be
essentially constituted in itself by any accidental addition. Again,
to put the same argument under a somewhat new form : — Every
potentiality is only fulfilled by an act correlative with itself and
with its own specific nature. But primordial matter is a substan-
tial potentiality. Therefore, it can never be fulfilled by any acci-
dental Form or collection of accidental Forms ; for no mere collection
can overleap the common essential nature of its several constituents.
Lastly: If this accidental Form or compost of accidental Forms,
which is supposed to complete material substance, be really (as it
must be) accidental, it occurs to inquire : What is the Subject of
this accident, or congeries of accidents? It cannot be an accident
to the supposed integral composite constituted by itself and pri*
mordial matter ; because this would make the accident an accident
to itself, since itself enters intrinsecally and primarily into the
constitution of the composite, as being according to the hypothesis
the constitutive act of such composite. Can it, then, be considered
as an accident to primordial matter ? But this will not square with
the hypothesis, that it essentially enters into the constitution and
completion of material substancQ. It may be urged, perhaps, that
it is said to be accidental, because primordial matter can exist with
or without it. Here, however, there is a noticeable ambiguity.
Either the assertion may mean that primordial matter can exist
without this particular accidental Form, or it may mean that pri-»
mordial matter can exist apart from any accidental Form whatso-
ever. If the former meaning is intended, the fact would not secure
the accidental nature of the Form ; since primordial matter can
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458 Causes of Being.
exist without this or that particular substantial Form. If we are
to understand the proposition in the latter sense, it must be denied;
since, in the hypothesis that bodily substances are constituted by
accidental Forms as acts of primordial matter, it is impossible de
j)otentia ahsoluta that primordial matter should exist save under the
actuation of one or other of such Forms. It may again be urg^,
that the said Form is said to be accidental because of its dependence
on matter. Sut the same reason would go to prove that primordial
matter itself is accidental ; since the dependence of the latter on its
fellow constituent is^ if anything^ more absolute than that of the
actuating Form. Moreover, for the same reason^ the parts or mem-
bers of a body would claim the name of accidents ; since there can
be no doubt that they exhibit a mutual and necessary dependence.
There is, then, one kind of dependence, and there is another kind
of dependence; and there is nothing, therefore, repugnant in an
incomplete substance depending on another as Subject within the
limits of its own Categoiy . Finally : Such an accidental informa-
tion would satisfy the requirements neither of the final cause of the
substantial Form nor of its own : — not of the final cause of the sub-
stantial Form, because (as has been already urged) from such infor-
mation there could never result one substantial nature ; not of its
own final cause, for this is the accidental perfecting which is com-
pletorial of the already constituted substance.
Wherefore, as Suarez justly observes, * the philosophical doctrine
touching substantial Form is most certain.'
ARTICLE ni.
The Eduction of bodily substantial Forms out of the potentiality
of matter.
There is no part of the Scholastic doctrine touching the consti-
tution of bodies, which has been generally considered more obscure
than the question now proposed for discussion. Some not over
thoughtful, some impatient, very many prejudiced, inquisitors have
not scrupled to pronounce the words that head this Article to be a
sounding phrase without meaning ; whereas in reality, of all the
conclusions connected with the essential constitution of bodies they
virtually contain conclusions the most momentous and most preg-
nant with principles directive of physical research. It should be
added, that nowhere perhaps is the harmony between metaphysics
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The Formal Cause. 459
and modern physical discoveries more satisfactorily established, than
in the doctrine to the exposition of which this Section of the present
Work is devoted. It will be the object, therefore, of the writer to
evolve, in a series of Propositions, what Aristotle and the Doctors
of the School mean, when they affirm that material substantial
Forms are educed, or evolved, out of the potentiality of matter. At
the end of the Article the results of the investigation will be set
before the reader in the form of a summary.
Previously, however, to entering upon the proposed inquiry, it is
necessary to premise that the human soul, though a substantial
bodily Form, is excluded from the discussion. This exclusion is
due to its singular nature, by which it is essentially distinguished
from all other substantial Forms of bodies. Psychology teaches by
demonstrative proof, that the human soul alone of all such Forms
possesses intellect and will properly so called, by reason of which
faculties it lays claim to a place, albeit the lowest, among spiritual
entities. We are likewise taught by the same science no less than
by the general verdict of mankind in every age, that the human
soul has a subsistence of its own and, in consequence, survives its
separation from the body at the time of death. In these respects
it is exceptionally distinguished from all other corporeal Forms.
In order, then, to obviate the necessity of a repetition of the same
conditional clause in the Enunciation of each Proposition, let it be
understood once for all, that the present investigation embraces all
substantial Forms of either inanimate or animate bodies with the
single exception of the human soul. Every Proposition in the
present Article must be considered as virtually subject to this
modification.
PROPOSITION CLXXVII.
Since the substantial Forms of bodies are acts of primordial
matter and have uo independent existence ; it is metaphysioally
impossible that they should become the single term of either
creative or productive action.
Prolegomenon I.
It has been shown in the hundred and seventy-fourth Proposition,
that every Form is an act. But there is an essential difference in
Forms. Some are Forms that are acts, so to say, to themselves^ and
subsist exclusively in their own right. Others there are, which are
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460 Causes of Being,
acts of another and naturally subsist, together with a compartner^
in the composite ; yet are also substantial acts in themselves, and
in consequence capable of a separate subsistence. Others, finally,
are exclusively acts of the composite, having no possible subsistence
save in the composite. Under the first class are included all purely
spiritual substances. To the last class belong all substantial Forms
of bodies, with the solitary exception of the human soul which con-
stitutes the second class. The present Proposition concerns itself
only with the last class.
Peolegomenon II.
By the phrase in the Enunciation, — that bodily substantial Forms
cannot possibly become tie single term of either creative or productive
action^ — is meant, that neither the Creative Action of the First
Efficient Cause nor the productive power of secondary causes can
terminate in the separate creation or separate production of any one
of these Forms, — that is to say, in its creation or production other-
wise than through the medium of^ and in conjunction with, matter.
The Proposition is thus phovbd.
That which involves a contradiction in terms is a metaphysical
impossibility. But that substantial Forms should become the single
term of either creative or productive action, involves a contradic-
tion in terms. Therefore, etc. The Major is evident : the Minor
is thus proved. That what is exclusively an act of matter should
be not an act of matter, is a contradiction in terms. But that a
bodily substantial Form should be the single term of either creative
or productive action, is equivalent to its being an act of matter and
not an act of matter. Therefore, etc. The Minor is thus declared.
It belongs to the essential nature of a substantial bodily Form such
as we are now considering, that it should be exclusively an act of
matter, because it has no subsistence of its own ; while, according
to the hypothesis here combated, it could not be the act of matter,
since it would be created or produced (as the case might be) with-
out the intermediary of matter and as an independent entiiy.
The above argument needs explanation and illustration. To
begin with the latter : — ^The earth is an oblate spheroid^ as we are
told, — ^in other words, a sphere flattened at the poles ; since its
polar diameter is shorter than its equatorial by some twenty-fonr
miles. This shape, or figure of our globe, — ^like other figures of
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The Formal Cause. 461
other bodies, — belongs to the fourth species in the Category of
Quality. It is, therefore, an accidental Form, and immediately
informs the quantity by which the earth is actuated; nor could it
de potentia absoluta be produced in existence, save in conjunction
with the quantity of which it forms the limit. To take another
clearer example from art: — Let us set before us a porcelain vase.
It exhibits an elegantly proportioned shape which the skilled
manufacturer has given to it. What was the process of produc-
tion? The craftsman has evolved out of the clay, — the chosen
material of his vase, — that particular form which he had previously
conceived in his mind as his model. That figure is so essentially
embedded in the clay, that it is absolutely impossible to separate
the former from the latter. Not even an infinite power could give
to it an independent existence. The workman developes it out of
the material and, simultaneously with the perfect development of
the form, produces his vase. After a somewhat similar manner are
the substantial Forms of bodies evolved out of the potentiality of
matter. AH that they are, they are acts of matter constituting the
composite. They are immersed in matter, to borrow a favourite
expression of St. Thomas ; so that outside of it they are, they can
be, nothing. Hence, the Creative Action of the First Cause and
the productive power of secondary efficient causes formally termi-
nate at the integral composite, just as the operation of the manu-
facturer is directed to the production of the vase ; and, like as the
latter causes the result by working his artistic shape out of the
matter, so the First Cause concreates (in whatsoever cases He has
created, about which we shall see later on) matter with its Forms,
(since neither can exist separately or be created separately), while
secondary causes in the established order of nature evolve Forms
out of matter by direct operation on the matter already pre-
existing.
The truth of this Proposition is further proved by an argument
derived from the nature of these Forms. Bodily substantial Forms
have no subsistence of their own. They only subsist in another, —
that is to say, in the Subject which they inform. But, if they
were capable of becoming the single, or adequate, term of either
creative or productive action, they must necessarily be capable of an
independent subsistence ; since that which is the sole term, or re-
sult, of creation or production must exist in itself, seeing that it is
made independent of anything conjunct with it.
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462 Causes of Being,
The present Proposition is in strict accord with the teaching of
the Angelic Doctor. In an Article wherein he is discussing the
problem, Whether creation has anything to do with the works of nature
and art^ he solves the problem as follows: ^This difficulty has
arisen by reason of Forms which, as some contended, do not begin
to exist by natural agency, but had previously existed in matter^
thus maintaining the latent existence of Forms. And they fell into
this error from an ignorance of the nature of matter ; since they did
not know how to distinguish between potentiality and act. For,
whereas Forms pre-exist in matter potentially, they maintained that
they pre-existed simply. Others, again, maintained that Forms are
given or caused by a spiritual agent in way of a creation ; and,
according to this opinion, creation accompanies every natural opera-
tion. Now, they fell into this error from an ignorance about Forms.
For they did not take into consideration, that the natural Form of
a body is not subsisting, but rather that by which something exists.
Wherefore, since to be made or created properly appertains to a
subsisting entity alone ; it is not the part of Forms to be made or
created, but to have been concreated. That, however, which is
properly the production of natural agency, is the composite which is
made out of the matter. Hence, there is no admixture of creation
in the works of nature ; but, prior to natural operation, there is
something presupposed ^/ — that is to say, there is a pre-existing
Subject of natural operation (matter) ; and, consequently, the result
is not a creation but a production. The doctrine maintained in the
latter part of the above quotation will be confirmed and enucleated
in the next Proposition.
Corollary.
Since substantial Forms cannot become the adequate term of
creative action, and since primordial matter is in precisely the same
^ * Haec dubitatio inducitur propter formas, quas quidam posueront non indpere p»
actionem naturae, Bed prius in materia eztitisse, ponentes latitationem formamm. £t
hoc accidit eis ex ignorantia materiae, quia nesciebant diftinguere inter potentiam et
actum. Quia enim formae praeexistunt in materia in potentia, poeuenint eas simpli-
citer praeexistere. Alii vero poBuerunt formas dari vel causari ab agente separato per
modum creationis ; et secundum hoc ouilibet operationi naturae adjungitur creatio. Sed
hoc accidit eis ex ignorantia fortnae. Non enim con!*iderabant quod forma uaturalis
corporis non est subsistens, sed quo aliquid est. £t ideo cum fieri et creari non con-
veniat proprie nisi rei subsistenti, . . . formarum non est fieri, neque creari, sed ooncre-
atas esse. Quod autem proprie fit ab agente naturali est compositum, quod fit ex
materia. Unde in operibus naturae non admiscetur creatio, sed praesupponitur aliqoid
ad operationem naturae.' i»* xlv, 8, 0.
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The Formal Cause. 463
case ; sapposing the •fact of a primitive creation, it follows that
matter and Form must be conereated, though under difference of
transcendental relation to each other.
PROPOSITION CLXXVIII.
Since the substantial Forms of bodies are exclusively acts of
matter and have no independent subsistence of their own ; they
are not, absolutely speaking, beings in themselves, ,but are
rather causes of being in another.
As the present Proposition is a sort of corollary from the last, it
needs declaration rather than proof. Let us commence, therefore,
with a summary of the teaching of the Angelic Doctor, collected
from various of his writings.
In the first passage which is about to be set before the reader,
St. Thomas is occupied in solving a problem that arises out of the
question touching bodily substantial Forms, and the origin of which,
as will be seen in the course of the solution, is attributable to the re-
spective theories of Plato and Avicenna. The problem is this:
Whether the Forms of bodies are derived from Angels, The solution is
given by St. Thomas in the following quotation : * It was the opinion
of some^ that all bodily Forms are derived from spiritual Substances
whom we call Angels. This was maintained by some in one of two
ways. For Plato maintained that the Forms which are in bodily
matter are derived from Forms subsisting apart from matter by
virtue of a certain participation. For he supposed a certain man
subsisting immaterially, and a horse in like manner, and so on for
the rest, by which the individuals subject to sensile perception are
constituted ; in that there remains in bodily matter a certain im-
pression ' derived ' from these separated Forms, by virtue of a sort
of assimilation which he called participation. Moreover the Pla-
tonists maintained, that there was an order of separated,' (imma-
terial) ^substances, corresponding with the order of Forms; for
instance, that there is one separated substance which is Horse, and
that this latter is the cause of all horses. Above this, there is a sort
of separated Life which they asserted to be absolute Life, and cause
of all life ; higher yet, a certain substance which they asserted to be
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464 Causes of Being.
archetypal Being and Cause of all being. Avioenna, on the other
hand, together with some others maintain, — not that the Forms of
bodily substance in matter subsist in and of themselves, — ^but that
they subsist only in the intellect. Wherefore, they asserted that all
the Forms which exist in bodily matter proceed from Forms in the
intellect of spiritual creatures which they call Intelligences^ — we,
Angels; precisely as the Forms of productions of art proceed from
the Forms that exist in the mind of the artificer. . . Now, all
these opinions seem to have sprung from one root. For they sought
for the cause of Forms, as though the Forms themselves were pro-
duced in themselves. But, as Aristotle proves in the seventh Book
of his Metaphi^sica, that which is produced, strictly speaking, is the
composite,' — that is, the integral bodily substance. 'The Forms,
then, of corruptible beings can now exist, now cease to exist, with-
out their being themselves generated or corrupted, by reason ^of the
generation or corruption of the composites. For the Forms have no
being even, but the composites have being by means of them;
seeing that the production of a thing is in proportion to its being.
Accordingly, since like is produced by its like, we ought not to seek
for a cause of bodily Forms in any immaterial Form, but in some
composite ; just as this fire is generated by that fire. Wherefore, in
like manner bodily Forms are caused, not as if by the causal influx of
some immaterial Form, but by the reduction of matter from poten-
tiality to act through the instrumentality of some composite agent.
Forasmuch, however^ as a composite agent, which is a body, is
incited to movement by a created spiritual substance^ as Augustine
asserts ; it further follows that even bodily Forms are derived from
spiritual substances, — not as though they acted directly on the pro-
duction of the Forms, but because they incite to the eduction of the
Forms. But again, the intelligible Forms of the angelic intellect,
which are certain seminal ideas of bodily Forms, are ultimately re-
ferred to God as to the first Cause *.'
^ * Opinio fuit quoramdam, quod omnes formae corpondes derivantor a rabsUotiis
spiriiualibuB, quaa Angelos dicimua. £t hoc quidem dupliciter aliqui poBuenmt. Hftto
enim poBuit formae quae sunt in materia oorporali, derivari a formia sine materia sub-
sistentibuB per modum participationis cujusdam. Ponebat enim hominem qoemdam
immaterialiter subsiBtentem, et similiter equum, et dc de aliis, ex quibus constitoimtiir
liaec singularia sensibilia, secundum quod in materia ooiporali remanet quaedam im-
pressio ab illUi formis separatis per modum assimilationis cujufldam, quam participsti-
onem yocabat. Et secundum ordinem formarum ponebant Platonici ordinem sabstaa-
tiarum separatarum ; puta, quod una substantia separata est quae est equus, qoao est
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The Formal Cause. 465
^Elsewhere the Angelic Doctor, in reference to the same problem
represented from a somewhat different point of view, is still more
plain. * They' (viz. the Platonists and Avicenna), he writes, ' appear
to have been led into this error ^ touching the causality of imma-
terial substances in the production of bodily substantial Forms,
* because they considered a Form to be something produced in itself;
so that in this hypothesis it must proceed from some formal prin-
cipiant. But, (as the Philosopher proves in the seventh Book of his
Metaphysics)^ that which is, properly speaking, produced is the com-
posite. For this latter, strictly speaking, exists ; forasmuch as it is
subsistent. Now, the Form is not called being as though it exists
itself, but as that by which something exists. Hence it follows,
therefore, as a consequence, that neither is the Form strictly
speaking produced. For to be produced appertains to that which
has a being of its own ; since the being produced is no other than
the road to being. Further : It is clear that the thing made bears
a likeness to its maker ; since every agent produces that which is
like itself. Wherefore, that which produces the things of nature
bears a likeness to the composite ; either because it is itself a com-
posite, (as fire generates firej, or because the entire composite, as
regards both matter and Form, is virtually contained in the agent.
causa onmiuxn equoruui, supra quam est quaedam vita separata, quam dioebant per se
vitam 6t causam omnis vitae ; et ulterius quamdam quam nominabant ipsum esse, et
causaiu omnis esse. Avicemia vero et quidam alii non posuerunt formas rerum corpo-
ralium in materia per se subsistere, sed solum in intellectu. A formis ergo in intellectu
creaturanun spiritualium existentibus, quas quidem ipsi intelligentias, nos autem
Angeles dicimus, dioebant piooedere omnes formas quae sunt in materia corporali,
sicut a formis quae sunt in mente artificis, procedunt formae artificiatorum. . . . Omnes
autem hae opiniones ex una radice processisse videntur. Quaerebant enim causam for-
mamm, ac si ipsae formae fierent secundum seipsas. Sed sicut probat Aristoteles (in
7 Metaph.), id quod proprie fit, est compositum. Formae autem corruptibilium rerum
habent ut aliquando sint, aliquando non sint, absque hoc quod ipsae generentur aut
coTTumpantur, sed compositis generatis aut corruptis ; quia etiam formae non habent
esse, sed composita habent esse per eas ; sic enim alicui competit fieri, sicut et esse.
£t ideo cum simile fiat a suo simili, non est quaerenda causa formarum corporalium
aliqua forma immaterialis, sed aliquod compositum, secundum quod hie ignis genera-
tur ab boo igne. Sic igitur formae corporales causantur, non quasi influxae ab aliqua
immateriali forma, sed quasi materia reducta de potentia in actum ab aliquo agente
oomposito. Sed quia agens compositum, quod est corpus, movetur a substantia imma-
teriali creata, ut Augustinus dicit (3 de Trin. cap. 4 et 5), sequitur ulterius quod etiam
formae corporales a substantiis spiritualibus deriventur, non tanquam influeniibus for-
mat, sed tanquam moventibus ad formas. Ulterius autem reducuntur in Deum, sicut
in primam causam, etiam species angelioi intellectus, quae sunt quaedam seminales
rationes corporalium formarumV I'^^lxv, 4, c.
VOL. II. H h
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which belongs to God alooe. 'Hius, then, all information of matter
is immediately due either to God or to some bodily agent, and not
immediately to Angels ^.'
Once more : While discussing the question whether God works bj
creation in nature, St. Thomas again refers to the theories of Plato
and Avicenna, including likewise that of Anaxagoras, and continues
in the words that follow : * These opinions seem to have had their
origin in an ignorance as to the nature of Form ; just as the earliest
opinions ' touching the constitution of bodily substances ' owed their
origin to an ignorance as to the nature of matter. For being is not
predicated uni vocally of a natural Form and of the generated entitj.
For being is absolutely and strictly predicated of the natural entity
that has been generated, in that it has being and subsists iu its own
being. But being is not thus predicated of the Form, since this
latter does not subsist or have being absolutely ; but it is said to be,
or is called a being, because by means of it something is. In a
like manner accidents too are called beings, because by means of
them substance is either of such quality or of such quantity, — ^not,
however, because by means of them it absolutely exists, as in the
instance of the substantial Form. Accordingly, accidents are more
strictly said to be of beitig than beings, as is seen in the seventh
Book of the Metaphtfsica. Now, everything that is made, is said to
be made in the same sense as it is said to exist ; for being is the
term of production. Hence, that which strictly speaking is made
in itself, is the composite ; whereas the Form is not strictly speak-
ing made, but is that by means of which something is made, — that
is to say, by acquisition of which a thing is said to l)e made. The
saying, then, that nothing is made out of nothing, does not hinder
us from affirming that substantial Forms exist by means of an
operation of nature. For that which is made is not the Form, but
the composite which is made out of the matter and not out of
^ * Qui in hoc videntur fuisse decepti, quia existimAverunt fonnam quasi aliquid per
10 factum, ut sic ab aliquo formaU principio prcx^ederet. Sed, sicut PhUosopbud probot
in 7 Metaph., hoc quod proprie fit, est compositum. Hoc enim proprie est quasi sub*
sistens. Forma autem non dicitur ens, quasi ipsa sit, sed sicut quo aliquid est. £i nc
per consequens nee forma proprie fit ; ejus enim est fieri, cujus est esse, cum fieri niMl
aliud sit quam via in esse. Manifestum est autem, quod factum est simile fiKaenii,
quia omne agens agit sibi simUe. Et ideo id quod facit res naturales, habet similitu-
dinem cum composite ; vel quia est compositum^ sicut ignis generat ignem ; Tel qui*
totum compositum, et quantum ad materiam et quantum ad formam, est in virtate iptiusi
quod est proprium Del Sic igitur omnia informatio materiae vel est a Deo immediste^
▼el ab aliquo agente corporali, non autem immediate ab Angelo/ i** ex, 2, e.
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The Formal Cause, 467
nothing. Further : It is made out of matter, forasmuch as matter
is in potentiality to the composite itself, by virtue of its being in
potentiality to the Form. For this reason it is not a right expres-
sion to say that the Form is made in the matter, but rather that
it is educed from the potentiality of the matter. From this fact,
that the composite is made and not the Form, the Philosopher
points out in the seventh Book of his Metaphysics that Forms are
the results of natural agency. For, since that which has been
made must be like the maker of it; from the fact that what is
made is a composite, the maker of it must likewise be a composite,
and not a separated Form as Plato asserted. As, therefore, that
which has been made is a composite, but that by means of which it
has been made is the Form in the matter which has been reduced to
act ; so, in like manner, the generating entity is not a Form only,
though the Form is that by means of which it generates, — a Form
that is existing in this particular matter, for instance in this flesh,
these bones, and the like ^ .'
To conclude the teaching of St. Thomas on this point : — He tells
us, that the metaphysical composition of being and subsistence (ex
esse et quod est), though to be found in the human soul, ' is not
discoverable in other Forms ' of material substances, ' because they
* ' Istae opiniones videntur provenisse ex hoc quod ignorabatur uatura formae, dcut
et primae provenerunt ex hoc quod ignorabatur natura materiae. Forma enim natu-
ralu non dicitur tmivoce ease cum re generata. Reai efnim naturalis generata dicitur
ease per se et proprie, quasi habena eaae, et in sue esse eubsistenB ; forma aatem non
aic eme dicitur, com non subsistat nee per se esse habeat ; sed dicitur esse vel ens quia
ea aliquid est ; sicut et accidentia dicuntur entia, quia substantia eis est vel qualis vel
quanta, non quo eis sit simpliciter sicut per formam substantialem. Unde accidentia
niagiB proprie dicuntur entis quam entia, ut patet in Metaphysic, lib. 7. Unumquod-
que auteiii factum hoc modo dicitur fieri quo dicitur esse. Nam esse est terminus fac-
tionis ; unde illud quod proprie fit per se, compositum est. Forma autem non proprie
fit, sed est id quo fit, id est per cujus acquisitzonem aliquid dicitur fieri. Nihil ergo
obstat per hoc quod dicitur quod per natursm ex nihilo nihU fit, quin formas substan-
tiales ex operatione naturae esse dicamus. Nam id quod fit non est forma, sed com-
positum ; quod ex materia fit, et non ex nihilo. £t fit quidem ex materia, inquantum
materia e^t in potentia ad ipsum compositum, per hoc quod est in potentia ad formam.
£t sic non proprie dicitur quod forma fiat in materia, sed magis quod de materiae
potentia educatur. £x hoc autem ipso quod compositum fit et non forma, ostendit
Philoaophus in 7 Metaph., quod formae sunt ex agentibus naturalibus. Nam cum
factum oporteat esse simile facienti, ex quo id quod factum est est compositum, oportet
id quod est faciens esse compositum, et non forma per se existens, ut Plato dicebat ;
ut sic, sicut factum est compositum, quo autem fit est forma in materia in actum re-
ducta ; ita generans sit compositum, non forma tantum ; sed forma sit quo generat, —
forma, inquam, in hac materia existens, sicut in his carnibus et in his ossibus et in
aliia hujusmodi.* Po*, Q. iii, a. 8, e.
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468 Causes of Being.
cannot subsist, as it were, in their own being, but exist by virtue
of the being of the composite^.' So again: 'In the human soul
there is discoverable a composition of being and subsistence, but not
in other Forms * of material substance ; * because being does not
belong absolutely to bodily Forms as it does in the case of things
that subsist, but to the composite 2.' Hence, 'Forms are not
arranged under genus and species, but the composites^;' for the
reason that * Primordial matter and material Forms are not in the
category of substance as species, but only as principiants*. '
It now remains to collect and develope in orderly sequence the
doctrine contained in the above quotations. It is to be observed at
the outset, that all the statements of the Angelic Doctor are strict
deductions from the one fundamental principle, — viz. that the sub-
stantial Form in bodies is simply and exclusively the act of primor-
' dial matter. It may be here useful to repeat that which has been
stated already touching the precise meaning of the terms, act and
Form ; with special reference, however, to the present Proposition.
Act, then, is the correlative of potentiality ; for an act is the term
of an actuated potentiality. See the introduction to this Chapter,
and the hundred and sevenftf-fftk Proposition. It may be conve-
nient to the reader to recall a favourite example. There is a passive
potentiality in water to receive (let us say, for the sake of precision)
2ia° F. of heat. By application of fire the water attains that
heat, and is at boiling-point. Its previous mere capacity, or recep-
tivity, is now made actual ; and the said degree of heat becomes an
accidental act of the water. The water is no longer capable only of
receiving this degree of heat ; for it has actually received it. Fur-
thermore : It is plain that the acquisition of such an act is, strictly
speaking, a perfection ; because the Subject (in the above instance,
the water) receives a something real which it did not previously
possess. But all real entity is good, and goodness is perfection;
^ * Qui tamen oompositionis moduB in aliis formiB non invenitur, quia non poasunt
esse sub istentes quasi in esse suo, sed sunt per esse compositi.* 2 d. xvii, Q. i. o^
2f 0.
' *Unde in anima invenitur compodtio esse et quod est, et non in aliis fomuB; qai*
ipsum esse non est formarum corporalium absolute, sicut eorum quae sunt, sed oompo-
siti.* I d. viii, Q. 5, a. a, i™.
' ' Fonnae non coUocantur in genere vel specie, sed composita.' i** Izxvi, 3, 3".
^ * Vel quia res ilia non habet esse absolutum, ut ens per se did possit ; et propter
hoc materia prima et formae materiales non sunt in genere substantiae sicut spede»,
sed solum sicut principia.* 1 d, iii, Q. i, a. 6, c, init.
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The Formal Cause. 469
therefore, added entity is added perfection. Similarly: Form is the
correlative of the informed, or Subject. Here, too, the Subject of
information, prior to its actuation by the Form, is in pure passive
potentiality to the Form, — in other words, it is capable of receiving
the said Form, but is utterly unable of itself to energize towards its
ednction, presenting itself as a mere field of action for the operation
of some eflScient cause. By reception of the Form such potentiality,
or receptivity, is actuated and determined. Hence it is obvious that
Form and act are in such instances objectively the same; yet they
do not represent the same objective concept. For act formally con-
notes existence ; Form, differentiation. By act we rather conceive
of a thing as determined to be, whether substantially or acci- ,
dentally ; by Form, as determined to be such or such specifically.
Accordingly, act (to discriminate with utmost precision) is more
strictly applicable to substantial Forms ; while Form designates
accidents more accurately than act. Nevertheless, as existence in
finite being essentially connotes differentiation, the substantial act
is really and truly the substantial Form ; and, since an accidental
differentiation essentially connotes a reality newly existing in the
Subject (substance), the accidental Form is really and truly an
accidental act. But there is this fundamental distinction between
substantial and accidental Forms ; — the Subject of the substantial
Form only exists, or can exist, by the actuation, and that actuation
it receives from the Form ; while the Subject of an accidental Form
is already fully constituted in its substantial being. The former
can have no existence apart from its Form ; the latter is essentially
presupposed, at least according to priority of nature, since all
accident presupposes substance.
Let us now limit our inquiry to the substantial act, or Form.
Primordial matter, as we have seen in the preceding Chapter, is a
purely passive potentiality, — a simply undetermined and in itself
indeterminate receptivity. Hence, it is only half-being, — lowest in
the scale of real things, — absolutely incognizable, save under the
actuation of some Form. On the other hand, the substantial Form
in its entirety is simply and exclusively the act of matter. It has no
existence which is not originally derived from, and ever dependent
on and limited by, that portion of matter which is its Subject. It
is as indivisible from the matter, as a thought is entitatively inse-
parable from the active potentiality, or faculty, of thought ; for it
is the act of matter, nothing more and nothing less. Just, then, as
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470 Ca7ists of Being,
in art the accidental human Form is the marble in act, so that its
existence apart from the stone is iQconceivablcj and as the intention
of the artist, — the efficient cause, — is to produce the statue by
means of the Form, and not the Form in and by itself, (which is an
impossibility) ; so, after a like manner, the substantial Form is the
act of primordial matter, and may roughly be said to be matter in act,
in such wise that it cannot, (at least naturally)^ exist apart from the
matter, and the intention of nature in generation is to produce the
composite substance by means of the Form, and not the Form in
and by itself, (which is in like manner an impossibility.)
And now to pursue more directly the doctrine of St. Thomas
touching the entity of bodily Forms : — No substantial bodily Fonn
(with the solitary exception nuide at the commencement of this
Article) has a quod^ or subsistence of its own, as spiritual Forms
have. Neither has it a quo^ or specific nature of its own, as the
latter have. For it has no separate existence of its own, since its
existence is exclusively in the composite ; neither has it of itself a
specific nature, because it \& purely the Form, or act, of something
else, although it constitutes the specifie sature of the compoBite.
To thi* it may be possibly objected, that nothing can give that
which is not its own to give. But this axiom, however true when
understood of complete entities, does not bold good in the instance
of such entities as are essentially incomplete and partial. Accord-
ingly it is more strictly correct to use the expression adopted above
and say that it eonstiiutea the specific nature of the composite, in
place of saying that it gives to the composite its specific nature ;
because the Form intrinsically determines the essence as principal
constituent of the integral substance. It can only be said to give
in a loose and analogical sense, inasmuch as it may be conceived as
giving itself to the matter for the constitution of the composite.
Hence, bodily Forms cannot be classified under any genus or
species, though they essentially conduce towards the classification
of their composites ; nor can they claim any position in the Cate-
gory of Substance, save by reduction. They are only half-beings ;
and the Categories only embrace integral entities. They belong to
no species, because they have no essential nature of their own.
They belong to no genus, because they have no material part. For
the same reason, as we have seen in the preceding Proposition, they
cannot be terms of a Creative Act or of natural production by
themselves.
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The Formal Cause, 471
COROLLA&Y.
Though these substantial bodily Forms are not integral beings,
essences; yet in the composite they have a partial entity and a
partial nature of their own, which principally determines the specific
nature, or essence, of the composite, and is representative of the
Exemplar Idea in the Divine Wisdom.
PROPOSITION CLXXIX.
A substantial bodily Form exists for the first time in the instant
of generation ; but this newness of existence is absolutely and*
adequately predicated of the integral composite, only relatively
and inadequately of the Form.
It cannot be doubted that in a certain true sense there occurs the
existence of a new Form in the instant of generation ; for this is
nothing more or less than what is meant by generation. Genera-
tion is in fact a substantial transformation^ in other words^ a change
of Form ; though denoting also the action of some eflScient cause.
Now, as in every change there are two elements, viz. the two terms,
on the one hand, and something that perseveres throughout the
change in intimate conjunction with both terms, on the other;
there is accordingly in all generation the matter that perseveres
throughout the change, and the two Forms, — the receding Form,
and the newly introduced Form which takes the place of the former,
— as the two terms of change. Hence, newness of existence is truly
predicated of the evolved Form. How, then, can the conclusions of
the preceding Thesis hold their ground in face of these facts ? That
which has no integral being and no existence in itself, cannot surely
be said to have newness of existence. Such is the difficulty, to
which the present Proposition professes to afford an answer.
We have seen that substantial bodily Forms have a partial being,
just as accidents have a partial being. Consequently, newness of
existence may be truly predicated of them. Before, they were not ;
now, they are. Moreover, it is true that the substantial change con-
sists in an exchange of Forms, — in the expulsion (as it has been
termed) of the old Form and the evolution of the new Form. Thus,
— to take an instance, — the very same matter that existed in the
pupay or chrysalis^ now exists in the moth or hdierfiy ; but the sub-
stantial Form of the chrysalis has passed away somewhere or some-
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4/2 Causes of Being,
how, and has made way for that of the moth, which has accordingly
commenced to exist. It is impossible, then, to deny that, in some
way or other, the substantial Form which constitutes the generated
substance has newness of existence. But how? Not in itself
surely. Who could ever conceive the substantial Form of the
butterfly, except as informing, vivifying, the matter, — the body,
wings, etc. — of the insect ? It is not the Form that is generated,
but the butterfly ; and the adequate generative change is not from
Form to Form, but from chrysalis to butterfly. The respective
Forms, or acts, constitute the two formal terms ; but the adequate
terms are the two integral composites, — ^the corrupted and generated
substances. As things are made, so they exist; which is only
saying with the Angelic Doctor, that as things exist, so are they
made. If, then, the substantial Forms are not made save in their
relation to the composite, and if they are not the adequate, but only
formal, terms of the generative change ; it stands to reason that
they can only be said to exist, or to have newness of existence inad-
equately and in necessary relation to the new composite, — the
adequate term of the generative change. Hence, St. Thomas
observes, that * though the human soul cannot be brought into
being save by creation,' ' it is not true of other ' material ' Forms.
The reason of this is,' he continues, * that, since to be made is the
road to being ; the manner after which an entity is made comports
with the nature of its being. Now, that is properly said to exist,
which has true being, as subsisting in its own being. Wherefore,
substances alone are properly and truly called beings. Accident, on
the other hand, has not being, but by means of it something is ;
and for this reason it is called being, because by it something is
denominated white. . . . The same holds good of all other non-
subsisting Forms. Consequently, it does not properly belong to
any non-subsisting Form to be made ; but these are said to be
made,' — and therefore, to exist,—' because the subsisting composites
are made^,' — and exist. If, then, existence cannot be adequately or
* * Anima rationalis non potest fieri nisi per creationem ; quod non est vemm de
aliis formis. Cujus ratio est, quia cum fieri sit via ad esse, hoc mode alicui oompetit
fieri, sicut ei oompetit esse. Illud autem proprie dicitur esse, quod habet ipsum esse,
quasi in suo esse subsistens. Unde solae substantiae proprie et vere dicnntur entia ;
aocidens vero non habet esse, sed eo aliquid est, et hac ratione ens dicitur, sicut albedo
dicitur ens, quia ea aliquid est album. . . . £t eadem ratio est de omnibus aliis fonnis
non Bubsistentibus ; et ideo nulli formae non subsistenti proprie oonvenit fieri, sed di-
cuntur fieri per hoc quod composita subsistentia fiunt,' i*^* xc, 2, c.
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The Formal Cause. 473
absolutely predicated of these substantial Forms, because they are
incapable of subsisting in themselves and essentially require a Sub-
ject of which they are the act ; it is obvious that, for the same
reason, newness of existence can be absolutely and adequately predi-
cated only of the composite, not of the Form.
It may, perhaps^ be made subject of complaint, not without some
show of justice, that, though the three preceding Propositions may
throw considerable light on the nature of substantial Forms, they
do not satisfactorily explain the precise meaning of the declaration
that these Forms are educed, or evolved, out of the potentiality of
matter. The complaint is to some extent true ; though it will be
fonnd in the sequel that these three Theses lead up to the promised
explanation, and will serve to render it more easily intelligible.
The explanation itself will be given in the Propositions that follow.
PROPOSITION CLXXX.
The educibility of the substantial bodily Form from the potenti-
ality of matter consists, on the part of the material cause, in a
priority of nature relatively to, a natural aptitude for, and a
virtual, or potential, inclusion of, such Form in the matter
itself.
The present Proposition, as may easily be seen, consists of four
Members which shall be treated separately. It will be declared,
then, first of all, how that matter claims a sort of priority of nature
over the substantial Form ; secondly, that it has a natural aptitude
for such Form ; thirdly, that it virtually precontains the Form ; and,
fourthly, how these properties explain the educibility of the Form
from the potentiality of matter.
I. The first Member of the Thesis, in which it is asserted that
matter exhibits a prxority of 'nature relatively to the substantial Form^
is thus declared. The reader is reminded that priority of nature
does not necessarily include priority in order of time, and that
it consists in this, viz. that the entity which is said to be prior is
independent in its nature of the other term which is posterior,
while this latter is essentially dependent on the former. Now, it
would seem at first sight as though it were impossible that there
should be any such priority of matter over the Form. For both
matter and Form are entities so imperfect in themselves, that they
are necessary each to the existence of the other; — that is to say.
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474 Causes of Being.
they neither of them have a subsistence of their own, and exist only
in the composite. Moreover, there is a mutual causality inherent in
both terms : so that each is really and truly a cause to the other,
though after a different manner. Hence, there must obviously be
mutual dependence. But, if matter is dependent on Form as a
cause, how can it pretend to a priority of nature over the Form ?
Again : The Form has a certain excellence and essential superiority
over the matter in the composite ; since it determines the specific
nature of the latter. For this reason, matter is incapable of be-
coming an object of the intellect save in its relation to, or conjunc-
tion with, the Form. But, if so, it cannot be prior in order of
nature to the Form ; since such priority connotes a certain entita-
tive superiority over the other term.
Of course, in entities that are only half-beings and have no sub-
sistence save in another, we should look in vain for the same
accurately defined priority of nature which is discoverable in the
instance of integral and subsisting entities ; nevertheless, from one
point of view matter claims a certain priority of nature over the
Form, just as from another point of view the Form claims a certain
priority of nature over the matter. The Form is prior to the matter
in the constitution of the essence ; while matter is prior to the
Form in order of genesis. Now, the genetic order is precisely the
one which presents itself to our notice in the present Article.
Since, then, matter is the Subject of the Form, it must be gene-
tically prior to it ; and because it is genetically prior to it, matter
is truly the principiant of the Form in a sense in which it
is impossible that the Form should be principiant of matter,
— ^that is to say, in the genetic order. How this is, it now
remains to explain. Every act in contingent being presupposes
its potentiality J accordingly, a bodily substantial Form presup-
poses matter. But this presupposition connotes a priority which
is not necessarily a priority of time and could not possibly be
such in the primordial constitution of the elements, or simple
substances. It is most certainly not a mere priority of order,
since its basis is causal. Therefore, it must be a certain priority
of nature. Act and potentiality stand in the relation to each
other of Form and Subject; and the Subject is prerequired, in
order that the Form may be able to inform and actuate. Hence, in
order of genesis or production, the partial entity of the Form pre-
supposes and prerequires the matter ; while the partial entity of the
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The Formal Cause, 475
matter neither presupposes nor prerequires the Form. The matter
has an independence, so to say^ of its own as first Subject ; but the
Form essentially depends upon the matter as beings its act. So,
then, albeit Form and matter are incomplete entities, are mutually
dependent, and cannot exist the one without the other ; yet, con-
sidered by themselves in their own imperfect entities, the Foim in
order of genesis necessarily presupposes the matter, while the
matter does not presuppose the Form. The point may be made
more clear, if we assume the analogous case of an accidental Form
by way of illustration. Let us suppose a shake of the hand with a
friend. The muscular and motive power in arm and hand is the
potentiality; the grip is the act. Obviously enough, the power
in arm and hand does not essentially require or presuppose the
grip ; for, as a fact, it existed long before this particular shaking
of the hand, and will continue to exist after the act is over and
done with. But who could even imagine the friendly grasp with-
out the muscular and motive power of arm and hand ? The above
is an instance taken from an active potentiality. Let us now
assume another from a passive potentiality, where the analogy is
more complete. Take the case of a heated bar of iron. This piece
of metal has a natural capacity and aptitude for receiving heat.
Suoh is the potentiality. This potentiality is reduced to act by the
operation of fire. The imparted heat is the accidental Form. It
is plain that the heat does not enter into the nature of the iron,
nor does the iron in its entity or passive potentiality presuppose
the heat. On the other hand, nobody could conceive of the heat
really existing independently of the said capacity in the Subject.
Heat without a Subject heated is not conceivable as a concrete
reality. In the use of these illustrations, however, care must be
taken not to push the analogy too far ; since accidental in many im-
portant respects differ from substantial Forms, and an active poten-
tiality is very different from a passive. With this caution^ the
above instances will doubtless subserve the purpose for which they
have been introduced, — viz. to illustrate the priority of nature
which the Subject postulates in order of genesis.
The first two objections against this member of the Proposition,
which were given at the beginning of the declaration, are sufiici-
ently answered by the above explanation. It may be as well to
offer a few animadversions on the last. It is undeniably true, as
the objection sets forth, that the substantial Form does exhibit
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476 Causes of Being.
an excellence and superiority over matter in the composite ; but it
is an excellence and superiority of entity, not in regard of inde-
pendence in order of genesis. The above answer receives illustra-
tion from the transcendental relation of an accidental Form to its
Subject. There is no doubt that the former adds to the latter a
perfection which the latter did not possess before ; and so far the
Form has an advantage over its Subject, because it adds to the
substance a new entity and actuates a mere capacity of the Sub-
ject. Thus, for instance^ a red rose has this advantage over a rose
conceived in its own purely substantial nature without colour, —
that it is red. Yet all the same, the rose in order of nature must
first bey before it can be red. The latter presupposes the former.
The rose need not be red, to be a rose ; but if the rose is red, the
rose must be. Consequently, the Subject of the accidental Form
has a priority of nature over the accidental Form, notwithstanding
that the latter adds to the perfection of its Subject. It is indeed
true, that in this and parallel instances the Subject has an essential
superiority over the Form, seeing that the latter is in one of the
accident-Categories, while the former is in the Category of Sub-
stance ; whereas matter and the substantial Form equally belong
by reduction to the same Category of Substance, and are so far on
a par. This, however, does not weaken the force of the analogy;
for the general nature of the dependence is the same in both, so
far as regards the priority here claimed.
II. In the second Member of the Proposition it is affirmed,
that matter has a natural aptitude for the substantial Form, Such
natural aptitude of matter for the Form is of two kinds, — viz.
general and special. It will contribute towards a clear and ade-
quate concept of this portion of the Proposition to consider these
two aptitudes separately.
i. There exists in primordial matter a general aptitude for receiv-
ing some substantial Form. Such aptitude is essential to matter ;
for potentiality and act, — as there has been occasion to repeat so
often before, — are correlatives. Act is the natural perfection of
every potentiality; and everything has an essential aptitude for its
own natural perfection. This receives strong confirmation fi^m
the fact, that matter cannot possibly exist without some Form.
But everything has a native tendency to exist ; and such tendency,
as being natural, connotes an aptitude. If, however, it has an
aptitude for existence, it must have an aptitude for Form ; seeing
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Tlie Formal Cause, 477
that its actuation by a Form is its only road to existence. Lastly :
A fresh confirmation of the argument is derived from the final cause
of primordial matter. For the partial entity of matter is for the
sake of the composite. But the existence of the composite essen-
tially depends on the actuation of matter by some Form. Hence,
if matter had no natural aptitude for Form, its final cause would
be frustrated and itself rendered useless. Such general aptitude,
however, attaching to matter as a pure potentiality, does not
adequately account for the educibility of Forms so distinct, various,
and difiering in grade of perfection ; neither can it alone explain
how one Form rather than another should be hie et nunc evolved, —
that is to say, adequately and alone^ so far as matter by itself can
afford an explanation. The reason is, that such aptitude is undis-
criminating ; so that, in virtue of it exclusively, matter is wholly
indifferent as to the particular Foim by which it may be actuated.
All that it thus postulates in its own nature is information as 8uch\
because necessary to its being.
ii. There is, then, besides the general aptitude, a special aptitude
of matter for the reception of such or such a Form in particular ;
for, as the Angelic Doctor remarks, * That which is perfectible is
not united to a Form, till after there is in it a disposition which
renders the perfectible receptive of such Form ; forasmuch as a
proper,' or special, * act is effected in its own proper,' or special,
* potentiality. Thus, for instance, a body is not united to the
human soul as its Form, till after it has been organized and dis-
posed *.' This disposition, which causes in matter its special apti-
tude for a particular Form, is of a threefold character ; as will be
explained in the following quotation from St. Thomas. * The pre-
paration,' writes the Angelic Doctor, * which is required in matter
in order to its receiving the Form, includes two things, — viz. that
it should be in due proportion to the Form as well as to the agent
whose it is to introduce the Form ; for nothing evolves itself out of
potentiality into act. Now, due proportion for receiving the act of
the agent is discoverable in a due approximation to the agent. . . .
But the due proportion of matter to the Form results in two ways,
viz. by the natural ordering of matter for the Form, and by re-
^ * Perfectibile autem non uxiitur formae, nisi postquam est in ipso dispositio, quae
fiudt perfectibile receptiviim talis formae ; quia proprius actus fit in propria potentia ;
sicut corpus non unitur animae ut formae, nisi postquam f uerit organizatum et dispo-
situm/ Verit. Q, viii, o. 3, c, init.
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478 Cafises of Being,
moval of impediment ^' We may omit (or the present the con-
sideration of the proportionment of matter to the efficient cause of
generation ; forasmuch as this point of the question will claim our
attention in a more appropriate place. The preparation of matter,
by which it acquires a special aptitude for a special Form, consii^ts
of two elements, as we are told ;— first of the ordering of matter in
the direction of the Form ; then, secondly, of the removal of what-
soever impediment that opposes itself to the acquisition of the Form.
We will consider these two kinds of preparation separately.
a. Matter, then, is prepared for the evolution of a particular
Form by being ordered or disposed in the direction of such Form,
by virtue of which it receives beforehand a natural inclination
towards it. It is of no consequence for the present by what agency
such arrangement in the matter is effected ; let it suffice that it is
there. The fact of its existence is attested by universal physical expe-
rience. It must not escape our memory, that in natural generation
matter is never for a moment really uninformed ; for, throughout
the generative change, it is either under the Form of the corrupted,
or under the Form of the generated, substance. Indeed, as has
been seen, it could not possibly be otherwise ; since matter cannot
stand alone. This adds somewhat to the difficulty of the inquiry;
but does not hinder us from considering the matter, while under
information of the original Form, in its preparation for the new
Form. During that time certain alterations take place in the
matter. Alterations^ as we know, are accidental changes. They
have a twofold effect. They indispose the matter for its continued
actuation by the old Form, establishing a growing incongruity
between the two; while they dispose the matter, on the other
hand, more and more for its actuation by the new Form, effecting
a gradual congruity between the two. At last the matter becomes
wholly unfitted for the retention of the old Form and in proximate
preparation for the reception of the new one ; whereupon the latter
is evolved and the new substance generated. Thus, for instance,
in a dying animal certain alterations go on in the organism, which
' * Praepanitio quae exigitur in materia ad hoc quod formam Buscipiat, duo indudit;
Bcllioet quod sit in debita proportione ad formam et ad agens quod debet forroam indu-
cere ; quia nihil »e edudt de potentia in actum. Debita autem propoztio ad susdpien-
dum actum agentis attenditur secuudum debitam approximationen ad agens. . . Sed
debita proportio materiae ad fonnam est dupliciter ; scilicet per ordinem natundem
materiae ad formam, et per remotionem impedimenti.' 4 d, xvii, Q. i, a. 2, g. 2, c
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The Formal Cause. 479
render the body less and less fitted for the retention of the living
Form ; till at last the matter is reduced to a condition incom-
patible with life, and the corpse-Form is evolved. Similarly, acci-
dental changes take place in the material substance of the jDu/?a, which
render it incompatible with a longer retention of the chrysalis-
FoVm, and proximately, dispose it for receiving that of the butterfly ;
whereupon, the former disappears and the latter takes its place.
After a like manner, the matter in water^ when heated above
boiling-point, becomes unfitted for the Form of water and in
proximate disposition for receiving that of steam ; accordingly, the
transformation takes place. (That water and steam are essentially
distinct, at least from a metaphysical point of view^ is plain from
their distinct, — nay, opposite, — properties and powers). The same
process of alteration is yet more conspicuous in the generation of
plants and animals. When the Forms are low in the scale of
types, there is need of little complexity in the preparation of the
matter, as may be easily seen in the constitution of inanimate
substances ; but, in proportion as the Form is nobler, so is the
required preparation of the matter more complex, as we see in the
instance of plants and animals. The higher the animal in the order
of being, the more complex is its organism.
b. Matter is likewise prepared for the evolution of the new Form
by the removal of every whatsoever impediment that may stand
in the way of such an evolution. It is plain that the persistence
of the old Form is the most serious impediment to the generation
of the new substance ; since, as we shall see later on, it is im-
possible that two substantial Forms should simultaneously inform
one and the same portion of matter. Now, the qualitative altera*
tions in the matter, while disposing the latter for the evolution
of the new Form, proportionally, (as has been shown), indispose it
for the retention of the old Form. This they do directly and
indirectly; — directly, inasmuch as they object incongruous dis-
positions of the matter ; indirectly, because they are antagonistic
to the properties congenital with the finally corrupted substance.
In this latter way secondary impediments are removed. For the
properties of the original Form would, for so long as they remained,
obstruct the evolution of the new Form ; since a substantial Form
energizes through the instrumentality of its accidents. It would
be difficult for a butterfiy to hover about in the air with the sheath
of the chrysalis.
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480 Causes of Being,
III. In the third Member of the Proposition it is asserted,
that there is in matter a j>otential iticlusmi of the Farm, In order
to he ahle to render the declaration of this part of the Thesis
intelligihle, it will be necessary brielBy to forestall certain points
in the teaching of the Angelic Doctor, which will be elaborated
elsewhere. In the primordial genesis of material things, God
created certain elements, or simple bodies, from which the whole
material order has been gradually evolved. Within the limits and
circuit of these elements, — as forming one of their essential con-
stituents, common to them all, — primordial matter was concreated ;
and received from the Forms of those elements its entitative limit,
BO that there never has been and never will be matter other than
that which from the first existed under the Forms of the original
simple bodies, whatsoever and how many soever they may have
been. As it was thus primordially limited in the extent, so to say,
of its entity, it was likewise limited in its receptivity. Though
actually determined under certain lowest, simplest, and basal Forms,
it was at the same time rendered capable of receiving all such
Forms as should correspond with those exemplar Ideas in the mind
of the Creator, that He had selected for the full development of
His material creation, — or rather, capable of evolving them under
the guidance of those physical laws of corruption and generation
which He had imposed. Thus, this array of Forms virtually pre-
existed in the potentiality of the matter. Subsequently to the
creation of these simple bodies or of (it may be) these allotropic
forms of one single element, there were lodged or planted in
matter, thus actuated, certain powers active as well as passive, by
virtue of which the series of higher and more complex substances
might be gradually evolved by natural operation. For this reason
the said powers are called by St. Thomas seminal Forms ; since by
means of them the varied Forms of mixed bodies up to the highest
orders of animals could be evolved out of matter under the pre-
scribed conditions. Instances of these seminal Forms are, chemical
affinities, electricity, heat, etc. Thus matter became the womb of
the visible Cosmos.
IV. The fourth Member of the Proposition declares, that theie
characteristics of primordial matter explain^ so far as the matter of
itself can explain^ the educihility of the Form from the potentialiiy of
the matter ; which is thus declared.
i. If the matter is Subject of the substantial Form and, because
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The Formal Cause. 481
Subject, is naturally prior to the Form ; we begin to see a reason
why the Form should be said to be educed out of the potentiality
of the matter. Thus : There are only two ways in which an entity
can begin to exist,— either by creation or by production. If its
existence is the result of creation, it is made out of nothing ; if its
existence is the result of mere production^ it is made out of some-
thing. Now, a newly generated substance in the natural order is
not created, but produced. Therefore, it is m'ade out of something.
The question^ then^ is ; Out of what is it produced ? It is con-
stituted of matter and Form. Can it possibly be produced out of
the Form ? Impossible ; because jD^n'ca/ production^ (and such is the
case before us), postulates that the Subject should be prior in order of
time to the generated entity. But the commencement of the sub-
stantial Form is synchronous with that of the composite substance.
Wherefore, if it must be one of the two, it will be the matter from
which the newly generated substance will be produced. Yet, it
must be one of the two ; for that out of which a thing is ipade
must enter into its intrinsic composition^ and these two elements
are the only intrinsic constituents of material substance. Conse-
quently, it is matter out ^ which the composite is made ; though
it is the Form hy which the same composite is essentially con-
stituted. But all this does not determine the mode in which the
substantial Form receives its existence ; for^ speaking metaphy-
sically, the Form must exist before the composite in priority of
nature, because constituents are naturally prior to the constituted,
— components to the composita Therefore, the Form might have
been created, even though the integral substance should be pro-
duced. This, indeed, is what takes place in the instance of each
individual man ; the soul is created, the man produced. May ^ot
such, then, be the case with the other substantial Forms of material
substance? Impossible; because these latter have no subsistence
in themselves. They are simply acts of matter ; and are rather
causes of existence to something else, — that is to say, to the com-
posite substance, — than existences themselves. For the same reason,
they cannot be produced; for both creation and production are
terminated to subsisting being. But, if they are neither created
nor produced, in what way can they acquire their partial exist-
ence ? Now let us introduce the doctrine touching the potentiality
of matter. Matter is a pure passive potentiality, — that is to say,
a pure receptivity, — awaiting its act in order to exist. It is,
VOL. II. I i
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482 Causes of Being.
accordingly, the Subject of the Form and, as such, prior in order
of nature to the Form. So much has been evinced in the pre-
paratory Theses. The act, therefore, by which the matter is
actuated, is its own. This it is which is expressed by the phrase
that the Form is educed out of the potentiality of matter; though
it by no means exhausts the signification^ even on the part of the
matter. It is this, too, which St. Thomas conveys where he
observes that^ 'Since the sensile soul' of animals 'is not a subsist-
ing entity, it is not a quiddity, — just as other material Forms are
not, — ^but it is part of a quiddity; and its being is in its union
with matter. Hence^ the production of a sensile soul is nothing
else but the change of matter from potentiality to act^.' Bat
' the evolution of an act from the potentiality of matter is nothing
else than that something is made actual, which was previously in
potentiality*.'
ii. The above explanation becomes a d^ree clearer, if we add
that matter has a natural aptitude and inclination for a Foim
intrinsically perfective of its own entity. For what after all does
this mean ? It means that the matter has a natural appetite, so to
say, for its own actuation. Now, the actuation of a potentiality it
not something added to the latter from without^ but is an evolution
of itself. Such is the case with an active potentiality ; and in this
respect the parallel is complete. A thought that actuates the in*
tellectual faculty is that feculty in act ; and when a dog scents out
its prey, the act is simply the sensitive faculty of smell in energy.
This inclination of matter towards its Form becomes more apparent
and helps more pronouncedly to a right understanding of the
phrase now under consideration, when determined in the directioQ
of a particular Form by previous alterations, or accidental modi-
fications; for in such cases the Form may almost be said to lie
sleeping in the matter, ready at once to be evoked.
iii. This explanation receives its completion, if we add that, by
virtue of a Divine seal originally impressed on matter, the sub-
stantial Form is potentially precontained in the matter. If it be
^ ' Anima seiifibilis, cum non sib res Bubsistens, ncm est qoidditas, dent nee aliie
formae materiales, sed est pan quidditatis, et esse Bnum est in ooncretioiie ad maie-
riam ; unde nihil aliud est aniinam Bensibilem produci, qnam materiam de potentis in
actum transmutari.' Po*^ Q. iii, a. ii, 1 1™.
' * Actum extrahi de potentia materiae nihil aliud est quam aliqnid fieri in actn qaod
pritts eiat in potentia.' i«* xc, 2, 2"^.
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The Formal Cause, 483
virtually there already, it is easy to understand how it must pro-
ceed from matter, or be educed therefrom, — ^from the potentiality
of matter, because matter only contains it potentially.
PROPOSITION CLXXXI.
The eduoibility of the substantial material Form ftom the
potentiality of matter designates, on the part of the Form, an
essential dependence upon the matter for its so-called produc-
tion as well as for its partial subsistence.
This Proposition contains three Members.
I. Thb First Member asserts that the substantial Form essentially
depends upon the matter for its so-called production. The phrase, so-
called^ has been introduced into the Enunciation, because accurately
speakings it is not the Form that is produced, (as has been noticed
more than once already), but the composite substance by virtue of
the Form. The Form, then, depends upon the matter for its pro-
duction, primarily because it is not strictly an entity in itself, and
consequently cannot be produced or created. Without the matter,
therefore, it is metaphysically impossible that it should be produced
or exist ; because a half-entity by essence, (and such is the material
Form), cannot be brought into existence save in conjunction with
the other half-entity which conspires with it to constitute the
essential whole. The Form and matter are reducible under the
same Category, for they are both substantial ; consequently, together
they constitute one integral essence. It is thus mainly that a sub-
stantial is distinguished from an accidental Form. The latter, while
equally denoting a natural dependence on its Subject, is a complete
entity in its own Category, having its own essence ; while its Sub-
ject is essentially complete and belongs to another Category. Hence,
though naturally, yet it is not metaphysically, impossible that it
should exist without a Subject. But a substantial material Form
is not complete, in the Category under which it is reduced, and has
no essence in its own right ; though by it the essence of the com-
posite is determined. Moreover, its Subject is attadied by reduction
to the same Category, and is itself incomplete and incapable of in-
dependent existence. Secondly, it is concluded that a substantial
material Form is essentially dependent upon matter for its so-called
production, because it is not subsistent of itself. For, (to make use
of an argument that has served before), there are only four ways
I i 2
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484 Causes of Being.
by which a being can begin to be, — by creation, by production, by
concreatioD, by eduction out of something else. Now, that which
begins to be either by creation or production must be subsistent in
its own right. But this the Form in question is not. Therefore, it
must have begun to exist by eduction from something else; for,
even if concreated with the matter, it is concreated in essential
dependence on the matter. But if it is evolved out of something
else, as necessary to its being ; it follows that it essentially depends
upon that something else for its production, just as the Form of
the statue depends for its realization upon the material which the
sculptor has selected. This something else is primordial matter.
Lastly, it is concluded that a substantial material Form is essen-
tially dependent on matter for its so-called production, because it is
simply and exclusively the act of matter. For it follows thence,
that the said Form is essentially the complement and perfection of
the matter, and is so far identified with it. It is the reduction
of a real physical potentiality to act and, as such, derives its being
from such potentiality.
II. The Second Mbmbee of the Proposition declares that ike
substantial material Form essentially depends upon matter for Us
partial subsistence. Not only is matter necessary to the first so-called
production of the Form ; but it is equally necessary to its perse-
verance in being. The same essential dependence perseveres so
long as the substantial composite perseveres ; and for the same
reasons. The Form continues to exist only in the composite; and
the composite includes the matter as actuated by the Form.
III. In the Third Member it is asserted that this essential
dependence of the substantial material Form on the matter both /or its
beginning and its continued existence explains, on the part of the Form,
the meaning of the phrase, that the said Form is educed out of the
potentiality of the matt^er. This proposition is so plain as to require
no further declaration ; if the doctrine enunciated under the two
preceding Members be once admitted. For, as regards its beginning
to be, the first Member evinces that it must be the result of eduction
out of matter; while the second Member teaches, that such depend-
ence on matter forms an essential part of its continued existence.
From the present and preceding Theses it is concluded, that by
the educibility of the Form out of the potentiality of matter is
meant (i) negatively, that it cannot possibly be created or made:
(ii) positively,^ that, as a half-entity, — as Form, or act, of matter
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The Formal Cause. 485
which is itself a half-eutity attached by reduction to the same
Category. — it can only begin or continue to be, in conjunction with
matter : Furthermore, that, since matter as Subject has a natural
priority over Form in the genesis of the composite, the Form has
an essential dependence on the matter for its beginning and con-
tinuance ; so that it is evolved out of the matter which potentially
contains it.
COROLLAfiY I.
Since neither matter nor its substantial Forms can be created by
themselves ; in the instance of the primordial elements they were
concreated in the composite substance, so that this latter was the
direct term of creation. The elements, therefore, or chemically
simple bodies^ were first created of all material things.
Corollary II.
Matter, when concreated in the primordial elements, received
(as has been explained) a potentiality to each and every Form that
was ever to be realized in nature. Hence St. Thomas declares that
* a Form may be considered in two ways ; first, as it is in poten-
tiality, and in this way it is concreated by God with matter, with-
out the intervening action of nature as disposing ' the matter for
it. ' Secondly, as it' is in act ; and in this way it is not created,
but is educed from the potentiality of matter by natural agency ^'
Corollary III.
' Matter, then,' remarks St. Thomas, ' considered as it is in
itself, must necessarily be regarded as in potentiality to the Forms
of all those entities of which it is the common matter. Now, by
any one Form it is not made actual save as regards that particular
Form. Wherefore, it remains in potentiality with respect to all the
other Forms. Neither does this cease to be the case, if one of these
Forms is more perfect and virtually contains the others in itself;
because the potentiality, so fisir as itself is concerned, is equally
indifferent to the perfect or the imperfect. Hence, just as under
I «i
* Forma potest oondderari duplidter ; nno modo secnndcuii quod est in potentia ;
et sic a Deo materia concreatur, nulla disponentis naturae actione interveniente. Alio
modo secundum quod est in aotu; et sic non creatur, sed de potentia materiae edudtur
per ageuB natunde.' l^a^ Q. iii, a. 4, 7".
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486 i Causes of Being.
an imperfect Form it is in potentiality to a perfect Form ; so is it
conversely^,' — ^that is to say, under a perfect Form, even though it
virtually contain the imperfect, the matter is nevertheless in poten-
tiality to the imperfect Form. This fully explains the possibility
and reason of retrograde generation, — in other words, of the change
from a superior to an inferior substance. Accordingly, the same
Doctor tells us in another place : ' Although Forms ' (substantial)
* and accidents do not possess matter as a part of themselves, of
which they consist ;' — that is to say, though they include no ma-
terial cause in their entity ; — * nevertheless, they have matter in
which they exist and act, and out of whose potentiality they are
educed. Hence, even when they cease to exist, they are not entirely
annihilated but remain in the potentiality of matter as before-.'
These passages will help to explain the precise meaning of the
expression, that the displaced Form of the corrupted substance
recedes into the potentiality of the matter. No Form strictly speak-
ing can be corrupted. It is the composite that is corrupted ; and
corruption is metonymically predicated of the Form. By the cor-
ruption of the substantial composite the Form ceases to be in act.
But it is not annihilated, just as it was not created or made. It
recedes, then, into the potentiality of matter ; — in other words, it is
no longer actual, but virtually exists in the matter after such sort
that, should the requisite dispositions recur, it can again be educed
out of the matter. Thus, for instance, the substantial Forms of
oxygen and hydrogen do not exist actually in the water, but they
exist virtually; so that by means of the electric spark disposing the
matter, they can be again evolved.
COROLLAKY IV.
Since the human soul is a subsisting entity, it may become the
^ * Oportet ergo quod materia secundum se considerata mt in potentia ad fbrmam
omnium illorum quorum est materia communis. Per onam autem formam Don fit in
acfcu niri quantum ad iUam formam. Remanet ergo in potentia quantum ad omnef
alias formas. Nee hoc exduditur, si una illarum forroarum sit perfectior ei oontiBens
in se virtute alias ; quia potentia, quantum est de se, indifferenter se babet ad perieo-
tum et imperfectum. Undo, sicut quando est sub forma imperfecta, est in potentis
ad formam perfectam, ita e con verso.' i** Izri, a, e,
* * Formae et accidentia, etsi non babeant materiam partem sui ex qua sint, habent
tamen materiam in qua sunt et de cujus potentia educuntur : unde et cum ene deai-
nunt, non omnino annibilantur, sed remanent in potentia materiae, siout prius,' Po*
Q. V, a. 4, 9«.
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The Formal Cause, 487
term of a productive action ; but, because it is a spiritual entity, it
cannot be either educed out of matter or strictly speaking produced,
i.e. made, but must be created. That the human soul is spiritual
and subsistent, is assumed as a Lemma from psychology.
DIFFICULTIES.
I. The doctrine developed in the last two Propositions contra-
venes the universal teaching of the Schoolmen, and of St. Thomas
in particular, touching the nobility of the substantial Form ; since
it assigns the latter a position inferior to that of primordial matter.
The Antecedent is thus proved. On the point of existence the two
are equal; since neither can exist save in conjunction with the
other. In a similar manner both are dependent ; but the depen-
dence of the Form on matter seems to be much more absolute than
that of matter on Form. For the Form depends on matter by
virtue of presupposition. Its pwn imperfect entity presupposes the
matter as its Subject in order that it may, so to say, begin to be.
It is evolved out of the matter. But the entity of the matter is
only dependent on the Form for its substantial completion*
Lastly: A priority of nature has been claimed for 'matter over the
Form, which evidently supposes the inferiority of the latter to the
former.
Akswbb. The Antecedent is denied ; seeing that the doctrine of
these Propositions has been established^ as may be seen, on the
authority of St. Thomas. Now, for the two proofs of the Ante'>
cedent : — It is true, that on the point of their partial existence there
is in each an equal necessity for conjunction with the other. It is,
moreover, true that each is causally dependent on the other; and
it must also be allowed that, in order of genesis, the dependence of
the Form on matter is more absolute than the dependence of matter
on the Form. Sut these premisses do not warrant the conclusion.
For, in determining the relative superiority or inferiority of the one
to the other, we must not regard only or primarily their relative
position in order of genesis, but their respective grades in the com-
posite substance. Now, considered in their relation to the composite,
the Form is all but incomparably nobler than the matter ; since it
primarily constitutes the composite, determines its specific nature
and specific place in the chain of being, is the source of its natural
operations^ and moulds matter to its will ; whereas the function of
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488 Causes of Being.
matter is to sustain and (so to say) individualize the Fonn. As to
the second proof: — The conclusion would be valid, if there were no
other and nobler priority of nature than that which has been vindi-
cated for matter. But, as the Angelic Doctor remarks, ' It does
not belong to the Form to precede the matter in time, but only in
dignity^.' *Form, as received in matter, is posterior to matter in
order of genesis, though it is naturally prior ^.'
II. It has been more than once stated, in the exposition of the
preceding Propositions, that the existence of these substantial
bodily Forms apart from matter is an impossibility. But such an
assertion contradicts the teaching of St. Thomas, who is constant
in asserting that, while matter cannot exist without a Form, Form
can exist without matter. Thus, in one place he says, that
' There is nothing to prevent some Form subsisting without matter,
though matter cannot exist without Form ^ ;' and again : ' Thoooph
matter cannot exist without Form, nevertheless Form can exist
without matter ; for matter has being by the Form» and not vice
versa ^.' In this latter passage he cannot be alluding to spiritual
and separated Forms ; because these do not give being to matter.
Therefore, he sdbms clearly to maintain that bodily substantial
Forms can exist apart from matter.
Answer. St. Thomas^ in both the above passages as well as in
others similar to these^ is treating of Form in the AiU latitude of
its signification, as inclusive of separate and spiritual Forms no less
than of those which are material and non-subsistent ; but^ as we shall
see, the main discussion turns on spiritual Forms. Further : It is very
necessary to fix attention on the fact, that the point debated is this:
Whether matter enters into the constitution of spiritual Forms or
substances themselves, — ^to put it otherwise, whether there can be a
finite spiritual substance which is not material. The former of the
two passages is taken from an Article in which the question is dis-
^ * Fcoinae a«tem non est nt tempore materiam pnecedat» sed dignitate tantnm.'
3 d. ii, Q. 2. a. 3, q. 3, a"».
' * Forma, Becundam quod est reoepta in materia^ est posterior via generationu qium
materia, licet ait prior natura/ i-i** xx, x, 3™.
' ' Nihil prohibet aliqaam formam Bine materia subsistere ; licet materia one fomia
esse non possit/ Spiritu. a. i, 6™.
* 'Licet enim materia non poesit esse sine forma, tamen forma potest ene sine va-
tena; quia materia habet esse per formam, et non e oonverso.' Spiriiu, a. 5« 10*.
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The Formal Cause. 489
cussed, Whether a spiritual substance is composed of matter and Form.
St. Thomas answers in the negative ; but proposes the following
among other difficulties to his conclusion. The human soul, he
urges, subsists in itself; ci. fortiori, an Angel. But it would not
seem that a substance subsisting in itself could be a Form only.
Therefore, a spiritual substance is not a Form only^ but is composed
of matter and Form. To this objection St. Thomas replies : ^ Al-
though the soul subsists of itself, nevertheless, it does not follow
that it is composed of matter and Form ; because independent sub-
sistence can appertain to a Form apart from matter.' Then follow
the words, quoted in the difficulty: * For, since matter receives being
from the Form, and not vice versa, there is nothing to prevent
some Form subsisting without matter, though matter cannot exist
without Form.' The answer of the Angelic Doctor may be para-
phrased thus : The independent subsistence of a Form does not
postulate that it should be conjoined with matter. For though
matter, in virtue of its essential nature as a pure potentiality, abso-
lutely in every possible case requires conjunction with some Form,
in order that by its actuation it may exist ; Form, as Form, does
not require matter in order that it may exist, because it is itself
act. A Form, therefore, is capable of existence apart from matter ;
and, if in any given case incapable, this is not so because it is a
Form, but because it is a Form of such an imperfect nature as to be
only capable of subsistence in conjunction with matter. Conse-
quently, a spiritual substance, though subsistent in its own right,
is not composed of matter and Form ; but is a Form only. The
second passage quoted in the difficulty is, if possible, plainer still.
St. Thomas is engaged in discussing the problem. Whether there f>
any created spiritual substance that is not united to a body; and, of
course, he answers in the affirmative. But he opposes to his con-
clusion the following difficulty: Created spiritual substances are
not matter only; neither are they composed of matter and Form.
Therefore, they are Forms. But it is of the nature of a Form to be
the act of the matter to which it is united. It would seem, there-
fore, that spiritual substances are united to a body. St. Thomas
replies : ' Substances, which are separate from bodies, are Forms
only; nevertheless, they are not the acts of any sort of matter.
For, though matter cannot exist without Form, Form can exist
without matter; since matter has being by the Form, and not
vice versa* It is plain, then, that in neither of the two passages is
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490 Causes of Being.
be pronouncing directly or indirectly on those non-subsistent
bodily Forms that are the object of the present inquiry, and of
which St. Thomas declares, in a passage already quoted, that ^ their
being is in their anion with matter ^.'
PROPOSITION CLXXXII.
!rhe eduction of the substantial bodily Form from the poten-
tiality of matter is due to the action of some efficient cause.
The present Proposition has been inserted here, in order to com-
plete the explanation of what is meant by the eduction of the
Form out of the potentiality of matter : but the full discussion of
the question touching the efficient cause and its causality is reserved
for the next Chapter. It will suffice, therefore, for the time being
to set before the reader briefly the teaching of the Angelic Doctor
touching this point. ^ Matter,' writes St. Thomas, ' considered as
denuded of all Form, is indifferent to all Forms ; but is determined
to special Forms by the virtue of the efficient cause ^Z But how is
the niatter thus determined ? By the dispositions implanted in it
by the agent. How is it disposed ? By a two-fold preparation ;
one relatively to the efficient cause, the other relatively to the
Form about to be evolved. The former is, therefore, ancillary to
the latter, and embraces the due disposition of the matter for
receiving the action of the efficient cause. In illustration it may,
perhaps, be permitted to quote again a passage from the Angelic
Doctor, already given under the second Member of the hundred and
eightieth Proposition. * The preparation which is required in matter
in order that it may receive a Form includes two things ; viz. that
it should be in due proportion to the Form, and to the agent'
(efficient cause) * whose it is to introduce the Form ; because
nothing evolves itself from potentiality into act. Now, the pro-
portion due for receiving the action of the agent resolves itself into
a due approximation to the agent'.' The approximation of which
St. Thomas here speaks is a local proximity. The due proportion
* Po» Q, iii, a. ii, ii".
* ' Materia, prout nuda ooxudderatnr, se habet mdifferenter ad omnes formaSf nd
detenmnAtur ad speciales formas per virtutem moventis, ut traditur in 2 de Genen-
tione.* Spiritu. a, 3, 20».
* 4 d. zyii, Q, I, a. a, q, 2, e.
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Ttie Formal Cause. . 491
to the Form is produced by the action oP the efficient cause, which
in natural generation effects certain accidental changes in the
matter, that are virtually directed by the substantial Form of the
a^nt towards the evolution of a Form specifically identical with
itself. To take an instance of this twofold preparation : — ^In dioe-
cioQS plants the stamens are on one plant, the pistils on another.
There must be some contrivance, therefore, for effecting a local
proximity between the two, so that the efficient cause may be
enabled to dispose the matter of the ovule for the eduction of the
particular plant-Form. This local proximity is effected through the
pollen of the stamen, which is transported, (by the instrumentality
of insects, of the wind, or in some other way), to the pistil. The
pollen produces certain alterations in the matter of the ovule, acting
by virtue of the substantial Form of the male plant ; and these
accidental changes so dispose the matter that it eventually evolves
a Form specifically identical with that of the parent plant.
COEOLLARY.
' Since every operation pf the creature presupposes the poten-
tiality of matter, it is impossible that any creature should bring
any Form into existence, which is not educed out of the potentiality
of matter^.' 'Thus, then, such inferior bodily agents' (secondary
efficient causes) ' are not the principiants of the Forms in things
that are made, save so far as the causality of transmutation can
extend, since they only act by transmuting ; and this they do, in
so far as they dispose the matter and educe the Form from the
potentiality of the matter. As regards this, then, the Forms of
things generated depend on the generating agents, according to the
order of nature, for their eduction out of the potentiality of matter,
but not for their absolute entity. Accordingly, as soon as the
action of the generator is removed, the eduction of the Forms
from potentiality to act ceases ; and it is in this that the process of
generation consists. Nevertheless, the Forms themselves, by which
the things generated have being, do not cease. Hence it is, that
the being of the things generated remains but not their production,
when the action of the generating entity ceases ^.'
' * Gum omnis operatio creatxirae praesupponat potentiam materiae, impossibile est
quod aliqua creatura aliquam formam producat in eme, quae non edudtur de poteniia
maieriaa.* I d, xir, Q^ 3, 0.
' ' Sic igitur hujusmodi inferiora agentia corponJia non Bunt formarum principia in
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492 Causes of Being.
PROPOSITION CLXXXIII.
The eductdon of the substantial Form out of the potentiality of
matter does not necessitate a priority of matter over the
Form in order of time ; since it sufOlces that there should be
a priority of nature.
Peolegomenon.
The present and two succeeding Propositions have been added,
in order to meet a considerable difficulty arising out of the
Scholastic doctrine concerning the eduction of the Form out of
the potentiality of matter in the genesis of material substances.
In the generation of mixed or compound bodies, whether animate
or inanimate, there can be no question about the priority of the
matter over the Form; since de facto the matter is prior to the
Form even in order of time. Thus, for instance, the matter exists
antecedently in the seed, in earth, in air, in water, — and must
have existed under one Form or another since the first day of the
creation, — which is actuated by the plant-Form of this plant of
to-day. In like manner, the matter which is now under the Form
of sulphuric acid existed previously under the respective Forms of
sulphur and oxygen, thus entering into the constitution of two
distinct substances. But the Angelic Doctor teaches, that a certain
number of elements (or simple bodies) were originally created by
God, and that the matter and Form of these elements were eon-
created in the composite. Now, the difficulty is about these
elements; for, since they were created by God in their integral
nature; it is evident that the matter could not have forestalled
the Form in order of time. But neither, as it would seem, could
matter claim any priority of nature over the Form ; because, since
the two were concreated, the Form in the case of these elements
rebus factis, nisi quantum potest se extendere causalitas transmutationis ; cum nom
agant nisi transmutando, ut dictum est quaest. 3, art. 7 et 8 ; hoc autem est inqoAii-
tum disponunt materiam, et educunt formam de potentia materiae. Quantum igitur
ad hoc, fonnae generatorum dependent a generantibus naturaliter, quod educuntnr
de potentia materiae, non autem quantum ad esse absolutum. Unde et remota actione
generantis, cessat eductio foimarum de potentia in actum, quod est fieri generatioDem;
non autem cessant ipsae formae, secundum qiias generata habent esse. Et inde «ft
quod esse rerum generatarum manet, sed non fieri, cessante actione geneiantis.' Po*
Q. V, a. 1, c, j>. m.
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The Formal Cause. 493
could not have been evolved out of the potentiality of matter. It
could, therefore, have had no dependence on matter for its genesis ;
and as to the obvious dependence in the constituted composite,
thai is mutual. The Form depends on the matter, and the matter
on the Fo^u. But again : If God concreated the substantial Form
with the matter^ it also follows that in the case of these elements
the matter was not the genetic Subject of their substantial Forms ;
since, if these Forms at their birth were acts of the matter^ they
could not be even a partial term of creative action, because to
create is to make out of nothing. Such is the problem which
must be satisfactorily solved, unless we are prepared to abandon
the explanation given in the preceding Theses.
Note. Some readers of this Work may be puzzled to under-
stand, how a simple body without contradiction can be called, (as
it has been called in the above Prolegomenon), a composite. Where-
fore : That which, chemically considered, is a simple body may be
physically composite, — nay, must be so, for as long as it is truly
a body. A simple body, chemically so called, is a material sub-
stance which cannot be resolved into any component substances ;
whereas a substance is physically simple, if it is incapable of resolu-
tion into physical parts whether substantial or accidental.
TAe Proposition is demonstrated in the following manner. In order
to the eduction of the Form out of the potentiality of matter, there
is no necessity, — either on the part of the matter, or on that of the
Form, or on that of the composite, or on that of the eflScient
cause, — that the matter should be prior to the Form in order of
time, provided that it can claim a priority of nature. Therefore, etc.
The Antecedent embraces four Members, which will be discussed
separately.
i. No such necessity is discoverable on the part of the material
cause. Matter, in its relation to the Form, may be considered
from two points of view; viz. either as primordial matter, i.e. a
pure passive potentiality, or as separated off and specially disposed
for the reception of such or such a particular Form. Considered
as a purely passive potentiality, so far is it from claiming priority
of time over the Form, that its existence is a metaphysical im-
possibility, (be it said with all due respect for the authority of
Snarez who maintains the contrary opinion), save in conjunction
with some Form. All that it postulates, as being imbibed in its
very nature, is, that it should be naturally prior to the Form. But
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494 Causes of Being.
this is fully verified, even when its existence and particular in-
formation are simultaneous; provided that the Form still exhibits
dependence on the matter as its Subject both for its origin and
continuance. That it depends upon matter for its continuance in
beings needs no proof; that, in the case of the elements, it was
likewise dependent on the matter for its origin, will be declared
in the next Proposition. Now let us turn our attention to matter,
as separated off and specially disposed for such or such a particular
Form. It is plain that it must be separated off, or quantified;
otherwise^ the whole of matter would be actuated, and not a portion
only. It is no less plain that the particular portion of matter must
be specially disposed for the reception of the designated Form;
because^ if it were not so, there would be no sufficient reason why
the matter should evolve this particular Form rather than any other.
Such a hypothesis would necessitate a purely arbitrary act of
creation, not an orderly eduction of the Form out of the potentialitv
of matter. We may omit, then, from the present inquiry all con-
sideration of the immediate dispositions, because these are con-
fessedly synchronous with the eduction of the Form. But what
can be said as to the remote dispositions ? Their very name seems
to imply a priority of time over the Form on their part and, as
a consequence, on the {>art of the matter which they dispose.
True ; yet it occurs to inquire, why it is that these dispositions are
remote. Surely, in themselves they offer no sufficient reason;
because there is nothing in the nature of a disposition at 9ueh to
render it remote rather than proximate, save so far as remoteness
connotes some sort of imperfection in the disposition. Such im-
perfection, however, is not essential to the disposition itself; and,
accordingly, is attributable to the limited energy or imperfection
of the efficient cause which can only operate, as it were, by degrees.
When, then, it is question of the infinite Efficacy of the First
Cause ; there is nothings on the part of matter, to hinder the con-
creation of matter with all its attendent dispositions synchronously
with the eduction of the Form.
ii. A necessity for the priority of matter over the Form in order
of time is not discoverable on the part of the Form. For all that
the Form requires for its partial existence is, that it should have
a Subject out of which it may be educed and by which it may be
supported in existence. This is possible to it by virtue of that
priority of nature which is essential to the material cause. But it
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The Formal Cause. 495
is not necessary to the Fonn that its' Subject should have a
temporal priority of existence. It only needs a Subject at the
time that it is educed ; and, as the eduction is instantaneous^ all
that is absolutely required is, that at the same instant the Subject
should be at hand. It can have no natural need, for so long as
itself is nothing ; and it is nothing up to the moment of eduction.
iii. The said necessity is not discoverable in any supposed claims
of the composite substance ; for ex parte rei the eduction of the
Form is the constitution of the composite. If, therefore, neither
the matter nor the Form exhibits any such necessity; the com-
posite, which is essentially and exclusively constituted by the two,
cannot show any reason for it.
iv. Lastly, this necessity is not to be discovered in the efficient
cause; for, seeing that the Power of God is infinite, He can do
everything that does not include a contradiction in terms. But
the previous arguments suffice to show^ that it is no contradiction
in terms to assert the synchronous production of matter and Form.
Therefore, etc.
So far, so good. But, if the production of matter and Form in
the primordial elements were synchronous, is it possible in their
case to maintain a priority of matter over Form in order of nature ?
PROPOSITION CLXXXIV.
In the creation of the primordial elements the substantial Form
was educed ftora the potentiality of matter. Hence, the in-
finitely simple operation by which these elements were
created was equivalent to that which may be considered as
two partial actions, one of which we may conceive as
terminated to the concreation of matter, the other to a con-
creative eduction of the Form.
Prolegomenon I.
To a concreative Act^ — ^that is to say, to an Act of creation which
is terminated by two or more partial entities constitutive of the
thing created, — it suffices that each entity in the adequate act of
creation should be made out of nothing. It matters little, there-
fore, if the conditions of existence are essentially different in the
instance of the two partial terms. One may be the Subject of the
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496 Causes of Being.
other, the latter act of the former ; yet the two, together with
their mutual rehitions, be constituted bj the one adequate act ot
creation.
Prolegomenon II.
According to Snarez ^, who holds an opinion differing from that
which is here defended, there are four different kinds of efficient
action. The first is productive, and not unitive ; and has for its
term a physically simple entity. The creation of an Angel or of a
human soul may be taken as an instance. The same Doctor adds that,
in his opinion^ such was the creation of primordial matter. Since
he likewise maintains that primordial matter could be preserved in
existence apart from any Form by the Divine Omnipotence, (aboat
which we shall see later on), he is herein consistent with himself;
but for those who follow the teaching of St. Thomas, who denies
the possibility of the independent existence of matter, the opinion
of Suarez is beset with insuperable difficulties. The second kind
of efficient action is only unitive, and not productive of the con-
stituents of the union. Such is the generation of man ; wherein
the generation of the body and the creation of the soul are pre-
supposed. Thirdly, there is another efficient action which produces
the composite in such wise as simultaneously to comproduce and
unite the components. Such, according to Suarez, was the creation
of the heavens, ' which evidently was primarily terminated to the
composite, and concomitantly to the matter and the Form.' Such,
(as is here maintained), was the creation of the primordial elements.
The fourth and last kind of efficient action is at once comproductive
of one component part of the composite, and^ — the other com-
ponent part being presupposed, — is unitive of the two. Snob,
according to Suarez, is the eduction of the substantial Form and the
constitution of the element. How far this doctrine of Suarez can
be accepted, will be understood from the declaration of the Thesis.
Meanwhile, the knowledge of it will not be without its advantage.
The present Proposition consists of two Members. In the first
it is asserted that^ in the creation of the primordial elements, the
substantial Forms were educed, — ^in all essential respects as these
Forms now are, — out of the potentiality of matter, according to
the explanation given in an earlier part of this Article. In
the second it is maintained, that the Creative Act by which these
> Metaph. JHtp. XV, § 4, n. 5.
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The Formal Cause, 497
elements were produced, was equivalent to what we may conceive
as two partial actions, — the one terminated to the concreation of
matter, the other to the concreative eduction of the Form.
I. The First Member declares that in the creation of the jprim-*
ordial elements the substantial Forms were educed out of the poten-^
tiality of matter. This proposition is supported hy the following^
arg'uments. First of all, it was more consistent with the harmony
of the physical oixler. It is plain from what has gone before, that
all material substances, the primordial elements included, are
essentially composed of two constituents, — matter, and a substan-
tial Form. It is further admitted that, in the instance of all the
other material substances, the Form is educed out of the potentiality
of the matter. It seems, thcn^ more consistent with the infinite
Wisdom of the First Cause, — in the absence of any grave reasons to
the contrary, — to suppose that the primordial elements, which are
the sole foundation of the whole visible universe^ should be con-
stituted on precisely the same principles as all the other substances
which have been gradually evolved out of them. It is true that
this argument is not, strictly speaking, demonstrative ; neverthe-
less, it must be allowed to have its weight. But, secondly, the
proposition can be demonstrated from the constant corruption and
generation of these elements. For the sake of illustration we will
suppose with modem chemists, that phosphorus is one of these
elements, or simple bodies. We know that by due combination
with oxygen phosphoric anhydride is obtained. The phosphorus in
this process is corrupted, as the metaphysician would say ; in other
words, its substantial Form is displaced to make way for the form
of the new compound. On the other hand, the Form of phos-
phorus only exists potentially in the phosphates that are so abun-
dant in bones; but by chemical analysis the phosphorus can be
isolated, or (as the Scholastic philosopher would say) the Form of
phosphorus can be educed out of the potentiality of the matter.
Let us take one more instance. Among the credited elements of
modern chemistry, there is not one whose title to a place among
them is so unquestioned as hydrogen. Now, if hydrogen be com-
bined with chlorine, the Forms of both substances recede into the
potentiality of the matter, and the Form of hydrochloric acid
supervenes. Hence, hydrogen can be corrupted. If, again, you
plunge a piece of zinc into sulphuric acid, the hydrogen is liberated,
as the physicist would say; to speak metaphysically, the Form of
VOL. II. K k
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498 Causes of Being.
hydrogen is evolved out of the potentiality of the matter. Hence,
hydrogen can be generated. If, then, the Forms of pbosphoras
and hydrogen can be now educed out of the potentiality of matter,
now expelled from the same matter by the introduction of another
Form ; it follows, — unless we are prepared to adopt the strange
hypothesis, that God originally created the nature of the elements
in one way and afterwards entirely changed it, — ^that God so created
the element as that its Form should be evolved out of the poten-
tiality of the matter. A confirmation of this argument is derived
from the final cause of the elements ; for they were created to be
the one basis of all physical evolution. But this they could not
be, unless they were constituted, like all other material substances,
by Forms dependent on matter for their genesis and continued
existence — in other words, on Forms that were educed out of the
potentiality of matter.
II. In the Second Member of the Proposition it is affirmed, that
the Creative Act by which the elements were produced was equivalent to
what we may conceive as two partial actions^ — the one terminated to
the concreation of the matter, the other to the concreative eduction of ike
Form. It will be more intelligible to the reader if, in a question
which is not a little abstruse, the declaration should be so method-
ized as to proceed, step by step, from that which is comparatively
clear to that which is more obscure. Wherefore,
i. As we have seen in the preceding Thesis, it is quite evident
and, indeed, is not disputed, that there was no priority of time in
the production of primordial matter. Hence, at one and the same
instant God created the element, concreated the matter and educed
the Form.
ii. It is equally evident and is also universally admitted, that
the adequate term of the Divine operation is the element itself.
The two constituents, the matter and the Form, are only partial
and secondary terms ; for these latter are for the sake of the com-
posite, while the composite is for itself.
iii. The Divine act of creation by which these elements were
constituted in existence may be considered as virtually embracing
two actions which we may conceive as distinct, though partial.
There are two apparently solid arguments which have been ad-
duced in favour of this position. The one is derived from the
Divine act of preservation by which all contingent entities arc
retained in being for such time as each exists. Now, as will be
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Tfie Formal Cattse, 499
seen in Natural Theology, the Divine act of preservation is nothing
more or less than the Divine act of creation or production per-
severing, so far as it is termiuated, of coarse, to those entities
which have been created or produced by God. Hence, we are
perfectly safe in arguing from the characteristics of the things
preserved to the characteristics of the same things as originally
created or produced. But we find a marked difference between
the law of Divine preservation in the instance of matter and in
the instances of the Form and composite. Matter is preserved
immutable throughout time. It is incapable of generation and
corruption. The conservation, on the other hand, of Form and
composite is for a time only. There are continuous changes of both
Forms and composites. The latter are subject to generation and
corruption ; the former to eduction and expulsion,-^ to coming and
going. But, if by one and the same Divine action the matter, Form,
and composite were created indifferently ; there could not be these
marked differences in the Divine preservation of the three. The
other argument is derived from the respective natures of matter,
Form, and composite ; for nothing can be more sure than that they
must have been produced by the Divine Wisdom according to the
nature of the entity which they now possess. But matter^ as we
have seen, is absolutely the first Subject. It presupposes nothing
beyond itself. Consequently, it must have been created in the
strictest sense of the word ; because it must have been produced
out of the nothingness of itself and of Subject, — ^that is to say,
absolutely out of nothing. The Form, on the other hand, though
produced (so to speak) out of the nothingness of itself^, is evolved out
of the matter as its Subject ; while the composite is the conjunction
of the two. But evolution and production are distinct acts from
creation. Hence it would seem to follow that, properly speaking,
nothing was created but primordial matter.
iy. Though there is some foundation of truth in these arguments
and in their conclusion, (otherwise, there would have been no
need for the present Thesis) ; yet there is a certain exaggeration
in the way they are expressed and sundry latent assumptions
emanating from the particular theory maintained by Suarez, as
will appear from the following exposition of this Member of the
Proposition.
T. It is plain, as has been noted, that the composite element was
the primary and adequate term, the matter and Form partial and
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500 Causes of Being.
secondary terms, of the Divine act of creation. We say, then,
with St. Thomas, that the two constituents were concreated and
that the composite was created ; — or, more accurately, that the
constituents, Form and matter, were concreated in the creation
of the composite. To explain and illustrate the meaning of this
assertion : — God in the beginning created the element, and by so
doing, concreated in the element the matter and the Form, each
according to the special exigency of its own partial entity. Now,
it is true that matter, as first Subject, must in the strictest sense
of the word be created, if matter can by itself become the term of
any productive action. But this is impossible. If produced, it
would be actual ; so that in such a hypothesis it would be actual
without its act, which is a contradiction in terms. Therefore, in
order to exist it must be concreated, — that is to say, must be
created by one and the same action together with its Form. In
other words, its actual creation' essentially included that of the
substantial Form.- The two were concreated by one and the same
Divine operation. But, if so, how in any real sense can these
Forms of the elements be said to have been educed out of the
potentiality of the matter ? Here it is that Suarez seems to ex-
aggerate by implication. He makes too much of these material
Forms. It should be remembered that they are simply the acts of
matter, — that they are that by which the composite is, rather than
entities themselves, as St. Thomas is so frequent in enforcing.
Consequently, if the Form was to be concreated at all, — which is
the same as saying, if the composite element was to be created at
all, — it must be produced as act of the matter, according to its
nature. Matter was concreated in act ; therefore, the Form was
concreated in the matter as its act. Whence it follows, that there
is no need of a unitive action such as Suarez has invented ; for
existence in the matter is of the essence of the Form. To exist is
to be united ; because it is essentially and exclusively the act of
matter. But, if so, what then, — to return to the original question,
— ^about its being educed out of the potentiality of matter? Let us
see. There are two elements in the concept of eduction, as we
know of it from natural generation. The one is positive, real,
essential ; viz. that the Form should be produced in dependence on
the matter both in its production and in the perfected constitution
of the composite. The other is negative, an extrinsic denomi-
nation, and accidental ; viz. that the subject should not be com-
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The Formal Cause. 501
produced with it, but should pre-exist. It is this latter element in
the concept which has given rise to much of the difficulty that
besets the present problem ; at least, so it would seem. If the
matter exists previously to the eduction of the Form, — which is
invariably the case in natural generation,^t would then be impos-
sible to call such an eduction a creation in any true sense of the
word, much less a concreation ; although the Form was concreated
virtually in the matter according to the explanation given in a
previous Thesis. But it must be remembered that neither is it
produced nor made, properly speaking, but educed ; the composite
substance it is that is produced. If it may be allowed to coin a word
for the occasion, the whole operation consists in a tranmctuation of
the matter, resulting in the production of a new substance. But
when the production of the matter is synchronous with the pro-
duction of the Form and with the constitution of the element; as
the element is created, so the matter and Form are concreated it'
it, since the element is nothing but the matter in such or such ai
act. Yet the Form is concreated as educed from the potentiality
of the matter ; because it is concreated as act of the matter and,
consequently, dependent on the matter in the genesis and con-^
stitution of the composite element. Further : Since the Form is
not an entity in itself, but that by which an entity (viz. the com-
posite substance) is; it is impossible that there should be two
distinct actions. Wherefore, it is nearer the truth to say that God,
in creating the element, concreated the matter and the Form as the
constituents of the element according to their respective natures, —
the primordial matter with its universal potentiality, and the sub-
stantial Form as act of the matter and, therefore, as arising out of
it and essentially dependent upon it. He created actuated matter,
for matter could not possibly be created otherwise ; therefore. He
concreated matter and its act, — ^that is to say, it# Form.
Two objections may be brought against the above explanation.
The one is, that in all composition the components are prior to the
composite. Therefore, two actions at the least are required, — the
one for the production of the components, the other for the con-
stitution of the composite. The answer to this difficulty is, that
when the components are, — or even one of the components is, —
prior in order of time to the composite, two actions are undoubtedly
requisite. When the components are prior in order of nature only,
(and this they always must be) ; there is need of a distinction. If
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502 Causes of Being.
the components are complete entities, it may be conceded that two
actions are necessary. But, when the two components are essen-
tially partial and depend, each apon the other for their existence
and the completion of their entity, there is no such necessity. The
other objection is suggested by the first argument given above to
prove the necessity of two distinct actions in the production of the
composite. For if by one and the same Divine operation the
matter and the Form were concreated in the creation of the de-
ment ; it seems impossible to understand how it can be that the
matter should be preserved indestructible^ immutable, while Form
after Form appears and disappears, and material substances are
ceaselessly generated and corrupted. But this difficulty vanishes, if
we do not lose sight of the fact that, in their concreation, matter
and Form were produced according to the exigence and capacity of
their respective natures. Matter was concreated as first Subject.
Therefore, it could not be corrupted, or changed. It could only be
annihilated by a cessation of the Divine act of conservation. It
was likewise concreated as a passive potentiality receptive of all
Forms included in the design of the Creator. It is capable, there-
fore, of multiplex successive actuation, or transformation. The
substantial Form, on the contrary, was concreated as act of the
matter; and, seeing that the matter is capable of an indefinite
series of actuations, its duration necessarily depends, by virtue of
the mode of its concreation, upon the possible dispositions of the
matter. In a word, aa the Divine operation in the concreation of
matter and Form produced each according to its special nature ; in
like manner does the Divine Will preserve them. There is, there-
fore, a complete parallelism between the two Divine acts and
their terms.
If, however, the above declaration is true, a fresh difficulty of
anothjer kind arises. It is not easy to understand why the Divine
creation of the elements is represented in the Enunciation as
equivalent to two distinct actions, — or rather as conceivably thus
equivalent. It remains to add, therefore, that the Divine operation
may be so conceived, because it is equivalent to two really distinct
actions in natural generation. Another reason is, because the
Divine act of creation is partially terminated by two partial
entities so difierent in their nature ; so that the concreation of the
one is terminatively distinct from, and in some respects opposite to,
the concreation of the other.
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The Formal Cause. 503
Lastly: the explanation here given is confirmed by an argument
derived from the accidental information of the elements. It is
quite certain that these elements must have been quantitatively
divided off from each other ; and further, that the quantity in each
case,— or rather, the substances through the quantity, — must have
been informed by the qualities proper to each. Now, as the
eduction of an accidental Form differs from that of a substantial
Form in one way as much as (one would be inclined to say, more
than) the production of the matter and the production of the Form
in another way; the opinion of Suarez would necessitate an incon-
venient multiplication of distinct Divine acts in the creation of
each element; whereas, according to the explanation given, the
quantitative and qualitative accidents would have been concreated
with each material substance according to the order of their
respective natures.
PROPOSITION CLXXXV.
The action by which the Form is educed from the potentiality
of matter and that by which the composite is constituted
are essentially one and the same ; whether the substance has
been Divinely created or produced by the natural operation
' of secondary causes.
The truth of this Proposition follows as an evident Corollary
from the doctrine expounded in the foregoing Theses. What have
we seen to be the nature of material substance ? It is an entity
essentially composed of matter and Form ; in other words, any
given material substance^ — say, the element called hydrogen, — is
this portion of matter actuated by thii substantial Form. Now, to
educe the Form out of the potentiality of matter is in every way
identical with the actuation of the matter ; for the Form, in its
beginning to be and in its continuing to be, is essentially dependent
on the matter. The composition of a material substance is not
like the composition of certain manufactured goods, where two
complete substances are brought together and mechanically united.
A material substance is composed of a passive potentiality and its
act; and the actuation of the potentiality is ip^o facto the con-
stitution of the substance. It needs no distinct unitive action to
compound two entities that cannot be made to exist apart even by
miracle. Therefore, the eduction of the Form is the constitution of
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504 Causes of Being,
the substance. But, if this is so, why have two names been given
to one and the same action ? For the action in its relation to the
Foim is called eduction; in relation to the composite substance
is called creation or generation. Two observations will afford a
suflScient answer to this difficulty.
i. There are two terms of this action, — as indeed of many others,
notoriously of that connected with works of art. The one is called
the term which^ (called by the Doctors of the School the terminut
qui, or ut quod); the other, the term hy which (the terminus quo).
The former is that which is principally and absolutely intended by
the action, and by it the action is adequately terminated. The
latter is that which is intended as a means by which the former is
produced. For instance, in the construction of a chair the artificial
form is the terminus quo ; the chair itself is the terminus qui. The
carpenter simply intends the latter as the end of his labour; he
aims at producing the shape in the wood^ as the only means of
making the chair. When he has perfectly produced the shape in
the wood, the chair is made.
ii. There is a conceptual distinction in the nature of the action
considered terminatively, — that is to say, in its separate relation to
the two aforesaid terms. In the secondary term hy which, the
matter does not enter as an intrinsic constituent. Thus, the stone
is no intrinsic constituent of the form of the statue. Accordingly,
though the Form is in and of the matter ; the matter is not in the
Form. But in the composite substance, — the terminus qui, — both
matter and Form are intrinsic constituents. Thus, the stone and
the shape, or outline^ together constitute the statue. For these
reasons the Form is said to be educed out of the potentiality of the
matter ; while the composite substance is said to be created, pro-
duced, generated. Nevertheless, the productive action is one and
the same.
Summary.
I. The eduction of the substantial Form out of the potentiality
of matter includes in its concept a double element ; since it is partly
negative, partly positive.
i. Considered negatively, the phrase connotes the following. «.
The Form is not so much an entity itself as cause of entity in
another, b. The Form, by reason of its imperfect entity, cannot
become the adequate term of either creative or productive action.
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tf. For the same reason existence is not absolutely predicable of
the Form, d. The Form cannot be produced by itself, but must
be developed out of another, e. It cannot continue by itself, but
requires the support of another on which it may depend.
ii. Considered positively ^ the phrase connotes the following, a.
Primordial matter claims priority of nature over the Form in the
genesis of material substance, h. Primordial matter is the source
from which the Form springs, because the latter is the substantial
act of the former, c. The Form is virtually precontained in the
matter, d. Primordial matter is the Subject of the Form and
absolutely necessary to its existence and partial subsistence.
II. The creation of the primordial elements was, even according
to our human way of conceiving, one single Divine operation ; yet
conceptually equivalent to two distinct actions according to the
analogy of natural generation. These two virtual actions are solely
differentiated by the diversity of nature in their respective terms. By
one Divine action, therefore, the composite element was created,
and in it were concreated the matter and substantial Form;
together with it were created the quantity with its qualities.
III. Because the composite is the terminus qui^ the substantial
Foi-m the terminus quo ; the latter is said to be educed^ the former
to be created or generated,
ARTICLE IV.
Substantial bodily Forms in their relation to the order of nature.
To such as have already made acquaintance with the Scholastic
Philosophy it may possibly seem that the discussion suggested by
the title of the present Article belongs more properly to physics
than to metaphysics, since their subject-matter is more closely
connected with the existence^ than with the essence, of material
substances. Others, again, who are addicted to the modem division
of metaphysics into general and special, (a division which is ob-
noxious, be it said parenthetically, to more serious objections than
its novelty), may consider that we are trespassing upon the property
of cosmology. Reasons, however, of great weight and cogency have
induced the writer to include them in the present Work, and will,
it is to b% hoped^ reconcile the reader to their appearance here.
Among these the foremost is that the Angelic Doctor has admitted
the consideration of these questions into treatises more or less
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prominently BQetapbysical ; so that not only is there the highest
authority for their introduction, but an occasion, which may not
easily recur, is afforded of making known in English the teaching
of St. Thomas touching these most interesting truths. There is
another which it may be worth while to mention. The subject on
which we are about to enter is so intimately connected with the
questions that have gone before and those which have yet to follow,
that (as it may be hoped) the consideration of it will throw con-
siderably light on both. Nevertheless, it mast be added that the
writer purposes to treat them exclusively from a metaphysical point
of view. There is one momentous inquiry which, though it has
secured for itself a foremost place in public attention of late years,
• he has deemed it advisable to omit from the body of the Work, as
trenching upon the sphere of physics. It is the inquiry into the
genesis of material things. The teaching of St Thomas, however,
on this point will be summarized in one of the Appendices at the
end of the present Chapter.
That there are specific differences in the material worlds is patent
to sense. Nor would any man of sound mind be likely to gainsay
the existence of a unity of order in the things of nature. A philo-
sopher, however, cannot rest contented with the facts ; for these,
of themselves, are not knowledge properly so called. It is his duty
to ascertain the causes of this order; for true science is a knowledge
of things from their causes. But, if this holds good at all times,
more especially is it necessary in our own day. For the greater
number of those eminent physicists, who have so justly acquired
a reputation among us by reason of their patient research and their
interesting discoveries in the various branches of physics, seem to
have relapsed into the unaccountable error which Aristotle lays to
the charge of the earliest philosophers, — viz. into that of ignoring
the existence of any cause save the material. But that matter
which is the common substratum of all visible things, — the first
Subject, — a pure passive potentiality, — undifferentiated, — ^indeter-
minate,— should be capable of evolving itself into multiplicity ol
difference governed by a definite order without some intrinsic cause
of determination and without an extrinsic cause of its evolution, is
a hypothesis which, one would think, must perish beneath the
weight of its own absurdity. Who can imagine it to be really
possible, — ^nay, who can imagine at all, — ^that a purely passive
potentiality can unaided so differentiate itself as to make itself not
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The Formal Cause, 507
itself, but millions of, things other than itself, which are yet itself?
Further : Different bodies have different natural energies, different
qualities. Some have powers of attraction and ajBinity, others of
assimilation and growth^ others of sense and imagination. In
animal life what varieties there are in the composition of the body !
Some have an inferior and rudimentary structure, like ihe protozoa;
othcEB a higli^ And more eomplex structure and organism, like the
cruHciceans ; the placental mammals have a yet more perfect struc-
ture and organism. Again : Some bodies are naturally sweet, some
bitter; some are of one colour, some of another; some are whole-,
some^ others are poisonous ; some have hair, others not ; and so on.
But we ought not to rest contented with the bare facts. It behoves
us to discover the why^ if possible. The present Article, then, will
be devoted to an examination into the intrinsic cause of all the
specific and accidental varieties in material substances, as well as of
the order of regular gradation from lowest to highest discoverable
in them.
PROPOSITION CLXXXVL
According to the teaching of St. Thomas, the final cause of the
▼isible creation postulates a diversity in material substances.
Peolegomenon I.
There are two truths of philosophy, which are assumed as Lem.-
mata in the present Proposition. The one is the doctrine of final
causes, which will be established in the^i^A Chapter of this Book.
The other is the fact of a creation, which is assumed from the future
treatise of Natural Theology in the ninth Book. It should further
be added^ that the objective reality of the material universe is
assumed from ideology. This latter pointy however, will scarcely be
called in question by those for whose sake more particularly these
discussions have been introduced. Physicists are not naturally
prone to idealism ; for their tendency is rather in a contrary direc-
tion. With scarcely an exception they would be ready to admit
the objective reality of the material universe and the truth of our
sensile perceptions of it, so far as these go ; which is all that is
needed.
Pbolegomenok II.
It is also assumed as a Lemma from Natural Theology, that the
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5o8 Causes of Being.
final cause of the creation is the manifestation in the creature of the
Goodness and Perfection of God.
Declaration of the Proposition.
Since the main intention of this and the succeeding Theses is to
exhibit and develope the teaching of the Angelic Doctor, as may
be seen from the Enunciation ; a passage from his writings shall be
here prefixed, which will serve as a foundation for the entire doc-
trine about to be submitted to the reader's consideration.
* It has been already pointed out in a previous Chapter,' writes
St. Thomas, * that God by His Providence ordains all things to the
Divine Goodness as to their End ; not, however, as though anything
can be added to the Divine Goodness by the things that are made,
but in order that the likeness of His Goodness may be imprinted, su
far as it is possible, upon entities. Now, since all created substance
necessarily falls short of the perfection of the Divine Goodness ; in
order that a likeness to the Divine Goodness may be communicated
to entities in greater perfection, it was necessary that there should
be a diversity in entities, so that what cannot be perfectly repre-
sented by any one in particular, might be represented by different
entities in different ways after a more perfect manner. For man,
in like manner, as he perceives that he cannot sufficiently express
the concept of his mind by one spoken word, multiplies words in
various ways in order to express the thought of his mind by a
diversity of expressions. In this, moreover, may be seen the emi-
nence of the Divine Perfection; viz. that the Perfect Goodness,
which in God is unitedly and simply one, cannot exist in creatures
save according to difference of measure and by means of a plurality
of beings. Now, beings are diverse by reason of their having a
diversity of Forms, from which they acquire their specific species,'
or their specific nature. * Thus, then, the reason for the diversity
of Forms in entities is gathered from their final cause.
'Again: Prom the diversity of Forms we gather the reason of
order in beings. For since the Form is that by which an entity
has being, and every entity by reason of its having being approaches
to the likeness of God Who is His own simple Being ; it necessarily
follows that the Form is no other than a participation of the Divine
likeness in entities. Hence, in unison with this conclusion, Aris-
totle in the first Book of the Phifsics^ speaking of Form declares
■""°"" i
The Formal Cause. 509
that " it is something Divine and object of desire." Now likeness,
considered in its reference to that which is Simple Unity, cannot be
diversified save inasmuch as the likeness is more and less near or
remote. Bat by how much anything approaches nearer to the
Divine likeness, by so mach is it more perfect. Wherefore, Aristotle
in the eighth Book of his Metajphydca compares definitions, by
which the natures and Forms of things are denoted, to numbers in
which the species are varied by addition or subti*action of unity ; so
that in this way we may be given to understand, how that a diver-
sity of Forms requires a diversity of grade in perfection. This is,
moreover, plainly evident to any one who contemplates the nature of
entities. For a man will find, if he diligently considers, that the
diversity of beings is completed in ascending steps; since he will
find plants above inanimate bodies, above these again irrational
animals, and above these intellectual substances. Moreover, under
each of these orders he will find a diversity, accordingly as some are
more perfect than others, — in such wise that those which are highest
in a lower genus are seen to approach the higher genus, and con-
versely. For instance, animals incapable of locomotion are like
plants. Hence, Dionysius in his Work on the Divine Names says,
that the Divine Wisdom joins on the last of the superior to the first
of the inferior. Wherefore, it is plain that a diversity of beings
demands that they should not be all equal, but that there should be
an order and gradation in beings.
* Again : From diversity of Forms, according to which the species
of entities are diversified, there follows likewise a diversity of opera-
tions. For seeing that everything acts accordingly as it is in act,
(for those things which are in potentiality, exclusively as such, are
seen to be destitute of action), and since each entity is in act by
virtue of the Form ; the operation of an entity must necessarily
follow its Form. Therefore, if the Forms are diverse, they must
necessarily have diversity of operations. Further : Forasmuch as
everything attains to its own proper end by its own proper action ;
it is a necessary consequence that the proper ends likewise should
be diversified in entities, albeit there is a final end common to all.
* There follows likewise from the diversity of Forms a diversity
in the relation of matter to entities. For, since Forms are different
in that some are more perfect than others, there are some among
them so far perfect that they are subsistent in themselves and in a
perfect manner, not requiring the support of matter for anything ;
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5IO Causes of Being.
while others cannot perfectly subsist of themselves bnt require
matter for a basis, so that the subsistent entity is not Form only or
matter only, (which of itself is not actual being), but a composition
of both. Now, matter and Form could not unite to constitute any
one entity, unless there were some sort of proportion between them.
But, if they must be proportioned, diversity of matter must neces-
sarily answer to diversity of Form. Hence it comes to pass that
one Form postulates simple, and another composite, matter ; and,
in accordance with a diversity of Forms^ a different composition of
the parts ' or organization ' is rendered necessary, agreeably with
the specific nature of the Form and the operation of the same.
' Again : From a diversity in the relation of matter there ensues
a diversity in agents and in entities that are submitted to the action.
For, since everything acts by virtue of the Form, and is acted upon
and moved by virtue of the matter ; it is of necessity that those
entities, whose Forms are more perfect and less material, should act
upon such entities as are more material and whose Forms are le^
perfect.
* Further : From a diversity of Forms and of matter and of agents
there ensues a diversity in properties and accidents. For, since
substance is cause of accident^ as that which is complete of that
which is incomplete; from a diversity in the substantial princi-
piants there must necessarily follow a diversity of properties.
' Once more : Since a diversity of impressions is made upon the
entities that are subject to those impressions from the diversity of
agents, according to the diversity of agents there must necessarily
be a diversity of accidents imprinted by those agents ^.'
^ 'OsteiiBuin est enim (cap. 91) quod Deiu per suain providentiani omnia ordinat in
divinam bonitatem sicut in finem ; non autem hoc modo quod aliquid suae bonitati per
ea quae fiunt aocrescat, sed ut similitudo suae bonitatis, inquantuxn poesibile est, im-
primatur in rebus. Quia vero cmnem creatam substantiam a perfectione divinae b(>Di-
tntis deficere necesse est, ad hoc ut perfectius divinae bonitatis similitudo rebus com-
municaretur, oportuit esse diversitatem in rebus, ut quod perfecte ab uno aliquo re>
praesentari non potest, per di versa diversimode perfection modo repraesentaretur; nam
et homo, cum mentis conceptum uno vocali verbo videt sufficienter exprimi non pone,
verba diversimode multiplicat ad ezprimendam per diversa suae mentis conoeptioneiiL
£t in hoc etiam divinae perfectionis eminentia oonsiderari potest, quod perfecta boni-
tas, quae in Deo est unite et simplidter, in creaturis esse non potest nisi secundum
modum diveivum et per plura. Res autem per hoc diversae sunt quod formas habent
diversas a quibus speciem sortiuntur. Sic igitur ez fine sumitur ratio diversitatb for-
marum in rebus.
* Ex diversitate autem formarum sumitur ratio ordinis in rebus. Cum enim fbnns
sit secundum quam res habet esse, res autem quaelibet, secundum quod babet esse,
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The Formal Cause, 5 1 1
The declaration of the present Proposition will consist in a de-
velopment of the earlier clauses contained in the first paragraph of
aocedftt ad sunilitudinem Dei, qui est ipsnm snom ease simplex, neceese est quod
fofrtna nihil sit aliud quam divina similitudo partidpata in rebus. Unde oonvenienter
Aristoteles, de forma loquens, didt quod eA diiaiwkm quoddam et appetihile.* {ovros y&p
Tivot Ofiov «o2 dyaOw icai iiptrov; Physic. L. i, c. 9, v. m.) 'Similitudo autem, ad
uaum simplex considerata, diverslficari non potest, nisi secundum quod magis et minus
aimilitudo est propinqua vol remota. Quanto autem aliquid propinquius ad divinam
similitudinem accedit, (tanto) perfectius est. Unde in formis differentia esse non
potest nisi per hoc quod una perfectior existit quam alia ; propter quod Aristoteles
(Metaphys. 8 ^) definitiones, per quas naturae rerum et formae signantur, assimilat
numeris, in quibus species variantur per additionem vel subtractionem unitatis ; ut
<ix hoc detur intelligi quod formarum diversitas diversum gradum perfectionis requirit.
£t hoc evidenter apparet naturas rerum speculanti. Inveniet enim, si quis diligenter
consideret, gradatim rerum diversitatem compleri. Nam sapra inanimata corpora
inveniet plantas, et super has irrationabilia animalia, et super haec intellectuales sub*
stantias. Et in singiilis borum inveniet diversitatem, secundum quod quaedam sunt
alils perfectiora; intautum quod ea quae sunt suprema iaferioiis generis videntur pro-
pinqua superiori generi, et e converse ; sicut animalia immobilia sunt similia plantis.
Unde et Dionysius (de Divin. Nomin. c. 7) ait quod divina sapientia conjungit fine»
primomm principiis secundorum, Unde patet quod rerum diversitas exigit quod non
sint omnia aequalia, sed sit ordo in rebus et gradus.
'£x diveraitate autem formarum, secundum quas rerum species diverdficantur, sequi-
tar et operationum differentia. Cum enim unumquodque agat secundum quod est
actu, (quae enim sunt in potential secundum quod hujusmodi inveniuntur actionis ex-
pertia) ; est autem unumquodque ens actu per formam ; oportet quod operatio rei
sequatur formam ipdus. Oportet ergo quod, si dnt diversae formae, habeant diversas
operationes. Quia vero per propriam actionem res quaelibet ad proprium finem per-
tingit, necesse est et proprios fines diverdficari in rebus, quamvis dt finis ultimus
omnibus communis.
* Sequitur etiam ex diverdtate formarum diversa habitude materiae ad res. Cum
enim formae diversae dnt secundum quod quaedam simt aliis perfectiores, sunt inter
eas aliquae intantum perfectae quod sunt per se subsistentes, et perfecte, ad nihil
indigentes materiae fulcimento ; quaedam vero per se perfecte subsistere non possunt.
Bed materiam pro fundamento requirunt, ut dc Ulud quod subsistit non dt forma tan-
tum nee materia tantum, quae per se non est ens actu, sed compositum ex utroque '
(utraque?) 'non autem possent materia et forma ad aliquid unum con:<tituenduni con-
venire, nisi esset aliqua proportio inter ea. Si autem proportionata oportet ea esse,
^ 5 re ydp dptffftds iipi$/i6s rit (8<eu/)€r^$ re ydp md th dbiatptra' oit ydp Avupoi ol
X6yot' Kid 6 AptOfidi 8i toiovtos). md &<ntfp ohV dir* apiOfuw dtfpoiptBirros rivbs 1j vpoc-
T€$ivroSt k^ Sv 6 &pi$fi6s k<niv, obiciri 6 ahrbs A/hB/a&s kvriv dXk* Irc/ior, kAv roi/Xdxttrrw
A(paifx0i 4 vpQ(Tr€&^, oCrcK o09k 6 Spttrfi^ oM rb rl fv ttvcu ovKtri tffTCUf d^pcupeBfyrof
riy6s 1j wpoartBhros. Mdaph. L. viii (H), c. 3, ». /.
* For definition, too, is a sort of number, (for it is dividble at once and into indi-
vidbles, since definitions are not infinite; and number is of a dmilar nature). As,
then, if you take tway fi:om a number any one of the elements of which the number
is composed or add aught thereto, it is no longer the same, but a different number,
even though the smallest subtraction or addition be made ; so, in like manner, neither
the definition nor the essence will remain any longer, if any subtraction or addition
is made.'
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5 1 2 Causes of Being-.
this quotation from the Angelic Doctor. First of all, taking for
granted that the purpose of the Creator and, consequently, the
final cause of the creation is to nianifest, so far as possible, the
Goodness, or Perfection, (for these are really one and the same), of
the Creator; it is certain, — nay, self-evident, — ^that it would be
impossible to accomplish such a design in any wise by the creation
of a single individual or of a single species. It is impossible,
because it involves a contradiction in terms. It is a contradiction
in terms ; because it supposes that any one finite being is capable
of approximately representing the Infinite. It may perhaps be
objected, that a similar contradiction is involved in the supposition
that any number of finite beings, however multiplied, can approxi-
mately represent the Infinite. But the slightest consideration will
suffice to show that the objection is not a very weighty one. It is
undeniably true that neither the one nor the other can adequakly
represent Infinite Reality; but, if it is question of an approximative
representation, no one can doubt but that a multiplication of
specifically and individually distinct finite realities Will more nearly
approach, as types, the Infinite Reality than merely one or two
specific natures, because more of reality is exhibited. The more
you prolong a line, the nearer it gets to the representation of an
infinite prolongation. The greater the number of distinct photo-
graphs we have of a neighbourhood or of some cathedral that
we have not seen; the more complete will be our imagination
of either. So also, the more extensive our observation of a man's
actions and words under a variety of circumstances; the more
likely is it caeCeris paribus that our judgment of his character will
be correct.
necease est quod diversia formis diversae materiae respondeant. Unde fit, ut quaedam
forma requirat materiam simplicem, quaedam vero materiam compositam ; et, secun-
dum diversas fonuaa diversam partium compositionem oportet esse coDgrueatem ad
Bpeciem formae et operationem ipsius.
' £x diversa autem babitudine ad materiam sequitur diversitas agentium et pati«D-
tium. Cum enim agat unumquodque ratione formae, patiatur vero et mov^tur ratiooe
materiae, oportet quod Ula quorum formae aunt perfeotiorea et minua materialea agajit
in ilia quae aunt magis materialia et quorum formae aunt imperfectiore^.
* £x divendtate autem formarum et materiarum et agentium aequitur diyenitaa pro-
prietatum et accidentium. Cum enim eubstantia ait cauaa accidentia, aicut perfectum
imperfect! ; oportet quod ex diversia principiia aubatantialibua diversa accidentia pn>-
pria oonaequantur.
* Rursua, cum ex diveraia agentibua aint diveraae impreasiones in patientibua, oportet
quod, aecunduin diveraa agentia, diversa aint accidentia quae ab agentibua imprimm-
tur.' Cg. L. iii, c° 97.
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The Formal Cause. 513
Wherefore, in order that an approximative representation of the
Divine Goodness might be made, which should be as complete as
the respective natures of the Architype and types would permit ;
it was necessary that there should be specific diversities and in-
dividual varieties in created things. For He Who is Himself
Infinite Essence can only be represented by finite being in parts,
as it were, all which are eminently contained in His own Simplest
Unity. Therefore, by how much these so-called parts are multi-
plied in the likeness; by so much does the likeness approximate
to the Original. But the multiplication of these so-called parts
amounts to nothing more or less than the multiplication of specific
natures and individual variations. The process may be in some
measure illustrated by that physical toy, — ^the chromotrope, — which
consists of a circular disk on which have been represented in due
order the prismatic colours. The disk is made to revolve with
great velocity ; and thus succeeds in offering to the eye a faint
representation of white light. But one colour would not satisfy
for the experiment.
An exception, however, may be taken to the above declaration,
which merits consideration. It is universally admitted by the
Scholastic Doctors, that superior Forms virtually or eminently
include the inferior; for instance, the human soul virtually and
preeminently contains the respective Forms of plant and animal.
Why, then, should not one being of the highest finite excellence
have been created, who would by virtual inclusion in his own
nature represent all the reality actually represented by how many
soever inferior Forms ? Let the following suffice for a solution of the
diflBculty. (i) Ii^ such wise the fecundity of God would not be
so explicitly represented. (2) Since the manifestation of the Divine
likeness has been made for the sake of the intelligent creature,
such manifestation will be evidently more complete^ the more ex-
plicit it is. But Forms and faculties which are only eminently
contained in any given entity could scarcely be known, save by
comparison with other entities wherein the same faculties and
Forms are explicitly revealed. What could we know of matter, of
vegetative or animal life^ from contemplation of an angel ? (3) The
Unity of the Creator is approximately represented in the creation
by the perfectness of its order. But order is more admirable and
is exhibited in greater perfection^ proportionally to the multiplicity
of beings comprised within it.
VOL. II. L 1
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514 Causes of Being.
Note.
The above argament embraces other beings than those whicb
constitute the material universe, and will be extended to pare
Intelligences in another place. Its present restriction is consonant
with the subject-matter of this and the preceding Chapter.
PROPOSITION CLXXXVn.
The speoifio diversity to be found in material sabstanoes is
essentially due to the respective substantial Forms which
determine the speoifio nature of the composites.
Declaration op the Proposition.
The present Thesis does not include the question of individual
variations. The inquiry is confined for the moment to specific
differences. It should further be borne in mind, that the term,
species, is here used in a strictly metaphysical sense, as identified
with the integral essence of a thing. Now, that which constitutes
or determines the essential nature of an entity must be something
intrinsic ; for we are not dealing at present with efificient causality.
Furthermore : This something intrinsic determinative of the essen-
tial nature must be either the matter or the Form ; for these are
the only two substantial constituents of a body. But it cannot be
the matter which is common to all bodies. It must, therefore,
be the substantial Form. Hence, Aristotle describes it, as we have
seen, to be something ^Godlike, and good, and desirable'; and the
Angelic Doctor explicitly asserts, in the concluding sentence of the
first paragraph, that ' entities are diverse by reason of their having
a diversity of Forms from which they acquire their specific nature.'
It is unnecessary to prolong the declaration ; since the whole of the
present Chapter is one continuous elucidation of its truth.
Corollary I.
That which the substantial Form, metaphysically considered,
does for the specific nature and diversity of material substances,
this same Form physically and in the concrete does for the in-
dividual nature and individual variations. In the former way of
conceiving it, it is regarded as the essential rather than the existing
Form ; in the latter^ as the existing rather than the essential
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The Formal Cause. 515
Form. Considered adequately, it is that which constitutes this
individual nature in its existing specific essence.
COROLLAIIY II.
From the truth of the present Proposition it follows that all
classification of material substances should be based on the sub-
stantial Forms, not on varieties of structure, colour, or other acci-
dents only or even principally. How this can be done, since these
Forms are not subject to the perception of sense, will be seen more
clearly in tlie sequel.
Without venturing to cast a doubt on the practical usefulness
of the classifications adopted by modern physicists in their respec-
tive departments, (since, for all the present writer knows, they may
be the only ones which an exclusive study of physical phenomena
would enable these authorities to use with safety and advantage) ;
it may safely be permitted to question the acknowledged principles
of these arrangements^ which indeed must be defective, if the
Proposition just declared i^ true. In Zoology more particularly,
these principles for the most part resolve themselves into two main
points, viz. specialization of function and morphological type^ — ^to
borrow the peculiar nomenclature of the day. Now, both imme-
diately and formally belong to the material cause and its accidental
organization, — the latter evidently, since it embraces what are sup-
posed to be the fundamental points of structure ; the former like-
wise, because it does not fasten on the operation or function itself
so much^ as the organic apparatus by which the function is carried
out. But each of these is an effect at the best, not a cause, of
specific difference ; and cannot of itself be a safe guide in determining
a really scientific arrangement. To this must be attributed the
acknowledged uncertainty and frequent change in our modem
systems of classification. To take a striking instance : — The Mam-
malia are certainly not an unimportant Division among the Verte-
brates or highest order of animals. Yet Dr. Nicholson informs us,
that ^ Numerous classifications of the Mammalia have been proposed^
and it is a matter of regret that no one has been universally accepted
by zoologists ^.' He contents himself with enumerating three ; the
first of which is determined by a vascular organ, — the placenta^ — de-
veloped during the period of gestation. The second is based on certain
* Manual of Zoology^ Ch. Ixxiii, init., p. 484.
L 1 %
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5i6 Causes of Being.
variations in the structure of the brain ; the third, on variations in
the female organs of reproduction. Now, it is observable tiiat, in
two out of the three proposed classifications, the distinguishing
notes are limited to one sex ; and the same may be said of the
Division, Mammalia^ itself. But this supposes that the two sexes
must be two distinct species ; for it is quite plain that neither a
lion nor a tiger is placental. To the same source we may attribute
that which is so candidly confessed by the above-quoted writer, viz.
that ' No term is more difKcult to define than " species," and on no
point are zoologists more divided than as to what should be under-
stood by this word. Naturalists^ in fact,' — so he extends the remark
beyond the limits of zoology, — * are not yet agreed as to whether the
term species expresses a real and permanent distinction, or whether
it is to be regarded merely as a convenient, but not immutable,
abstraction, the employment of which is necessitated by the re-
quirements of classification ^^ No wonder, then, that ' It has been
doubted^ apparently with considerable reason, whether the so-called
Amoebae^ (which, nevertheless, Dr. Nicholson gives as the first
Order under the RhizopodSy — an Order in this system of classification
being a much more extended whole than a Species), ' are distinct
species of animals, or whether they are not rather transitory stages
in the life-history of other organisms. It is quite certain that
several of the Protozoa pass through an Amoeboid stage, and it is
also certain that vegetable matter not uncommonly assumes simikr
characters (e.g. the mycelium of certain fungi). It is therefore
not impossible that the forms known to the microscopist as Amoebae
may be ultimately discovered not to be permanent and distinct
species * ; ' — that is to say, it is confessedly uncertain whether an
entire Order ranged in a manual of Zoology under a distinct Class
are independent and stable animals or only ' transitory stages in the
life-history of other organisms.' Again, of another Order under the
Sub-kingdom of the Coelenteratea the same author makes a similar
avowal. 'From the above description,' he writes, 'it will be evident
that the Medusa is in all essential respects identical in structure with
the free-swinmiing generative bud or gonophore of many of the fixed
and oceanic Hydrozoa. Indeed^ a great many Forms which were pre-
viously included in the Medimdae have now been proved to be really
* Manual of Zoology, General Iniroduetion, n. 9, p. 19.
» Ibid. Ch.u,p. 49.
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The Formal Cause. 517
of this nature, and it may fairly be doubted if this will not ultimately
be found to apply to all ^,' — that is to say, that they are not an Order
at all, but generative offshoots of other Orders of Hydrozoa ; conse-
quently, that the Sub-class of the BiscopAora^ which exclusively con-
sists of this one Order, may be safely eliminated from the Table of
classification. Mr. Darwin is another who adds his warning touching
the vague and uncertain sense which physicists attribute to the
term, species. * It is all-important to remember,' — these are his
words, — *that naturalists have no golden rule by which to dis-
tingiiish species and varieties ; they grant some little variability to
each species, but when they meet with a somewhat greater amount
of difference between any two forms,' (that is to say, accidental
forms, — ^for induce, shapes, structures, deviations in organism of
whatsoever kind), ' they rank both as species, unless they are enabled
to connect them together by close intermediate g^dations ^* This
honest confession excuses a paralogism which is latent in the whole
of this writer's popular Work on TAe Origvn of Species. Yet, it is
somewhat misleading. The reader is told that the author under-
stands by the term, species, a more marked variety. He is en-
couraged in his belief that such is the accepted meaning of the
word by its perpetual correlation throughout the volume with
cognate terms commonly adopted in modern Zoology, — genera,
families, classes, etc.^; — and probably finds little or no difficulty
in admitting that the hjrpothesis of natural evolution has some
considerable amount of truth in it, whatsoever the exaggerations
with which, naturally enough, it is surrounded. But in the final
Chapter he finds to his dismay, that the term species embraces
genera, families, orders, classes, — nay, sub-kingdoms themselves*.
It is surely, then, not without abundant reason that, at the com-
mencement of the declaration of this Thesis, the reader should have
been admonished of the definite sense which the said term is here
intended to bear.
* Manual of Zoology, Ch, x, p. 97.
■ Origin of Species, Ch. ix, p. 297, i"* Edition, i860.
» Jhid, Ch. viii, p. a6i ; ix,p. aSi ; ix, pp. 297, 302, 307.
* Jhid, Ch. Jiy, p. 4S4.
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5i8 Causes of Being,
PROPOSITION CLXXXVIII.
From the diversity of substantial Forms, considered in their
relation to the final cause of material substances, there
necessarily fl.ows a cosmic order.
Prolegomenon.
Ord^ in its generic signification may be defined to be the dis-
position or reduction of distinct entities under unity. In order
there is a material and a formal part. The material part are the
distinct entities themselves; the formal part is their unity. In
real order three things are included ; viz. real entities really distinct,
a real union of some kind, and a principiant to which these distinct
entities are referrible as source of their union. It is a consequent
property, that there should be an inequality among the ordered
entities. The faculties of the human soul, for instance, are real
entities and really distinct. There is an inequality of excellence
' among them; and they are one in subordination to the intellect
which is the essential characteristic of the human soul. Cosmic
order, in like manner, supposes real material substances really dis-
tinct, an inequality in the excellence of their respective natures,
and the Divine Perfection as the Principiant of order, to Which all
created things are referrible as the measure of their mutual relation
and subordination.
Declaration of the Proposition.
All order, whether conceptual or real, is measured by some prin-
cipiant. For all order supposes a more and less of some sort, — that
is to say, in .finite being, — and real order, a real more or less.
Such mare or less must be determined according to a common
measure. Thus, — to take an illustration from geometry,— the
principiant of a line is a point ; consequently, all the virtual ele-
ments of the line are more or less in order of position, according to
their nearness to, or distance from, the initial point. Now, the
principiants of nature are four, viz. the four causes ; consequentlj,
the natural order will be measured by the four causes. But of
these, three, (as the Angelic Doctor observes^), coincide as prin-
cipiants of order. For the Divine Perfection operating is the
* Quol. L. V, a. 19, c.
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The Formal Cause. 519
Efficient Cause; a partial likeness to, and similitudinal partici-
pation of, the Divine Perfection, the Formal Cause ; and an approxi-
mative representation of the Divine Perfection, the final cause.
Hence, the Divine Perfection is measure in each and all ; for the
material cause, as undifferential, may be eliminated.
Now, it has been shown in the two preceding Propositions, how
that a specific diversity in material substances was rendered neces-
sary by the fact that the final cause of the visible universe is a
manifestation of the Divine Perfection, or Goodness ; and, secondly^
that this diversity is determined by the substantial Forms which
constitute the essential nature of the material composite. But
this specific diversity, as measured objectively by the Divine Per-
fection, can only arise from the existence in material substances of
a nearer or more remote likeness to their Exemplar, — the Divine
Goodness. Wherefore, there exist all the elements of a real order.
Again: — ^to put the same argument in a somewhat different
way, — * We may consider in entities/ observes St. Thomas, * a two-
fold order; the one, accordingly as they issue forth from a prin-
eipiant ; the other, accordingly as they are ordained to an end ^.'
Now, the things of nature issue forth from the Divine Perfection
as their Exemplar and Ej£cient Cause ; and they are ordained to
the manifestation of the Divine Perfection as their Final Cause,
each according to its measure^ — the whole collectively according
to the predetermined measure of manifestation^. Hence arises the
more or less of similitude to the exemplar in each, as has been
already explained ; and, as a consequence^ the presence of order.
Once more: There is an absolute^ and there is an accidental,
order in material substances ^. The absolute order is discoverable
in the specific differences existing among material substances.
^ * In rebus potest oonsiderari duplex ordo : iinus seoundom quod egrediantur a
principio; alius secundum quod ordinantur ad finem.* YerU, <2- v> a. i, 9™.
' &pirHu, a. 8, c.
' * Manifestiim est autem quod in omnibus individuis unius specie! non est ordo nisi
secundum accidens : conveniunt enim in natura, et differunt secundum principia indi-
viduantia, et diversa accidentia, quae per accidens se habent ad naturam speciei.' Such
are diversity of colour, modifications in the specific structure, etc. 'Quae autem specie
differunt, ordinem habent per se et secundum essentialia principia. Invenitur enim in
speciebuB rerum una abundare super aliam, sicut et in speciebus numerorum, ui dioitur
in 8 Metaph. In istis autem inferioribus, quae sunt geoerabilia et oorruptibilia, et
infima pars universi, et minus participant de ordine, invenitur non omnia diversa
habere ordinem per se ; sed quaedam habent ordinem per aoddens tantum, sicut indi-
vidua unius speciei.* SpirUu, a. 8, c. p. m.
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520 Causes of Being.
The accidental order is to be seen in the individual differences, or
variations, existing within the same species ; for here likewise there
is a mare or less as measured by a common type. Neverthele^,
such order is justly called accidental ; because the greater or less
is not discoverable in the essential nature but in the individualiziog
accidents.
Since, then, there is an essential order in material substances;
the substantial Form, which is the intrinsic principle of the essen-
tial nature of each and, in consequence, of the diversity, must like-
wise be the intrinsic principle of the cosmic order.
PROPOSITION CLXXXIX.
From a diversity of substantial Forms there follows a diversity
of natural operations.
Prolbgombnon I.
By natural operation is to be understood the operation which
is proper to, and characteristic of, the nature of a thing. Now,
nature and essence, as has been noticed in the first Book, are
objectively one and the same, though conceptually distinguished.
Essence expresses the Being of a thing absolutely, as it is in its
first act of being ; whereas nature represents the essence in its
transcendental relation to its second act, — ^that is to say, to its
proper operation. Hence, the latter is defined to be the prineipiant
of that operation by which each entity tends to its appointed end.
Consequently, the natural operation of a thing is its essential
operation, or that operation which properly flows firom its essem^.
As such, it includes immanent as well as transient action, — ^that is
to say, action whose term is intrinsic in the agent as well as action
whose term is extrinsic to the agent Thought, will, sensation, are
instances of the former ; generation, operations of art, are instances
of the latter. Natural operation is not confined, in its full meaning,
to one act, but includes the whole series of actions that conspire
to the attainment of the constituted end. Thus, for instance, the
growth of a plant from first to last is its natural operation.
Prolegomenon II.
It follows as an evident Corollary from the doctrine contained
in the previous Prolegomenon, that * The manner of operation of
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. The Formal Cause. 521
every single thing whatsoever follows the manner of its Being^.'
Hence, the essence of a material substance, though of itself not
subject to human perception immediately in the present order of
cognition, is cognizable by means of its natural operation. Accord-
ingly, the Angelic Doctor remarks, that * When any particular
operation is proper to an agent ; then, by that particular operation,
proof is given of the entire efficacy of the agent ^.' Of course^
such cognition of the essence becomes less easy, in proportion as
the entity is lower in the scale of material substances and its
natural operation, in consequence, less intelligible because of its
captivity under matter.
Pbolegobcenon III.
As the principiant of natural operation is one only, and the final
cause in which such operation finds its consummation is likewise
one ; the natural operatioil itself, as proceeding from the one and
essentially tending towards the other, is likewise specifically one.
* Natural operation,' says St. Thomas, ' is always terminated to
some one thing ; just as it proceeds i^om one principiant which is
the Form of the natural entity '.' Since, then, oi)eration receives
specification from its term and essential unity from its principiant,
it follows that the operation itself is in the same manner one.
Prolegombnon IV.
Natural operation, considered as complete in its term, is the
ultimate perfection of the agent. Hence, ' Everything evidently
exists for the sake of its operation ; for operation is the ultimate
perfection of a thing^;' as it is * the ultimate act of him who
operates ^.'
Prolegombnon V.
Natural operation is attributed to a twofold principiant, but
^ 'Modus operandi nniasoajuBqae rei eequitur modom essendi ipsiiis.' i**lxzziz.
If c, inU.
' 'Qnando aliqttod partionlare opus proprimn est alicujos agentis, tanc per illud
{Muticalare optu probatnr iota yirtus agentiB.' 3** xliii, 4, 3™.
* ' Operatio autem natnralia semper terminatur ad aliquid tinmn, neat et. procedit
ab nno principio, qnod est forma rei nataralis.' a-a** zcy, 5, e. p. m.
* *0miii8 enim res propter suam operationem esse videtur; operatio enim est ultima
perfectio rei.' Cg. L. Ill, c» 1 1 3.
' 'Manifestum est autem, quod operatio est ultimus actus operantis.* i-2** iiJ,
3, c.
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522 Causes of Being.
differently. It is assigned to the supposit or person ; and it is
assigned to the nature or essence or faculty of such essence. The
former is called by the School the principium quody or, the prin-
cipiant which operates ; the latter is called the prineipium quo, or
the principiant by virtue of which the agent operates. Thus, for
instance, it is Charles, — ^we will say, — who thinks. He is the
prineipium quod. But it is by his intellectual nature or faculty
that Charles thinks; and this is the prineipium quo. Hence
St. Thomas remarks that ' Though operation is attributed to the
hjrpostasis ' (person or supposit) ' as operating ; nevertheless, it is
attributed to the nature as to the principiant of operation ^.' Thi«
distinction will be better understood, when the fitting occasioii
offers for entering upon the question touching the nature of n(/?-
posit and person.
Declaration of the Proposition.
The doctrine evolved in the above Prolegomena renders the
proof of the Enunciation easy, and obviates the necessity of elabo-
ration. The natural operation of an entity proceeds irom its
specific nature. But the specific nature of an entity is determined
and constituted by its substantial Form. Therefore, the natural
operation of an entity proceeds from its substantial Form, If,
then, there exists a diversity of Forms ; there must likewise exist
a diversity of operations. Accordingly, we are told by St. Thomas,
that ' The species of the operation follows the species of the Form
which is the principiant of operation ^.' Wherefore, though • Ope-
ration belongs to the subsisting supposit, yet according to the
Form or nature from which operation receives its species. For
this reason, from a diversity of Forms or natures there is a specific
difference of operations *.' Since the operation follows the nature
of the Form; so must likewise the potentiality which is proxi-
mate principiant of operation. Of this, too, we are certified by
St. Thomas. * The active potentiality of whatsoever entity,' he
writes, * follows its Form which is the principiant of action. Now,
^ ' Quamvis opeiatio attribaatar hypoBtaei at operanti, tamen attribuitor natone at
operationiB principio.' Verit. Q. xx, a. i, a™.
' * Species operationis consequitur speciem fonnae quae est operationis principiam.'
Animat a, 2, 7™.
' * Operari est hypostasis subsistentis, sed secundum fonnam et naturam a qua oper-
atio spedein recipit. £t ideo adiversitate formarum seu naturarum estdivena ipedes
operationum/ 3»'' xix, i, 3»».
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The Formal Cause, 523
the Form is either the nature itself of the entity, as in simple
entities ; or it is that which constitutes the nature itself of the
entity, as in the instance of those entities which are composed of
matter and Form. Hence it is plain that the active potentiality
of whatsoever entity follows the nature of that entity ^.'
Corollary,
In the instance of every created entity, its substantial Form,
either in act or actuating, is its first perfection ; its complete
operation, its second and ultimate perfection. For the first per-
fection of a thing is to he and to be, consequently, in its own
specific nature ; its ultimate perfection is to attain the final cause
of its natural operation, since in this consists its consummation
and happiness.
PROPOSITION CXC.
Diversity in the substantial Forms postulates a parallel
diversity in the material cause.
Declaration op the Proposition.
As we have seen, primordial matter of itself is indifferent to all
Forms. Hence, though as a pure passive potentiality requiring
reduction to act in order to exist, it has an essential inclination
towards Form in general ; nevertheless, it has no preference for one
Form over another. Unless, therefore, this potentiality were in
such sort modified as to direct its evolution in a definite direction,
there would be no sufficient reason why it should be actuated by
one Form rather than another. In fact, one modification it must
receive in order to its actuation by any whatsoever Form in the
constituted order. It must be portioned off, and to this end it
must be modified by quantity; since no single Form exhausts the
whole potentiality of matter. Hence, as the Angelic Doctor
teaches and as has been elsewhere stated on his authority, quantity
is the essential concomitant of the Body-Form which is, as it were,
the primary determination of matter, and is virtually included
in every material substantial Form. But, over and above this,
^ * Fotentia autem activa cujuslibet rei sequitur formam ipmus, quae est principitim
agendL Forma antem vel est ipsa natura rei, sicut in simplicibug ; vel est constituens
ip»am rei naturam, in his scilicet quae sunt oomposita ex materia et forma. Unde
manifestum est quod potentia activa cujuslibet rei consequitur naturam ipsiue.' 3**
xiii, I, c.
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524 Causes of Being.
matter must be inclined for the reception of each particular Form;
so that the evolution of such Form may naturally follow upon the
special cravings of the matter. This preparation i^ effected by
certain dispositions given to the matter as proximately susceptive
of the particular Form. In the instance of the elements which
were created in the beginning, those dispositions were concreated
with the creation of each element; but in natural generation these
dispositions precede the eduction of the Form even in order of
time. This is one reason why generation necessitates a previous
corruption. By the action of the efficient cause certain qualities
are introduced into the matter, which dispose the latter for the
reception of the new Form, but render it proportionately disaffected
towards the primitive Form ; till at length the former is edueed
and the latter expelled. A curious illustration of this process may
be seen in a fact of daily experience. If a piece of paper is thrown
on a dull fire where it is not exposed to the more vehement action
of a flame, it will gradually change colour and shrivel, but retain
its own nature; so that it is often a coni3iderable time before it
catches flre and is transformed. The introduction of the necessaiy
dispositions for receiving the Fire-Form in this case takes an
appreciable time ; because of a defect either in the efficient caase
or in the due proximity of the Subject.
Now, since there is a diversity of Forms and a consequent
diversity of natural operations, it follows that^ in proportion to the
number of different Forms, there must be a corresponding number
of special dispositions in the matter; for those which are pro-
portionate to one species must necessarily be disproportioned to
another. Hence arises specific composition or specific organization
according to the specific nature of the entity. Further: Since
within the same species one may be more perfect than another, so
that in consonance with the cosmic order there is a continnons
gradation from the lowest up to those which are highest and
nearest the imniediately superior species, and since it is absolutely
requisite that a due proportion should exist between the matter
and the Form in order that the latter may be free to energize
according to its natural operation; it follows that there must be
a variety in the structure and organism of matter to correspond
with the various species and with variations under the same species.
Furthermore : The higher the Form, the more complex and perfect
will be the structure of the matter. Such is the teaching of
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The Formal Cause. 525
St. Thomas, who clearly lays down the same doctrine at the end of
the fourth paragraph of the fundamental passage quoted in the
hundred and eighty-sixiA Proposition. * Matter and Form,' he there
observes, ' could not unite to constitute any one given entity,
unless there were some sort of proportion between them. But^ if
they must be proportioned, there must be a diversity of matter to
correspond with a diversity of Form. Hence it comes to pass, that
one Form postulates incomposite, and another composite, matter ;
and according to the diversity of Forms a difference in the com-
position,' or organization, * of the parts is rendered necessary in
accordance' with the specific nature of the Form and the operation
of the same.' The natural operation, indeed, has much to say to
it ; since the Form operates through the bodily organs.
There is one observation of the Angelic Doctor in the earlier
part of the same paragraph, which requires our special notice; for
without it the declaration of the present Proposition would not be
complete. There is not only a proportion between matter and its
Form in the constitution of each material substance ; but there is
a diversity in the transcendental relation of matter to different
specific Forms. In some material substances the Form is wholly
dependent upon the matter, even for its subsistence ; while in
others, the Form, though act of the body, has a subsistence of its
own apart from matter. Again : Even among those Forms that
are wholly dependent upon matter for their subsistence, some, — as
those, for instance, of inanimate substances, — are entirely immersed
in matter; while others, like those of some higher orders of
animals, — have a certain sort of elevation above matter, as is clear
from their natural operations. In the former class, as well as in
the second division of the latter class, the correspondence of the
matter with the Form cannot be so adequate as in the instance of
those Forms which, — to repeat the pregnant phrase of St. Thomas,
— are wholly immersed in matter.
PROPOSITION CXCI.
From the diversity of substantial Forms there follows a
diversity in the properties and aeoidents of the composite
snbstance.
Declabation op the Proposition.
From the specific diversity of substantial Forms there must
necessarily flow a diversity in the properties of the composite
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526 Causes of Being.
substance ; while from the individual diversity of Forms under the
same species there arises, in the constituted order^ a diversity in
the accidents of the composite substance. Let us consider these
two statements separately.
i. The specific diversity of the substantial Forms necessarily
causes a corresponding diversity in the properties of the composite
substances. For what is a property? A property, according to
the metaphysical concept of it, is an entity that forms no part of
the essence of the Subject to which it belongs, but is essential to it
or, in other words, flows from the essence. Hence, the concept of
it is partly negative, partly positive. As negative, it reveals a real
minor distinction between the integral substance, — that is to say,
the matter actuated by its substantial Form, — and the property.
As positive, it exhibits a real distinction between property and
accident specifically so called ; in that the former flows from the
essence of the Subject, while the latter does not. If we consider
the two terms according to their logical import, we arrive at a
similar conclusion. Treated metaphysically, the measure is the
whole of comprehension ; logically, the whole of extension. Logi-
cally considered, then, a property is an accident which belongs
always to all and each of the individuals comprised under a generic
or specific whole. If the whole is generic, the property will be
generic ; if specific, the property will be specific. A pure accident,
on the other hand, either does not belong to all and each of a given
whole, but to some only; or, if perchance to all and each, yet not
constantly- Therefore, it cannot flow from the Form as deter-
minative of the species. If, then, a property flows from the
essence of that substance whose property it is, it must flow from
the substantial Form; because the species, as we have seen, is
determined by the Form. That properties, generic as well as
specific, are discoverable in inanimate bodies, is patent tx> any one
who consults the pharmacopoeia. The cathartic property of croUm-
oil, aloeSf castor-oil, certain salts of mercury, — the diaphoretic, or
sudorific, property of antimony and ij)ecacuanhay — the narcotic
property of morjphia and tobacco, are instances of properties which
are generic, because they belong to more than one species. TUie,
for instance, eroton-oil and mercury, ipecacuanka and antimony; in
each of these couples the first is a vegetable, the second a metal.
To leave the pharmacopoeia: Instances of specific properties in
inanimate bodies are, the magnetic property of the lode-stone, — the
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The Formal Cause, 527
intimate and necessary connection of oxygen with life in material
substances, ~^the relative lightness of hydrogen^ which causes it to
be chosen as unity of measure among the ponderables. In animal
life organization is a generic property, because it is common to
plants as well as animals ; sense of touchy — ^and the same may be
said of the other senses, — is a specific property. In man respiration
and the vertebrate structure are generic properties ; true laughter is a
specific property. It is plain, that the properties of bodies in act are
subject to sensile perception ; whereas the substantial Form is not.
ii. From a diversity of substantial Forms there follows a diversity
of accidents properly so called, — that is to say, of accidents which
do not flow from the essence of their Subject. But herein there is
an apparent difficulty. For if these accidents do not follow upon
the essence of their Subject; whence arises any necessity for a
diversity of accidents, because there is a diversity of substantial
Forms ? It is true, then, that there is no connection between the
accident and the substantial Form as determinative of the species; but
there is a close connection between the accident and the substantial
Form as act of this matter and constitutive of this individual
substance. Under this respect, there is a twofold connection be-
tween the two. First, forasmuch as an accidental Form informs
the whole substantial composite whose constitution it presupposes ;
it consequently presupposes the substantial Form and, if natural,
must be compatible, — ^nay, congenial, — with the latter. Secondly,
an accident may be associated with the substantial Form by ex-
ternal agency. Hence it is plain that there are two classes of
these accidents. The first class originates from some cause intrinsic
to the Subject informed; the second class, from some extrinsic
cause. Let us consider the two separately.
a. Some accidents may arise from a peculiar disposition of the
matter in the evolution of the* substantial Form. This in all
probability accounts for the allotropic states detected in inanimate
bodies. But accidents of this nature occur more frequently in
living bodies by reason of their generation. The qualities which
are the instruments (so to speak) of the generating agent contain
potentially, or act by virtue of, the substantial Form of the agent, •
not only as being a Form of such a determinate species, but likewise
as individual act of this determined body with its accidents. Con-
sequently, they are apt to transmit special accidents from the
generating to the generated. Heuce, the principle of heredity (as
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528 Causes of Being.
it has been barbarously denominated) is at once a cause of unity
and of distinction,— of specific identity and of particular variatioiis.
It is in this way that one can account for hereditary diseases^— for
the transmission of natural propensities from parent to ofipring,—
for peculiarities of size^ feature^ colour, quality of hair, etc ina familj,
— for length, shape^ or absence of horns in a breed, — ^and so on.
The connection of such accidents with the substantial Form is more
plain, though indirect.
b. There are likewise accidents which arise from an extrinsic
cause and are, as it were, imposed upon the composite substance.
There is an apt and very interesting illustration of this in inanimate
bodies, given in a quotation made by Professor Mivart from Mr.
Murphy's work on Habit and Intelligence. *Mr. Murphy says
'^ Crystalline formation is also dependent in a very remarkable way
on the medium in which it takes place." '^Beudant has foond
that common salt crystallizing from pure water forms cubes, bat
if the water contains a little boracic acid, the angles of the cubes
are truncated. And the Bev. E. Craig has found that carbonate
of copper, crystallizing from a solution containing sulphuric acid,
forms hexagonal tubular prisms ; but if a little ammonia is added,
the form changes to that of a long rectangular prism, with
secondary planes in the angles. If a little more ammonia is added,
several varieties of rhombic octahedra appear ; if a little nitric acid
is added, the rectangular prism appears again. The changes take
place not by the addition of new crystals, but by changing the
growth of the original ones ^." ' Now, <;rystalIization is evidently
enough a generic property of certain bodies ; and it would almost
seem as though the form of crystallization were in many cases
specifically determined. The writer has been told by a competent
authority, that there are distinct &milies of these forms ; and that
the forms of substances which, like sulphur and carbonate of lime,
crystallize variously, are reducible under one family on a geome-
trical basis. However this may be^ in the instances cited the
medium in which the crystallization took place seems to have
imposed an accidental modification of the crystallic forms; and
a successive alteration in the medium, a parallel alteration in
those forms. Accidents of the same class are, as it were, forced
upon living bodies by climate and geographical distribution.
* Mivart's Genesis of Species, CK 7, p. 1 14.
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Mr. Darwin, in his work on Animals and Plants under DomeHication^
supplies us with some very curious instances of this. * Climate/
he assures us^ ' definitely influences the hairy covering of animals ;
in the West Indies a great change is produced in the fleece of
sheep, in about three generations. Dr. Falconer states that the
Thibet mastiff and goat, when brought down from the Himalaya to
Kashmir, lose their fine wool.' ' Burnes states positively that the
Karakool sheep lose their peculiar black curled fleeces when re-
moved into any other country.' But he adds, fui-ther on, the
following yet more striking instance. ' With respect to the common
oyster,' he writes, *Mr. P. Buckland informs me that he can
generally distinguish the shells from different districts; young
oysters brought from Wales and laid down in bed where ^'fiatives^^
are indigenous^ in the short space of two months begin to assume
the "native" character. M. Costa has recorded a much more re-
markable case of the same nature, namely, that young shells taken
from the shores of England and placed in the Mediterranean, at
once altered their manner of growth and formed prominent di-
verging rays, like those on the shells of the proper Mediterranean
oyster^.' We may presume, therefore, that the shells were not
uninhabited.
Similar accidents are produced in an appreciable manner by food.
The disposition of a dog may be entirely changed by substituting
for its daily diet raw meat in the place of biscuits. Mr. Darwin
again supplies us with valuable instances on this head. 'The
nature of the food,' he writes, ' sometimes either definitely induces
certain peculiarities, or stands in some close relation with them.
Pallas long ago asserted that the fat-tailed sheep of Siberia de-
generated and lost their enormous tails when removed from certain
saline pastures ; and recently Erman states that this occurs with
the Kirgisian sheep when brought to Orenburgh. It is well
known that hemp-seed causes bullfinches and certain other birds
to become black. Mr. Wallace has communicated to me some
much more remarkable facts of the same nature. The natives of
the Amazonian region feed the common green parrot with the fat
of large Siluroid fishes, and the birds thus treated become beauti-
fully variegated with red and yellow feathers.' Later on, he adds^
'Lastly, it is well known that caterpillars fed on different food
» Ch. xxUi. Vol II, pp. 278, 380.
VOL. II. M m
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530 Causes of Being,
sometimes either themselves acquire a differout colour or produce
moths diflFerent in colour ^'
Such accidents are also caused by direct human interference; to
which we may refer many of the phenomena that are related under
ijie head of domestication. Mr. Darwin is again our authority for
the following statement. 'There can be little doubt that our
domesticated animals have been modified^ independently of tbe
increased or lessened use of parts, by the conditions to which they
have been subjected, without the aid of selection. For instance,
Prof. Riitimeyer shows that the bones of all domesticated quad-
rupeds can be distinguished from those of wild animals by the state
of their surface and general appearance ^.'
Finally : Another cause of such accidents as are produced by an
agency extrinsic to the Subject, in the instance of animals, is the
effect of vivid sensile impressions during the time of breeding.
That this cause operates even in human generation, especially when
such impressions are startling and unexpected or abnormal, is a
well known fact ; and it is likely to be much more active in the
case of irrational animals, whose actual present sensations would be
more masterful^ because they have no self-consciousness or other
intellectual activity to prevent them from being for the time
entirely possessed by the former. They exclusively live in the
sensile impressions of the moment. May we not fairly attribute
to this cause the curious instances of imitation which are to be
found in the family of the Fhasmidae, and among the Lepidoptera,
— the leaf-butterfly, for instance ? It is recorded of Jacob, that he
caused a variation in colour among his flock of sheep, by taking
advantage of this cause ^.
It is diflScult to see how a diversity of substantial Forms can
produce a diversity in accidents of this kind, or even postulate such
diversity. There is thus much of connection, however, between
these accidents and the substantial Form as actuating the indi-
vidual body, that the former could not find admittance within the
living body, unless they were at least compatible with the latter.
No operation of secondarj; external causes could impart a digestive
organism to a diamond or transform the body of an elephant into
* Ck. xxiii, Vd. II, pp. 279, aSo.
' Ibid. p. 279.
' Genesis xxx, 31-43.
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The Formal Cause. 531
the segmentary structure of an arthropod. But they may suflSce
to introduce notable variations in a species, more particularly when
transmitted by hereditary descent.
Corollary.
The last three Propositions aflford a practical answer to the pro-
blem suggested in the second Corollary to the hundred and eighty-
ieventh Thesis. In that Corollary it is concluded, that a true
classification of material substances — in particular, of living bodies
— must be based on the nature and diversities of their substantial
Forms. But the difficulty is at the same time proposed, that these
Forms, like the matter, are not subject to the perception of the
senses ; how then can we make use of them for purposes of classi-
fication? Is there any way in which they reveal themselves to
human cognition? The answer is now evident. The substantial
Form of a material substance reveals itself to sensile perception and
becomes conseqii^ntly object of cognition, in four different ways : by
its natural operation ; by its generic and specific properties ; in par-
ticular, by it« bodily composition or organization ; lastly, by its
natural accidents. Let us consider each one of these apart, in
order to see whether we may not be able to get at certain practical
rules to guide us in classification ; premising that the revelations
proceeding from these four sources are unequal in their evidence,
and that in this respect they follow the order just indicated.
i. First in order of certainty comes the natural operation of a
material substance,— ^that native energy by which it pursues in
act and attains its appointed end. In living things, (and to the con-
sideration of these the present Corollary is intentionally restricted),
this natural operation will, of course, differ according to the different
kinds of life, — i. e. of substantial Forms, — which manifest them-
selves in these operations. In plants it is limited to growth, nu-
trition, reproduction ; in animals, besides these just named which
they share with plants, there are to be found sensation, imagination,
instinct, habits, and in certain higher orders of animals, obum-
brations of intellect and will. In man, over and above all these
which he shares in common with plants and animals, there are the
purely spiritual acts of intellect and will, made known to us by
language spoken and written, and in many other ways.
The Angelic Doctor remarks that the first and most rudi-
M m 2
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532 Causes of Being:
mentary sense in animals is that of touch. If this, therefore, is
present, we may be sure that the living thing is an animal, not
a plant ; even should the other senses be wanting.
ii. Next to the natural operations, the generic and specific
properties most clearly reveal the nature of the substantial Form ;
because, though no part of the essence, they flow from it and
invariably accompany it. Thus, for instance, that a plant is dioe-
cious, monoecious, or hermaphrodite, — that it is terrestrial, aquatic,
marine, — that it is exogenous, or endogenous, — ^that it is evergreen
or deciduous, — all these properties seem to be of higher import-
ance, and to reveal more about the nature and substantial Form of
a plant, than the mere number of its stamina, or the composition of
its corolla. So, again, man's capacity for laughter is a more certain
indication of his specific nature than his possession of a vertebral
column or the fact that he has two hands.
iii. Inferior to the two former, but still of considerable service in
helping to the discovery of the specific nature of a plant or animal,
are the material structure and organism, which are foremost among
the natural accidents. These are chiefly usefiil in enabling us to
determine more easily the natural operation and properties of the
entity. Thus, for instance, the baleen-plates, the fins, the spiracles,
of the whale seem to reveal more of the specific nature of the
animal, of its essentially oceanic life, than its possession of mam*
mary glands or of some hairs upon its skin; consequently, the
former characteristics of the cetacea are naturally of much higher
value in a really scientific classification than the latter. On the
oijier hand, a division which is based on the form and proximity of
the nostrils and on dental formulae, — such as that of the quadni-
mana into strepsirhina (or twisted nostrils), platyrhina (or wide-set
nostrils), and catarhina (or oblique and near-set nostrils), is trivial
and unscientific. For the above reasons, organization is of much
higher value than mere structure ; for the former is more intimately
connected with natural operation. This observation particularly
applies to the organs of sense. Professor Haeckel, in calling atten-
tion to the two primary germ-layers, constituted subsequently to
the egg-cleavage, tells us, it may be remembered, that the outer
layer (or ectoderm) ' gives rise to the animal organs of sensation
and movement, the skin, the nerves, and the muscles ;' while from
the inner layer (or endoderm) 'the vegetative organs of nourishment
and reproduction, the intestine and blood-vessel system in parti-
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The Formal Cause. 533
cular, arise*/ Yet, strange to say, it is prominently from these
latter, and from the inferior parts of these latter, that modern
classification has borrowed its principles of differentiation ; and not
from the development of the exoderm which is the specific source of
animal organism. Let it be permitted to illustrate the remark here
made by an example. Those who have studied modem books on
comparative anatomy as well as on the theory of evolution must
have had their attention repeatedly called to a fish that has lately
gained for itself a great, though perhaps unmerited, reputation.
This fish is the ampiioxus, or lancelet, (so called from its lanceolate
shape), — a species of lamprey that lives buried in sandbanks. This
animal is skull-less, — has no formed brain, — no organ of hearing,
only rudimentary eyes, (if they can be called such), a very doubtful
organ .of smell, — has no distinct heart or developed system of circu-
lation,— no lymphatic system, — no skeleton, — imperfect organs of
reproduction; yet, according to the classification now in vogue,
this, one of the lowest forms of integral animal life, finds a place,-^
above ants, termites, bees, trap-door spiders, — ^in the highest of the
constituted Sub-kingdoms, because it possesses a notochord, the
supposed rudiment of a vertebral column. Professor Haeckel jus-
tifies this strange appointing in words strikingly illustrative of the
matter in hand. He tells us, that in ' the History of Evolution '
and in comparative anatomy, 'the head with the skull and the
brain are non-essential, as are also the extremities, or limbs. It is
true that these parts of the body possess a very high — even the
very highest physiological importance ; but for a morphological con-
ception of the Vertebrate, they are non-essential, because they
appear only in the higher Yertebrata, and are wanting in the
lower,' — that is, so far as skull and brain ^re concerned, in the
Lancelet alone^ and in no other. ' The lowest Vertebrates possess
neither a clearly marked head with a brain and skull, nor extre-
mities, nor limbs. . . . This single lowest. Vertebrate, whick
deserves the closest consideration^ and, next to Man^ must undoubtedly
be called the most interesting of all VertebrateSy is the well-known
Lancelet, or Amphioxus^.' ^
Now, any classification which is exclusively derived from matter
must be necessarily deficient and exposed to error for three principal
^ EvotiUum of Man, Ch. viii, Vcl. I, p. 196. The italics in this and the followiDg
quotation have been introdttoed. They are not in the original.
» Ibid. Ch, ix, Vol. I, p. 353.
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534 Causes of Being.
reasons. First of all, some substantial Forms rise above the matter
or bodily structure in their essence ; others after a manner, as has
been pointed out in the last paragraph of the hundred and nineiieth
Proposition. In such cases the structure, — and even organization,
—of the body would give but a very imperfect and partial know-
ledge 6f the specific nature. Then, again, there may be modifica-
tions of bodily structure and organism, which are either individual,
as in the lancelet, or particular^ — ^that is to say, common to a group
under the same species, such as the abdominal pouch of the marsa-
pials. These variations may be considerable, and the study of them
always interesting ; but they do not form any part of the specific
nature. Thirdly, similar variations may be purely accidental, and
arising from extrinsic causes ; but these have no direct connection
with the specific nature. Yet Dr. Nicholson tells us, that ' Philo-
sophical classification is a formal expression of the facts and laws of
Morphology and Physiology,' — terms not happily chosen, but which
the author explains to mean, that ' It depends upon a due apprecia-
tion of what constitute the true points of difierence and likeness
amongst animals, and we have already said that these are morpho-
logical type and specialisation of function ^,' — the structure and
organism of bodies, in plain language. The pages that immediately
follow are a sorrowful comment on these philosophical claims.
It is plainly deducible from the above animadversions, that in
animals the organism is much more closely connected with, and
indicative of, the Form and specific nature than is the structure.
Of organisms the most important are the organs of sense and all
else that pertains to the nervous system.
iv. From what has been already said it is sufficiently plain, that
accidents may be useful in enabling us to signalize variations and
to distinguish with greater accuracy between these and true species,
but have no place in classification of species. Of such are colour,
more or less covering of hair, possession and size and shape of horns,
make of the nose, number and position of fins, etc.
PR^OPOSITION CXCII.
Within the periphery of the entire oosmio order there are
four primary gradations of substantial bodily FonnB. In the
lowest grade lure such as constitute Inanimate, in the second
' Manual of Zoology, General Inlrodudiont n. 9, p. x8. See pp. 19-33.
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The Formal Cause. 535
Buoh as constitute vegetable^ in the third such as oonstitate
animal, substances. The fourth and highest grade embraces the
created soul of man.
Since this Proposition has been allowed a place in the present
series as introductory to those which are about to follow, yet mainly
in order that the doctrine of the Angelic Doctor touching the sub-
ject-matter of this Article may be fully exposed ; a statement of
St. Thomas shall supply the place of a declaration. The following
are his words: 'Although the being of Form and matter is one/
since they co-exist in the composite ; ^ nevertheless, it is not neces-
sary that the matter should be on a par with the Form in being.
On the contrary, by how much the Form is nobler, by so much
does it always surpass matter in its being. This is plain to any
one that examines into the operations of Forms, from the considera-
tion of which we get to know the nature of the Forms ; since
everything operates according to its being. Hence, a Form whose
operation exceeds all material conditions, itself too, in proportion to
the dignity of its being, superexceeds matter. For we find certain
lowest Forms which are capable of no operation, save that to which
those qualities attain which are dispositions of matter ; such as hot,
cold, wet, dry, rarified^ dense, heavy, light, and the like. Such are
the Forms of the elements.' It should be noted that the particular
qualities here enumerated have a special connection with the ele-
ments supposed to be such according to the physics of the time ;
but this does not in any wise affect the truth of the distinction.
With another list of qualities which, in accordance with its sup-
posed elements, modem chemistry could supply, this observation of
the Angelic Doctor would hold equally good. St. Thomas con-
tinues: 'Hence, these are Forms altogether material, and totally
immersed in matter. Above these we find the Forms of mixed '
(chemically combined) ' bodies, which, albeit they do not extend to
any operations that cannot be effected by virtue of the aforesaid
qualities, nevertheless sometimes operate these effects by a higher
bodily virtue. . • . Above these, again, we discover some Forms
whose operations are extended to certain effects that exceed the
virtue of the aforesaid qualities; though the aforesaid organic
qualities assist in the operations of these Forms. Such are the
souls of plants, which are assimilated not only to the powers of the
heavenly bodies by their surpassing the active and passive qualities '
of the elements, ' but are assimilated even to those who impart to
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536 Causes of Being,
the heavenly bodies their respective motions, in so far as they are
prineipiants of motion to living entities whose motion is from
themselves. Above these Forms we find other Forms similar to
higher substances not only in power of motion, but also after a
certain sort of a way in power of cognition ; and thus they are
competent for operations, in regard of which the aforesaid organic
qualities are not even serviceable, although such operations are not
accomplished save through the medium of a bodily organ. Such
are the souls of brute animals. For sensation and imagination are
not accomplished by getting hot and cold, although those may be
necessary to the due disposition of the organ. Again : Above all
these Forms we find a Form similar to the superior Substances,
even as regards the kind of cognition which is intelligence, and so
is competent for an operation that is accomplished altogether with-
out a bodily organ. This is the intellectual soul' of man; 'for
intellectual cognition is not elicited by a bodily organ. Hence, it
is of necessity that this principiant of human thought, which is the
intellectual soul and transcends the condition of bodily matter,
should not be entirely encompassed by matter or immersed in it, as
other material Forms are. Its intellectual operation evinces this,
since with it bodily matter has nothing in common. Forasmuch,
however, as this same intelligence of the human soul stands in need
of other faculties which operate by means of certain bodily organs,
— ^that is to say, imagination and the senses ; this fact shows that
it is naturally united to the body in order to complete the specific
nature of man \'
^ ' Quamvia autem sit unum ease formae et materiae, non tamen oportet quod ma-
teria semper adaequet esse fo mae ; immo quanto foima est nobilior, tanto in >ao esK
oemper exoedit materiam. Quod patet iiL«picienti operationes formarum, ex qcanim
oonsideratione earum naturas cognoscimus. Unumquodque enim operatur secnndom
quod est. Unde forma, cujus operatio ezcedit conditionem materiae, et ipsa, tecun-
dum dignitatem sui ease, superezcedit materiam. Invenimus enim aliquas infinoas
fonnafl, quae in nullam operationem possunt nisi ad quam se extendnnt quaiitates quae
sunt dispositiones materiae, ut calidum, frigidum, humidum, siccum, rnrum, densum,
grave, et leve, et his similia, sicut formae elementorum. Unde istae sunt formae
omnino materiales et totaliter immersae materiae. Super has inveniuntur fonnae
mixtorum corporum, quae, licet non se extendant ad aliqua operata quae non ponant
compleri per quaiitates praediotas, interdum tamen operantur illos effectus altiori rii^
tute corporali. . . . Super has iterum inveniuntur aliquae formae quarum operatioDes
extenduntur ad aliqua operata quae excedunt virtutem qualitatum praedictarum, quam-
vis quaiitates praedictae organicae ad harum operationes deserviant; sicut sunt animae'
plantarum quae etiam assimilantur non solum virtutibus corporum caelestium io cxoe-
dendo quaiitates activas et paEsivas, sed etiam ipsia jnotoribus corporum caeleitinm.
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The Formal Cause, 537
It will be necessary to add a few short Dotes explanatory of the
above quotation.
i. St. Thomas held the opinion, which apparently was commonly
received among the medieval philosophers, that mixed or compound
bodies occasionally received from the influences of the heavenly
bodies certain virtues which accompany their specific nature ; and
he instances the attractive power of the lode-stone. Intimately
connected with this theory was another, commonly maintained in
the School, touching the essential constitution of the heavenly
bodies, to the effect that the matter and substantial Forms and
their mutual relation are of a distinct and nobler order than
their sublunary counterparts, which secure to these bodies a natural
indestructibility^
ii. It was generally held in those times, that Angels preside
over the motions of the heavenly bodies. Such interference
would not at all affect the constant order (which is the same as
physical law) established in regard of such motions from the
beginning.
iii. St. Thomas maintains, (as has been already hinted, and will
come more directly under our notice presently), that some animals
have an obumbration, — or an anticipation after a manner, — of
thought and will.
iv. According to St. Thomas sensation and imagination transcend
the capacity of mere matter and material organism in their virtue,
though they depend on a bodily organ for their exercise. In fact,
who is there but sees, that between the vibrations of the optic nerve
ioqtuintum sunt principia motuB rebas viyentibus, quae movent seipsa. Super has
formaa inveniuntur aliae formae similes supeiioribus substantiis, non solum in movendo.
Bed etiam aliqualiter in cognoscendo ; et sio sunt potentes in operationes ad quas neo
organicae qualitates praedictae deserviunt, cum operationes hujusmodi non complean-
tuT nisi mediante organo corporali, sicut sunt animae brutorum animalium. Sentire
enim et imaginari non complentur calefaciendo et infrigidando, licet haec sint necessa*
ria ad debitam organi dispositionem. Super omnes autem has formas invenitur fonna
similis superioribus substantiis, etiam quantum ad genus oognitionis, quod est intelli-
gere ; et sic est potens in operationem quae completur absque organo corporali omnino.
£t baeo est anima intellectiva ; nam intelligere non fit per organum corporale. Undd
oportet quod id principium quo homo intelligit, quod est anima inteUectiva et ezcedit
materiae conditionem corporalis, non sit totaliter comprehensum a materia aut ei im-
mersum, sicut aliae formae materiales ; quod ejus operatic intellectualis oetendit, in
qua non communicat materia corporalis. Quia tamen ipsum intelligere animae hu-
manae indiget potentiis quae per quaedam oigana corporalia operautur, scilicet imsgi-
natione et sensu, ex hoc ipso declaratur quod naturaliter unitur corpoii ad oomplendam
specieln humanam/ G^. L. Ily c** 68.
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538 Causes of Being,
and the psychical perception of sights — multiplex yet simple, imma-
terial yet materially representative, — there is a hiatus which no
physical discoveries ever have filled up, ever can fill up ?
y. According to the Scholastic philosophy human thought, like
human will, is of itself absolutely independent of any bodily organ.
But, as all human thought is originally derived from sensile per-
ceptions, and as in the actual order man cannot elicit a thought
which is not necessarily accompanied by a phantasm, (either a
present sensile perception or the resuscitation of an impression,—
a sensile species, — produced in the lower part of the soul by former
sensations) ; it in this w^y indirectly postulates the co-operation of
bodily organs. Hence, the fatigue of thought.
Again in another part of the same work St. Thomas treats of .
the same division from a somewhat difierent point of view ; siDce
he considers the respective operations of these four distinct grades
of material being in relation to their immediate and formal terms.
The passage, which is as follows, is pregnant with useful and
interesting intimations for the benefit of the student.
' According to the diversities of natures we discover a different
mode of emanation in entities ; and by how much a given nature
is of a higher order, by so much is that which emanates from it
more internal. For among all entities inanimate bodies hold the
lowest place ; and in their case emanations can occur in no other
way than by the action of one of them upon some other. For in
this way fire is generated from fire, in that an external body is
altered by the fire, and is led on to the quality and nature of fire.
After inanimate bodies, however, plants hold the next place, in
which the emanation begins to proceed from the interior; fora^
much as the internal sap of a plant is converted into seed, and
that seed, committed to the ground, grows into a plant. Already,
then, we here find the first grade of life ; for living things are
such as move themselves to operating, while those which can only
move entities external to themselves are wholly destitute of life.
Now, the indication of life in plants consists in this, that what
is within them evolves a certain Form. The life of plants, how-
ever, is imperfect ; because, although in their case the emanation
proceeds from within, nevertheless that which emanates, issuing
forth little by little from the interior parts, finally appears alto-
gether outside. For the sap of a tree, at first issuing from the
tree, becomes a flower and at length a fruit distinct from the bark
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The Formal Cause. 539
of the tree^ though conjoined with it ; bat when the frait is ripe,
it is wholly separated from the tree and, falling on the earth,
produces another plant by its seminal virtue. Moreover, if one
attentively considers, the first beginning of this emanation is
assumed from outside ; for the sap intrinsic to the tree is drawn by
the roots of the tree from the earth, whence the plant receives
nourishment. Again: Above the life of plants we discover a
higher grade of life which belongs to the sensitive soul ; whose
proper emanation, though commencing from without, is never-
theless terminated within; and by how much the emanation has
progressed^ by so much the more it eventually arrives at that
which is internal. For the object of sensile perception impresses
its form on the external senses, whence it goes on to the imagina-
tion, and beyond this to the treasury of the memory. Never-
theless, in every stage of this emanation, the principiant and the
term belong to different entities ; for no sensitive faculty reflects
upon itself. This grade of life is by so much of a higher order
than the life of plants, by how much the operation of the former is
more fully contained within. It is not, however, an altogether
perfect life ; since the emanation invariably proceeds from one to
another. Accordingly, there is the highest and perfect grade of
life ; and this belongs to the intellect. For the intellect reflects
on itself and can know itself^.'
^ ' Secundum diyersitatem naturanim di versus emAiiAtionis modus invenitur in re-
bus ; et quanto aliqua natura est altior, tanto id quod ex ea emanat magis est inti-
mum. * In rebus enim omnibus inanimata corpora infimum locum tenent, in quibus
emanationes aliter ease non possunt nisi per actionem unius eorum in aliquod alterum;
sic enim ex igne generatur ignis, dum ab igne corpus extraneum alteratur, et ad qua-
litatem et spedem ignis perducitur. Post inanimata vero corpora, proximum locum
tenent plantae, in quibus jam emanatio ex interiori procedit, inquantum scilicet humor
plantae int^neus in semen oonvertitur, et illud semen, terrae mandatum, crescit in
plantam. Jam ergo hie primus gradus vitae invenitur; nam viventia sunt quae seipsa
movent ad agendum, ilia vero quae non nisi exteriora movere posstrnt, omnino sunt
vita carentia. In plantis vero hoc indicium vitae est, quod id quod in ipsis est movet
aliquaA formam. Est tamen vita plantarum imperfecta ; quia emanatio in eia, licet
ab interiori procedat, tamen paulatim ab interioribuH exiens, quod emanat finaliter
omnino extrinsecum invenitur. Humor enim arboris, primo ab arbore egrediens, fit
flos, et tandem fructus ab arboris cortice discretus, sed ei colligatus ; perfecto autem
fructu, omnino ab arbore separatur, et in terram cadens, sementina virtute producit
aliam plantam. Si quis etiam diligenter consideret, primum hujus emanationis prin-
cipium ab exteriori sumitur; nam humor intrinsecus arboris per radices a terra sumi-
tur, de qua planta suscipit' nutrimentum. Ultra plantarum vero vitam altior gradus
vitae invenitur, quae est secundum animam sensitivam, cujus emanatio propria, etsi
ab exteriori inoipiat, in interiori tamen terminatur ; et quanto emanatio magis inces-
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540 Causes of Being,
By emanation the Angelic Doctor evidently means the specific
natural operation as connotative of its immediate and formal tenn.
According to the teaching of St. Thom'as, then, there are four
grades of emanation in material Forms : —
i. Wherein the emanation is wholly external, beginning and termi-
nating with some external object. Such is that of inanimate bodUs.
ii. Wherein the emanation hegine/rom within^ but terminates
externally. This indicates spontaneous motion in which life essen-
tially consists. Such is that oi plants.
iii. Wherein the principiant of the. emanation is outside, bat its
term inside. Such is that of irrational animals. Perhaps this needs
a word of explanation. In an act of sensation, that which is pro-
vocative of the soul's action is some definite object of the senses,
external to the soul; the sensile representation itself, however,
which is the term of the soul^s action, is internal.
iv. When the principiant as well as term of the emanation are
alike internal. Such is that of man. This is only possible by the
reflex action of the intellect.
Lastly: St. Thomas considers these same divisions in their
relation to the Exemplar and Final Cause. ' Every Form,' he
writes, ' is a sort of likeness of the First Cause, Who is pure Act.
Wherefore, by how much a Form approaches nearer to His like-
ness, it participates in more of His Perfections. Now, among
bodily Forms the rational soul approaches more nearly to the
likeness of God, and therefore it participates in the Excellences of
God, — in that, for instance, it thinks, and can cause motion, and
subsists in its own right. The animal soul participates in less
measure ; the vegetative soul, in still less ; and so on \*
Berit, tanto magis ad intiina deyenitur. Sensibile enim exterius fbnnam suam exteri-
oribuB sensibuB ingerit, a quibus procedit in imaginationein et ulteriuB in memoriae
ihesaumm. In quolibet tamen hajua emanationis processu, prindpium et tenninos
pertinet ad diversa ; non enim aliqua potentia sensitiva in eeipsam rieflectitur. Est
OEgo hie gradus vitae tanto altior quam vita plantarum, quanto operatio hnjus Titae
magis in intimis continetur. Non tamen est omnino vita perfecta, cum emaoatio tem-
per fiat ex uno in alterum. Est igitur sapremiu et peifectuB gradus vitae, qni est
secundum intellectum. Nam intellectus in seipsum reflectitur, et seipeum intelUgere
potest.' C%r. X. IF, c<» II.
^ ' Omnia forma est aliqua similitudo primi principii, qui est actus purus. Unde
quanto forma magis aocedit ad similitudinem ipsius, plures participat de perfectioDibas
ejus. Inter foimas autem corporum magis appropinquat ad similitudinem Dei anima
rationalis; et ideo participat de nobilitatibus Dei, scilicet quod intelligit, et qnod
potest movere, et quod habet esse per se ; et anima sensibilis minus, et yegetabilis
adhuc minus ; et sic deinceps.* i d. yiii, Q. 5, a. 3, 5™.
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PROPOSITION CXCIII.
Within each of the first three afbresaid principal gradations of
substantial bodily Eorms, there are specific diversities dis-
coverable in ascending degrees.
This Proposition has been allowed a place in the present Article
for the same reasons as those that caused the admission of the
preceding Proposition. Its declaration by the Angelic Doctor
will be found under the second paragraph of the passage quoted
in the Aundred and eighty-nxth Thesis. The cadence of universal
experience in its favour is so complete as to obviate all need of
proof. Every text-book on chemistry, botany, zoology, is con-
structed on the presumption of its truth. Even the uneducated
have a settled conviction that reptiles, insects, fish, birds, beasts,
are essentially different from each other ; and that there is a similar
difference between trees, grass, plants^ fems^ mosses, sea-weed.
Nor would they be less prone to acknowledge that water, fire, gas,
iron, sulphur, charcoal, gold, sand, are thoroughly distinct the one
from the other.
Note. It is equally undoubted that there are sensible variations
in many, — ^if not all,— of these specific divisions. Most people are
aware of the difference among dogs of a setter, a pointer, a grey^
hound, spaniel, mastiff, hdl-dog, terrier, as also of variations in some
of these kinds^ — ^for instance, the Italian greyhound, the Blenheim
spaniel, the Gordon terrier. So likewise, among eats most of us
have heard of, — if not seen, — the tortoise-shelly Angora or Persian,
the Manx. Similarly, farmers are practically acquainted with
differences in wheat and barley as well as in breeds of cattle and in
sheep.
PROPOSITION CXCIV.
From the truths enunciated in the preceding Propositions it is
reasonable to conclude, as conducing to the completeness of
oosmio unity, that there will be substantial Forms which may
serve to imite the highest Forms of one division with the
lowest Forms of the division immediately above it, by em-
bracing certain characteristios of both.
Declaeation of the Proposition.
From the Propositions which have gone before we gather, that
the material universe was created for the purpose of manifesting
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542 Causes of Being.
the Divine Perfection ; and that, as such manifestation could not
be completed, (even in the limited sense in which the finite can
be said to be a completed manifestation of the Infinite), in any
one solitary created Form, it was necessary that there should be
a diversity of substantial Forms and, consequently, of specific
natures. But, if such multiplied Forms and essences are to prove
a real manifestation of the Divine Perfection, there is another
condition imposed, so to say, by the Exemplar. The likeness most
do its best to represent the Unity of the Prototype. Yet, an
entitatively singular unity, from the nature of the case, is im-
possible. It is true, indeed^ that there is an entitative unity of
Subject ; since all substantial bodily Forms are acts of the same
primordial matter. But such unity partakes of the all bat un-
intelligibility of its basis, and virtually disappears in its apportion-
ment and determination under substantial and accidental Forms.
It remains, therefore, that there must necessarily be a cosmic
unity of ojder. Now, as a fact, we find the material universe to
be divided into four primary gradations of being, beginning with
inanimate and unorganized bodies, ascending thence 'to vegetative
life, thence to animal or sensitive life^ and thence to the highest
grade, man. Lastly, it has appeared that under each of the first
three gradations there are specific diflTerences and, under these
latter, variations. These specific diflTerences continue in an ascend-
ing scale from the lowest to the highest Forms within each
kingdom or primary gradation. To this point we have already
reached by previous examination ; and the result is a chain whose
links, beginning with the elements, gradually proceed upwards,
till the highest link carries us beyond matter into another order,
with which for the present we have nothing to do.
So far, however, there are some links missing ; for there seems
to be an absolute break between each of the four primary grvla-
tions. The separation between inanimate bodies and vegetative life,
that between vegetative and sensitive life, and finally the separa-
tion between 'irrational animals and man, have not as yet been in
such wise. diminished that we may be able philosophically to com-
bine them all in a developed unity of order. We seem to be in
presence of a quatemity that is incapable of ulterior reduction, —
four independent kingdoms utterly disconnected with each other.
It would seem necessary^ therefore, to the perfectness of cosmic
unity, more particularly as representative of the Divine Unity, that
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The Formal Cause. ^ 543
there should be certain (shall we call them so?) mlerstitial sub-
stantial Forms, embracing, as it were, the lower and the higher
gradation by surpassing the highest development of the former,
while exhibiting to some extent the nature of the latter. To this
end it matters little whether the Form properly belongs to the
higher or lower gradation, provided that it embraces certain charac-
teristics of both. Experience and observation show that this re-
quirement is fulfilled. The missing links do really appear.
But, before illustrating this position from the evidence of phy-
sical facts, let an observation or two be made by way of intro-
daction. First of all, when it is asserted that these intervening
Forms unite the highest Forms of the inferior with the lowest
Forms of the immediately superior gradation, this must not be
interpreted to mean that they are themselves reckoned among the
lowest Forms of the superior order while exhibiting certain cha-
racteristics of the highest Forms in the lower order, or vice versa;
more particularly if we adopt the modern systems of classification.
All that is urged is this; that there are certain Forms which
exceed in certain of their operations or properties the highest mani-
festations of the kingdom under which they are ranged, or that they
exhibit certain operations or properties characteristic of a kingdom
inferior to the one under which themselves are ranged. Hence, —
and this is the second observation, — such a junction of the two
kingdoms may be exhibited by the Form in one of two ways.
Since the Form cannot actually belong to the two kingdoms of
being at once, (for, could this be verified, the substantial composite
would subsist in two specific natures simultaneously, which is meta-
physically impossible) ; it must either belong to the inferior king-
dom with characteristic anticipations of the superior, or it must
belong to the superior kingdom, though exhibiting certain retro-
grade characteristics of the inferior. The latter, — and this is the
third observation, — is the more common and the more satisfactory,
because its evidence in support of the present Thesis is clearer.
It assists us in filling up the first and second gaps ; but the former
is alone possible in relation to the third.
With these preliminary remarks, let us examine separately these
three gaps, for the purpose of testing the truth of the doctrine
propounded by the Angelic Doctor, and of determining whether
these missing links are provided for us by physical observa-
tion. Wherefore, i. Is there any Form that seems to connect the
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544 Causes of Being.
vegetable kingdom with inanimate bodies 7 By way of answer to
the question, let us examine into the nature of the seed-Form. « This
Form undoubtedly belongs to the vegetable kingdom ; a sign of
which is, that it is conjoined with a partial and rudimentary, (it
is true), yet real, organization of the matter, which is a property
of life. Within the seed is enclosed the embryo of the future
plant with its germinal radicle and stem-bud, or plumule. KouDd
the afore-named essential constituents of the embryo, entirely
closing them in, are two lobes mt cotyledons, (the illustration is
taken^ for the sake of clearness, from the more numerous class of
dicotyledonous plants), which^ though claiming to be a part of the
embiyo, in the majority of cases seem to be purely provisional and,
within the embryo-sac, supply the embryo with its necessary food,
as soon as the latter commences its vegetable life by the evolution
of its plant-Form. .When, then, it is said that the seed-Form
undoubtedly belongs to the vegetable kingdom, the assertion must
be understood of such Form as provisional and transitory in its
own nature, and as only polenimlly a living Form. It belongs to
the vegetable kingdom, because its properties, — or essential quali-
tative accidents, — virtually contain the true vegetable Form of the
parent plant which was the proximate efficient cause of both.
Now, there are certain things connected with this embryo within
the seed, which are deserving of particular notice. First of all, in
its isolated state, — separated from the parent plant, separated from
certain causal prerequisites such as soil, water, etc., — it shows no
signs whatsoever of growth ; so that it can remain, as it appears,
for more than two thousand years in its primeval condition, though
all along capable of development and, after that lapse of time,
actually developing its plant-Form. This has been verified, (so at
least it is reported), in the instance of corn that had been buried
with certain mummies. . Yet growth is the natural and, therefore,
necessary operation of plants.
Again: In phanerogams generally, within the seed-coats, — or
integuments of the embryo-sac, — besides the embryonic vesicle
with its two cotyledons, (the examination, for the sake of pre-
cision, is still limited to dicotyledonous plants), there is stored up
a treasury of food, which in modern books is called endosperm, —
otherwise named albumen, from its principal constituent. This,
together with material enclosed within the cotelydons, is the source
of nourishment to the young embryo, previous to its breaking
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The Formal Cause. 545
through the boundaries of its temporaly prison. All seeds of
phanerogams contain this endosperm ; * the only reason why the
ripe seeds of many Dicotyledons do not contain any endosperm is
because it has already been absorbed and supplanted by the rapidly
growing embryo before the seeds become ripe, while in others this
absorption happens only on germination after the ripening of the
seeds, i.e. on the unfolding of the embryo ^' Now, it is of some
importance to inquire into the nature of this endosperm, which is
brought into such intimate local as well as entitative relation with
the embryo while yet confined within the testa^ or outer integument
of the seed. Roughly speaking, it may be said to consist of two
elements ; viz. nitrogenous substances in the form of albuminoids
on the one hand, and certain carbo-hydrates and oils on the other.
The albuminoids go to constitute the protoplasm^ so called, of the
plant ; the carbo-hydrates and oils, to form the cell-walls, or what
has been called cellulose. What, then, after all is this famous
protoplasm ? It is * a compound,' says Professor Thom€, * of dif-
ferent organic substances, among which albuminous (nitrogenous)
are never absent, and usually constitute the bulk of it ^.' These
constitutive substances are apparently called organic ^, because they
are not found to enter into the composition of other than organic
substances. But the protoplasm is itself organic, according to the
authority just quoted ; and organic in another sense, — that is to
say, it has in itself an organic structure. It will be well to quote
his own words, since it is intended to reduce them afterwards
into logical form. Thus, then, he writes : * It (protoplasm) cannot
therefore be destitute of structure, but must be already organized ;
and it must be simply the imperfection of our microscopes which
prevents us from recognizing that organization which is a ne-
cessary accompaniment of all vital phenomena. One of the most
important of these phenomena is its motility (sic), or power of move-
ment*'. One cannot help remarking, that the above piece of
* JiiZttu SaM Text-Book of Botany, Book II, Group V, note 2 ; traiulalum hy
JJermett and Dyer, p. 421.
* Text-Book of structural and physiohgtcal Botany, Introduction ; translation by
A. W. Bennett, p. 9 : — A very valuable little Work on the subject of which it pro-
fessedly treats.
' The word, organic, seems to be used by physicists in a variety of senses, which is
misleading and creates no little confusion. Sometimes it means that which has an
organism, — ^is itself organized ; sometimes, that which is derived from an oiganized
substance ; sometimes, again, that which goes to the constitution of organisms.
* Ibidem, pp. 9, 10.
VOL. II. N n
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546 Causes of Being.
reasoning is purely deductive^ and a deduction from somewhat
slipshod premisses. Let us reduce the argument to the shape of
a sorites. Protoplasm moves. Motion is a phenomenon of life;
(not all motion though, as is plain). Life postulates organism.
Therefore, protoplasm must have an organism. But no microscopic
observations have been able to discover any such organism. So
much the worse for the microscopes ; if they were more perfect,
they assuredly would. Surely, this style of reasoning has nothing
in common with that physical induction which is the crowning
glory (so we are told) of our modern experimentalists. To return,
however, to the examination of the contents of our seed : — ^These
albuminoids are composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitro-
gen, in different proportions; and it is a point which merits
especial notice, that the albumen so called of plants and that of
animals is constituted of the same elements. We may iairly
consider, then, the said protoplasm to be unorganized, till such
time as its organism has been established by observation and
experiment. On the other hand, as to the carbo-hydrates, (which
are constituted by combinations of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen),
and the oils, the question of organism is not in the way of being
even mooted, since they have no share in the mobility of the
protoplasm.
That which has been here advanced touching the endosperm;
equally applies to the reserve material contained in the cotyledons.
What are the practical issues of these physical facts? Thus
much. In a dicotyledonous seed, in separation from its parent
plant, you have a plant onlif in potentiality ; but, till its germi*
nation commences, an inanimate substance in act. Its contents
consist in part of matter under a rudimentary organization, — as in
the axis and cotyledons ; — in part, of unorganized matter, ready,
however, to become organized by absorption within the embryo,
whensoever the plant-Form with its vegetative life should be
evolved. Meanwhile, these two elements subsist in conjunction
under the seed-Form. Here, then, we have the closest link that
could well be conceived between inanimate bodies and plants. It
may be objected, with some show of reason, that the seed-Form is
merely preparatory and transitional ; and, as a consequence, can
hardly be said to supply the missing link. But, in answer to this
objection, there are three things to be said. First of all, tran-
sitional Forms, wherever they are discoverable, are the very links
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The Formal Cause. 547
that we are in search of ; nor does their being preparatory and only
for a time rob them of their value in this respect. Secondly, in
the leap more particularly from inert material substances to living
organisms^ a transitional Form, from the nature of the case, could
be the only one capable of forming a link between the two.
Lastly, though the seed-Form is essentially provisional in its
character; yet practically it remains such as it is till the seed is
acted upon by some agent and begins to germinate, so that, as we
all know^ the latter is a staple article of food.
ii. The connecting link between the vegetable and sensitive
kingdoms is to be found, partly in some anticipatory Forms of
plants ; in greater part, however, from the Forms of certain animals
that exhibit characteristics of vegetative life. Among the former
may be mentioned the sensitive plant which seems to have some-
thing analogical to the sense of touch ; as likewise certain so-called
carnivorous plants, — Yeiim^ fl^f-trap^ for instance, — which seize
insects that come within their reach, keep them in confinement^
and by varying processes feed upon them. But by far the more
important Forms that constitute the desired link are to be found
among animals which either exhibit characteristics of plants or
])rivatively approach to the imperfection of the same by the rudi-
mentary nature of their sensitive life. Among these the first
characteristic that shall be signalized, because the Angelic Doctor
adduces it in connection with this subject^ is an absence of loco-
motion. This we find in the infusorian vorticella and epistilis, among
the protozoa^ — the corynida^ and others, under the sub-kingdom of
the coelenterateSy — ^the crinoeidea and some of the rolifera under the
sub-kingdom of the annuloidSy — the tubicola^ or cephalobranchiata^
among the annelids, in the sub-kingdom of the annulom^ — and
families of various classes under the sub-kingdom of the molluscs.
A second noteworthy characteristic is propagation, or reproduction,
by budding and fission, without the immediate conjunction of the
germ and sperm cells. This is very common in all but the higher
orders of animals. In the sub-kingdom of the protozoa it may be
said to be the rule rather than the exception. In the sub-kingdom
of the coelenterales reproductive organs exists but reproduction is
often effected by budding and fission, (that is to say^ splitting off
from the parent). In the sub-kingdom of the molluscSy many of
the. lower Forms (molluscoids) are capable of forming colonies by
continuous budding. A third characteristic of vegetative life is
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548 Causes of Being,
the abeence of a nervous system and of organs of sense, which are
properties of the sensitive life. One sense every animal must have,
if an animal it is to be called, — viz. the sense of touch. Bat this
sense does not seem to require any very special organism^ which.—
as in the instance of the amoebea^ — ^is improvised for the oocasioiL
This exception made, let us proceed to examine how far certain
animals approximate to vegetable-Forms by the absence of the
above-named characteristics of the sensitive life. Now, in the firist
two sub-kingdoms, — those of the protozoa and of the coelenterates^-—
it may be said roughly, that there is no nervous system and
certainly none of the other four organs of sense; for, where a
definite mouth exists, it would appear to be a mere aperture for
the admission of food. Under the sub-kingdom of the auHidoidi,
more particularly in the class of eciinoderms, we come across a
rudimentary nervous system and rudimentary eyes, (ocelli). In the
sub-kingdom of the annulosa^ the anarthropocU have a more com-
plex nervous system ; but the rudimentary eyes continue to be the
only developed organs of sense. The arthropods have a yet more
complex nervous system ; yet, in the class of the crustaceans the eyes
are sometimes wanting ^. Here, however, in the highest order of
decapods we come across a rudimentary organ (and, consequently,
sense of hearing) in the shape of auditory sacs. It is not certain
that they have an organ of smell, though Professor Huxley in his
singularly interesting Work on tke Crayfish observes, that ' There
is a good deal of analogical ground for the supposition that some
peculiar structures, which are evidently of a sensory nature, developed
on the under side of the outer branch of the antennule, play the part
of an olfactory apparatus*.' Similarly, as to the organs of taste
^ ' Indeed, the only segment* in the crustaceanB *that may be said to be penisteD^
18 that which supports the mandibles, for the eyes may be wanting, and the anienoie,
though less liable to changes than the remaining appendages, are nevertheless subject
to very extraordinary modificationa, and have to perform functions equaUy yariooi.
Being essentially and typically organs of touch, hearing, and perhaps of emell, in the
highest Decapods,* (so that the auditory sacs would seem to be hardly necessvy',
* they become converted into burrowing organs in the Scyllmidae^ organs of preiKO-
fdon in the Merogt^tmata, claspera for the male in the Cydopoidea, and organs of attach-
ment in the Cirripedia. Not to multiply instances we have presented to us in the
Crustacea, probably the best zoological illustration of a class, constructed on a common
type,* — derived exclusively from material structure,— 'retaining its general character^
isticB^ (material), 'but capable of endless modification of its parts, so as to suit the
extreme requirements of every separate species/ H, Woodvxird, qucted in NichdKfRi
Manual of Zoology, P. I, Ch. xxxi, p. 193.
* Ch. nt, p. 114.
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The Formal Cause. 549
the same difitinguished physicist remarks, ' It is probable that the
crayfish possesses something analogous to taste^ and a very likely
seat for the organ of this function is in the upper lip and the
metastoma; but if the organ exist-s it possesses no structural
peculiarities by which it can be identified ^' This last sentence
reminds one of the reasoning of Professor Thome concerning pro-
toplasm ; and does not serve to elucidate the writer's well-expressed,
but scarcely philosophical, account of science^ — ^given in his first
Chapter, — that * science is simply common sense at its best ; that is,
rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic ^.'
It occurs to inquire, why it is probable that the crayfish has some^
thing analagotis to taste, seeing that the presence of a corresponding
organ cannot be identified. Surely, in those regions of thought
outside the realm of matter we could rarely meet with a more
gratuitous assumption ; notwithstanding that * whatever lies be-
yond' *the course of nature,' * is outside science ^' To resume:
Under the sub-kingdom of the molluscs^ the nervous system and
senee-organization at first retrogprade in comparison with the
inferior sub-kingdom ; for the molluscoids have a simple nervous
system, and only in some classes have organs of sight. Even in
the true molluscs, the lowest order of lameUibranchiata are either
wholly destitute of organs of sight, or have simple eyes, and have
no distinctly differentiated head; but their nervous system, like
that of the true molluscs in general, is of a higher order, comprising
three principal ganglions, — the supra-oesophageal, the infra-
oesophageal or pedal, and the parieto-splanchnic. As we proceed
higher, however, a marked development takes place, which con-
ducts us to the porch of the vertebrates. In the class of cephalopods,
(including the cuttle-fish, octopus, nautilus, etc.), we find a very
high type of eye-organism and undoubted organs of hearing, while
the nervous system is more concentrated. The nautilus has * two
hollow plicated subocular processes, believed to he olfactory in
their function *.'
Finally : There is a remarkable instance of the exhibition, by a
* Ihid. p. 115.
* Ihid. p. 3. What a pity it is that this talented and lucid writer should be per-
petually going out of his way to introduce his opinions relatively to those higher spheres
of thought which have no direct bearings on the subject to which he has devoted his
energies with such deserved success. * AU keys hang not on one girdle,'
' Ibidem, p. 3.
* NiehoUon^s Manual of Zoology, Pari /, Ch. I, p. 309.
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550 Causes of Being.
creature belonging to the animal kingdom, of certain characteristics
of the plant, which was communicated by Mr. Geddes to the Royal
Society in March, a.d. 1879. The green rhabdocele planarian,
(convoluta ScAuUzii\ which ranks under the sub-kingdom of the
annuloids, not only exhibits chlorophyll, which certain other lower
forms of animal life are known to do ; but the "chlorophyll exercises
in this planarian vegetable functions, so that^ when the animal
submits itself to the action of the sun's rays, (which it seems to
seek instinctively), it evolves oxygen at a rate of from 45 to 50
per cent, of the gas evolved. Further: These animals, when
boiled, yield starch, and their ashes contain iodine^ — both charac-
teristics of vegetable organism.
There has been a motive in entering into these details which
otherwise might seem to have been needlessly extended. From the
foregoing facts three principal conclusions may be gathered :
1. There are undoubted animals which have but one sense,— at
least, only one organ of sense, — to mark externally their sensile
Form ; and, on the other hand, retain characteristics and certain
special functions of plants. To establish this fact has been the
main purpose in the above collection of physical phenomena ; for it
is here principally that we find the link between the vegetable and
animal world.
2. There is shown to be a progressive development in the orcpns
peculiar to the sensitive life ; and it is not till we get under the
very shadow of the vertebrates, that we find all these organs fully
developed. The Forms, therefore, grow in perfectness.
3. If a truly scientific classification of animals, based upon those
functions and organs that essentially distinguish animal, or sensi-
tive, from vegetative life, should ever come to be adopted, (would
that some competent naturalist would summon courage to gird
himself for the task!) ; it is plain that it must be a classification
very different from the one now accepted, and one subversive of
certain crude theories which at present lie, as an incubus, on this
interesting and valuable department of knowledge.
iii. There remains the yet more pronounced break between the
animal kingdom and man. There is no question of mere organism
here, but of natural operations and properties that are indicative of
a substantial Form which surpasses all material conditions. Is
there a discoverable link between the spiritual Form of man and the
material Forms of brutes ? There is one element of connection in
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The Formal Cause, 551
the fact, that the soul of man exercises in the human body all the
fimctions of sensitive and vegetative life. But this point is reserved
for the next Proposition. Setting it on one side, therefore, for the
moment, it is plain, from the very nature of the case, that it will
not be possible to discover such a link in any supposed order of
men possessing a specific nature half-way between spirit and
matter; for such a hypothesis is a contradiction in terms. A
spirit cannot be more or less spirit after the manner that matter
can be more or less organized. A Form must be wholly spiritual,
or wholly unspiritual ; though its faculties may be partly the one,
partly the other. Neither is it possible, for the same reason, that
there should be a common ancestry, save in the analogical sense
that the two classes of Forms actuate the same primordial matter,
and that the material organism exhibits a progressive development,
in its gradual disposition for receiving the human soul, which
carries matter successively through the lower gradations up to its
highest known structure under the actuation of successive provi-
sional Forms. It is hard to imagine that the distinguished natural-
ists who have overleaped the boundaries of their particular discipline,
in order to oflfer us their theories touching this subject can be in
earnest when they represent the intellect and will of man as de-
veloped functions of matter, or the soul of man as a development of
the instinct of brutes. It looks like an ill-timed joke, to be gravely
informed that man's recognition of a God and of the consequent
duty of religious worship can iind its germ in. the barking of a dog
at the unexpected opening of a parasol ^. Dismissing, then, these
follies, we must find the missing link, — if anywhere, — among the
substantial Forms of irrational animals, as anticipatory, according
to the measure of their capacity, of the special or distinctive facul-
ties of the human soul. And here, as a fact, we find it. In certain
higher orders of animals their natural operation exhibits itself after
a manner markedly distinct from that of other animals, and (so far
as a material Form can do) anticipates, or rather foreshadows, the
distinctive action of spiritual Forms. There are two faculties of a
spiritual Form, — ^and two only, so far as we know, — viz. intellect
and will. But, as has been observed in an earlier part of this
Volume, certain animals exhibit something that looks very like both.
For instance, — to repeat the instance of the Angelic Doctor; — sheep
* Darwin i Descent of Man, Part /, Ch. 2, p. 67.
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552 Causes of Being,
flee from wolf in general, not from this wolf in particular. Simi-
larly, a eat will pounce upon any mouse, without troubling^ itself
about its individual notes. But in this there is the exhibition of
a sensile universal. St. Thomas offers another illustration in the
action of birds that collect straw, twigs, feathers, etc., not becausse
these are a gratification to their senses, but bc^cause they are useful
as material for building their nests *. He calls this faculty in ani-
mals vh aestimaliva; and in one place remarks, that by it the
sensitive soul of the animal * Has a sort of slight participation of
reason, reaching in its highest development to the lowest grade of
the latter * ;' and that, by reason of the same faculty, ' Animals are
said to have a sort of prudence ^J Further : In another place he
says, that brute animals have * An imperfect cognition of their end,
by which the end and the Good is known in tie parficnlar ;^ and
that hence they are capable of fruition, which belong^ to the appe-
titive faculty, * after an imperfect manner *.' Lastly : He adds, that
they not only seek after that which is pleasing to sense, — for that
is an operation proper to the sensitive Form; — but they pursue
victory, which they obtain painfully^ and this * After a sort reaches
to the higher appetite *,' — that, namely, of the will. Yet, there are
three distinguishing characteristics of the spiritual Form, which the
purely animal Form can never reach; viz. i. the formation of an
abstract universal, and therefore of good as the Good, of end as the
end : 2. freedom of the will, and consequently true choice : 3. self-
consciousness.
Corollary.
Just as there are connecting links between the four principal
gradations of material being ; so are there similar connecting links
between the species which divide these gradations, with the excep-
tion of the highest gradation in which but one species can be found.
* !»• Ixxyiii, 4, c.
' ' Aliquid vero, Becundum qaod habet aliquftm participAtionem modioam ratiooi^
attingens ad ultunum ejus in 8ui supremo.* Verii, Q. zzv, a. a, e., v./.
* ' Unde ratione hujus aestuuationis diountur animalia quamdam prudentiam habere,
ut patet in piincipio MetaphyBicorum.* Ibidem,
* * Imperfecta autem cognitio est, qaa cognosdtur partdculariter finis et bcmmn ; el
talis oognitio est in brutis animalibus.' i-j*"* xi, a, c.
' ' Quod relicto delectabili appetit victoriam, quam consequitur cum dolore, quod ad
irasdbilem pertinet, competit ei secundum quod attingit aliqualiter appetitom superi-
orem.' Verity Q. icxv, a. a, c, v. /.
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The Formal Cause, 553
Both serve to perfect the unity of the cosmic order. We have
casually come across some indications of the latter in the declaration
of the Thesis ; but a full treatment of the subject more properly
belongs to the naturalist. The words, then, of the Angelic Doctor,
— towards the close of the second paragraph in the fundamental
passage which prefaces the hundred and eighty-sixth Proposition, —
are verified by the evidence of the physical disciplines : * Moreover,
under each of these orders he will find a diversity, accordingly as
some are more perfect than others ; in such wise that those which
are highest in a lower genus are seen to approach the higher genus,
and conversely. For instance, animals incapable of locomotion are
like plants.'
PROPOSITION CXCV.
St. Thomas teaches that in embryos generally there is a progres-
sive development of being ; so that each embryo passes through
the gradations of life inferior to its own by virtue of successive
Forms which are provisional and transitory. In particular,
such is his explicit teaching with regard to the human embryo.
This theory, which is not unsupported by facts of physical
experience, serves to throw fresh light on the perfection of
oosmio order, as well as on the unity of the Subject.
Prolegomenon.
In two ways the unity of cosmic order is manifested in the four
kingdoms of material Forms and their corresponding substances.
One way is, by exhibition of the links which serve to connect the
orders with each other. This was the purport of the preceding
Proposition. The other way is, by establishment of the fact that
these successive kingdoms, with the exception of the last, are simple
developments of one from the other ; in such wise that the inferior
is the foundation of the gradation immediately above it, and the
superior in consequence virtually includes all those that are inferior
to it. Thus, the animal Form virtually and eminently includes the
vegetable Form as well as the Forms of such elements as are in-
cluded in the material constitution of the animal substance. Such
is the purport of the present Proposition.
As the Enunciation of the Proposition expressly includes only
living Forms, a fact has been omitted that is, nevertheless, in an
eminent degree confirmatory of the truth for which we are now
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554 Causes of Being,
contending. There is not a single inanimate or animate body^ —
including that of man, — which is not exclusively composed of the
primordial elements in their various chemical combinations. Here
is the occasion to say a word about protoplasm, as it has been
called. The metaphysician may securely wait, till much that is
obscure and doubtful in connection with this young discovery shall
have been elucidated by future observation and experiment. Thus
much, however, may be fittingly said. As far as we know at
present, there is no such thing as independent, or undifferentiated,
protoplasm. It is always specific, and can only act within its own
specific limits. But it receives specification, and with specification
life, from the substantial Form that actuates it.
Declaration of the pour Members of the Propositton.
I. In the First Member it is asserted, that SL ThomoM ieaeket
thai in embryos generally there is a progressive development of being in
the manner indicated ; and that such is his teaching in particular
with regard to the human embryo. These two propositions have been
united under one Member.
In a passage which shall be given the Angelic Doctor is occupied
in drawing a distinction between the generation of animals and
that of inanimate substances ; and he takes occasion to observe,
that the generation of inanimate substances involves two Forms
only, — the Form acquired in the newly generated body, and the
Form expelled in the corruption of the previous composite. But,
he proceeds to say, * In the generation of an animal there appear
diverse substantial Forms ; since there first appears the generative
element, and afterwards the blood, and so on, till there is the Form
of a man or of an animal. Accordingly, such generation is neces-
sarily not simple, but embracing within itself several generations and
corruptions. For it is impossible that one and the same substantial
Form should be gradually evolved into act, as we have shown.*
The reason which the Angelic Doctor gives for this is twofold.
One is, that a substantial bodily Form, — forasmuch as it belongs to
the Category of Substance, (under which it is not directly included,
only because of the incompleteness of its entity), — does not admit
of more or less, as the Philosopher teaches us in his Categories.
There are no entitative gradations in a substance, qua substance.
It either is such or is not. The other is, that generation is the
work of a moment. In the very same instant that the Form of the
corrupted substance is expelled, the new Form is evolved. All the
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The Formal Cause. 555
gTadaation that takes place in the process of generation belongs to
the matter, which is little by little disposed for the eduction of the
new Form and proportionally indisposed for the retention of the old
Form. Now to proceed with the quotation : — * Thus, then, by the
formative virtue which at the commencement is in the generative
element ' (the sperm cells) ' the Form of the generative element is
expelled, and another Form introduced; — this latter expelled,
another may be afterwards introduced ; and in this way first the
vegetative soul is introduced ; — afterwards, this latter is expelled,
and a soul that is sensitive at once and vegetative,' (that is to say,
which virtually and eminently contains the latter), * is introduced ;
— this last expelled, a soul which is rational at once and sensitive as
well as vegetative' (virtually and eminently) *is introduced, not by
the virtue aforesaid,' i.e. by the formative virtue of the sperm-cell,
' but by the Creator. Accordingly, it is to be affirmed, in conso-
nance with this opinion, that, previous to the possession of a rational
soul by the embryo, it lives and possesses a soul, on the expulsion
of which a rational soul is introduced ^.'
In this passage the Angelic Doctor traces the evolution of a
human embryo from the moment of its conception up to its com-
plete development under a specific human Form which is the
spiritual soul. At first it exists as matter under a rudimentary
organization and specifically constituted by that which we may
call the foetus-Form, — itself including a variety of provisional and
transitory Forms succeeding each other with the progress of the
dispositions of the matter and of its incipient organism. Thi9 is
the first stage of evolution. By virtue of the qualities inherent in
this provisional body and communicated to it by the generating
agent, the organization progresses, until the matter becomes in-
disposed for retaining the foetus-Form and evolves the plant-Form,
^ * In generatione autem aniznallB apparent diversae formae substantiAles ; cum primo
appareat sperma, et postea sanguis, et sic deincepe quousque sit foima hominis vel ani-
mails. Et sic oportet quod hujusmodi generatio non sit simplex, sed continetis in so
plures generationes et corruptiones. Non enim potest esse quod una et eadem forma
substantialis gradatim educatur in actum, ut ostensum est. Sic eigo per virtutem for-
mativam quae a principio est in semine, abjecta forma spermatis, inducitur alia forma;
qua abjecta, iterum inducatur alia : et sic primo inducatur anima vegetabilis ; deinde,
ea abjecta, inducatur anima sensibilis et vegetabilis simul; qua abjecta, inducatur non
per virtutem praedictam sed a creante, anima quae simul est rationalis, sensibilis, et
vegetabilis. £t sic diceodum est secundum banc opinionem, quod embryo antequam
habeat animam rationalem, vivit, et habet animam, qua abjecta, inducitur anima
rationalis.* Po* Q. iii, a. 9, 9"^, in f.
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556 Causes of Being,
whereupon the natural operations of growth and assimilation com-
mence. Thia u the second stage of evolution. Under the continued
directive influence of the same qualities the provisional substance,
now actuated by a vegetative soul, progresses in the perfectness of
its organization, till the matter finally becomes indisposed for the
further continuance of the vegetable- Form, and evolves the purely
animal Form; whereupon commences the sensitive life, — the
animal Form containing eminently in itself the eflicacy of the
vegetable Form. TAis is the third stage of ei-olution. The purely
animal Form, however, in the instance of man is purely provisional,
like those that preceded it ; and the new substance continues to
develope into a higher organism unfitted for mere animal life;
whereupon, the sensitive Form recedes into the potentiality of the
matter, and Ood creates a human soul in its place. This is the
fourth, complete^ finals stage of evolution. It remains, however, to
add, that this human soul, as act of the body, includes eminently
in itself the united eflScacy of the sensitive as well as of the veget-
able Form.
The above doctrine the Angelic Doctor has borrowed from the
Philosopher who, in his work Be generatione animalium, writes as
follows : * It is necessary definitely to determine .... with regard
to a soul, according to which a thing is said to be an animal, (now,
an animal is such according to the sensitive part of the soul),
whether it exists in the sperm-cell and the embryo, or not ; and
whence. For no one would lay it down, that the embryo is in all
respects deprived of life as a thing soulless ; since the sperm-cells
und foetuses of animals are not a whit less alive than plants, and
are prolific up to a point. That they have, then, the nutritive
soul,' — the vegetable Form, — *is plain; (and why it is necessary
to receive it first, is evident from what has been defined concerning
a soul in other treatises) ; and, developing, they receive the sensi-
tive soul also, by which an animal' is specifically constituted.
' For animal and man are not generated simultaneously, nor animal
and horse ; and similarly in -the case of all other animals ; ' — that
is to say, in the embryonic beginnings of its animal, or sensitive,
life, the animal does not exhibit a differentiation of the organism
characteristic of the particular species to which it belongs. * For
the end' (or final cause) 'is produced last; and that which is
specific to it is the end of the generation of each. . . . Plainly,
then, it is to be laid down, that sperm-cells and separated embryos,'
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Tfie Formal Cause. 557
— that i^ to say, separated from the parent, like eggs or the spawn
of fish, — * have the nutritive,' or vegetative, * life in potentiality,
but not in act; up to the time, or according as, the separated
embryos draw their nutriment, and perform the iuDction of such
a soul. For it seems that all such beings live first of all a veget-
ative life ; and as a consequence it is plain, that the same must be
said of the sensitive and of the intellectual soul. For it is neces-
sary to have each one of them potentially, previous to having them
in act ^'
Thus, then, the doctrine touching the gradual development and
progressive difierentiation of embryos is more than two thousand
years old.
To sum up : St. Thomas, following the teaching of the Philo-
sopher, explicitly includes irrational animals with man under the
same law of substantial development; for^ at the commencement
of the passage quoted above, he speaks of the Form of a man and
that of an animal indiflerently. But since, — as Aristotle tells us, —
the veq^etable Form in both cases is in potentiality, previously to
its being actual ; it is certain that he intended to include plant-
Forms under the same common law. But the question is set at
rest by the following explicit declaration of the Angelic Doctor :
' Tlie same thing is to be said of the sensitive soul in brutes, and
of the nutritive soul in plants, and universally of all more perfect
Forms in regard of those that are imperfect ^.*
II. In the Second Member of the Proposition it is asserted, that
thi% doctrine is not unsupported ly facts of physical experience. The
^ AiofUcai re . . . «ai ir€pi i/^XQ^ '^ ^^ \4y€r€u (^cv {(^o¥ 8* 1<ttI nard rd fi6piov
r^f ifn/XfP ^^ ai<r$rfTiK6y) vSrtpov ivw^px^t rft ovipiian KtH rf; Kvfiitari ^ ov, Ktu ir60€v.
ovr€ ydp &5 &il/vxoy Av Otlrj ris r6 KvrjfM ttaTcL ir&irra rp&nw iffrfprjfjilvoy (vrjr ovbiv y^fi
IJTToiif tk Tc ffvipfiara Ktd rot icu^fjuira rS/v ^aipav Q rStv <PvtSw, hclI y6vifM fUxfH rtvSs
lartv. tri fiiy ovv rifv Op^Trrii^v ^x^^crt ^^x^^'f <poM^p6v (81' tri tk ra^Ttfv npwrov
dya'YKtu6p icrri Aa0€iv, kie rwv vtpi ^vx^r IkwpitrfUvcay iv dfAAot; <f>ay€p6vy vpcX6vTa tk
KaH ri^K ala$^iK^Vy ica$* ^v (^y» ob yap Afjta yiv€T€u (^ov letd dy$ponros o^Si (^ov /eai
twwoSy dfUHoas bi itod lire ruy dWary (^eay tffT^pov yd,p yivfreu rd r4Kos^ t6 8* tlii6v Ian
rd kieAffrou rrj^ y€vi<X€on rikos. . . . r^ fikv oZv $p^vTiie^ ^X^ '''^ ffwipfiara teat rd
tevifULTa rd x^P'^^^ SfjXov Srt 8wdf(Ci ftkv tx"^^"^^ $tT4w, iytpytiff 8' oitK txovrcL, vpiy
^ KoS&vtp rd xo'/H^ii/ACFa raty tcvrifi&Taiv Ia.«€i t^f rpo(p/^y xaJt, voiu r6 r^i rotajjrrp
tffvx^i tpyoy vpSnw fikv ycLp amarr* iouct (^y rd rotavra <pvrmi fiioy^ kxrofiiyoK 81 Z^Koy
Zri Koi irtpl T^s al<r$fjTiierjs Kfierioy ^x^s kcu ir€pi r^i yorjTuerfS, wdffas ydip Ayaytituoiy
^ydfui vpdrepoy tx^"^ 4 Ivcp7€tf . De Generatione AnimcUium, L, II, c. 3, init.
' " Et similiter est dicendum de anima sensitiva in brutis, et de nutritiva in plantis,
et universaliter de omnibus formis perfectioribus, respectu impdrfectanim.' I** Izxvi,
4, c, in/.
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558 Causes of Being,
first fact to be adduced has already been brought before the
notice of the reader; and consists in the preservation of seed
under the seed-Form for a vast number of years, during the whole
of which period the seed has evinced no operation of growth or
assimilation. Nevertheless, afterwards it has been sown in the
ground, and has sprung up into life, like other seeds. Conse-
quently, the plant-Form was all along there potentially, but not
in act. Another fact of singular value connected with the teaching
of the Angelic Doctor on this point is, the striking similarity
between the process and organs of fecundation, or reproduction, in
plants and in animals. There are in both the germ-cells and
sperm-cells, and the fertilization. of the former by the latter, — that
which may be called in both the nutritive yelk to support the
embryo in the beginning of its growth, — ^in both the same tegu-
mentary separation from the parent, yet indirect communication
with the latter, — in both the same gradual development of organism.
It is further curious to notice, that a great part of the nutritive
matter, reserved in the endosperm and cotyledons (where these
latter exist) for the service of the plant-embryo, is albuminous like
that reserved for some animal-embryos, — for instance, the yolk in
the eggs of birds. These facts are corroborated by another of
singular value. Professor Ernst Haeckel, in his Work on fit
Evolution of Man, gives a 'systematic survey of the periods in
human germ-history' in a tabular form. The following are the
headings: * First main division op germ-history. Man as a
simple plastid. — Mrst stage : Monerul^ stage. — Second stage : Cytula
stage. Second main division of germ -history. — Third stage:
Morula stage. — Fourth stage: Blastula stage.' As yet there is no
even rudimental development of any organ in the embryo. * Third
MAIN DIVISION OP QERM-HiSTORY. — Fifth stage: Gastrula stage.—
Sixth stage: Chordonium stage.' In the former the embryo con-
sists of two germ-layers that give promise of an intestine and
a mouth ; in the latter, it ^ possesses, in all essential points, the
organization of a worm,' but apparently under a rudimentary form.
Fourth main division op germ-history. — Seventh stage: Acranial
stage,' the head not being distinctly separated from the trunks and
the brain-bladders not yet developed. * Eighth stage : Cyclostoma
stage;' in which there appears the commencement of a rudi-
mentary brain, as also the rudiments of three sense-organs, (eyes,
ears, and nose), but jaws and limbs are wanting. ^ Ninth stage:
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The Formal Cause, 559
Ictbyod stage,' so called^ because the embryo ' possesses, in essen-
tial point Sj the organization of a fish/ The arms and legs, that
are to be, appear like fins, and the rudiments of an upper and lower
jaw begin to show themselves. ^ Tenth stage: Amniotic stage,'
wherein the embryo exhibits all the essential organization of a
Vertebrate ; and then gradually acquires ' the form peculiar to the
Mammals, and at last the specific human form ^.' "Why all this
latter, and by far the most important, process of development has
been huddled together under one Stage^ is not difiicult to discover,
if we have regard to the principal aim of the writer; but it is
scarcely scientific. Taking the classification, however, for what it
is worth, if the reader carefully examines these divisions, he will
find that, during two out of the four, there is no development of
organism under any shape. Consequently, the actual substantial
Form is certainly not animal; and it is fairly open to doubt
whether there is anything like a true vegetable life ; so that what
of life there is must be borrowed, or rather derived and communi-
cated. In the third main division there is no appearance of any
even rudimentary nervous system or of sense-organs, without
which the natural operation of an animal-Form is rendered im-
possible. Even in the fourth and last main division, the first stage
exhibits the embryo in a state of organization utterly unfitted for
any but the lowest Forms of animal life. It is only in the second
stage that the brain-bladders begin to show themselves, and rudi-
ments of the three principal sense-organs begin to appear ; while
it is only at the close of the last stage that the embryo receives its
definite human differentiation. Before quitting this argument de-
rived from facts of physiology, it may be as well to obviate a pos-
sible objection, by subjoining the following observation. Since all
the Forms that precede the final one are provisional and transitory,
and since the whole evolution from first to last is directed towards
the organization of a human body by qualities essentially remaining
throughout, which at the first were implanted by the agency of the
generating cause, it must not be supposed that an elaborate veget-
able organism will accompany, in the instance of animals, the pre-
sence of the vegetable Form and life ; but only that, in the absence
of an organism absolutely necessary to animal functions, there still
exists an organism suflicient for the natural operations of vegetable
» TMt VII J, at the end of Ch. XII, pp, 402 -404.
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560 Cat/ses of Being.
life, — that is to say, of growth and assimilation. On the other hand,
it is worthy of notice that, in the lowest Forms of vegetable life,
the simplest organism suffices ; as may be seen in the sipkoneae
among the al^ae, which 'consist of a single sac-like, often branched
cell, the free part that does not root in the ground containing a
parietal layer of protoplasm with abundance of grains of chloro-
phyll, (but forming no nucleus) ^.'
III. The Third Member of the Proposition asserts, that (AU
theory serves to throw light on the perfection of cosmic order. It
surely needs but few words to justify this assertion. For, the truth
of the teaching for which we are contending once admitted, not
only must we acknowledge a gradual evolution of the whole com-
plex and multiform universe of material substances from a few
simple elements created in the beginning ; but it is also manifest
that this wondrous evolution is, so to say, more or less epitomized
in the germ-history of each living individual in that universe.
Successive Forms march through the captive matter, gradually
evolved from the predisposed Subject ; till they reach their climax
where the potentiality of matter fails, and the creative Power of
God supplies the needed Form.
IV. The Fourth Member adds, that this teaching of St, Thorn*
serves to throw fresh light 07i the unity of the Subject, This pro-
position, too, it will not take long to prove. For, if we set aside
life as proper to the actuating Form and not to the Subject, what
remains ? ' A more or less complex organization. True : But, first
of all, no one could have failed to notice that whatever may be the
exquisite organic complexity of the perfected substance, the or-
ganism (if such it must be called) at the commencement was of the
simplest and least differential sort. Moreover, organism is but an
accident, — a property, — of material substance. Remove it then;
and the rest is a heterogeneous compound, resolvable into the
simple elements. Each, one of these simple elements is constituted,
when isolated, of two essential parts, — to wit, that which is cause
of their differentiation, and that which is common to them all.
Remove once more the differentiating cause which is the Form;
and what remains? The common part, which is the universal
Subject of all material Forms, — primordial matter. But who is
there so obtuse as not to perceive, that this unity of primordial
* Thomas Structural and Physiological Botany, Ch, F/, p. 257.
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The Formal Cause, 561
matter as common Subject is powerfully confirmed, and strikingly
illustrated, by the fact that oat of the same portion of matter are
successively evolved in orderly succession all the specific Forms
which, in the actoal constitution of things, are capable of being
evolved out of matter from inanimate to the highest Forms of
purely animal life?
Note.
The quotations from St. Thomas and Aristotle evince, that ac-
cording to Peripatetic teaching there are not only provisional
Forms which direct the evolution of the Subject from one king-
dom into another ; but that, within the limits of each kingdom^
there are progressive provisional Forms or acts of one and the
same Subject, which carry on matter from lower to higher grades
of organization. This is the meaning of the Philosopher, when
he tells us that first a thing is animal^ then hor%e.
ARTICLE V.
The causality of the substantial bodily Form.
In pursuance of the order that has been already adopted in the
discussions concerning the material cause, it now follows to institute
an inquiry into the causality of these substantial Forms which
determine the essential nature of bodies. Here, at the outset of
certain inquisitions more purely metaphysical, it will not be inop-
portune to present the reader with a scientific description, (for a
true definition of the essential constituent of a Category is impos-
sible), of the substantial Form now under consideration. It is
borrowed from Suarez. A substantial bodily Form, then, is a
Ample and incomplete substance whichy as the act of matter ^ constitutes
together with the matter the integral essence of the composite substance.
It will be perceived that substance takes the place of a genus ; for
though, by reason of its being an incomplete entity in its own
essence, the substantial bodily Form is excluded from a direct
place in the Categories, it still belongs .by reduction to the Cate-
gory of Substance. By this quasi^^xvis it is distinguished from
all accidental Forms pf whatever kind. By the term simple it is
disting^shed more particularly from composite substance; by
incomplete^ from purely spiritual and subsistent Forms. The rest
of the description distinguishes such Forms from the matter.
In the logical distribution of the present Article, the division
adopted by Suarez will be followed ; though here, as elsewhere, the
VOL. II. o 0
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552 Causes of Being.
writer feels himself compelled, however reluctantly, to dissent &om
not a few conclusions of this &med philosopher, as will he seen in
their place. There are four questions that relate to the causality
of the substantial Form. The first regards the formal pnndpeaU
of its causality; the second, the necessary conditions ^such causality;
the third, its nature; the last, its effects. It will be found that tbe
Propositions in the preceding Chapter touching the causality of
matter will justify a considerable abbreviation in the treatment of
those which have now to follow. The reader is invited to cast his
eye back on the former, before commencing his study of the
latter.
Note.
In the present Article, as before, the human soul is excluded
from the inquiry, unless directly referred to. We are now dealing
with purely material and not-snbsistent Forms, — ^that is to say, with
Forms that are in no sense spiritual and have no independent
subsistence.
§ I-
The formal prinoipiant of the oatusality of the substantial Form.
PROPOSITION CXCVI.
The formal prinoipiant of the canaality of the substantial Form
is the nature of the Form itself.
Peolegombnon.
By the formal jmn/npiant is to be understood that something, —
whether essential part, faculty, quality, or« it may be, mere
accident, — which in any given entity is the direct, immediate,
cause of the effect which is its correlative. Thus, — ^to take an
illustration, — ^the formal prinoipiant in man of an act of seeing is
not his faculty of growth and of assimilation, or his intellect, or
bis will, or his eye, but his psychical sense of sight. In like
manner, the formal active prinoipiant in the fecundation of the
germ-cell of a plant is not the corolla, or the bracts, or the calyx,
or even the stamen, but the pollen. The question, then, which
awaits determination is this : By what something or other does
the Formal Cause produce its effect in, or exercise its causality on,
the matter?
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The Formal Cause. 563
The Proposition is proved as follows:
I. That which immediately and absolutely of itself causes an
effect^ is the formal principiant of such causality. But the natui^
of the substantial Form immediately and absolutely of itself causes
the effect. Therefore, etc. The Major is evident. The Minor is
thus declared. The effect of the causality of the substantial Form
of bodies, (as we shall see afterwards), is the information of the
matter and the constitution of the composite. But the Form
according to its essential nature is the act of matter in such wise
that, as the Angelic Doctor repeatedly monishes, it is not so much
an entity itself, as that by which another entity (that is to say, the
composite) is constituted. It has no independent existence. By
the mere fact that it is, it actuates or informs matter. It is educed
out of the potentiality of the matter ; and so educed that, for so
long as it exists, it essentially exists as the Form of matter. But
the actuation of matt-er and the constitution of the composite are
really one and the same thing, considered from two different points
of view. Again : If it should be urged that the formal principiant
of such causality is a certain aptitude or propension of the Form
for such causation, — the like to which exists in the created human
soul, — the position is freely granted. It only adds fresh cogency
to the proof ; since that aptitude or propension is of the essential
nature of the Form.
II. The above argument is confirmed from the nature of the
so-called union between the matter and the Form. For this union
is immediate ; that is to say, it is effected without the intervention
of any accident or mode, because it is a union of information.
This last proposition needs a little explanation. When there are
two incomplete entities in the same Category, mutually pro-
portioned, and mutually dependent, and essentially necessary to the
existence each of the other, there is no need of the intervention of
some third entity for the immediate union of the two; because
there is inevitably a natural aptitude in the nature of both, which
of itself suffices for their conjunction. But nature makes nothing
in vain. In fact, there is no union in the ordinary meaning of the
term ; — ^that is to say, there is no conjunction between two entities
that previously in order of nature (for of time there is no question)
existed separate. Their separate existence is a metaphysical impos-
sibility. Hence, if the term union is to be used at all, it cannot
00 a
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accurately be called an ac^, but a state ^ of uuion. By its very
essence^ if the Form exists at all, it exists as act of the matter and
wholly dependent upon the latter for its continued subsistence.
Herein is to be seen the proportion and natural bond of union
between the two \ for the one is a pure passive potentiality, while
the other is simply and exclusively the act of the former.
§ 2.
The conditions of the causality of the Form.
PROPOSITION cxcvn.
The aotoftl existence of the Form cannot be included amon^ the
necessary conditions of its causality.
. Peolegob£bnon.
The denominative^ actual^ has been prefixed to existence^ in order
to avoid any possible equivocation ; for there is notional existence,
as there is notional essence.
Declaeation op the PBOPOsrnoN.
Whether the question here mooted should be resolved according
to the opinion touching the nature of the distinction between
actual essence and existence in the instance of finite being defended
by the majority of the older School of Thomists, or in accordance
with the opinion maintained in the second Book of this Work ;
the truth of the present Proposition can be equally established.
Whether it be a real major distinction, — as many Thomists assert,
— or a real minor distinction, — as Soto and (some judge) Scotus and
his School teach, — or a distinction ex natura rei, yet not real, — as
Fonseca seems to understand it, — matters little to the present
inquiry. In any case^ if there be a real distinction between actual
essence and existence ; the existence of the composite and, there-
fore, of the Form, will be the result of formal causality; The
reason is, that the actual essence of the entity, in this hypothesis,
is in order of nature prior to its existence ; and, accordingly, the
latter is dependent on the former. But the actual essence is con-
stituted by the actuation of the matter, — that is to say^ by the
information, or causality, of the Form. Therefore, the causality of
the Form is prior in order of nature to the existence of the com-
posite. If so, the existence of the Form, — which is essentially
included in that of the composite, — cannot possibly be a condition
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of the causality of the Form. On the contrary, it must be an effect
(strangely as this sounds) of the causality of the Form ; which
causality may be explained either as a formal causality, (if exist-
ence is the ultimate intrinsic mode of actual essence), or, (if the
existence is supposed to emanate from the actual essence)^ as an
efficient causality, or, (if the existence is in any other way enti-
tatively distinct from the actual essence), as a material causality,
inasmuch as the causality of the Form constitutes the actual essence
which is the Subject of existence.
If, on the other hand, the opinion maintained jn this Work be
the correct one, the truth of the Proposition is equally certain.
For that cannot be considered as a mere condition of causality,
which is essentially included in the nature of the causal act itself ;
since a mere condition is outside the essence. But a substantial
Form causes necessarily in virtue of its own actual entity; there-
fore, as existing. How, indeed, can anything energize, unless
itself be actual ? As the Philosopher justly remarks ; ' How could
things that do not exist talk or think^?'
NOTB,
There is an interesting Scholastic question, suggested by this
last Proposition, which serves to illustrate the nature of formal
causality. The question is this : Can it be allowed that the Form
is in any way prior to its causality ? In answer : It is certain, first
of all, that there cannot possibly be any priority in order of time ;
for the causality of the Form, as we have already more than once
seen, is altogether synchronous with its existence. It is at the
first educed from the matter, as essentially dependent on the
matter. The discussion turns, of course, upon Forms that are
purely material ; though, as regards the simultaneousness of ex-
istence and causality, the above conclusion applies equally to the
human soul. Secondly: There is no priority of nature on the
part of the Form relatively to its causality, in the sense that
there is any conceivable interval between the existence of the Form
and its information of the matter. Moreover, in rigour of speech,
there is no priority of nature in such sense as that the causality
should depend on the existing Form, but that the existing Form
should not depend on its causality; for there is a mutual de-
pendence. It exists in causing ; and it causes in existing. Still,
* rdt a /*^ Sma irws tv <f>$iy(aiTO ^ yofjetifv; Metaph, L. Ill, e. 4, r./.
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it oannot be demed tbftt the Form may legitimately claim a sort of
priority of mature ; einoe there i8 a conceptual dependence of the
causality OQ the Form, which the latter does not exhibit in relation
to the former. This priority, for want of a better word, may be
oalled a priority of derivation; and is called by the School a
priority a guOy to distinguish it from that other proper intrinsio
priority of nature, which is oalled a priority in quo.
PROPOSITION CXCVIII.
Intimate neasDew of the Bubstantial Form to the matter is
not a condition of the oauaality of the former.
Dbclarahon of the Proposition.
The present Thesis is directed against the opinion of Suarez,
who places this intimate propinquity of the Form to the matter
among the necessary conditions of formal causality. The only
argument that he offers in &your of his proposition is this : The
union of the Form with the matter is really distinct from the local
presence of the Form, yet necessarily postulates such presence;
so that without it the said union could not be effected, even de
potentia absoluta. But the union of the Form with the matter is
the causality of the Form. Therefore, the local propinquity of the
Form is not its causality, but a necessary condition. Now, it
cannot be denied that in all instances of union properly so called
the local propinquity of the two entities is one thing, and their
union another. It must further be admitted that the union of two
distinct and essentially complete entities postulates^ as a necessary
condition, an intimate local nearness between the two. To illus-
trate both these statements by an example: There may be an
intimate collocation of oxygen and hydrogen in due proportion ;
yet no union, or chemical combination. On the other hand,
without such intimate collocation the chemical union would be
impossible. But there are two grave demurrers to the argument
of Suarez as applied to the present case. The one is, that, — ^to
repeat what has been already insisted on, — there is no union,
properly so called, of the Form with the matter; for union can
only take place between entities that are capable of existing apart
in order of nature. But neither Form nor primordial matter is
capable of a separate existence in order of nature. Therefore^ there
cannot be any union properly so called between them. The Major
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is plain ; for union connotes natural separability. Hence, in the
dictionaries union is explained to mean * The act of joining two or
more things, and thus forming a compound body or a mixture,' — »
its active signification ; — ' or the junction or coalition of things
thus united^,' — its passive signification, equivalent to the state of
bein(^ united. The Minor is admitted by Suarez^ as we shall see
later on ; and is the unanimous opinion of the School, whatever
difference of opinion there may be touching the greater or less
entity of matter. Again : There is a second, (as it would seem),
fatal objection to this argument of Suarez. He introduces local
presence previous to the production of Substance. For, if he claims
local presence as a necessary condition of the union of Form with
matter, that local presence must be prior in order of nature to the
imion. But j9&k?^, — and, therefore, local presence, — is an accident ;
and accident cannot be prior in order of nature to substance, since
the latter is at once Subject and source of the former.
The above animadversions have prepared the reader for the proof
which is now offered of the present Proposition. That cannot be a
mere condition of causality, which is essentially included in the
very nature of the causality itself. But the presence of the Form
with the matter is essentially included in the very nature of the
causality of the Form. Therefore, etc. The Major is evident. The
Minor \B thus declared. The causality of the Form is not, strictly
^speaking, the union of the Form with the matter, but the actuation
of the matter by the Form ; as will be shown in a later Thesis.
Now, this information virtually contains in its concept that the
Form is educed out of the matter ; that it is essentially dependent on
the matter for its first existence as well as for its continuance in
being ; and, finaUy, that it is the act of matter. But these three
elements equally connote the local presence of the Form with the
matter, as an integral part or at least accompanying property of the
formal causation. For, in the act of being, (or as one might put
it for the sake of clearness, in Jieri\ a thing must necessarily be
present with that out of which it is evolved. In facto eese^ that
which is entitatively so supported in its existence by another entity
in the same integral composite that without such other it could not
possibly exist, must essentially be present with the other constituent
of the same composite. Thirdly: That which is the act of a pure
* Dr. OgilvieU Dictionary,
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568 Causes of Being.
passive potentiality must of necessity be intimately present with
the potentiality of which it is the act. This is verified even in
the instance of an active potentiality which within the limits of
its own nature is a complete entity and, accordingly^ is arranged
under the Category of Quality. For when the intellectual fiicolty
is actuated by a thought, wh© would conceive it to be a mere
previous condition and not rather an inevitable necessity, that the
thought should be in intimate propinquity to the mind ? A Jbrtiori
IB this verified in the instance of a purely passive potentiality; by
how much this latter has far less of entity than an active potectialitj,
and is more absolutely dependent on its Form.
PROPOSITION CXCIX.
The dispositions of the matter, more especially those that are
quantitative, are a necessary condition of the actual causality
of the substantial Form.
This Proposition^ as will easily be seen^ consists of two Members.
I. The First Member, in which it is declared that t/ie dUpoiitions
of the matter are a necessary condition of the actual causaMg of the
substantial Form, is. thus proved.
That which is necessary in order that the matter may be duly
proportioned to the Form, is a necessary condition of the actual
causality of such Form. But the dispositions of the matter^ (as the
very name suggests)^ are necessary in order that the matter may be
duly proportioned to the Form. Therefore, etc. The Major ii
universally admitted ; for, since matter is of itself indifferent to the
reception of one Form more than of another^ being indifferently
receptive of all ; unless it were duly proportioned for its actuation
by this particular Form^ there would be no sufficient reason why it
should evolve this particular Form rather than any other. The
Minor is equally plain ; and is a &ct of universal experience in
natural generation. It would be impossible that the matter con-
tained in a seed should be determined to the evolution of the
vegetable Form, unless it were first of all organized after a definite
manner in the embryo, and received further alterations from the
soil, water, etc., that surround it, by means of which the seed is
eventually corrupted and the matter enabled to evolve the plant-
Form. This, in &ct, is one principal reason for the natural necessity
of a generating agent.
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II. The Sscond Membeb, wherein it is asserted that quantitative
dispositions more especially are a necessary condition of the actual
causality of the substantial Fonn, is thus proved. Those dispositions
which are necessary for the portioning of the matter are in a special
manner a necessary condition of the actual causality of the Form.
But quantitative dispositions are absolutely necessary for the portion-
ing of matter. Therefore, etc. The Major is evident. The Minor
is thus declared. Unless matter were portioned off, previously in
one way or another to its information by this particular Form,
there would be no reason why the whole of matter should not be
actuated by such single Form ; and thus there would be but one
material substance. If, moreover, that substance should be cor-
rupted and a new generation take place ; again would there be only
one material substance, unless you presuppose a quantitative
division. Neither can it be urged in reply to this argument, that
the qualitative dispositions would suffice for the apportionment of
the matter. For the said qualities would dispose the whole of the
matter ; since there could exist no reason why they should limit
themselves to one portion of matter more than another ; seeing
that there is no apportionment to choose from. They, therefore,
themselves require the previous dispositions of quantity as much as
the substantial Form. Nay^ in a sense they may be said to require
it more. For qualities immediately inhere in quantity as their
proximate, and only mediately in the composite as their adequate,
Subject ; whereas the substantial Form immediately inheres in the
matter.
Difficulty.
The Enunciation of the present Proposition is in manifest con-
tradiction with the declaration of the one immediately before it. *
For, in the latter it was objected against the teaching of Suarez,
that it presupposes the accident of place as a necessary condition of
the constitution of substance ; whereas all accidents are posterior in
order of nature to substance which is their common Subject. But
in the present Thesis quantity and quality are asserted to be neces-
sary conditions of the actual causality of the substantial Form and,
consequently^ of the constitution of material substance. There is,
therefore, a manifest contradiction between the two.
Answeb. The objection here proposed is a grave difficulty, and
includes questions connected with the genesis of material substance,
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570 Causes of Being.
which demand a full solution here or elsewhere. Consequently,
even at the risk of a partial repetition, it will be necessaiy to go
fully into the points mooted in this objection ; for, till they are
settled, we shall be left in doubt whether matter can in any way be
proportioned to, or disposed for, any particular Form. Wherefore,
let us proceed at once to a thorough consideration of the difficulty,
evolving the answer step by step.
At the outset it is to be remarked, that there is a wide difference
between the accident which Suarez claims as one of the necessary
conditions of the causality of the substantial Form and the accidents
that are claimed as conditions in the present Proposition. Local
presence {Ubi) is an intrinsic accidental mode of substance^ and —
as a mode — ^has no entity whatsoever outside its Subject ; so tiiat
its separation from the Subject is a metaphysical impossibility. It,
therefore, presupposes necessarily such Subject as already completely
constituted in its essential nature and outside its causes,-^that is to
say, existent. Moreover, as its name implies, it includes a transcen-
dental relation to some other contiguous body by which its Subject is
circumscribed. Consequently, it postulates as a necessary condition
of its existence the prior existence of the material substance located,
and it postulates also the co-existence of at least one other body as
term of its transcendental relation. Neither can it be pretended
that we are in presence of two substances, viz. the matter and the
Form ; and that the Form is itself informed by the intrinsic mode,
while the matter is term of its transcendental relation. For it is
sufficiently plain, when two unsubsistent entities are substantially
incomplete and are mutually necessary to the exii^nce of the other,
that the first and only mode of which each independently is capable
. is the substantial mode of information. On the contrary, quantity
and quality are no mere modes of substance, but proper accidents ;
and^ accordingly, de jpotentia absolUta can exist without their
Subject, though not without a necessary proclivity for it. Moreover,
neither of them includes a transcendental relation to something
other than the Subject which it informs. Lastly : Quantity in parti-
cular, (and quantity carries the qualities with it), has such an affinity
with matter in various respects, that not a few Doctors of the
School have considered matter to be its immediate Subject, and the
Form to be Subject only \j a sort of concomitancy. Hence, there
is obviously a wide distinction between the two cases. Neverthe-
less, though the apparent contradiction has been somewhat modified
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by the above preliminary distinction, it has not yet disappeared.
The reason assigned for rejecting the opinion of Suarez was ^ene-^
Tally ^ that no accident can become a necessary condition of the
constitution of its own Subject. Then, apart from the question of
a supposed contradiction between the two Theses, how is it possible
that any accidents of a given substance can ever be conditions of its
primordial constitution ? Wherefore,
i. To clear the way: — There is no question of priority of time, at
least necessarily^ in the mutual relation of substance and accident.
This is the starting-point; for it is quite clear that the problem
turns upon a priority of some sort that substance claims over acci-
dent. It has been already pointed out in the Aundred and eighty-
fourth Proposition, that the respective quantity and qualities of
each primordial element were concreated with the element itself in
accordance with the accidental nature of each. In natural genera-
tion the quantity and qualitative properties are, after a manner^
generated synchronously with the generation of the new substance.
There is this vital difference, however, in this respect among others
between the creation of the elements and natural generation, viz.
that these accidents in creation do not virtually pre-exist ; whereas
in natural generation they do virtually pre-exist in the corrupted
substance, while receiving their existence from the new Form.
ii. It is quite plain that the priority, which lies at the foundation
of the present difiiculty, is not a mere priority of order ; because
mere priority of order does not connote dependence, whereas acci-
dent includes an essential dependence upon substance.
iii. There is a certain priority of nature which substance essen-
tially vindicates to itself over accident ; and it remains to be seen
whether this priority is of such a nature as to exclude the possibility
of quantity and quality becoming conditions of the causality of the
substantial Form. Here is the root of the difficulty. On the one
hand, it is certain that every accident presupposes its Subject as
constituted according to its specific nature and, consequently, quan-<
tity and quality presuppose their Subject thus constituted ; on the
other hand, matter must be portioned, proportioned, and disposed
by quantity and quality for the evolution of such or such a particu-
lar Form. It is important, then^ to bear in mind, first of all, that
quantity is (so to say) a generic and undifferential accident. In
this respect, as in others, it bears a very striking resemblance to
primordial matter; so much so, indeed, that it may be fairly called
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572 Causes of Being.
a sort of primordial matter for the rest of the accidents. Similarly,
there are certain generic qualities, as it were, which virtually belong
to all bodies^ — ^such as figure^ weighty colour, etc. These are, there-
fore, invariable accompaniments of quantity. Quantity, then, is an
essential property of all bodies, existing indifferently in one as in
another. It is true that its limits vary; but limit, figure^ etc., are
modifications of quantity, that find their place in the Category of
Quality. It follows, as St. Thomas teaches, that quantity depends
upon that primary and fundamental Form which is virtually con-
tained in all material substantial Forms, — to wit, the body-Form;
and this Form may consequently be called generic, since all actnal
Forms are, as it were, its specific determinations. Wherefore, look-
ing at the question metaphysically, quantity is at once the accident
of the body-Form, — or rather, of body as the primordial composite
substance virtually contained, as a sort of genus, in the elements
themselves and in all subsequent compound substances, — and the
necessary condition of the causality of all other substantial Forms.
But, since quantity requires actuation by qualitative Forms, as pri-
mordial matter by substantial Forms ; it follows that certain generic
or indeterminate qualities should in like manner be accidents of the
body-Form and conditions of the causality of all other actual sub-
stantial Forms. And now to descend to particulars: — It is very
much to be doubted whether the primordial elements, according to
the exigency of their nature, required for their creation any dispo-
sitions in the matter beyond its quantitative apportionment con-
created with each element ; for the quantity would in each case be
informed by those primary properties of each element, that accom-
panied its creation, — so many actual determinations of the generic
qualities which follow the body-Form. The dispositions necessary
for the evolution of the Forms of compound bodies are to be found
partly in such as are introduced in the matter by an external
agency, — such, for instance, as that of the electric spark, — ^partly
by attraction and affinity and other accidents existing in the com-
ponent elements. In the natural generation of living entities,
certain qualitative accidents, (for the quantity in the matter has
been already determined in the corrupted substance), dispose the
matter either for the eduction or introduction of the new Form, as
the case may be, and consequently for the constitution of the new
composite. Wherefore, all the accidents in the corrupted substance
that are homogeneous with the new Form remain essentially (or as
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The Formal Cause. 573
regards their essence) in the newly generated substanoe ; no longer,
however, as dispositions but as proper accidents, since they receive
a new actuation and existence from the new Form. The newly
generated Form leads captive the subjacent matter and, together
with it^ the accidents that it finds there. Those that are heteroge*
neons it exiles, while the dispository and other friendly accidents
it accepts as its own subjects^ but gives to them a new entitative
existence under its own sway. It is in such wise that quantity and
certain qualities may be really and truly conditions necessary to the
causality of the substantial Form, and yet as accidents retain the
true nature of their dependence upon substance*
§3-
The nature of the oausality of the substantiaL Form*
PROPOSITION CC.
There is a metaphysioal distinotion between the entity and the
causality of the substantial Form.
Prolegomenon.
In the Enunciation of the Thesis it is said that there is a meia^
physical distinction, in order at once to claim for the conceived dis-
tinction a certain foundation of reality and at the same time to
exclude anything like a physical distinction. The Thesis, therefore,
virtually contains two Members^ — viz. that there is a metaphysical,
and that there is not a physical, distinction existing between the
bodily Form and its causality.
By a physical distinction is to be understood (as we have seen
before) a real distinction, such that there is a natural possibility of
separating one from the other, so that one at least of the two is
capable of existing without the other. Metaphysical distinction, on
the other hand, is conceptual yet based on a reality, or real yet in
such wise that neither is physically capable of existing without the
other. The reader will do well to consult the Article on Distinctions,
Book iii^ ch. ii.
I. Ths Fiest MsHBEa asserts that there is a metaphysical distinc-
tion between the substantial bodily Form and its causality. First of
all it is plain that^ if (as will be proved in the sec(md Member)
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there is no physical distinction between the two, the distinction
must be conceptual, since there is no middle term; always sup-
posing that there is a distinction of some sort, about which in the
present instance there cannot be a doubt. The only remaining
question, therefore, is, whether this conceptual distinction is raiionii
ratiocinantis or rationis ratiocinatae; in other words, whether the
distinction is exclusively a creation of the mind, or whether a real
foundation for the concept is discoverable. The Thesis maintains
that this latter is the case ; and the assertion is thus proved. A
distinction which is due to the perfection of the object distinguished,
by virtue of which it is equivalent to two realities really distinct in
other entities, is a metaphysical distinction. But such is the dis-
tinction between the bodily Form and its causality. Therefore, etc.
The Major is evident ; for it is a definition. The Minor is thns
declared. In other finite entities there is a real distinction between
the principiant of action, or of causality, and the causality itself; so
that the principiant, — at the least de potentia absoluta^—^xn. exist,
and does often exist, without its causal action. In the substantial
Form these two are one by reason of the perfection of its entity.
Again : If considered in the light of an imperfection, (and that it
admits of being so considered, will be explained under the second
Member) ; such imperfection is the foundation of another species of
metaphysical distinction, about which, — as about the former, — ^the
Article referred to in the Prolegomenon gives a detailed explanation.
Again : In the human soul, which is a substantial bodily Form, the
two are seen to be actually separated ; since the soul exists after
death and, nevertheless, ceases to inform the body.
II. The Segonb Member of the Thesis declares that there u no
physical distinction between the bodily Form and its causality. A dis-
tinction between two entities, neither of which can be separated
from the other either in the order of nature or depotentia absolnia,
is not a real distinction. But the substantial bodily Form neither
in order of nature nor de potentia absoluta can be separated from its
causality or the causality from the Form, Therefore, there is no
real distinction between them. The Major is indisputable. Tlic
Minor hajs been sufficiently established in former Propositions. For
it has been shown that these bodily Forms, (with the solitaiy
exception signalized at the beginning of the Article), depend upon
the matter for their eduction and support ; so that the commence-
ment and continuance of their existence depend upon their actnallj
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The Formal Cause. 575
informing the matter. Consequently, it is impossible to separate
the Form from its causality ; for the same moment that it ceases to
be causal, it ceases to be. Its causality is what may be analogically
called the material part of its essence, the specific determination of
its causality supplying (as it were) the place of a Form. This vir-
tual identity of the Form with its causality owes its origin to the
imperfection of its substantial entity; as the above declaration of
the Minor must have made sufficiently apparent. It is in this sense
that the distinction in question may be said to be founded on the
imperfection of the Form. Hence, compared with the human soul,
or even, after a manner, with accidental Forms, the substantial
bodily Form is conceptually distinguished from its causality rather
according to this second species of metaphysical distinction. On
the other hand, forasmuch as it is identified with its own essential
operation or causal action^ it is a more simple act than are prin-
cipiants that are separable from such action; and, considered in this
light, the foundation for the distinction between it and its causality
is a perfection indicative of a more absolute unity.
DiracuLTY.
Against the proof of the second Member it is objected as follows.
It would appear that de potentia absoltita,'^ihBt is to say, by the
Omnipotence of God, — the substantial Form could be preserved in
being without its actual causality,— -in other words, without its in-
forming matter. Therefore, there is a real distinction between the
two. The Antecedent is proved by two arguments. First of all, in
the human soul there is an actual separation. But, so far as the
information of the matter is concerned, the human soul stands on a
par with all other bodily Forms. Consequently, these latter are
separable de potentia absoluta. Secondly, quantity can be preserved
in being, apart from matter de potentia absoluta^ as all the Doctors
of the School allow. Therefore, i fortiori the substantial Form.
Such is the argument of Suarez, who maintains that there is a real
distinction between the bodily Form and its causality. Fonseca
goes so far as to say that ' no Catholic philosopher doubts but that
all Forms without exception can be preserved by the Power of God
without a Subject'.'
' * Neque ullas Catholious Phfloeophiu ambigit, qmn formae absolute omnes di?izui
potestate line Bubjeoto cohaerere in rerum natura possint.' In Mdaph. Arid, L. F,
Cap. 2, Q. 4, J i.,r./.
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Answer. The Antecedent is denied. It is not possible for Ood to
preserve the substantial bodily Form in beings apart from the
matter; because it is a metaphysical impossibility. As to the two
proofs of the Antecedent^ they are arguments a pari; and the
parity is denied. The assertion of Fonseca may be neglected; since
it is unsupported either by extrinsic authority or intrinsic reasons
of any kind.
Such in summary is the formal answer to the objection. But it
would ill become the respect due to so weighty an authority as that
of Suarez, were the question in dispute to be thus prematurely
brought to a close. It may fairly be expected that reasons should
be given in support of the assertion that there is no parity, where
such a philosopher as Suarez thinks to have discovered a parity.
The scope of the present Work will explain why recourse is had to
the authority of St. Thomas. Independently, however, of this
motive, it will be seen that arguments which conclusively establish
the truth of the answer given^ are to be found in his teaching with
regard to this subject. Wherefore,
i. St. Thomas teaches that these substantial Forms have no
being of themselves, but that their sole function is to constitute
the composite in being by actuating the matter. This has been
already shown to be his teaching from his own words in former
Propositions ; nevertheless, let the following quotation be added by
way of complement. * Other Forms,' he writes, in contrasting these
with the human soul, 'are not subsistent. Hence, they have no
being, but by me^ns of them some things ' (to wit, the composites)
< exist. Wherefore, they are made in this sense, viz. that the mat-
ter, or Subject, is reduced from potentiality to act *.' We shall see
that he repeats the same doctrine in another passage which will be
quoted presently under another heading. Here, then, we are pro-
vided with certain premisses which conduct us straight to the
conclusion included in the above answer. First of all, if these
Forms liave no being in themselves by virtue of their very nature;
to preserve them in existence apart from their Subject, is a contra-
diction in terms, for they have no being of their own to preserve.
To say, therefore, that they can be so preserved depotentia abiolutu,
1 <Aliae formae noa sunt subustentes ; unde ease non est earum, aed ois ii£qna
Bont. Unde fieri earum est secandom quod materia vel subjectum reducitur de potea-
tia ID actum/ Spiriiu. a. a, 8«.
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The Formal Cause, 577
is tantamount to saying that God can make a thing which has
essentially no being of its own to have being of its own, and that
which is essentially incapable of subsistence to subsist. Moreover,
if all its being is in the being of the composite; to say that God
can preserve its being outside the composite, is equivalent to saying
that God can cause a thing to be independently of that which is
essential to its being. Lastly, if these Forms are essentially nothing
more or less than acts of matter on which they are essentially de-
pendent ; to affirm the possibility of their existence apart from
matter, is the same as to admit that an essentially material act
could exist as not a material act. * But all these are so many con-
tradictions in terms.
ii. It is the teaching of St. Thomas that these substantial Forms
cannot exercise their natural operation apart from matter. Yet
elsewhere he teaches that an entity necessarily exercises its natural
operation, as soon as it begins to be. Thus, pursuing the same
contrast between the human soul and other material Forms, he
writes as follows in another place : ' The rational soul differs from
all other' material * Forms in this; viz. that it does not comport
with the other Forms to have a being in which they can themselves
subsist, but a being by virtue of which entities formed by them
may subsist. On the other hand, the rational soul possesses being
in such sort as to subsist in it. And this is set forth in the diver-
sity of action. For since nothing can act unless it exists ; every
entity beara the same relation to operation or action as it does to
being. Wherefore, since the body necessarily takes part in the
operation of the other Forms, but not in the operation of the human
soul, which consists of thought and will ; being is necessarily attri-
buted to the human soul as to a subsisting entity, but not to the
other Forms. Hence it is, that among these Forms the rational
soul alone exists separate from the body. Thus, then, it appears
that the rational soul comes forth into being in a different way
from the other Forms, which do not admit of being made in the
proper sense of the word, but are said to be made by something
having been made ^/ — that is to say, the composite. Elsewhere he
^ * Batiooalis anima in hoc a ceteris formis differt, qaod aliis formls non oompetit
esse in quo ipeae subeiBtant, Bed quo eis res formatae subeistant; anima vero rationHlis
sic babet esse ut in eo subsiBteDs. Et hoc declarat divenuB moduB agendi. Cum enim
agere non poBsit nisi quod est, unumquodque hoc modo Be habet ad operandnm vel
agendum, quomodo Be babet ad esse. Unde, cum in operatione aliarum formarum
. VOL. II. P p
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578 Causes of Being.
says, * Natural Forms, immediately upon their existence in matter,
are in possession of— exercise — 'their natural operations; unless
there should be some impediment. The reason of this is, that a
natural Form is determined to one act only ^.' In this passage the
Angelic Doctor repeats in yet clearer terms that these Forms have
no being in themselves. It is important to examine the ail-
ment by which he arrives at his conclusion. This it is in sub-
stance. The nature of the being of a thing is discernible in its
natural operation. Now, all these substantial Forms, with the single
exception of the human soul, can only exercise their natural
operation with the assistance df matter. Hence, they have no
being save in matter. This is the reason, adds St. Thomas, why
of all these Forms the human soul alone exists in a state of separa-
tion from matter. Is it not evident, then, — is it not a simple
corollary from his teaching, — ^that, in the judgment of the Angelic
Doctor, these Forms cannot exist separate from matter, because
they cannot, although otherwise unhindered, exercise their natural
operations in such state of separation ? Hence, the conclusion : If
one of these Forms could de potentia absoluta be preserved separate
from matter ; then, one of two things. Either an entity can exist
without its natural operation, albeit unhindered ; or an entity that
is essentially incapable of its natural operation without the help of
matter can preserve its natural operation apart from matter. Bat
each one of these hypotheses involves a metaphysical impossibility,
iii. The concluding words of the last quotation but one supply us
with an additional argument. The Angelic Doctor there declares
that these Forms cannot be properly said to be made ; but that one
may affirm them to be made in that composite which themselves
constitute by their actuation of the matter. Accordingly, in the
hundred and seventy-seventh Proposition it has been shown from the
teaching of the same Doctor, that it is a metaphysical impossibility
for these Forms to become the single or adequate term of either
Decease eit oommunicare corpus, non autem in operatione rationalis aiiimAe,^qufteei«
intelligere et velle ; necesse est ipid rational! animae esse attribui quad rei subastenti,
non autem aliis formis. Et ex hoc est quod inter formas sola rationalis anima a ctut'
pore separatur. Ex hoc ergo patet quod anima rationalis exit in esse, non sicut fannai
aJiae, quibus proprie non convenit fieri, sed dicuntur fieri facto quodam.' P<^ Q. in.
a. 9, c. in m.
1 * Formae naturales, statim ut sunt in nuiteria, habent operationes snas, nisi a:
aliquod impedimentum ; quod ideo est, quia forma naturalis non se habet nisi ad unom.*
Anima, a. 18, 5™.
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The Formal Cause. 579
creative or productive action. Wherefore, as we are told by the
same authority, in the elements they were concreated with the
matter. In other words, the composite was the adequate term of
the creative Act. Hence, another argument, which seems irre-*
fragable, in favour of the present contention. The conservative
action of God, by which He preserves creatures in being, is a con-
tinuation of the Act creative or productive, as the case may be.
This no philosopher has called in question. If, then, God could
preserve these Forms in existence apart from matter; it would
follow that He could do in the Act of conservation that which is a
metaphysical impossibility in the Act of creation or production.
This, again, is a contradiction in terms.
iv. According to the teaching of the Angelic Doctor, these sub-
stantial Forms are in their nature universal and receive their indi*
viduation from matter. But universals, as such, can have no
existence save in the mind that conceives them. Hence, antece-
dently to the individuation of these bodily Forms in matter^ they
exist exclusively as exemplar Ideas in the Mind of God. The Major
can be easily established. Thus, in one place St. Thomas writes :
' Forms that are capable of being received in matter are individuated
by the matter. . . . But the Form, so far as its own nature
is concerned, is capable of being received by many^' portions of
matter. Again : ' A Form, so far as its nature goes^ is universal ^.'*
Again : * A Form of itself is universal ^.' In another place he says :
' It is to be observed, then, that a thing is said to be infinite, be-
cause it is not limited. Now, in a certain way both matter is
limited by Form and Form by matter : matter by Form, because
matter, previously to its receiving some one Form, is in potentiality
to many Forms ; but, when it has received one, it is limited by it,'
— ^that is to say, it is determined to that one substantial Form and,
for so long as it is so informed, can receive no other. * Form is
likewise limited by matter ; forasmuch as Form, considered in its
own nature, is common to many, but by being received in matter it
becomes determinately the Form of this entity*.' Yet again: *A
' ' Fonnae quae sunt receptibiles in materia, individoantur per materiam. . . . Forma
vero, qnaxitum est de se . . . recipi potest a pluribus.* i** iii, a; 3">.
' 'Forma autem, quantum est de se, sit universalis.' tn 4 c£. 1, Q. i, a. 3, e. in^,
* 'Omnis autem forma de se universalis est.' Ytrii, Q. ii, a. 5, in m.; Q. viii, 11,
<j, p.m. ; Q. X, a. 5, c, inH,
* * Oonsiderandum est igitur quod infinitum dicitur aliquid ex eo quod non est fini-
turn : finitur autem quodammodo et materia per formam et forma per materiam.
Pp 3
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580 Causes of Being.
Form has the character of universality, ia that it is capable of being
received in many ^.' Once more : * Every Form in its own nature
is common. Hence, the addition of Form to Form cannot be the
cause of individuation/ St. Thomas is here including accidental
Forms, as will be seen, in his argument. ' For how many soever
Forms may be heaped together, — as, for instance, whUe^ of two
cubits^ lettfftA, curly Aair, and such like, — they do not constitute a
particular ; because all these are together in one,' — ^that is to sav,
their unity of aggregation does not arise from any mutual subordi-
nation or dependence, since they are together merely, — ^'and are,
therefore, capable of being found in many potentialities. But the
individuation of the Form is due to the matter, by which the Form
is contracted to this determinate entity^.' Finally: In another
passage where he explains his mind more fully he writes as fol-
lows. * The nature of a material Form, (since of itself it cannot be
this something ' — that is, individual, — * specifically complete, whose
being is alone incommunicable), is communicable, so far as regards
its own nature ; and is only incommunicable by reason of the sup-
posit, which is something specifically complete. This, however, does
not belong to every sort of Form. Wherefore, so far as regards its
essential nature it is communicable, as has been said. Now, its
communication consists, (as has been said), in its being received in
other entities. Accordingly, so far as regards its essential nature
it is communicable and can be received in many, and is received
according to one essential nature ; since the nature of a species is
one in all the individuals belonging to it. But since itself has no
being, because being belongs to a supposit only, (as the Philosopher
plainly indicates in the seventh Book of his Metaphymi)^ and a
supposit it is that is incommunicable, as we have said ; therefore,
the material Form is diversified according to a plurality of incom-
Materia quidem per formam, inquantum materia, antequam recipiat fonnam, eat is
potentia ad multaa formas ; aed cum recipit imam, texmiDatur per iUam. Fonna vcn>
finitur per materiam, inquantum forma in ae considerata communiB est ad molta ; sed
per hoc quod recipitur in materia, fit forma determinate hujus rei.' i»* vii, i, c.
^ ' Forma rationem univerBalitatis habet ex hoc quod in pluiibuB eat reoeptibilb/
2 d, iii, Q. If a. 2, a™.
' * OmxuB autem forma de se communis est. (Jnde additio fbrmae ad formam soo
potest ease causa indiyiduationis : quia quotcumque formae simul aggregentor, ot
album, bicubitum, et crispum, et hujusmodi, non constituunt uniyerBale, quia hiec
omnia simul simt in uno, et ita in pluribus potentiis est possibile in venire. Sed iodi-
viduatio foimae est ex materia, per quam forma contrahitur ad hoc determinatosL*
Qwl L. VII, a. 3. c.
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The Formal Cause. 581
mnnicable entities^ while remaining one according to the nature
communicated to many,' — that is to say, it becomes many Forms
with individual differences by virtue of the composites wherein
alone it can have beings but remains one according to that specific
nature which it constitutes the same in each and all. ' Now^ its
reception is in matter, because itself is material. Hence it is plain
that, by reason of its nature, a unity of essence is left to it^ even
when communicated ; and that it is rendered incommunicable by its
reception in matter. For from its being received in matter it is
made individual (which is, incommunicable), and the primordial
foundation in the Category of Substance ^.' This last passage shall
complete the teaching of the Angelic Doctor on this head. The
existence, then, of the material Form, antecedently to its eduction
from the potentiality of the matter, is purely conceptual. It exists
only as an Exemplar-Form in the Divine Mind ; for, as St. Thomas
teaches in this last quotation, in itself it has no being, but is a
specific nature communicable to many and, as a consequence, not
individual. Its individuality is in the concrete, — that is to say, in
its actuation of the matter. Seeing^ then, that of itself it is a uni-
versal, of itself it is not real but conceptual. But the concept is
eminently real objectively; a reality it can only receive from the
Divine Idea by Which such a definite grade in the imitability of
the Divine Essence is cognized and represented in the Word. Phy-
sically, therefore, considered exclusively in itself, it is nothing;
metaphysically considered^ it is a species and, as such, communi-
cable to many individuals according to the unity of one common
nature. Itself, — to repeat this most pregnant part of St. Thomas'
^ * Natnra enim fonnae materialis, cam ipsa non powit esse hoc aliqtiid completum
in specie, cujus solum esse est inoommunicabile, est communicabilis quantum est do
ratione sua ; sed est incommunicabilis solum ratione suppositi, quod est aliquid com-
pletum in specie, quod cuilibet formae non conveoit, ut dictum est. . . . Ideo quantum
est de ratione sua, communicabilis est, ut dictum est. Gommunicatio autem sua
est, ut dictum est, per hoc quod recipitur in aliis. Ideo, quantum est de natura
sua, communicabilis est, et in multis recipi potest, et recipitur secundum unam
ratiooem, cum una sit ratio speciei in omnibus sui individuis. Sed quia ipsa esse
non habet, ut dictum est, quia esse est solius suppositi, ut patet per Philosophum
7 Meta., et suppositum incommunicabile est, ut dictum est ; ideo ipsa forma materia
alia diversificatur secundum multa esse incommunicabilia, manens una secundum rati-
onem roultis oonmiunicatam : sua autem receptio est in materia, quia ipsa materialis
est. £x quo patet quod de natura sua sibi relinquitur unitas rationis in communicatione
sua, et quod redditur incommunicabilis per receptionem suam in materia. £z quo
enim recipitur in materia, efiicitur individuum, quod est incommunicabile ; et primum
fundameotum in genere substantiae.' Opxuc, XXIX {aliter XXV), p. m.
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582 Causes of Being.
teaching, — is not individual^ but receives its individiuility and, as a
consequence, ita existence from the matter which it actuate. By
virtue of its existence in the matter it becomes so determined as to
be individually differentiated ; — that is to say, besides its specific
nature which it communicates in common to each and all of the
composites that it constitutes^ it acquires particular notes in each,
by which it is determined as thi% individual Form. Thus, for
instance, the horse-Form gives to all horses that specific nature by
which they are distinguished from animals of every other species ;
but, as evolved in this particular portion of matter, it existentiallv
receives from matter certain individual characteristics by which
ihxB horse is distinguished from thai other and every other. It is
in such wise that even the human soul is subjected to hereditaiy
dispositions.
From the above declarations we gather that^ according to the
mind of the Angelic Doctor, these substantial Forms apart from
matter have no real existence. Hence, they are universals, which
nothing existent can be. Hence, too, they are infinite, i.e. undeter-
mined, andf capable — as Exemplar Ideas— of being intefUiomUy
communicated to many. ' Their conjunction with matter, therefore,
is essential to their individuation and actual physical existence.
From the above premisses it follows that, if these Forms can de
potentia absoluta be preserved in existence apart from matter, a
universal could exist in nature, — that something essentially deprived
of individuation could be individual, — that an existentially deter-
mined and, therefore, incommunicable Form could continue to exist
as communicable to many, — that the individually limited could
persevere in existence as unlimited. Sut all these hypotheses are
self-contradictory and, as a consequence, involve a metaphysical
impossibility.
An objection to the doctrine just exposed may possibly occur to
the mind of some. It may be said : If it is metaphysically im-
possible that the substantial bodily Form should exist apart from
matter ; it seems to follow as a consequence that the Form is as
imperfect an entity as primordial matter, since neither can exist
without the other. But, if so, it is difficult to understand the strong
expressions by which the philosophers have vied with one another
in extolling the excellence of these Forms. We have seen that
Aristotle declares Form to be 'something Divine and good and
object of desire ; ^ and Plato tells us that it is * the image of true
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The Formal Cause. 583
existences, a participated likeness of the Divine Nature^ a sort of
Divine offspring/ How can such expressions be reconciled with
this professed imbecility of the Form ? St. Thomas shall supply us
with the foundation for an answer to this difficulty. ' Now, matter,'
he tells us, is perfectioned by the Form by which it is determined ;
and therefore infinity ' — indeterminateness^ — ' as attributed to mat-
ter, has the nature of an imperfection ; for matter is ywd«2-matter
without a Form. Bui the Form is not perfected by matter, but
rather contracted in its extension. Hence, infinity' — indetermi-
nateness, — * as applied to Form by virtue of its being undetermined
by matter, has the nature of a perfection ^.' Wherefore, — to reduce
our answer into logical shape, — first of all, it must be owned that
there is a physical imperfection common to the substantial bodily
Form and to the matter, in that neither of them can possibly exist
apart from the other. Considering, therefore, the simple fact of
necessary dependence exclusively, they are on a par in their imper-
fection. But, secondly, if we have regard to the nature of the
dependence in each case, the superiority of the Form is at once
made manifest. For matter depends upon Form as a passive poten-
tiality on its act, — ^that is to say, as something which can hardly be
called an entity to that which perfects it in its specific essence ;
whereas the Form depends upon the matter as the perfect upon the
imperfect of which it is the perfection. Accordingly, the Form
g>ives to matter its determined grade, its nature and natural opera-
tion, its likeness to the Divine Prototypal Idea. Matter, on the
other hand, gives nothing to the Form but its individual notes and
organs of operation; — ^and these only by virtue of the accidents
which the Form has brought in its train. So far we have been
looking at the contrast from a physical point of view. Now to
look at it metaphysically: — The infinity, — that is to say, unbound-
edness, — of matter arises from the poverty of its being. It has no
definiteness of its own ; because it is an entirely indifferent passive
potentiality. It has no essence, no nature (properly so called) of its
own ; but has a natural inclination towards some essential determi-
nation or other as towards its own perfection. Wherefore, any
limitation of its unboundedness is its perfectionment; seeing that
^ * Materia autem perficitur per formam per quam finitur ; et ideo infinitum secun-
dnm quod attribnitur materiae, habet rationem imperfecti; est enim quasi materia non
habens fbrroam. Forma aatem non perficitur per materiam, sed magia per earn ejus
amplitude contrahitur. Unde infinitum, secundum quod se tenet ex parte formae non
determinatae per materiam, habet rationem perfecti.* !•• vii, i, c.
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584 Causes of Being.
' its infinity has the nature of an imperfection.' On the contrary,
the infinity, — or illimitation, — of a bodily Form * has the nature of
a perfection.' Why? Because its illimitation means this: that it
is a copy of the Divine Perfection in a specific grade ; and that this
likeness is fecund, so as to be capable of being communicated to any
number of individuals. It is a prolific perfection. By individual
limitation in matter nothing is added to the specific nature which
the Form communicates ; while its fecundity is in a sense dimi-
nished by its individual communication. It ceases to be prolific in
proportion as it becomes actual. Such appears to be the meaning
of St. Thomas in the passage quoted ; and such is the solution of
the difficulty proposed.
But Suarez proceeds to prove the possibility of the continued
existence of these Forms apart from matter by his first argumeut
a pari. The human soul, — to repeat his argument, — can exist in a
state of separation from the body; for it does actually so exist.
Therefore, we have an equal right to affirm that other substantial
material Forms can so exist. The answer is, not only that the two
cases are not parallel ; but that precisely there where a sort of paral-
lelism is discoverable, the evidence leads us to an exactly opposite
conclusion. The two cases are not parallel, because the human soul
is spiritual and subsistent. In that it is spiritual, it is so far forth
independent of matter as to its natural operation ; in that it has
a subsistence of its own, it is not dependent on matter for its
existence any more than for its beginning to exist. On the contrans
all other bodily Forms are material, dependent on matter for their
natural operation, evolved out of matter, and having no subsistence
save in matter. Hence, they are wholly material, and essentially
dependent on matter for their subsistence and very existence. That
there where a sort of parallelism is discoverable in the two cases, the
evidence leads to an exactly opposite conclusion, — is thus declared.
It is undoubted that the soul, as being a simple substance, is in its
entirety substantially united to the body as the actuating Form.
But, in order to discover the parallel of which we are in search, we
must go to the potential, or facultative, conjunction between soul
and body; and there we find two orders of faculties that are per-
fectly distinct. There are the higher or spiritual, and the lower or
sensitive and vegetative, faculties. The former are independent of
the body, and require no bodily organ. The latter are material, and
can only energize in, and by means of, certain organs of the body.
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The Formal Cause. 585
It is precisely these that are the properties of the soul as formally
act of the body; because, as formally act of the body, the soul of
man supplies iihe place of that vegetative and sensitive life which it
includes virtually as well as eminently in itself. Here, then, if any-
where, we must look for a parallelism between it and the other
material Forms. And what do we discover ? That the vegetative and
the sensitive life cease, so soon as the soul is separated from the body;
and that the faculties proper to these can no longer energize, but re-
main potentially in the soul. In a word, they so cease to be that,
if they were not contained virtually and eminently in a subsistent
spiritual nature, they would wholly cease to be. Thus, then, the argu-
ment of Suarez, based upon the existence of the human soul after
death, partly proves nothing from a defect of parity ; partly, where
the parity does hold^ sustains in no slight degree the opposite position.
The second and last argument of Suarez is another argument
h pari ; and runs as follows. It is unanimously admitted by the
Doctors of the School, that quantity can de potent ia absoluta be
preserved in a state of separation from matter. But, if this is
possible in the instance of an accidental Form, there is at least
equal reason for admitting the same possibility in the instance of
a substantial bodily Form. For, as the substantial bodily Form
is educed out of the potentiality of matter, so the accidental Form is
educed out of the potentiality of the composite ; and as the former
is the substantial act of matter^ so the latter is the accidental act
of the composite. Since, then, there is a parity so far forth both in
mode of origin and in dependence ; it is reasonable to conclude that
the possibility of existing in a state of separation from their respec-
tive Subjects will be the same. In the formal answer given to this
difficulty at the commencement, the parity was again denied. In
order to justify this answer, it will be necessary to anticipate briefly
•the doctrine, — to be afterwards explained at length, — ^touching the
nature of quantity. For it is to be noted that the possibility of
existence apart from its Subject is not claimed for every accident,
but for quantity in particular. There is a just reason for this.
Other accidents there are,— certain qualities, — which are capable
de potentia absoluta of such separate existence in a way, and
for reasons, that will greatly corroborate our present contention.
Now, let us examine the two terms of comparison. The whole
essence, function, raisofi d^etre^ of a substantial bodily Form is the
information of matter and the constitution of the composite. It is
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586 Causes of Being.
the perfectness of matter, — that by which the essential natnre of
the composite is specifically determined ; — that, and nothing more.
But similar characteristics cannot be attributed to quantity. It is
true that quantity is an accidental perfection of the integral com*
posite ; but it is something more. It assumes the nature, as it were,
of a twofold entity; for it is at once, according to a difference of
relation, an act and a potentiality. It is an act of material sub-
stance ; but it is likewise a passive potentiality, — although, in the
order of nature, together with the substance, — in its relation to
qualities. Within the sphere of accidental entities it assumes the
place of a sort of primordial matter, — itself indeterminate, imperfect,
and having a natural inclination and aptitude for qualitative Forms
without which it cannot exist. What would become of quantity in
the world of material things, if it had no limits, no shape? Yet
these are in the Category of Quality. Indeed, it would be hard to
understand the existence of quantity, without colour, hardness or
softness, and the like. Certainly, without these it could not be
subject to seDsile perception. Neither can it be justly objected that
such actuation and perfectioning come to it from another Category;
for such is likewise the case with the perfection which substance
receives from quantity. Then again, — and this it is most important
to notice, — quantity has no activity. It is like primordial matter in
this respect again ; whereas the bodily Form is primary source of
the natural operation of the composite. Lastly: Quantity is not
differentiated entitatively by the specific or individual nature of
the composite which it informs. On the contrary, it is a generic
property, attaching itself equally and indifferently to everything
that can claim the name of body; and, although in substantial
transformations it receives a new exi^tenee^* — because all accidents
without exception flow from the Subject which they inform, —
nevertheless, it remains in essence the same that it was l>efore. The
bodily Form, on the other hand, has its own specific nature in the
composite, by which it is distinguished from all Forms of other
species, and moreover admits of individual differences in the com-
posite, by which it is distinguished from other Forms included
under the same species. For these three reasons it is possible that
quantity should, and that the substantial Form should not, be
capable de potentia absoluta of being preserved in existence apart
from their respective Subjects. First : Since quantity has another
office to fulfil besides that of informing the composite substance,
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The Formal Cause. 587
and is a passive potentiality absolutely (thongh not according to the
order of nature) reducible to act, apart from the causality of the
composite substance ; it has in itself a sufficient reason for its being,
and its separate existence does not involve a metaphysical impossi-
Ulhy. Saoondly: Because it is not the principiant of any Tiafcnril
operation,— *-not e^vn fay Adegiflioii from "Hm trabslantial T^orm ;^it8
separate existence does not connote, as it does in the instance of the
substantial Form, the existence of an entity deprived of its natural
operation. Lastly: The connection between quantity and the indi-
vidual body is esseiUially so indeterminate, — because generic, — as to
render the possibility of its separate existence depotentia absoluta
less difficult of comprehension. The case is very different with
qualitative accidents in general. They are pure Forms, actuating
quantity immediately and mediately substance. Moreover, in many
cases, — when they are not simple modes, — they have a delegated
natural operation as instruments of the substantial Form. For this
latter never acts immediately on other bodies ; but uses qualities as
the naturally necessary media of its action. Lastly : Qualities are
differentiated according to the nature as well as the individuality of
the substantial composite that they inform. Hence, (and it is an
important confirmation of the position defended in the present Pro-
position), according to the Angelic Doctor it is impossible depotentia
aSsoluta to preserve qualities in being, apart from quantity; or, if
possible, the qualitative Forms in such case would lose their present
nature and assume another accommodated to their new position.
They are able, indeed, by an act of the Divine Omnipotence, to per-
severe in existence without inhesion in the substantial composite ;
but this capacity is, so to say, vicarious. Since they immediately
inhere in quantity, and only inform the material substance through
the medium of quantity ; they follow the fortunes of the latter. If,
therefore, quantity should continue to exist, though separated from
the composite substance ; so would the qualities that immediately
inhere in such quai\tity. This, however, is the important point:
It is metaphysically impossible that qualities should exist apart
from some Subject, without changing tibeir essential nature. Why?
Because, in proportion to their accidental nature, they are pure acts
with a natural, though subordinate, activity. But in these respects
there is an apparent identity between them and substantial bodily
Forms. Hence, the consideration of qualitative Forms serves to
corroborate the truth of the present contention.
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There is one objection that may be made to the above answer,
and it is this. An accident of its very nature connotes a Subject of
inhesion ; because it is not leing^ but beiTig of being. It is thus dis-
tinguished from substance. If, then, an accident can exist dejpotentia
ab^oluta independently of its Subject; much rather, as one would
suppose^ could a bodily substantial Form so exist. Answer : It is true
that accident essentially connotes a Subject as object and term of its
natural tendency, aptitude, indigency; and such tendency, aptitude^
indigency, it can never lose, (as will be more fully explained in
another Book). But it does not essentially connote a Subject of
actual inhesion ; for it is a complete entity in its own Category.
On the contrary, the substantial Form of a body essentially connotes
a Subject of actual inhesion ; because it is incomplete in its own
Category and needs completion for its existence and continuance.
PROPOSITION GCI.
The causality of the substantial bodily Form consists in the
actual information of the matter.
Prolegomenon.
There is no controversy among the Doctors of the School touching
the substantial truth of the present Proposition ; although there is
a difference in the method of expression. Suarez asserts this
causality to consist in the actual union of the Form with the matter.
For the reason already assigned, the term, union, has been avoided.
It might with greater propriety be applied to the substantial con-
stitution of man ; since the human soul has a subsistence of its own
independent of the composite, and is originally created. Yet, even
in this case, the adoption of the word^ information^ seems preferable.
For union, even though conceived as substantial or between two
incomplete substances completive of each oth^r within their own
Category, does not necessarily, — or, at least, explicitly, — convey
the idea of the reduction of a passive potentiality to act, and the
elevation of the former by the latter to the perfection of a specific
nature.
Declaration or the Thesis.
The truth of the Enunciation has been so clearly shown in the
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declarations of preceding Theses as to preclude the necessity of any
further proof; the more so, that there is no other conceivable
causality that may be assigned to the substantial Form.
§4.
The efibots of formal causality.
PROPOSITION con.
The primary efibct of the substantial bodily Form is the
compofsite.
Declabation of the Proposition.
That the composite is an effect of the causality of the substantial
Form, does not admit of a doubt; since it receives from the Form
its constitution^ its specific nature, its proper operation, its beauty
and excellence. It may not be so evident at first sight, that the
composite is ^hn'^ primary effect of formal causality. This statement
in the Enunciation is thus proved. That which answers to the final
cause, or end, of any causality is the primary effect of such causality.
But the composite is that alone which answers to the end of formal
causality. Therefore, etc. The Major is evident. The Minor is
thus declared. There are only two conceivable effects of the sub-
stantial bodily Form, — ^to wit, the matter and the composite. But
the causality of the Form in relation to the matter is for the sake
of the constitution of the composite and is, consequently, only a
means towards the attainment of the end. Wherefore, it cannot be
the primary effect of such causality.
DlFWCTJLTIBS.
I. That effect which is first in order of nature is the primary
effect of a cause. But in formal causality the information of the
matter is prior in order of nature to the constitution of the compo-
site. Therefore, the former, not the latter, is the primary effect of
the Form.
Answer. Let the Major pass ; since it is not necessary to intro-
duce a distinction, in order to meet the present objection. The
Minor is denied ; since by one and the same causal act the Form
actuates the matter and constitutes the composite.
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590 Causes of Being.
II. The composite cannot be an effe<!t of the substantial Form in
any way ; which is thus proved. The cause is nobler than its effect.
But the Form is not nobler than the composite : Firsts because the
latter includes the Form and the matter besides ; secondly, because
the Form is an incomplete, the composite a complete, substance ;
thirdly, because the Form naturally desires conjunction with the
matter, — needs it in order to exist. But this conjunction, as inclu-
sive of the matter, is the composite.
Answer. The Antecedent is denied. Now for the proof: That the
cause is nobler than its effect^ must be distinguished; — always is
nobler, — no ; in the instance of some causes, as the efficient and
final, — granted. The same Major would exclude matter also from
being in any sense cause of the composite; the latter, therefore,
would be a composite without composition.
PROPOSITION ccni.
Matter depends upon the Form in such wise that it cannot natu-
rally exist without the infbrmation of the Form.
P&OLEOOMENOK.
In this and the succeeding Theses which conclude the present
Article, we are involved in a question that is a subject of consi-
derable controversy in the Schools. Widely different opinions have
been maintained touching the causality of the substantial Form in
matter,— ^its reality, extent, and effect. It is the writer's misfortune
that he is compelled on this question again to differ from the opinion
of Suarez, who does not admit the causal dependence of matter on
the Form. All the arguments, however, which this eminent philo-
sopher has adduced against the doctrine here maintained, as well as
those which he proffers in favour of his own theory, will be given
and discussed under the difficulties subjoined to each Proposition.
In the arrangement of the Propositions those points will be first
established, about which there is a more general agreement; in
order that we may be the better enabled, by the help of these
previous conclusions, to confront those other points that have been
more generally contested. Suarez admits the truth of the present
Thesis.
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DECLAItATION OF THE PkOPOSITION.
Matter is essentially a mere passive potentiality, (as has been
shown in the previous Chapter), having a natural disposition to-
wards its act as (to say the least) completive of its perfection in its
own Category; since without the Form it is an incomplete entity,
— ^nay, the most incomplete of entities, — next to nothing. There-
fore, by virtue of its nature it depends upon the Form. But it
naturally depends upon the Form for its emstence. For (i) a mere
passive potentiality in the order of nature requires actuation as a
condition of its existence. Why? Because it is a mere receptivity.
But a mere receptivity is not in act, till it receives. Neither is it,
— physically ^ at all events, — an act; for an act, as act, excludes
potentiality. Furthermore : Because it is not an act, it is in poten-
tiality to existence ; because nothing that is not an act, or actual,
can exist. If, then, it is in potentiality to existence; it cannot
exist till it is actuated by the Form. Therefore, it depends upon
the latter for its existence, (ii) If matter could exist without actua-
tion by the Form, it would be wholly useless ; and * nature makes
nothing in vain.' It is frivolous to urge that it would not be use-
less, because it would retain its essential tendency towards some
Form as condition of its actuation. For how could such tendency
make matter practically useful, so long as it was forcibly hindered
from arriving at its term ? (iii) It is not reasonable to suppose that
matter should be less dependent on the substantial Form than on
accidental Forms. Yet matter cannot naturally exist without the
latter, more particularly without quantity. Therefore, it connatu-
rally postulates actuation by the substantial Form in order that it
may exist, — ^the more so, that the accidents are consequent upon the
Form, (iv) That which always occurs in the same way among the
things of nature may be safely said to be naturally necessary. But
the information of matter by some substantial Form always occurs
in the same way. Therefore, etc. The Minor is proved by experi-
ence ; for there is no known exception to the rule. But, if it is
naturally necessary to the existence of matter that it should be
actuated by some substantial Form, matter depends upon such
Form, in the ordering of nature, for its existence, (v) This
last argument is confirmed by the universal law of alternate cor-
ruptions and generations. In no single instance does a corruption
terminate, so to speak, in itself; but it invariably makes way for
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592 Causes of Being.
a new generation. Hence, matter from the first moment of crea-
tion has been always under the actuation of some substantial Form.
But this is no feeble sign of a natural necessity.
Difficulty.
Primordial matter has a partial subsistence of its own. There-
fore, it is not dependent on the Form for its existence.
Answer. It is true that matter has a partial subsistence in the
composite, — that is to say, as actuated by the Form ; — but, apart
from the composite, it has neither partial subsistence nor existence
nor entity. Besides, as Suarez acutely remarks, subsistence, — ^that
is, the existence of a thing in itself without inherence in another, —
excludes dependence on a Subject, but not dependence on an act, or
Form.
PROPOSITION CCIV.
Such natural dependence of the matter on the Form is not a
mere necessary condition^ but is truly causaL
The Thesis is proved by the following arguments :
I. The first argument is an arffumentum ad Aominem; — of no little
weight, be it observed, in the present controversy, which is a purely
Scholastic one ; though its issues are much more general and of
the gravest importance. The purport is, to show that those Scholastic
philosophers who maintain the opposite opinion are in contradiction
with themselves ; since they hold and teach the doctrine of formal
causality, yet at the same time virtually deny its existence. The
argument is as follows r If this natural dependence of matter on the
substantial Form were a mere necessary condition and not causal,
the Form must be expunged firom the catalogue of causes. Bat
this would practically amount to the subversion of the Peripatetic,
or Scholastic, Philosophy. The Major is thus proved. The natural
dependence of the matter on its Form for its existence is con-
fessedly the dependence of matter as a passive potentiality on its
act. Consequently, if this dependence is not causal, the actuation
of matter by the Form (which is this same dependence in act) will
not be causal. Therefore, the Form will not be formal cause of the
matter. But neither of the composite ; for the composite is really
nothing more or less than the matter actuated by the Form. If
this be true of the substantial Form ; a fortiori must it be true of
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accidental Forms. Now, substance and accident are a real dichotomic
division ; within one or other of the members of which every entity
is included. Therefore^ in the hypothesis that this dependence of
matter on Form is a mere necessary condition^ there would be no
such thing as a formal cause. Against the above argument it may
be urged, that the dependence of matter ^br iU exUtetiee on the
Form and its dependence on the Form/br iU completeness and sub'
stantial jaerfection are not one and the same thing ; and that conse-
quently the latter may be causal, while the former is a mere
necessary condition. The answer is plain. The dependence in both
cases is really the same, though considered from two different
points of view. The matter naturally depends upon the Form for
its existence, because it depends upon the same for its actuation ;
and by its actuation it receives its completeness and substantial
perfection. Wherefore, if the former is not causal ; so neither can
the latter be.
II. The substantial Form, as all are agreed, has a causal de-
pendence on the matter. Therefore, h fortiori the matter causally
depends on the Form ; because the Form is out of all comparison
the more noble. Consequently, it is only fitting that, of the two, its
dependence should be the less stiingent. Neither is it a valid ob-
jection against this second argument, that the Form depends upon
the matter as upon its Subject ; and that this can under no possible
hypothesis be predicated of the Form: Therefore, it is necessary to
admit that the dependence of the Form on matter is more stringent
than that of matter on the Form. For there are more ways of
dependence than one ; and it cannot be admitted that the particular
dependence on another as on a Subject is the most absolute. There
is the dependence on another for entitative actuation, by which the
existence and actual entity of the actuated depends on the actuating;
and this is more absolute than the dependence of one entity on
another as its Subject. For dependence is measured by indigence.
Now, (as we have been already taught by the AngeUc Doctor), if
we consider the question metaphysically, the matter receives a
notable perfection in its limitation by the Form ; while the Form
suffers loss in its limitation by matter, because the fecundity of its
extension is diminished by its individuation.
III. The dependence of the matter for its existence upon the
Form is shown to be causal from the essential nature of this de-
pendence. For a pure passive potentiality essentially postulates its
VOL. II. q q
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actuation and its existence as identified with its actuation. Bat
matter is only actuated by its substantial Form.
DIFFICnuriES.
A. The first class of. objections embraces those arguments which
are adduced in i|roof that the said dependence is only a neces-
sary condition.
I. This mode of dependence is possible ; for it exists as a fiict.
The Antecedent is proved from the accidental dispositions of the
matter in the process of generation. For the eduction of the sub-
stantial Form, the concomitant information of matter, and consti-
tution of the composite, depend upon these conditions. But the
dependence is not causal. Again : It is certain that the informa-
tion of the matter and constitution of the composite depend upon
the apportionment of matter by quantity. But here again the de-
pendence is not causal. In both cases the dependence is but a
necessary condition. Therefore^ h fortiori matter can depend upon
its substantial Form as a mere necessary condition.
Answee. So far is the above conclusion from being a fortiori^
that it is not even a pari. There is no parity even between the
instances adduced and the case of the substantial Form. In the
first place, the said accidents are not the proper act of matter;
whereas the latter is. Further : These accidents presuppose the
existence and, therefore, the information of matter ; and are acci-
dental acts of the composite. Secondly, they are in a difierent
Category from that of matter, the Form, and composite. Conse-
quently, they cannot possibly exercise a causal influx into the
existence of any one of the three. In their case, therefore, the
dependence cannot be causal. But the substantial Form is the act
of matter and, together with this latter, is by reduction under the
same Category of substance. Lastly, considered as necessary con-
ditions, they are included by St. Thomas under the material cause;
while, considered as actually existing in the composite, they are
concomitants of the Form.
II. The aforesaid mode of explaining the dependence of the
matter on the Form is sufficient to account fully for all that has
been predicated of this dependence ; and the arguments hitherto
offered in support of the contrary opinion go no further than
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to prove that matter depends on the Form as a necessary condition
of its existence.
Answer. This assertion, unaccompanied by any proof, must be
met with an unequivocal denial. The Angelic Doctor has predi-
cated of matter that it is next to nothing, — ^that it cannot alone
become the term of a Creative Act, and is consequently concreated
with the Form, — that it cannot exist of itself, but receives exist-
ence from the Form,— that there is a mutual causality between
matter and Form, — that ' It comes to pass in causes, that the same
entity is cause and caused in a different order of causality. ... It
is the same with the relation existing between matter and Form.
For, in the category of material cause, the matter is cause of the
Form, in that it sustains the latter ; while the Form is cause
in the category of formal cause,- because it causes matter to be
in act*.' Are these ample declarations, particularly in their col-
lective strength, satisfied by the opinion, that the existence of the
matter depends upon the Form only as a necessary condition?
Again : Among the arguments adduced in support of the present
Proposition, (let one example suffice), it has been urged that the
Form exercises a real influx into the existence of the matter in
consequence of the essential dependence of the latter^ as a pure
passive potentiality, on the former, as its substantive act. Can
such an argument be satisfied by the dependence of the matter on
the Form as on a mere condition ?
III. The mode of explanation maintained by Suarez is easy and
clear; for it enables us plainly to understand how the matter
depends on the Form, the Form on the matter. The dependence
of the Form on the matter is causal and h priori; while the depend-
ence of matter on the Form is a mere concomitant condition and
a posteriori.
Answeb. Easy explanations of abstruse metaphysical problems
have a name of evil omen. They are for the most part like the
short cuts of inexperienced travellers, which end in leading those who
venture them far away out of the right road. So is it in the present
^ ' In cauBifl autem contingit quod idem est causa et causatoni, seoundum divenuili
genus causae. . . . Et similiter de habitudine quae est inter materiam et formam :
quia secundum genus causae materialis materia est causa formae quasi sustentans
ipsam, et forma est causa materiae quasi faciens earn esse aotu secundum genui
causae formalis.' 4 d. xvii, Q. i, a. 4, q, i, e. Videris Verit, Q. zxvii, a. 7, e.
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inHtance. We are in search of whatsoever causality interceding
between two essentially imperfect entities that together make op
an integral whole. They are so mutually dependent on the other,
that neither can naturally exist in a state of separation ; and it is
rationally to be presumed that in this dependence may be discovered
the causality for which we are in search. There are two elements
in the case, which have to be taken into consideration. First, there
is a great inequality of entity. The one is lowest in the scale of
real things, with difficulty distinguishable from nothingness. The
other is a likeness of the Divine Perfection, determining the nature
of the integral composite of which it forms a part, and to which it
gives its natural operation and beauty. Secondly, as these two
entities cannot exist apart from each other ; so neither can they be
separately created or produced. Therefore, they are concreated, or
conproduced in such sort at least that neither is, nor naturally can
be, without the other. With these antecedents let us now look at
the said clear and easy solution. There is a mutual dependence ;
therefore, as the dependence is causal in the one case, one would
have imagined that it would be causal in the other. But no. Why
not ? Because matter is the Subject of the Form and, accordingly,
postulates priority of nature. Therefore, the dependence of the Form
on matter is causal ; whereas the dependence of the matter on the
Form — for its existence, be it understood, in both cases, — stakes
the shape of a mere natural condition. Such is the easy explanation.
But then it creates fresh and graver difficulties. For, as has been
already urged, it makes the Form more subject to the matter
than the matter to the Form ; yet the Form is incomparably the
nobler entity. Moreover, in the instance of the human soul it is
existentially independent of the matter, whereas matter cannot by
any possibility in any way be naturally independent of the Form.
Secondly, in the composition of the material substance it makes the
matter the fundamental reality and the Form a mere condition ; for
it supposes the matter to be the cause of the existence of the Form,
but the Form only a condition of the existence of matter. Thirdly,
it virtually denies the real causality of the formal cause ; for, if the
Form is only a condition of the existence of matter, it is only a
condition of its actuation. But how, it may be urged, can there
be a mutual causality, for this would necessarily imply a mutual
priority of nature ? And why should there not be a mutual priority
of nature according to different orders of causality, as the Angelic
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Doctor a£Snn8 that there is ? But at least there can only be one
invested with an absolute priority of nature in the act of creation
or production. Granted ;* and that priority in the order of genesis
is justly attributed to primordial matter as first Subject. There-
fore,— say you, — the Form is only a condition of the exisfcence of
matter. This does not follow ; for the Form has priority of nature
in order of constituted being and complete existence. But how can
these two as it were absolute priorities exist in the same production ?
Because the two constituents are essentially incomplete and, as a
consequence, mutually dependent ; and because neither of them
is by itself created or produced, since both are concreated in the
creation of the element, while in the order of natural generation
the Tiew existence of the matter is comproduced with the new Form.
It may possibly be objected that the above explanation, however
tenable in the instance of the creation of the elements, is not con-
sonant with the patent facts of natural generation ; since in natural
generation the matter exists prior in order of time to the existence
of the new Form. Therefore, the latter cannot be cause of the exist-
ence of the former. But this argument proves too much ; for such
premisses force us to the conclusion that neither can the Form be
a necessary condition of the existence of the matter. To answer the
objection, however, directly: — Ifc must be borne in mind that,
though the production of generated substances is efiected by means
of transformations which postulate a common Subject, there is,
nevertheless, no temporal priority of matter over Form, but only
over this new Form. It is never without some Form ; and, if once
denuded of all Form, would resolve into nothingness. Besides,
here again it is a question of genesis {in fieri) , not of constituted
being {in facto esse). But to this answer there occurs a final objection.
The existence of matter in the constituted substance must have
a dependence on the Form of the same nature as it had in the
genesis of the same substance. Yet, in the genesis of the new sub-
stance, its existence did not depend on the new Form ; since it
already existed under the old Form of the corrupted substance.
Therefore, its existence cannot depend causally on the new Form.
This objection is all but the same as that which has already occu-
pied our attention. The retort, too, is the same. It tells equally
against the Form being a necessary condition. Nevertheless, there
is a grave difiBculty included in the objection, which will be dis-
cussed under the second series.
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598 Causes of Being.
There remains yet another plea that may be made on behalf of
the opinion of Snarez; and it is this. One principal ailment
brought against the saidopinion is founded on a gratuitous assump-
tion. It does not follow, because matter is not causally dependent
on the Form for its existence, that all causality is denied to the
Form. On the contrary, its true causality, as all admit, consists in
the actuation of the matter. The plea would be a good one, if you
could separate the actuation of the matter from its existence ; which,
however, is impossible. Act and existence are correlatives ; and in
order that a passive potentiality may be act^ it must be in act or
actuated. Passive potentiality and act are contraries. Accord-
ingly, all Forms are acts. But material Forms are not acts in
themselves ; they are acts of the matter. Yet how could they be
substantial acts of matter, if matter were already in itself an act?
B. The second series op objections includes all the aegu-
MSNT8 UBOED AGAINST THE TRUTH OF THE PRESENT PROPOSITION. It
is deserving of more attention than the former ; since it introduces
us to important and interesting metaphysical questions connected
with the present dispute.
I. Matter is the Subject of Form, and is accordingly prior in
order of nature to Form. Therefore, there can be no causal de-
pendence of matter on the Form for its existence. The justice of
the conclusion is based on the nature of the definition otjpriorit^ of
nature. For that entity is said to be prior in order of nature to
another, which is independent of that other while the latter is
dependent upon it. Therefore, etc.
Answer. This objection has already come under our notice. The
reply, therefore, shall be summary. Priority of nature in entities that
are integral in their own Category connotes that the entity which
is prior has no causal dependence on the entity that is posterior in
order of nature, — let it pass ; priority of nature in entities that are
essentially incomplete in the same Category, — there is need of a
subdistinction : If there is no mutual priority of nature, — let it
pass; if^ as in the present instance, there is a mutual priority
of nature under a diversity of respect, — denied. The sul^tantial
Form is dependent on the matter for eduction and inherence, the
matter is dependent on the Form for actuation and existence.
II. Matter is produced and preserved by creation. Therefore, it
can have no causal dependence on the Form for its existence.
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The Formal Cause. 599
Answer. The Antecedent is denied. Matter is not produced or
preserved by creation, but by concreation. Matter and Form are
created together. Therefore, matter can have causal dependence on
the Form.
1. The Objection is ukged.
Concreation presupposes creation in order of nature. Wherefore,
the production of matter may be considered under two aspects, —
first, as created in its own entity, and then (so to say) concreated
with the Form. But, as created in its own entity, it admits of no
causal dependence on the Form. Yet this latter really represents
the way in which matter was produced ; while its so-called con-
creation only represents the creation of matter in such wise as
to be naturally dependent on the Form for its substantial perfection
and existence.
Answeb. The Antecedent is denied. In the production of com-
posite substance creation in a certain way presupposes concreation.
Some explanation is requisite, in order rightly to understand this
reply. It is supposed then, that the Divine Act of Creation is ter-
minated to the production of the integral substance^ — say, this
element, or chemically simple body. It is supposed, further, for
reasons already given and for others to be given presently, that the
Act of Creation cannot be absolutely and adequately terminated to
either matter or Form separately. Wherefore, the Divine Act of
Creation looks to the element, or complete substance. As, however,
this substance is essentially composite and constituted of matter
and form ; the Divine Act virtually contains two partial Acts^ re-
spectively terminated to the two substantial constituents which are
in consequence said to be concreated. Wherefore, in the creation
of an element concreation is after a manner presupposed ; in as
jnuch as the virtual or partial Acts which are conceived as consti-
tuting the components are presupposed to the adequate Divine Act
by which the element is created. The objection is based upon the
hypothesis that primordial matter apart from Form can be the ade-
quate term of a Creative Act. But this has been already rejected ;
and is untenable for the following additional reasons. First, it
involves a contradiction in terms ; for by virtue of its creation it
would be an act^ while in its own essential nature it is a pure
passive potentiality. Again : Its creation, even if possible, would
be unnatural, since, (as our opponents admit), the existence of
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6oo Causes of Being,
matter naturally depends on the Form; whereas, if created, it
would exist without the Form. Therefore, it would have been
created miraculously. Therefore, it is preserved miraculously;
since the Divine Act of Preservation is the Divine Act of Creation
persevering. But miracles are not to be unnecessarily multiplied.
ii. The Objection is urged yijt furthee.
Primordial matt-er is not concreated ; because the production of
the matter and the production of the Form are necessarily respec-
tive terms of two distinct Divine Acts. The Antecedent is thus
proved. The eduction of the Form presupposes the matter in order
of genesis. Therefore, one Divine Act is required for the produc-
tion of the matter as Subject ; and another Divine Act for the
eduction of the Form. Moreover, these Acts are essentially dif-
ferent J for the production of matter is in the strictest sense out of
nothing, whereas the Form is produced out of the matter.
Answer. The Antecedent is denied ; and the prosyllogistic premiss
which it contains is thus distinguished. The production of the
matter and the production of th^ Form are necessarily respective terms
of two adequate distinct DivifA;' Acts^ — denied; of two Distinct
Divine partial ActSy — a Subdistinction is necessary : The production
of the matter and the production of the Form are necessarily respective
terms of two distinct Divine partial explicit Acts, — denied ; of two
distinct Divine partial virtual Acts, — there is need of a second Sub-
distinction, in order to render the reply complete : The production,
etc,, are terms of two distinct Divine partial virtual Acts with any-
thing like an entitative distinction, (speaking after the manner of
men), — denied; terminatively distinct — granted. To explain the
above distinctions : — It has been already admitted that the Divine
Act by which an element is created is equivalent to two partial
Acts by which the matter and Form are concreated. But it is
contended that these Acts are set)arately inadequate, i. e. that they
cannot be, save in conjunction. Wherefore, they are not Acts
explicitly distinct, but are virtually included in the one Act by
which the element is dreated. Neither, again, as virtual and par-
tial Acts is it necessary or consonant to suppose any entitative dis-
tinction, (to speak of things Divine after the manner of things
human) ; but it is only required that the two Acts should be dis-
tinguished terminatively, — ^that is to say, that the matter should be
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concreated as dependent on the Form for its actuation and exist-
ence, and the Form, as springing from, and dependent on, the
matter as Subject. For it is thus that they must subsist on the
composite. The above explanation suffices to show why the proof
of the Antecedent must be denied. Creation is of the composite;
and the two constituents are concreated by and in that same Act,
according to the indigency of their respective entities. Indeed, the
fallacy of the argument may be clearly evinced by its legitimate
extension. For, if it is proper to the Form that it should be educed
out of the matter ; so it is proper to the matter that it should be
actuated by, and receive existence from, the Form. As, then, the
Form prerequires and presupposes the matter; so in turn the
matter prerequires and presupposes the Form, though according to
a different order of causality. Consequently, there can be no creation.
The concreation is denied. Therefore, no creation or production of
the element.
iii. The Objection is ueged yet furthee.
According to the explanation given, Creation would depend upon
the eduction of the Form out of the matter. But this is a contra-
diction in terms. The Antecedent is thus proved. The existence of
the components of a composite is prior in order of nature to that
of the composite. Therefore, the creation of the composite would
depend upon the eduction of the Form which is one of the two
constituents.
Answer. The Antecedent is denied. On the contrary, the educ-
tion of the Form out of the matter is included in the creation of the
composite. As to the proof of the Antecedent^ there is need of a
distinction. The existence of the components is jmor in order of
nature to that of the composites^ when the components are integral
entities or, though incomplete, have a subsistence of their own, —
granted ; when the components are essentially incomplete entities
and essentially dependent on each other for their existence, —
denied.
III. If the dependence of matter on Form were causal, it would
follow that natural agents conspire towards the Divine Act of the
preservation of matter. Consequently, either the Divine Act of
the Conservation of matter is distinct from that of its primordial
creation, or natural agency conspired towards the Divine Act of
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Creation. The Antecedent is thus proved. Natural agents educe the
substantial Form out of the potentiality of the oiatter in natural
generation. If, therefore, matter depends causally on the Form for
its existence, its preservation would depend on the Form and, there-
fore, on the natural agents that serve to educe the form. Conse-
quently^ these agents would conspire towards the Divine Act of the
preservation of matter.
Axswsa. This is without doubt the gravest difficulty brought
against the present Proposition and the declaration of it here given.
Still, it seems to admit of a satisfactory solution. At the outset
it is worthy of remark that the difficulty presses with almost
equal force, if we adopt the opinion of our opponents that the
Form is a necessary condition of the existence of matter. For
natural agents, in supplying the necessary condition for the pre-
servation of matter, would evidently conspire in their measure with
the Divine Act of the preservation of matter. But to retort upon
one's adversary with his own argument, is not to answer the objec-
tion. Wherefore, let us proceed to an examination of the difficulty.
First of all observe, then, that an Act of Creation and an act of
generation are two wholly distinct things. In an Act of Creation
God alone produces the entity ; in an act of generation the creature
oo-operates as a secondary cause with God. Both, however^ Agree
in this, — that the adequate term of each act is the production of a
new integral substance. Further: It is to be noted that, when
God concreated the matter in the concreation of the elements. He
ooncreated it in the essential nature of its own partial entity as a
pure passive potentiality for the reception of whatsoever material
Forms, and virtually containing them in itself; while by the same
Act He concreated all the substantial Forms as virtually^ — not
actually,-— existing in the matter, and one Form in particular as
Aic et nunc actuating each portion of matter in each element
Again : He concreated primordial matter as incorruptible, unchang-
ing, naturally indestructible ; while in the same elements He con-
created the Form as capable of change, capable of receding from
actual existence. Once more : He so created the elements that
their corruption should be the generation of a new substance ; and
the same law was imposed upon all succeeding material substancea
When, however, this system of mutations is called a law, it must
not be imagined that it depends on the Free- Will of the Creator;
for, always supposing the corruption of the antecedent substance
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and the action therein of an agent, it is an absolute necessity.
Why ? Because no action can be ultimately terminated to a mere
priyation.
Aided by these prolegomena^ let us now look at the Act of
Creation and the act of generation in their contrast with, and rela-
tion to, each other, (a) The two acts differ in their efficient cause.
The Act of Creation is of God alone; the act of generation is of
God and the creature together. (6) The respective terms of the
two acts are different. The term of the Creative Act is the entire
composite substance ; while the term of the generative act is solely
the eduction of the substantial Form ; and it is called a new sub-
stance in this sense, that the matter is determined to a new specific
nature. Hence, the matter remains in its essential entity as it was
before, — a potentiality susceptive of all material Forms, though
actually determined hie et nunc to such or such Form in particular.
Therefore, the change is a transformation, not a transubstantiation.
It follows from these premisses, that natural agency does not touch
primordial matter, but operates only towards the eduction of the
Form. But this exposition as well as the ultimate conclusion seem
to favour the opposite opinion. For, if the Divine Act by Which
matter was originally produced remains in all respects the same in
the generation of the new substance, while the Divine Act Which
co-operates towards the evolution of the new Form is not the same
as the Acts which assisted in the production of all the preceding
Forms in that portion of matter, (including the First Act creative
of the elemental Form), — and if it is distinguished from the last
mentioned in that it is conjoined with natural agency ; it is evident
that the two Acts must be explicitly distinct. Here is, in truth,
the pith of the difficulty.
It is now time to return to the doctrine given at the commence<-
ment of this reply. The Act of Creation was terminated to the
element ; and the Divine Act of Conservation, consequently, (Which
is the Act of Creation persevering), ceases, when and to such
extent as the element ceases to be. The Divine Act of Production
in natural generation is terminated to the new substance, and the
Divine Act of Conservation, or of continued Production, ceases,
when and to such extent as the new substance ceases to be. But
this explanation seems to give birth to a yet more serious difficulty.
For the Divine Act of Production is, we are told, terminated to the
new substance which is composed of matter and Form. Conse-
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6o4 Causes of Being.
quently, either matter is created anew with the production of each
new substance, — which is absurd, — or the primitive Act of Creation
perseveres; and then it is impossible not to acknowledge that
the two Acts, respectively terminated to the matter and the Form,
are in every sense of the word distinct. The dilemma is denied.
For the partial Act of Production, Which is terminated to the
matter, is termiiiated to it as the Subject of the eduction of the
Form according to its potentiality ; while the partial Act of Pro-
duction, Which is terminated to the Form, is terminated to the
eduction of the Form. To this it may be objected, that the edoe-
tion of the Form presupposes the existence of the matter and, as a
consequence, the continuance of the original Creative Act. We
reply : There is no such thing as an original Creative Act, as ter-
minated to matter alone. Such is the teaching of St. Thomas^ as
has been seen. It is a Concreative Act, and is really nothing more
or less than the Divine Act Creative of the element, considered in
its partial termination to the matter. Consequently, the partial
Act of Conservation, Which is terminated to the matter, ceases,
when the integral Act of Conservation, Which is terminated to the
element, ceases. But this answer, it may be again urged, makes
matters worse ; for, in such a hypothesis, matter must cease to be
with the corruption of every old, and begin afresh with the genera-
tion of each new, substance. For answer, it must be admitted that
matter ceases its former existence, and begins a new existence with
every new generation. This must he admitted as demonstrably true
by all who admit that the existence of matter naturally depends upon
the substantial Form, whether they hold such dependence to be cansal
or only a necessary condition. But matter continues all through
essentially as a passive potentiality to all Forms. But if so, it may
once more be urged, it exists (so to say) as a potentiality, and
accordingly postulates the Divine Act of Conservation. We replv :
The inference is illegitimate. Its entity perseveres under the two
Forms; apart from both it would be nothing. But then, our
opponent may finally object, if there should be cprruption without
generation, the matter would perish. We answer : The corruptive
action is the generative action ; the only difference is in the term
of the two actions, if it is permitted to call them two. The same
operation which disposes for, and educes, the new Form indis-
poses for, and expels, the old Form. Hence, if there were no
generation, there could be no corruption. As a fact, the matter
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never ceases to be ; for the end of one existence is the commence-
ment of another.
IV. It would follow from the opinion defended in this Proposi-
tion, that, as often as the matter changed its Form, there would be
a corresponding change in the Divine Act Conservative of matter.
The Answer to this objection has been already given in the
preceding solution.
y. That cannot be a cause of matter, which is necessarily pos-
terior to matter in every kind of causality. But the Form is neces-
sarily posterior to matter in every kind of causality. Therefore,
etc. The Major is evident. The Minor is thus proved. The action
by which the Form is educed out of the matter is evidently poste-
rior to the matter in every kind of causality. But the Form must
be posterior to that by which the Form is educed. Therefore, etc.
Answeb. To begin with: — the argument may be retorted in
this wise. That cannot be a cause of Form, ^which is necessarily
posterior to Form in every kind of causality. But the matter is
necessarily posterior to the Form in every kind of causality. There-
fore, etc. The Minor is thus proved. That which naturally depends
on the Form for its existence must be posterior to the Form in
every kind of causality. But matter naturally depends on the
Form for its existence. Therefore, etc. Nay, there is more show of
reason in this conclusion than that of our opponent ; since no one
doubts that the Form is prior to matter according to final causality.
This retort has been permitted to make its appearance for the sake
of showing the inconsequences that must follow, if we regard Form*
and matter as two adequate terms of two explicitly distinct acts.
To answer the difficulty ostensively: The Major of the principal
syllogism is granted, and the Minor denied. As to the proof of the
Minor : — the Major must be distinguished. The action by which the
Form is educed out ofthejpotentiaiUy of matter is evidently posterior to
the matter in every kind ofcatisality^ so far as the essential nature, or
entity, of matter is concerned, — let it pass ; is posterior to the new
existence of matter in the new composite that is the term of the
action, — denied. It is not the matter of itself that is the term of
the causal action of the Form, but the existence of matter.
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PROPOSITION CCV.
The ezifltenoe of matter is an efTeot of formal causality.
Declakation of the Proposition.
The truth enunciated in the present Thesis is a simple corolkiy
from the preceding ; for, if the dependence of matter for its exist-
ence on the substantial Form is causal, the existence of matter is
an effect of the formal cause.
Difficulties.
I. That which has its own entity independently of another, (that
is to say, not received from another), is not causally dependent on
that other for its existence. But matter has its own partial entity,
independently of the Form in the sense described. Therefore, etc.
The Minor is certain. The Major is thus declared. Wherever there
is real (actual, as is supposed) entity, there is real existence. If,
therefore, a thing has its own partial entity independently of ano-
ther, it must likewise have its own partial existence independently
of that other.
Answer. For the sake of brevity the Major of the principal
syllogism is denied, and the necessary distinctions will be made in
the proof of the Major, Wherever there is real entity, naturally sub-
sistent in itself, there ie real existence, — granted ; wherever there is
real entity not naturally subsistent, there is real existence, — we have
need of a subdistinction : There is real existence dependent upon the
entity in conjunction with which it subsists, — ^granted; indepen-
dently of the entity in conjunction with which it subsists, — there is
need of a further subdistinction : There is existence, independently
of the entity in conjunction with which it subsists, in the natural
order, — denied; supematurally, — a third subdistinction must be
made : if there be no metaphysical repugnance, — ^granted ; if there
be a metaphysical repugnance, as in the present instance,— -denied.
These distinctions need a little explanation. If a thing has an
essential nature independent in its subsistence of any other^ com-
plete in itself, like an animal, plant, or any other integral substance ;
it is quite plain that it can naturally claim an existence of its own,
independently of any other entity with which it may be acciden-
tally connected. But, if an entity is not subsistent in its own
I
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nature apart from another^ like accidents, the substantial Forms of
bodies, etc. ; then it behoves ns to draw a line. For such entity
may have a partial existence of its own in the composite, causally
dependent on that in union with which it subsists ; but it cannot,
in the order of nature, have an existence independent of its partner
component. Of course, the Divine Omnipotence may work a
miracle in the case ; unless the said independent existence should
involve a contradiction in terms, such as occurs in the proposition
that matter can have existence independently of its substantial Act.
There is, in fact, an amphibology in the phrase, poBsessing an entity^
or essence^ independently of another. For, in a composite, the essence
of one component is evidently not the essence of another ; yet, for-
asmuch as both are partial essences together constituting one
integral essence, not even their entities can be truly described as
independent of each other. But we shall come across this objection
again under another shape.
II. The causal dependence of matter for its existence on the sub-
stantial Form is disproved by the invariableness of its entity under
all Forms whatsoever. For, if its entity and existence depended
causally on the Form ; with every change of Form there would be
a change of entity and of existence. Wherefore, the existence of
matter is not an effect of the Form.
Answer. Here again the same amphibology recurs, that has
been noticed already. If the partial entity of the matter, as entity^
depended causally on the Form ; then it would be true that with
every change of Form there would be a corresponding change in
the entity of the matter. But if the partial entity of the matter,
as being partial^ causally depends on the Form ; it is not necessary
that a change of the latter should involve a change in the former.
The Conclusion of the adversary's argnment^-^viz. that with every
change of the Form matter receives a new partial existence, — ^is ad-
mitted ; while it is denied that such a position is untenable, since
it has been already shown that it must be admitted by our oppo-
nents equally with ourselves. Consequently, there will be no need
of entering upon the proof of the Conclusion. This only it is neces-
sary to observe ; that a new existence by no means postulates newness
of essence. Matter receives a new co-existence with each change of
Form, because it necessarily owes its existence to the Form; it
suffers no change of essence, because it is the common Subject of all
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Forms. In a similar way, congenial accidents in the corrupted,
essentially remain but receive a new existence in the generated,
substance ; because their existence follows the existence of their
Subject.
PKOPOSITION CCVL
The entity of primordial matter is such, that not even tlie
Divine Onmipotenoe could preserve it in ezistenoe apart firom
some Form.
P&OLEGOMENON.
Independently of the intrinsic interest attaching to the problem
here proposed, the Thesis forms a necessary complement to the pre-
ceding ones ; as it serves to determine more fully the causal depen-
dence of matter for its existence on the Form. The question has
always been a subject of debate in the Schools; but it will be seen
that the opinion here maintained is supported unequivocally by the
authority of the Angel of the Schools. It need hardly be said that
Suarez consistently sustains the opposite opinion.
Declabation op the Proposition.
Let us commence with the teaching of St. Thomas; since we
shall find in it the arguments demonstrative of the present conten-
tion. In the first passage to be cited the Angelic Doctor is engaged
in discussing those words in the Mosaic account of the Creation, —
the earth was without form^ — (with an especial reference to the inter-
pretation which St. Augustine had given them, viz. that they were
intended to represent primordial matter), in order to determine the
question that he has proposed to himself, viz. whether unformed
matter was prior in order of time to its information ; and he thus
declares his mind. ^ Augustine understands by the formlessness of
matter the absence of all Form ; and, thus understood, it is impos-
sible to aflBrm that the formlessness of matter was prior in order of
time either to its information or to its distinction. And as to the
information, indeed, the thing is plain. For, if unformed matter
had been created first, it would have been already in act; since
creation conveys this. For the term of creation is Being in act ; but
that which is the act is the Form. To affirm^ therefore, that
matter had a previous existence without Form, is tantamount to
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The Formal Cause. 609
affirming that Being in act is without act; and this involves a
contradiction ^.' Similarly, in another place he observes, relatively
to the same question : * Some' expositors 'have considered that by
these words,' — the earth was without form^ — * is meant the unformed-
ness of matter, such as belongs to matter when conceived without
any Form, yet existing in potentiality to all Forms. But matter
such as this cannot exist in the world of nature, unless informed by
some Form or other. For everything whatsoever that is discover-
able in the world of nature exists in act. But this matter does not
receive save from the Form which is its act. Consequently, it can-
not be discoverable in the world of nature without a Form. In the
second place, since nothing can be contained under a genus, which
is not determined to a species by some difference that divides the
genus ; matter cannot be Being without being determined to some
special mode of Being. But this determination is effected only by
the Form^/ Finally: In another Work the Angelic Doctor directly
discusses the pointy * Whether God could cause matter to exist without
a Form.* He preludes his solution by a statement of the evident
truth, that God in His infinite Power can do anything that does
not involve a metaphysical absurdity, — that is to say, a contradic*
tion in terms. But, as he adds, the existence of matter without any
Form is a contradiction in terms. This he proceeds to show in the
following words: 'Everything that is in act, is either act itself or is
a potentiality that partakes of an act. But to be in act' (an act ^) ' is
^ ' AugmttinuB enim acdpit inf onnitatein materiae pro carentia omnia formae ; et
sic impoBsibile est dicere quod infonnitas materiae praecesserit vol formatlonem ipsiua
vel distinctionem. Et de formatione quidem manifestum est. Si enim materia in-
fonnis praecessit duratione, haeo erat jam in actu ; hoc enim creatio importat. Grea-
tionis enim terminus est ens actu ; ipsum autem quod est actus, est forma. Dicere
igitur materiam praecedere sine forma, est dicere ens actu sine actu, quod impUoat
contradictionem.' i** Ixvi, i, c.
^ 'Quidam namque inteUexerunt, praedictis verbis talem infonnitatem materiae
significari secundum quod materia intelligitur absque omni forma, in potentia tamen
existens ad onmes formas. Talis autem materia non potest in rerum natura existere,
quin aliqua forma formetur. Quidquid enim in rerum natura invenitur, actu ezistit ;
quod quidem non habet materia nisi per fonnam, quae est actus ejus. Unde non
habet sine forma in rerum natura inveniri. Et iterum, cum nihil possit contineri in
genere quod per aliquam generis differentiam ad speciem non determinetur, non potest
materia esse ens. quin ad aliquem specialem modum essendi determinetur ; quod
quidem non fit nisi per formam.' Po* Q. iv, a. i, e., p. m.
' One is inclined to believe that the reading is incorrect. Actum, not adu, seema
to be required by the argument. The revision is supported hj the fitct that in tho
other clauses St. Thomas writes in actu.
VOL. II. R r
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6io Causes of Being.
contrary to the nature of matter whichi, 'according to its proper
nature, is being in potentiality. It remains, then, that it cannot be in
act, save forasmuch as it partakes of an act. But the act of which
matter partakes is no other than the Form. Hence, to affirm that
matter is in act, is tantamount to affirming that matter possesses
a Form. To affirm, therefore, that matter is in act without a Form,
is to affirm that contradictories can exist together. Wherefore, it
cannot be done by God ^.'
From these declarations of St. Thomas we gather two arguments
in defence of the present Proposition, to which two others will be
added.
I. Every IHvine Act of Conservation is terminated to actual or
existent entity. Consequently, if matter is the term of a Divine
Act of Conservation, it must be in act. Now, every thing that is
in act is either itself act, (as in the instance of purely spiritual
Forms), or is a potentiality informed by some act. But matter is
not itself an act, because it is a pure passive potentiality ; there-
fore, it needs its substantial Form in order to be in act. Therefore,
it must be actuated by some Form, if it is to become a term of a
Divine Act of Conservation. To suppose, then, that matter apart
from any Form could be a term of a Divine Act of Conservation, is
the same as supposing that matter could be in act without its act,
— or actual and not actual at the same time.
II. There is no entity that is capable of actuation, or existence,
considered as exclusively a genus. No genus, as such, exists ar can
exist. It stands in need of specific differentiation. This is of all
necessity, for universals cannot exist ; and by how much the uni-
versal approaches nearer to the logical whole, by so much is the
impediment to its actual existence more pronounced. In order,
then, that a universal may be proximately determinable to indi-
viduation, it must be a metaphysical whole, or ultimate species.
The reason is, that the ultimatjiB species in any given line of abstrac-
tion represents an integral determinate essence, or a definite degree
in the imitability of the Divine Perfection. But unformed matter
' * Omne enim quod est Actu, vel est ipse actus vel est potentia partkapana actms.
Esse antem actu (?) repugnat ration! materiae, quae secundum propriam rrtfrrmrfim
est ens in potentia. Kelinquitur ergo quod non possit esse in actu nisi inquantom
partidpat actum. Actus aatem participatus a materia nihil est aliud quam. foma.
TJnde idem est dictu, materiam esse in actu et materiam habere fotmam. Dioere
ergo quod materia sit in actu sine forma, est dioere contradictoria eiise stmuL UiMle
a Deo fieri non potest.' Quel. L. iii, a. i^ c.
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The Formal Cause. 6ii
is the highest and most extensive generalization in its own Une of
abstraction and, consequently, is supremely indeterminate. It re-
ceives its specific determination from the Form. If, therefore,
matter were preserved in existence without a Form, nature would
exhibit as it were a Category, or highest generalization, in
existence without any differentiation. This is metaphysically
impossible.
III. No entity can exist without existence. But, if matter
could be preserved in existence without any Form, it would exist
without existence. Therefore, etc. The Major is axiomatic. The
Minor is thus proved. The substantial Form intrinsically actuates
matter, — that is to say, renders it actual, or existent ; for there is
no actuation without Form, since the Form, for all that it is, is
simply and exclusively the act of matter. Consequently, if matter
could exist wholly unformed ; it would exist without actuation, — in
other words, without existence.
lY. Substance cannot have an accidental existence de potentia
absoluta without an accidental Form. Therefore, h pari matter
cannot have a substantial existence without a substantial Form.
DIFFICULTIES.
These divide themselves into two classes ; the first comprising;
arguments adducible in favour of the opposite opinion, the secMd
including objections against the validity of the several proofs.
A. Arguments proposed in flavour of the opposite opinion.
Suarez only offers one which is apparently his magnuB AjAilks.
It is to this effect. Primordial matter has its own partial essence.
Therefore, it can exist ; since existence is the first act of essence.
This argument is further confirmed by the £M)t that^ even if vre
suppose the causal dependence of matter for its existence on the
Form, this latter is not cause of the existence of matter in such
sense as intrinsically to form a part of it; because matter and
Form are simple substances. Therefore, the extrinsic causality of
the Form may be supplied in some way or other by God Who can
thus retain its partial essence in existence.
Answer. The Antecedent must be distinguished. Primordial
matter hae iU own parti<il essence in the composite, — ^granted ; apart
nx 2,
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from the composite,— denied. The Consequent must be contradis-
tinguished. Therefore^ matter can exist (that is, co-exist) in the com-
posite,— granted ; apart from the composite, — denied. The propo-
sition subjoined to the Consequent must likewise be distinguished.
Existence is the first act of essence^ (or better, actual essence) cor-
responding with the nature of the essence, so that a complete essence
has a complete existence, a partial essence a partial existence, a
necessarily dependent essence a necessarily dependent existence^ —
granted ; existence is the first act of essence irrespectively of such
correspondence, — denied. An explanation shall now be given of
these distinctions, which will contain the answer to the subsequent
confirmatory argument of Suarez. It is true that primor*
dial matter has an entity of its own, (such as it is); and it is
likewise true that such entity is extrinsic to the entity of the
Form. This second admission becomes apparent at once, if we look
to the respective natures of each. Matter is a pure passive poten-
tiality ; Form is an act. But a potentiality cannot have the entity
of an act, neither can an act have the entity of a potentiality.
Nevertheless, there is an essential interdependence of entity in the
case of each ; for the potentiality of matter requires Form for its
actuation ; and the Form essentially postulates the matter as Sub-
ject on which it depends. Hence the impossibility of creating or
producing them separately. They are essentially joint constiiutiYes
of one integral substance. Now, to apply these annotations to
existence : — It is true that actual essence is existent essence. There
is an amphibology in the phrase, act of essence; since it may
convey the impression that existence is a distinct Form or mode
supervening as a real complement of actual essence, which Suarez
himself denies. Now, as the existence is objectively identified with
actual essence, or essence in act ; it is plain that the existence of an
entity must correspond with the nature of its essence. This holds
equally good^ if we suppose that existence is something really dis-
tinct from actual essence. If, then, it is of the essence of an entity
to be a pure passive potentiality; it cannot be actual of itself, and
in consequence cannot be existent of itself. Its existence, therefore,
must necessarily be a co-existence. If, then, God could preserve
matter apart from all whatsoever Form, He must supply the actua-
tion of a Form. But this He could only do by giving it somehow
a Form ; since Form and act are in the present instance equivalents.
Hence, two inconveniences : The matter would be at once formless
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TIte Formal Cause. 613
and informed ; and the Divine Act would not be an Act of Conser-
vation, but a new Act productive of a new substance. Accordingly,
when Saarez puts to himself the important question, h(m^ (in the
hypothesis of the causal dependence of matter on the Form), God
could supply the causality of the Form in the putative Act of
Conservation, he ingenuously confesses, *What that new action
might be which God would employ for preserving matter without a
Form, it is not easy to explain ^.' But, remark, it would require a
new auction, Suarez owns, therefore, that it would not be a mere
Conservation of the existence of matter.
B. The second class of difficulties comprises the arguments
impugning the validity of the proo£s adduced in support of
the Proposition.
I. It is urged as follows. . The first argument, borrowed from
St. Thomas, is based upon an equivocation. The terms, jpotentiality
and act on the one hand, and in potentiality and in act on the other,
are confounded. For, as Suarez reminds us, Scotus and others
explain that ' matter is said to be a pure subjective potentiality
•which, as such, will be without an informing act ; but when it is
said that everything existing is in act ; the term is understood of
the entitative act which is opposed exclusively to objective, not to
subjective potentiality.^ Hence, an existing entity must be in act,
because it cannot be merely possible ; but it need not be act,
because this is opposed only to a real subjective potentiality.
Matter, therefore, may be in act, and consequently existent ; though
it is not an act either in itself or by information.
Answer. Equivocation is chargeable to the argument of our
opponent rather than to the proof against which that argument is
directed. It is quite true that an entity in act expresses a being
in a state of existence, as contrasted with an entity in potentiality,
(i.e. objective potentiality, as is plain), which expresses a being
merely possible and not yet existent. But the question now before
lis is this : How is matter made actual, or in act ? St. Thomas
argues that everything is in act either forasmuch as it is an act
itself or is informed by an act. Now, it is certain that matter is
not itself an act. Therefore, to be an act, it must be informed by
' 'Quaenam vero esset ilia nova actio, quam Deus adhiberet ad materiam cod-
tervandam sine forma, non est facile ad explicandunq.* Met. DUp. xv, ted, 9, fi. 8.
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6 14 Causes of Being,
an act. Hence it reenlts thjat matter cannot by it9elf be actual
or existent.
II. The second objection is directed against the second proof
which has likewise been taken from the Angelic Doctor. It is as
follows : The argument that any real entity under a given genus
must be specifically determined, will equally apply to informed as
to unformed matter. For the Form does not give a specific nature
to the primordial matter, (which remains always the same), bat to
the composite. It is not necessary or possible that matter should
be specifically determined by the nature of the composite, but by
some species of its own if such there were.
Answer. It must be denied that the argument can be applied
with equal force to informed matter. First of all, it is not alto-
gether true that primordial matter remains precisely the same in
the composite as it would have been, could it have existed alone.
It remains — shall we say? — essentially the same under every com-
posite; but it submits to a sort of modification in each. For, when
it is actuated by the Form A, it is in potentiality to the Form B
and to all other bodily Forms except A ; and, when it is actuated
by the Form B, it is in potentiality to the Form A and to all other
Forms except B ; and so on. But, secondly,— and this constitutes
the direct answer to the objection, — ^it is precisely because matter
in itself is, and must be, as it were generic or indeterminate, that
it cannot become th^ sole or adequate object of an Act of Creation
or of production. Herein lies the fundamental fallacy of our
adversary's argument. For informed matter means the composite
which, as we know, is nothing else but matter actuated by its
Form. This is the only way in which matter can co-exist. It co-
exists in the existence of the composite. Informed matter is capable,
therefore, of being specifically distinguished; not, however, q*a
matter, but qua informed. Consequently, it is denied that matter,
in order to exist, need not be in the specific nature of the composite.
In fact, the objection is an instance of the fallacy of division ; and
the same argument would be effective to prove that no body in-
animate or animate has a specific nature. For the matter, we are
told, has no specific nature. The Form has no specific nature in
itself; since it is that by which something else receives a specific
nature* Further, the informed matter according to the same
authority has no specific jiature.
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III. The following objectton is directed against the third proof.
Although matter naturally receives its existence from the Form ;
God could, nevertheless; retain it in the existence which it had
already received^ as in the instance of accidents, while it would con-
tinue to retain its essential nature of aptitude for receiving Form.
Answer. 'Accident/ says the Angelic Doctor, 'depends for its
being on the Subject as on the cause that sustains it. Because,
then, God is able to produce all the acts of second causes without
the intervention of the second causes themselves,' He can preserve
accident in being without a Subject. But matter depends for its
own actual being on the Form ; forasmuch as the Form is its very
act. Hence, there is no similarity ^.' • There is no need to a^d any-
thing to this concise reply of St. Thomas ; more particularly since
the supposed analogy between the case of the accidents and that of
the substantial Form has already been fully discussed elsewhere.
lY. The last objection is levelled against the fourth proof, and
may be thus stated. The parity claimed between accidental and
substantial entity does not exist. For the accidental entity in any
substance is simply convertible with the accidental Form. Thus,
wAife in snoto is simply convertible with tAe whiteness of snow. The
reason is, because, by virtue of its nature, every accident inheres in
its Subject. Consequently, it is a contradiction in terms to suppose
accidental existence without an accidental Form. But such is not
the case with substantial entity. For material substance and the
substantial Form are not simply convertible. The reason is, because
in material substance there are, besides the Form, matter and the
information of the latter by the former. Wherefore, it follows that
the existence of material substance is not wholly absorbed by the
Form, and that matter has a partial existence of its own.
Answbb. As touching the particular point on which the argu-
ment turns, there is a perfect parity between the two. Suarez
has forgotten to mention a most important element in the accidental
composite ; and it is this element precisely which makes the parallel
complete. There is a real passive potentiality in the substantial
Subject of a given accident, which gives to such Subject an aptitude
^ 'Accidens secundum 8uum esse dependet a subjecto sicut a causa suatentante
ipsum. £t quia Deus potest producere omnes actus secundarum cauaarum absque
ipsin caueis secundis, potest conservare in esse accidens sine subjecto. Sed materia
secundum suum esse actuale dependet a forma, inquantum fonna est ipse actus ejus.
XJude non est simile/ Quol, L, iii, a. i, I".
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for being informed by its particular accidental Form. For instance,
a diamond has a natural capacity for being hard, and no natural
aptitude for being soffc and sticky. By the eduction of the acci-
dental Form such potentiality is reduced to act, and the diamond
exists as hard. The embryo of a rabbit has an aptitude for loco-
motion^ which the germ of a plant has not, — at least, as a general
rule. After birth this aptitude of the rabbit is reduced to act, and
the animal becomes locomotive. Nevertheless, till the accidental
Form has actuated the said receptivity, neither would hardness
exist in the diamond nor locomotion in the rabbit. Further : In
answer to the argument of Suarez, it is granted that the accidental
entity in the abstract, — that is to say, considered apart from its
Subject, — ^is identified with the accidental Form ; just as the specific
entity of a material substance, considered apart from its Subject,
is identified with the substantial Form. Man, for instance, is
a rational animal because of his soul ; and his rational animaiity,
considered in the abstract, is simply convertible with his soul.
But, if the accidental entity is considered in the concrete, — ^that is
to say, in the accidental composite ; — the accidental entity does not
make an equation with the accidental Form, since it essentially
includes a preceptivity, or passive potentiality, in the Subject.
ARTICLE VI.
The immediate information of matter by the substantial Ponn.
It is somewhat singular that Suarez has not exprqfesso treated
the important question indicated in the above heading; which is
the more to be regretted, not only because the point has a vital
connection with the doctrine explained in the present and preceding
Chapters, but because it gives rise to special difficulties, more par-
ticularly for those to whom the Peripatetic theory concerning the
constitution of bodies is altogether new.
Since there is no controversy in the Schools about the funda-
mental truth that forms the subject of the next Thesis ; for the
sake of greater clearness and concision, the difficulties will be em-
bodied in the declaration.
PROPOSITION CCVII.
In the composition of complete material substances, whether by
Creation or by natural generation, it is of necessity that the
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substantial Form should immediately actuate the matter, —
in other words, that there should be no medium; accidental
or other, between the informing Form and the informed
matter.
Declaration op the Proposition.
In harmony with the professed object of this Work, it is proposed
to commence the declaration of the Thesis by introducing the
authority of the Angelic Doctor. Four quotations shall be given
in order. * As betwixt the matter and the Form,' he writes in
a certain place, * there occurs no medium in being, which is in the
matter prior to the substantial Form, (for otherwise, accidental
would be prior to substantial being, which is impossible) ; so, in
like manner, between the nature and the supposit it is impossible
that any medium should occur in the manner aforesaid, seeing that
both these conjunctions are substantial ^.' Again : ' Form is united
to matter independently of any whatsoever medium. For it belongs
to the Form to be the act of the body in its own right, and not by
the intervention of any other entity. Hence, there is nothing that
causes unity out of matter and Form save the agent that reduces
the potentiality to act, as Aristotle proves at the end of the eighth
Book of his Metaphysics, For matter and Form are related to each
other as potentiality to act ^. Once more : * The Form of itself
causes a thing to be in act, since by virtue of its essence it is the
act; and it does not give being through any medium. Hence, the
unity of an entity composed of matter and Form is by means of
the Form itself, which of its own nature is united to the matter as
its act. Neither is there any other cause of union save the agent
that causes the matter to be in act ^.* Finally : * Each and every
^ ' ^cut enim inter materiam et formam nihil cadit mediam in esse qaod per prius
edit in materia qnam forma Bubstantialis ; alias esse aocideotale esset prius substantiali,
qnod est impossibile ; ita etiam inter naturam et suppositum non potest aliquid dioto
modo medium oadere, cum utraque conjunctio sit ad esse substantiale.' 3 d. ii, Q. a,
a. 2, q. I, c.
* * Forma autem unitur materiae absque omni medio. Per se enim oompetit formae
quod dt actus oorpoiisy et non per aliquid aliud. XJnde nee est aliquid unum iaciens
ex materia et forma, nisi agens quod potentiam reducit ad actum, ut probat Aristo-
teles . . . ; nam materia et forma se habent ut potentia et actus.' Cg. L. II, c9. 71.
* ' Forma autem per seipsam fisusit rem esse in actu, cum per essentiam suam sit
actus, nee dat esse per aliquod medium. XJnde unitas rei compositae ex materia
et forma est per ipsam formam, quae secundum se ipsam unitur materiae ut actus
ejus. Nee est aliquid aliud uniens, nisi agens, quod fadt materiam esse in actu,
ut didtur in 8 Metaph.' i** Ixxvi, 7, c
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6i8 Causes of Being. .
entity is one after the same manner as it is Being. For ofteh and
every entity is in act by means of its Form, according either to
substantial or to accidental Being. Hence, every Form is an ret ;
and is consequently cause of the unity by which a thing is one.
As, then, it cannot be said that there is any other medium by
which matter receives being in virtue of its Form ; so it cannot be
said that there is any other medium uniting Form to matter ' — if
a substantial Form, — * or to the Subject * ' — ^if an accidental Form.
The above statements of the Angelic Doctor are the source
whence are drawn the proofs of the present Proposition.
I. The first argument is based on the essential nature of a Form ;
and may be thus put. Whenever any entity of its own essential
nature is capable of immediately exercising its causality, — nay
more, is essentially determined to such causality as the necessary
condition of its existence ;-**there is no need of, or room for, any
medium for the exercise of its causality. But the substantial Form
of its own essential nature is capable of immediately exercising its
causality, and is furthermore essentially determined to such causality
as the necessary condition of its existence. Therefore, etc The
Major is evident. The Minor is thus declared. Every Form of
whatsoever kind is in its own essential nature an act. A purely
spiritual and subsistent Form is act to itself, and in itself complete ;
but material substantial Forms, (with the single exception of the
human soul), are neither spiritual nor subsistent. Consequently,
these latter are in their essential nature causal ; for they are purely
and simply acts of matter, causing matter to be in act. Neither
does the human soul in this respect form any exception to the
general rule of material Forms ; for, though spiritual and subsistent
in its nature, it eminently as well as functionally contains both
vegetative and animal life within itself, and on this account is
formally the act of the matter. Consequently, as being the sub-
stantial Form of the body, it is likewise in its own essential natare
causal, and stands in no need of any medium by which to be united
to the body.
II. The second argument is derived from the nature of primordial
* ' Unumquodque enim secandum hoc est uniim, Beoundnm quod est ens. Eel
antem nDuniquodque ens aetu per formam, sive secundum esse substantiale siTe
secundum esse accidentale. Unde omnis fonna est actus ; et per consequens est
ratio unitatis, qua aliquid est unum. Siout igitur non est dicere quod sit aliqvod
aliud medium quo materia habeat esse per suam formam ; ita non potest dici qood
sit aliquod aliud medium unions formam materiae vel subjecto.* Sfir^. a. 3^ e. iittt.
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The Formal Cause, 619
matter. Every passive potentiality essentially postulates actuation
within the limits of the Category to which it belongs by reduction.
Accordingly, a substantial potentiality requires actuation by a sub^
stantial Form, and an accidental potentiality requires actuation by
an accidental Form. Now, primordial matter, as we have seen, is
a substantial potentiality and^ therefore, postulates a substantial
Form for its actuation. But, if there were any medium between
the matter and the causality of the substantial Form, that medium
must be either a new substantial or an accidental Form. It could
not be a substantial Form; for, — as will be shown in the next
Article, — ^it is impossible that there should be two substantial Forms
in one and the same substantial composite. Moreover, a similar
medium would be required for this second substantial Form ; and
so on, for ever. The supposed medium, then, must be an accidental
Form. But this, again, is impossible for two reasons. First of all,
it would be contrary to the natural disposition of matter which
postulates its primordial actuation by a Form of its own Category^
and has no antecedent aptitude for any other. Secondly, it is
absonous that matter, whose entire entity exclusively consists in the
receptivity of a substantial Form, should require the intervention of
an accidental Form in order to render that receptivity proximate.
Finally, the receptivity of matter is not composite in its nature. It
is not receptive in part of a substantial, in part of an accidental
Form. It is wholly either in potentiality or in act. Consequently,
if already informed by the accidental Form, it would thereby be
rendered incapable of actuation by a substantial Form. Thus, its
native inclination would be frustrate.
Note. The two concluding arguments take for granted that
any such supposed medium could not possibly be a substantial
Form.
III. The third argument is derived from the nature of the sub-
stantial composite. Material substance is the first of all created
things in the order of nature. It is the Category on which all the
other Categories depend, and to which they are all posterior.
Hence the saying, that when Socrates was born, all the Categories
were bom with him. But, if some accidental Form were necessary
as a medium by means of which the substantial Form might be
united to matter and the composite substance constituted, an
accidental Form would thus have precedence over all material
substance. Hence, it is further plain that in such hypothesis an
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620 Causes of Being'.
accidental composite would be first generated. For, since an acci-
dental Form is an act and only requires a Subject of actuation^
which in such case would be supplied to it by primordial matter^
its conjunction with matter must constitute an accidental com-
posite.
IV. The fourth argument is derived from the nature of accident.
Accident in its essential nature has an aptitude for inhering in sub-
stance^ and consequently postulates, as well as presupposes^ a sub-
stance as Subject of inhesion. This essential disposition of accident
cannot naturally be hindered from satisfaction ; so that actual in-
hesion in a substantial Subject is the normal condition of all acci-
dents, from which they can be restrained only by a miracle. But^
if an accidental Form were a necessary medium for the actuation of
matter by its substantial Form, accident would precede substance,
and would find no Subject of information proportioned to its
nature. Further : If the substantial Form required such a medium ;
a fortiori would the accidental Form require a like medium by
reason of its more remote affinity with matter. But this involves
an infinite process.
The question, then, is sufficiently plain, when considered in the
abstract ; but apparently insuperable difficulties await us, as soon as
we proceed to consider it in the concrete. In the first place, sensile
perception seems to give the lie to the solution of it here given.
One might have less difficulty in conceiving that such was the
arrangement in the creation of the elements, or simple bodies ; but
that the same law holds good in those natural generations which
are constantly going on before our eyes, seems to contradict the
evidence of our senses. When iron is converted into an oxide^ the
iron, its quantity, weight, etc., do not disappear ; only a definite
change comes over the metal. So, when a seed is sown in the
ground, it does not vanish to make way for primordial matter and
for the information of this latter by the definite vegetable-Form ;
but it remains side by side, so to speak, with the young embryo,
feeding it, and finally disappears long after the young plant has
entered upon life. This is the first difficulty. Then, again, it has
been said in a previous Article that matter must be portioned
by quantity, and must be endowed with various other accidental
dispositions, in order that it may be proportioned to the particular
Form that it is about to receive. But surely such a doctrine pre-
supposes accidental Forms as necessary media for the actuation of
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The Formal Cause. 621
the matter by the Form. This is the second difficulty. Lastly :
It has been said that^ in the generation of living material sub-
stances, there is a gradual evolution from lower to higher Forms of
life ; and one reason given was, that higher Forms of life require a
higher and more developed organism. But organism is only an
accidental disposition of the matter. Therefore, here once more we
seem to have an acknowledgment that accidental Forms are neces-
sary media by which certain Forms are enabled to actuate matter.
This is the third and last difficulty. We will examine each in
turn.
i. The first difficulty, arising out of the testimony of the senses,
is comparatively easy of solution. Our senses are limited to the
sphere of accidentiS. They cannot perceive material substance save
by its operations ; and of these, accidents are the immediate instru-
mental agents. Both matter and substantial Form are out of sight ;
because each is a simple^ unextended, entity in itself. Even the
congeries of accidents which, as it were, clothe and hide a substance,
are often out of the reach of sense by reason of the narrow limits of
the quantity. Hence^ the microscope in recent times has revealed
to us a vast new world of life, utterly unknown before. No wonder,
then, if substantial changes and a substantial causality should be
going on, pervious indeed to the intellect, but which our senses
wholly fail to recognize. Nevertheless, it must be owned, (how-
ever the above observations may prepare the way), that the diffi-
culty as yet is not satisfactorily resolved. For the objection is
not so much that we cannot perceive with our senses primordial
matter and the substantial Form, as that we positively see, or
otherwise sensibly perceive, certain accidents remaining during the
process of transformation and in the generation of the new sub-
stance*- If the Form really informed matter without any medium,
matter and its Form would be there alone ; consequently, no acci-
dents would be seen, — least of all, those of the corrupted substance.
Yet, on the contrary, the same accidents are seen all the way
through. The seed that we perceive by the senses may be a
hierarchy of accidents inhering in the invisible substance ; but so
much the worse for the Proposition. However united, there they
are ; and there they remain to sense throughout the process of
transformation, so that no one can tell the precise moment when
the vegetable-Form is educed even when the seed is exposed to
the view, — as happens with hyacinth-bulbs in their glasses.
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62 2 Causes df Being.
What is to be said in answer to this the most vital part of the
difficulty ? The solution is to be found in a doctrine already
exposed touching the unbroken succession of corruptions and
generations. Never for one single moment can matter be without
a substantial Form. It is a metaphysical impossibility. That
same instant which marks the recess of the old Form of the cor-
i-upted substance witnesses also the introduction of the new Form
of the generated substance. Consequently, the accompanying acci-
dents of the one or the other Form are continuously present. But
why do the same accidents often appear to remain under both
Forms? How is it that there is a progressive organism under
successive provisional Forms, which connotes the perseverance of
the more imperfect grades, so far as they are positive, tiirough the
process of evolution ? In the first place, it is not universally true
that the accidents remain under both terms of the transformation ;
as may be seen in the instance of the pujM and the buUerfy. Still,
it is undeniably true that accidents frequently appear to remain the
same under both Forms. Thus, a man dies. The human soul no
longer informs the body ; and the corpse-Form supervenes. Here
we have a retrogression from the highest grade of animal being to
an inanimate body. Yet the external Form, — the organization, —
the quantity, — sometimes, especially in cases of violent death, even
the colour for a time, — remain the same. Now, it might be said,
— in explanation of these facts, — that the substantial Form, regard-
less of the presence of these accidents, directly informs the matter,
and continues in conjunction with the matter, (i. e. as constituting
the new substantial composite)^ to sustain the accidents ; in some
such manner, (if the comparison may be allowed), as the magnet
attracts a needle to itself, and draws the thread along with the
needle by concomitance. There is a modicum of truth in this
rough explanation ; but of itself it obviously does not suffice. For
differentiation in the accidents, — ^nay, their whole raUan ^Stre, —
fundamentally and all but entirely depends upon the Form.
Hence, with a change of Form one would anticipate a change of
accidents ; more particularly as the accidents are instruments of the
operation of the Form. The answer to this phase of the difficulty
will find its appropriate place in the next paragraph.
ii. The second objection, which originates in the necessity for
previous dispositions and the due proportionment of matter for the
eduction of its Form, is one of a much more serious complexion*
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Since the said previous dispositions and proportionm^nt are in their
nature accidental ; it does really seem as though the medium of an
accidental Form were absolutely required, in order that the sub-
stantial Form might be proximately capable of eduction and, con-
sequently, of actuating the matter. Further : It is undeniable that
these dispositions, in each instance of natural generation, are prior
even in order of time to the actnafjon of matter by the new sub-
stantial Form.
In order that the solution of this diflSculty may be the more
readily and clearly seized by the reader, it will be convenient to
repeat an observation touching the nature of accidents. All natural
accidents inhere in the integral composite ; not in the matter or in
the Form alone. When, then, we find it said that quantity follows
the matter and quality the Form, this must be understood simply
to mean that the former has a marked aflSnity of nature with the
matter, the latter with the Form, (as has been already explained) ;
not that either of them exclusively informs a part only of the
composite. It follows from these premisses, that accidents of what-
soever kind never exist save in the substantial composite, and that
their existence depends upon the existence of the composite, — ^that
is to say, in other words, on the actuation of the matter by the
Form. In the light of this doctrine let us now look at the dis-
positions of the matter in the course of natural generation. First
of all, it is worthy of notice that these dispositions are introduced
by the generating agent into the original substance, (the Subject
of eventual corruption). Hence, for the whole time antecedent to
the eduction of the new Form and the generation of the new
substance, they are uncongenial accidents of the old substance.
But their entity gradually grows ; and they get to be more and
more incompatible with their present Subject and more and more
provocative of a substantial transformation. Consequently, the
moment comes when the old Subject is corrupted by the expulsion,
of the old Form, and the new Subject, or substance, is generated
by the introduction of the new Form. Then it is that the dis-
positive accidents, together with all others that are compatible
with the new composite, exchange masters and become the pos-
session of the latter. But now arises the main point of the
diflSculty. According to the explanation just given, two things would
appear to follow. One is, that the accidents persevere in exist-
ence under the process of transformation. The other is, that the
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624 Causes of Being.
accidents owe their continued existence either to tbe matter that
remains the same throughout or to the old corrupted substance.
If the former, the accidents must be real media of formal causality ;
if the latter, they must be capable of existing in themselves, since
they continue to exist after the corrupted substance has passed
away. But this is impossible in the order of nature. The answer
is as follows. Upon the information of matter by the new Form
and the consequent constitution of the new substance, all the
accidents that are congenial with the new substance and essentially
persevere receive a new existence in the existence of their new
Subject. Hence, they remain essentially the same but are made
eanstentially new in the generated substance. This explanation \&
strikingly confirmed as well by those accidents which, existing
under the old Form, are incoippatible with the new, as by those
accidents which, incompatible with the old Form, exist under the
new. The former lose their existence, the latter commence their
existence^ with the introduction of the new Form. Hence, one
can easily perceive a twofold relation of these persistent accidents
to the new Form. As existing under the old Form and in the
eventually corrupted substance, they are material dispositions ; as
existing anew in the generated substance, they are results or con-
comitants of the new Form. This distinction is repeatedly set
before us by the Angelic Doctor. Thus, in one place he declares
that * Every disposition to a Form is attributed by reduction to the
material cause ^ ' ; because such dispositions prepare the way for the
eduction of the new Form. In other places, he refers them to the
formal cause. But, again^ elsewhere he reconciles the two state-
ments. Thus, he tells us, that * In natural entities the disposition
which is a necessity to ' the eduction of * the Form, in a certain
respect precedes the substantial Form, — that is to say, according
to material causality. For a material disposition ranges itself on
the side of matter; but in another respect,' — ^viz. considered *on
the side of formal causality, the substantial Form is prior, foras-
much as it completes both the matter and the material accidents^'
^ 'Omnia enixn dupodtio ad formam reducitur ad causam materialem.* VeriL
Q. xzviii, a. 7, c.
' ' Et est simile in rebus naturalibus de dispositione quae est necessitas ad fonnam,
quae quodammodo praecedit formam substantialem, scilicet secundum rationem causae
materialis. Dispositio enim materialis ex parte materiae ee tenet; sed alio modo^
scilicet ex parte causae formalis, fcrma substantialis est prior, inquantom perficit
et materiam et accidentia materialia.* Verit, Q, xzviii, a. 8, c.
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The Formal Cause, 625
by givihg to both a new existence. Once more : He explains his
mind more clearly in the following passage : * As in the course of
generation a disposition precedes the perfection towards which it
disposes, in those entities which are subject to gradual perfection-
ing; so it naturally follows the perfection to which an entity has
already attained. Thus, heat, which was a disposition towards the
Form of fire, is an eflFect flowing from the Form of fire already
pre-existing^.'
The only part of the objection that remains unsolved, bears upon
the special relation of quantity to the matter and to the informing
Form. For this accident has a peculiar affinity with matter^ not
only because it is a sort of primordial matter to the qualitative
accidents and has no activity of operation, but because of its in-
difierence to the nature of the bodies that it informs and of the
accidental qualitative Forms by which it may itself be actuated.
Then, in the next place, it seems to be prerequired, in order that
matter may be portioned. For these reasons it is undoubtedly the
primal accident of material substance. This is confirmed by the
Angelic Doctor, who teaches that matter ' Receives its division and
indivision, its unity and multitude, which are the first consequents
of being, from quantity. On this account they are dispositions of
matter as a whole,' — that is to say, indivision, unity, etc., which
are results of quantity, — ' not of this or that only,^ — that is, not
of a particular portion of matter only. ' Hence, all the other
accidents are founded in substance through tlie medium of quantity,
and quantity is naturally prior to them. Consequently, it'
(quantity) 'does not embrace sensile matter,' — that is to say,
matter perceptible to the senses, — *in its definition; although it
embraces intelligible matter,' — ^that is to say, matter perceptible
to the intellect; — *as is declared in the seventh Book of the
Metaphysics. Hence it has come to pass, that some have been
deceived into supposing dimensions to be the substance of things
subject to sensile perception ; since, on the removal of the qualities,
they perceived that nothing sensile remained save quantity. Never-
theless, quantity according to its being depends, just like the
* 'Sicut dispositio in via generationis praecedit perfectionem ad quam dispoidt,
in his quae suooeflsive peHiciimtur ; ita Daturaliter perfectionem eequitnr, quam
aliquis jam consecutus est ; sic at calor, qui fuit dispodtio ad formam ignis, est
efTectus prufluens a forma ignis jam praeexistentis.' 3»» vii, 13, 2"».
VOL. II. S S
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other accidents, on substance ^* Further: In answer to the first
objection in the same Article, St. Thomas adds : * The first acci-
dents that follow upon substance are quantity and quality. And
these two are proportioned to the two Essential principiants of
material * substance, — to wit, the Form and the matter. For this
reason Plato laid it down that great and small are diflferences of
matter; whereas quality is on the side of the Form. Again:
Because matter is the first Subject which is in no other, while the
Form is in something else, viz. matter; for this reason quantity
approaches nearer to this characteristic of not being in another
than quality, and consequently than the other accidents 2.'
In these two passages we have a summary^ sufficient for our
present purpose, of the teaching of the Angelic Doctor touching
this question of quantity. He tells us, first of all, that there is
no difiTerence between quantity and the other accidents on the
point of their one and all depending for their being on the
composite substance. But, in the second place, quantity and
quality, — the two primary accidents, — difier from one another, in
that quantity approaches more nearly to the nature of matter,
while quality approaches more nearly to that of the Form, — the
two essential constitutives of bodies. The reason why quantity ap-
proaches more nearly to the nature of matter, is this, that it is
receptive of qualities and has, moreover, a universality or in-
determinateness of its own in such wise that it appertains to
matter as a whole, not to this or that portion separately. Its very
nature is, as it were, generic ; so that, as the Angelic Doctor
teaches elsewhere, it accompanies the body-Form, which is the first
^ * Prima autem dispositio materiae est quantitaB ; quia secundum ipsam aUend-
itur diviflio ejus et indivisio, et ita imitas et multitudo, quae sunt prima conflequenta
ens ; et propter hoc sunt dispositiones totius materiae, non hujus aut illius tantcDL
Unde omnia alia accidentia mediante quantitate in substantia fundantur, et quantxtas
est prior eis naturaliter; et ideo non claudit materiam sensibilem in ratione sua,
quamvis claudat materiam intelligibilem, ut dicitur in 7 Metaph. Unde ex lioc
quidam decepti fuenint, ut crederent dimensiones esse substantiam rerum senaibiliqin ;
quia remotis qualitatibus nihil sensibile remanere videbant nisi quantitatem* quae
tamen secundum esse suum dependet a substantia, sicut et alia accidentia.* 4 <f. xii,
Q. I, a. I, 5. 3, c.
^ * Prima accidentia consequentia substantiam sunt quantitas et qnalitas ; et luec
duo proportionantur duobus principiis essentialibus substantiae, sciUcet formae et
materiae (unde magnum et parvuin Plato posuit differentias materiae) ; sed qoatiui
ex parte formae. £t quia materia est subjectum primum quod non est in alio, fonu
autem est in alio, scilicet materia ; ideo magis appropinquat ad hoc quod est dob
esse in alio quantitas quam qualitas, et per consequens quam alia accidentia.'
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The Formal Cause, 627
Form of matter and is virtually contained in every specific material
substance. Lastly^ it does not include in its definition, (for the
Subject enters obliquely into the definition of an accident), sensile
substance or matter; because material substance, denuded of
quantity and its qualities^ is not pervious to sense. But it in-
cludes intelligible matter and substance, which is the formal subject-
matter of mathematics.
From the above doctrine of St. Thomas we are enabled to extract
the solution of the diflBculty proposed. It is impossible to admit,
(looking at the whole question metaphysically), that quantity can
precede the information of matter by the Form, and the consequent
constitution of the composite, in order of nature; for quantity,
just like any other accident, depends for its being on the integral
substance. Looking, however, at the same question in the concrete,
it divides itself off into two, corresponding with the twofold order
in the constitution of material substances. In the creation of
the primordial elements, the concreated substantial Form brought
along with it, so to say, quantity together with the other accidents.
Neither was the apportionment of matter a previous necessity;
since the Form, by actuating, portioned the matter. In the
natural generation of bodies the case is different. There can be no
doubt that quantity, like many qualitative accidents afterwards to
become accidents of the new substance, precedes even in order of
time the eduction of the new Form as a material disposition ;
since it, together with the others, exists under the previous sub-
stance that is corrupted. £ut, as has been said already, it receives
a new existence with the generation of the new substance.
iii. The third objection is derived from the evolution of higher
Forms, as taught by St. Thomas. We have seen how in the human
embryo, for instance, the matter progresses in organization till it
evolves the vegetable- Form ; — how the organization goes on, till
the animal-Form supervenes ; — how the organization proceeds yet
further, until the human soul is breathed forth by creation into
the fully organized body. This gradual development of organiza-
tion is a necessary disposition by which the matter is prepared step
by step for nobler Forms; and it continues through the whole
process of transformations. But, after the explanations already
given the answer is easy. Such organization is an accident, — or
rather a congeries of accidents,— of material substance ; and, in the
generation of each new composite, receives a fresh existence.
ss 2
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ARTICLE vn.
The unioity of the substantial Form.
The question proposed for consideration in the present Article
shoald at the outset be clearly understood. It is this : Whether
it is either naturally possible or at the least possible to the Divine
Omnipotence, (Which is able to do any thing that does not involve
a contradiction in terms), that more than one substantial Form
should simultaneously inform the same portion of matter, or the
same body. In the discussion of this question, (as, indeed, in that
of others), the writer is bound to study the special requirements
of the age in which he lives as well as the end which he has
proposed to himself in the publication of the present Work. There
are opinions, which of their nature would seem to claim a place in
the proposed investigation, that will be entirely omitted, because
they have become obsolete and have long since ceased to excite any
interest. Such, for instance, is the opinion of the Manicheans, that
man has two souls, — the one from the principle of good, the other
from the principle of evil. Such, too, is the opinion of Occam, who
would seem to have professed a somewhat similar theory^ and has
besides introduced a formal distinction between these two souls and
the body- Form, with a similar distinction between this last and
the sensitive Form in animals. Most of these forgotten, because
erroneous, speculations will not be raised from their grave. One
or two^ which claim some amount of Scholastic authority, will be
brought before the reader's notice but summarily dealt with. On
the other hand, there are opinions, allied to the present question,
which have an important bearing on subjects of modem interest
and on recent discoveries in Physics. To these a marked promi-
nence will be given.
As Suarez points out, there are three ways in which we may
conceive a multiplication of substantial Forms to be possible in one
and the same portion of matter. It may be maintained that there
is one primary and dominant Form among the group, to which the
remainder are essentially subordinate; or, secondly, that there is
one essentially determinant Form which the remainder subserve as
dispositions, so that the latter may be regarded as partial consti-
tuents of the material cause of the principal Form ; or, lastly, that
there is a congeries of Forms equal and independent of each other.
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The Formal Cause. 629
Previously, however, to entering upon the consideration of these
special hypotheses, the general question arises, whether under any
conditions the existence of more than one Form in the same body
is possible ; if possible, to what extent possible. Consequently, the
Article naturally divides itself into the four following sections :
I. The possibility in general of such a multiplication of sub-
stantial Forms in the same composite.
%. The possibility of multiplication with a subordination of the
rest to one dominant Form.
3. The possibility of the co-existence with the determining Form
of other dispositive Forms.
4. The possibility of the co-existenoe of Forms independent of
each other in the same composite.
§ I.
The possibility in general of a mnltiplioation of substantial
Focma in the same substance.
PROPOSITION CCVIII.
It is natiurally impossible that more than one substantial Form
should exist simultaneously in one and the same bodily sub«
stance.
TffE Proposition is proved by the following arguments :
I. Every entity owes its being and its entity to the same cause ;
because unity is a transcendental attribute of being. From the
fact that a thing is Being, it is ipso facto one. But bodily substance
owes its Being to the substantial Form. Therefore, to the sub-
stantial Form it likewise owes its unity. If, then, there were more
than one substantial Form in one body, there would be more than
one bodily substance. Even supposing, therefore, for the sake of
argument, that the same portion of matter could admit of being
actuated by more than one Form, the result would be the constitu-
tion of two or more integral substances. Let us, by way of illustra-
tion; imagine the same portion of matter to be informed at once by
a rose-tree-Form and a dog-Form ; plainly enough two distinct sub-
stances would be generated, — to wit, a rose-tree and a dog. This
is the argument on which the Angelic Doctor seems principally to
rely, when establishing the truth of the present Thesis. Thus, for
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630 Causes of Being.
instance, demonstrating that there is but one soul in man, he argues
as follows : ' It is impossible that in one and the same entity there
should be a plurality of substantial Forms, for the reason that a
thing derives its Being and its unity from the same source. Now
it is manifest that an entity receives its Being through the Form ;
wherefore, through the Form likewise it receives its unity. Conse-
quently, wherever there is a multitude of Forms, the entity is not
simply one ; as, for instance, ' a white man is not simply one,' —
because he is accidentally white and stibstantially man ; — ' and a two-
footed animal would not be one simply, if he were animal from one
cause and two-footed from another, as the Philosopher observes'.* So,
again, in another place where he is discussing the same subject, he
repeats the same argument. * An entity/ he writes, * has its Being
and its unity from the same source ; for unity follows upon Being.
Since, therefore, everything has Being from its Form ; from its Form
likewise will it have unity. On the hypothesis, then, that there are
more souls than one in man. after the manner of different Forms,
man will not be one Being but many. Neither will an order in
the Forms suffice for the unity of man ; because unity of order
is not simply order, since it is the least of unities ^.'
II. It is naturally impossible that more than one Form should
simultaneously actuate the same jiortion of matter. The first reason
is as follows : Matter, as we have seen, is a pure passive potentiality,
and this connotes three things ; first, a disposition for actuation as
the essential complement of its perfection ; secondly, an indifference
as to the particular Form by which it is actuated ; and lastly, an
essential dependence on the Form for its existence. But its dispo-
sition, or tendency, towards actuation is satisfied by the information
of one Form ; its essential dependence receives adequate support
from one Form ; while it is indifferent to actuation by any other.
* * Impossibile est in uno et eodem esse plures formas substantialea : et hoc ideo
quia ab eodem habet res eage et amtatem. Manifestum est autem quod res habct
6886 per formam ; unde et per formam res habet unitatem. Et propter hoc, ubicnm-
que est multitudo formarum, non est unum simpliciter; eicut homo albus non est
imum simpliciter, nee animal bipes esset unum simpliciter, si ab aUo esset animal
et ab alio bipes, ut Philosophus dicit.' Q,iiol. L. I, a. 6, c.
' * Ab eodem aliquid habet esse et unitatem ; unum enim consequitur ad ens.
Cum igitur a forma unaquaeque res habeat esse, a forma etiam habebit unitatem. Si
i^tur in homine ponantur plures animae sicut diversae formae, homo non erit
imum ens, sed plura ; nee ad unitatem hominis ordo formarum eufficiet, quia e»e
unum secundum ordinem non est esse unum simpliciter, cum unitas ordinis sit minima
nnitatura.* Off. L. II, r" 5^-
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The Formal Cause. 631
Consequently, a multiplication of Forms would be wholly super-
fluous and beyond the tendency of matter.
III. Another argument, demonstrating the natural impossibility
that one substantial Form should simultaneously actuate the same
portion of matter, is derived from the natural operation of the
Form. Each Form has its own natural operation ; and matter
subserves the Form in such operation which is, therefore, attribut-
able to the integral composite. If, then, there were more substantial
Forms than one in the same matter, the matter would have to
accommodate itself to distinct and often conflicting operations
which would postulate distinct and often opposed organization.
For the sake of illustration we will suppose the same portion of
matter to be informed at once by the Form of a medidnal leech, (or,
to use the language of the craft, the satiguisvga a^inalis), and by
the Form of a sparrow. It is sufficiently plain that the diflSculties
in the way of a mutual accommodation would not be insignificant.
The natural element of the leech is water ; that of the sparrow, air.
The leech has a taste for blood ; the sparrow feeds on worms,
insects, seeds. Hence, the necessity for a distinct organism. The
leech is annulose, — has lips, miouth, triradiate jaws each with a
semi-circular toothed margin, all adapted for its special kind of
food, — and a comparatively simple arrangement of digestive, respi-
ratory, and nervous systems. The sparrow is a vertebrate, — has
a beak, wings, . feathers all over its body, — a highly developed
digestive, respiratory, and nervous system, — together with the full
number of the organs of sense. It is impossible even to conceive
how the same matter could serve for both. The impossibility is
not so apparent, if we suppose two substantial Forms of the same
species to inform the same portion of matter. Yet, even in this
case, matter in course of nature would have to submit to an actua-
tion in the composite substance by accidental Forms more or less
opposed, in order that the two Forms might be individually difier-
entiated. Imagine the same matter serving for a bull-dog and an
Italian greyhound ; or for a tortoise-shell cat and a Manx.
IV. A final argument, demonstrating the natural impossibility
of more than one substantial Form simultaneously informing the
same portion of matter, is deduced from the innate indefiniteness
of such multiplication. If it should be once admitted that more
than one Form could at the same time actuate the same portion
of matter; where are we to draw the line? Matter of itself is
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632 Causes of Being.
indiflferently receptive of all Forms. Therefore, there is as much
reason why a given portion of matter should be informed by qain-
tillions upon quintillions of Forms of every kind as for its informa-
tion by two. Moreover, such a capacity would necessarily exclude
the alternate processes of corruption and generation, as we see them
in nature ; since no supervening Form would exclude the continu-
ance of any other. In fact, there is no assignable reason, on such a
hypothesis, why one and the same portion of matter should not be
simultaneously actuated'by all the existing as well as possible bodily
Forms in creation. But this is absurd in itself, and is contradicted
by the unvarying testimony of physical facts ^.
Note.
Suarez has proposed the question, whether de poteniia aisoluia
such a simultaneous concurrence of substantial Forms in the same
portion of matter is possible; and he decides in the affirmative.
It does not seem necessary to delay over the point ; but thus
much may be said. If this concurrence were metaphysically
possible ; at least it would not be metaphysically possible that it
should result in the constitution of only one composite substance.
The first argument, borrowed from St. Thomas, determines thus
much.
§2.
The possibility of a multiplication of substantial Forms with
a subordination of the rest to one dominant Form.
PROPOSITION CCIX.
It is neither necessary nor possible that the body-Form should
00-exist actually with the specifiLc substantial Form in the
same composite.
Declaration of the Proposition.
This Thesis is directed against the opinion of Scotus and others
who, moved thereto by certain apparent reasons which will appear
under the shape of objections, maintained that, in the instance of
animate beings, the body-Form co-existed actually^ not virtually
only, with the specific Form in the same composite, though essen-
tially subordinate to the latter.
* The XLII (otherwise XLV) Ojpmculu.m of St. Thomas may be read with profit,
as it expressly treats of this question.
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Tlie Formal Cause. 633
I. The first Member of the Thesis asserts that it is not necessary
far the body-Form to co-exist actually with the specific substantial Form
in the same composite. This assertion is commended to us by the
teaching of the Angelic Doctor, from which the proof will be
gathered. The body- Form, (Corporeity^ as the Schoolmen term it),
exists virtually in every material substantial Form ; so that matter
necessarily becomes body on its actuation by any whatsoever sub-
stantial Form. Hence, body is essentially co-extensive with in-
formed matter in its entire extension ; as the common language of
mankind very plainly evinces. It is for this reason that the body-
Form is truly conceived as the primary substantial Form ; though
never existing in itself, but always in some other specifically de-
terminate Form as a virtual constitutive. For the same reason
quantity is considered as»its concomitant property; so that quantity
and body-Form are co-extensive. Wherever there is body, there is
naturally quantity ; and wherever there is quantity, naturally there
is body. Wherefore, every substantial material Form has in itself
the virtue of making matter to be body, while at the same time
constituting it a body specifically such or such. Consequently,
there is no need in any single case of a body-Form actually existing
and really distinct from the specific Form.
II. The second Member, in which it is declared that this actual
co-existence of the body-Form with the specific Form is impossible,
admits of being proved as follows. It is impossible that a generic
whole, as such, should actually exist in the world of nature ; but it
behoves that it should be determined to some definite species. The
body-Form is a generic whole, as such. Therefore, it requires de-
termination to some species in order to exist.
DIFFICULTIES.
I. Every soul, (including the vegetative and sensitive, as well as
the soul of man), surpasses the ordinary grade of bodily substance ;
forasmuch as it presupposes organization, which inanimate Forms
do not require. Further : The organization required becomes more
complex and perfect in proportion to the nobility of the Form.
Therefore, a soul presupposes another Form by which the matter
may be proximately disposed for such organization. .
Answer. No such presupposed Form is necessary ; because the
soul is sufiScient to cause of itself the organism required, when it
informs the matter. It is true that, according to the established
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634 Causes of Being.
order of natural generation, there are preparatory and dispository
Forms, (which multiply in proportion to the higher grade of soul-
Form, towards the evolution or introduction of which the genera-
tive process has been directed) ; but these severally retire, — the
lower into the virtue of the higher, — in such sort that the highest
and ultimate Form in the development virtually contains in itself
all the preceding. In the established order of generation, therefore,
transitory Forms are required in succession; but not the simul-
taneous co-existence of two substantial Forms in one and the same
body, which is impossible. It should be added, that these transitory
Forms are only conditionally necessary,^ — that is to say, by reason
of the established law of evolution ; for the Form absobtUly has
it in its own power to modify the matter according to its own
behests by the informing aet. •
II. The above answer is at variance with the common sense of
mankind as interpreted to us in the generally received way of
speaking, which markedly points to the actual co-existence of a
body-Form with the animating soul. Thus, it is said ordinarily
that man is made up of soul and body^ not of soul and matter ;
whereas, it would be said of oxygen, (for instance), that it is made
up of matter and the oxygen-Form. So, again, it is the received
definition of a soul, (with the authority of the Philosopher in its
favour), that it is the act of a physical orgafiized body^ having
potentiality of life. But such expressions and such definition
evidently suppose, that the material cause in living substances is
something more than matter ; that it is matter so informed as to
be a body, as it were, in its own right, — an organized body,
proximately potential of life, — which it could not be, unless
actually informed by the body-Form. For it must not be over-
looked, that these expressions are used in contrast to the animating
soul.
Answer. First of all, common modes of expression are not
always philosophically precise ; and it is stretching them beyond
their legitimate claims, to make use of them as ultimate tests of
scientific truth. They are doubtless always right; but they are
right in their own way. Thus, — to take an instance, — ^people
habitually every where speak of the sun rising and setting at such
a time, and these terms are stereotyped in our almanacks ; yet an
astronomer would be loth to give up his Copernican theory on the
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The Formal Cause. 635
strength of such phrases. So, again, from the historic time up to
now everybody talks of the smell of a rose and of the flavour of
a peach ; while a psychologist knows full well that smell and
flavour are not formally in the object, but in the senses of the soul.
These remarks evidently cannot extend to a received definition.
Wherefore, — to meet the present diflBculty more nearly, — these
expressions and the alleged defluition can bo fairly justified, with-
out being driven to admit the actual co-existence of a body- Form
with the animating soul. To begin with the well-known defi-
nition : — ^Physically considered, a plant or animal is substantially
composed of soul and matter. But in a metaphysical definition
the proximate genus is given (to speak logically) together with
the specific Diflerence that contracts and determines it. Thus,
man is defined to be a rational animal; although both reason and
animality are included in the soul, while the body is only indirectly,
and as a remote genus in a particular line of abstraction, included
under animal. In like manner, plant may be generically defined
to be an animated lody; although physically it is the animating
Form that makes the matter to be a body. The intimate reason
of this is, that a metaphysical definition consists of the material
and formal parts of an essence. Now, the metaphysical formal
part of an essence is logically, as we have said, the specific
Diflerence in a particular line of abstraction, — ^that is to say, con-
sidered in relation to this or that cognate chain of being ; while
the material part is that which is generic in the same line of
abstraction. In this way, body as constituted in an animal is
generic in the Porphyrian tree ; while animated by a sensitive soul
is specific and formal. Similarly, animal is the material part of
man in the same line of abstraction ; while rational is his formal
part. Precisely in the same way, if we consider a soul (or ani-
mating Form) in the line of abstraction which starts from Forms,
act will be the material part, since it is common to spiritual and
material, to substantial and accidental. Forms ; while of a physical
organized body^ having potentiality of life, represents the formal
part, because these words constitute the specific Difference*. And
thus the definition is verified, while the difl[iculty disappears. The
popular expressions, referred- to in the objection, must be otherwise
1 See St. ThomaB in 3 cf. v, Q. I, a. a, 3« el 3™, who gives precisely the same
explanation.
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636 Causes of Being.
explained ; though the solution of them will be simplified, for men
who think, by that which has gone before. The common sort
judge, — and, so far as their judgment is purely positive, judge
rightly, — in accordance with the natural phenomena that meet the
senses. They do not concern themselves with an occult antecedent
process (in fieri) ; but with the constituted fact {in facto ea^e). By
their common sense they recognize in the animate things of natnre
a body on the one hand, and a ruling, operating, life on the other.
They separate the two ; and phenomena justify the phenomenal
distinction they make. But the essential link between the two,
it is not theirs to see. It is object of science, not of common
sense. The senses cannot near it; it reveals itself only to the
practised undei'standing.
III. Lastly, — and this would seem to have been the principal
argument that moved Scotus to adopt the opinion in question, —
the co-existence of the body-Form with the soul of living bodies
is deducible from the phenomena of death. When a thing dies,
the animating Form leaves the body ; and there is no other sub-
stantial Form that immediately takes its place. During this in-
terregnum the matter cannot be existing without any Form at all.
Therefore, the body-Form must have actually co-existed with the
specific animating Form ; and is seen to remain after the death of
the once living entity. That no other new substantial Form then
intervenes, is thus proved. If such intervention took place, the
body would be specifically at once and individually different;
whereas to all appearance it remains for some time specifically and
individually the same.
Answer. It is undoubtedly true, that the matter which con-
stitutes the body of a living creature cannot remain formless after
death ; but it is equally certain that the arrangement imagined by
Scotus is naturally impossible. For, (not to repeat the arguments
which go to prove that two substantial Forms cannot simul-
taneously inform the same portion of matter, as also the demon-
stration that the body-Form cannot exist unless specifically de-
termined), according to the Scotist hypothesis there would be
corruption without a corresponding generation. Neither does the
reply avail, that generation is the necessary concomitant of a total
conniption ; whereas in the present instance it is only a partial
corruption. For, in the first place, these partial substantial cor-
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The Formal Cause. 637
ruptions are simply a new invention to meet the difficulty. They
are not known in any other case ; nor were they heard of before.
Secondly, if we are to admit of partial corruptions, we must
necessarily admit partial generations; which leaves the difficulty
where it was. Lastly, the body would not remain the same, in
the hypothesis of Scotus; because the informed matter would be
•g^nerically body ; whereas it was previously the specific body of a
geranium^ — say,— or of an ox. Yet the assumed identity of the
body is the main stay of the theory. If it should be urged in
reply, that the body remains generically the same ; the answer is
obvious. The bodies of a geranium and of an ox are generically
the same ; so that after death there is nothing to hinder the
remains from becoming one body. There is another strong argu-
ment that telle against the theory of Scotus. On his hypothesis^
there would be a partial substantial corruption ; nevertheless, there
would still remain a complete material substance composed of
matter and a material Form.
Consequently, in unison with the common teaching of the School
it must be said that, as soon as the living substance is corrupted
and the soul recedes, the corpse-Form succeeds. Wherefore, it is
no longer in reality either specifically *or individually the same
body; though it may analogically be considered as such by the
title of former possession. As for the apparent identity between
the two, the question has already been discussed ; it may, however,
be added, that there are commonly supposed to be specific and
individual differences in corpses to correspond with those of living
bodies. This would account for identity of structure, organism,
individual marks, and the like.
It remains to show that the answer here given is in harmony
with the teaching of the Angelic Doctor. In one place St, Thomas
says, ' The dead body of a saint,' (the nature of the question dis-
cussed alone suggested the limitation^ since the argument applies
equally to all living things), *is not numerically the same as it
was at the first while living, on account of the diversity of the
Form^' Again: *The dead body of every other man/ except
Christ, * is not the same absolutely, but only to a certain extent ;
because it is the same as regards the matter, but not the same as
^ ' Corpus iDortumn alicujus sancti non est idem numero. quod primo fuit, dum
viveret, propter diversitatem formae/ 3»» xxv, 6, s™.
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regards the Form ^' So, once more, while engaged in a dis-
cussion of the question, Whether the Body of Christ on the CroMs and
in the Sepulchre was numerically One, he objects to his own con-
chision that it was One, as follows : * All things whatsoever that
differ in species, differ numerically. But the Body of Christ
hanging on the Cross and' that Body * lying in the Sepulchre
differ specifically. Therefore, etc. ' ' The solution of St. Thomas
will not be given, because it belongs to Supernatural Theology. It
is enough to know that in his answer he clearly admits the
existence of a specific difference in the mere order of nature^
between a body dead and that same body alive. But, according
to the hypothesis of Scotus, there could be no specific difference
between a body alive and dead, but only a generic identity ; since,
in order to constitute a specific difference, the mutual opposition of
two specific Forms is required. Animal and horse do not differ
specifically. The Formula of St. Thomas would be, M + F specifi-
cally differs from M4-P'; the formula of Scotus, M-f C + F and
M-fC— F=M-hC; (M representing the matter, C corporeity or
the body-Form, F the specific Form of the living substance^ F' the
•corpse-Form of th« dead substance).
IV. An objection is urged against the above explanation, or
answer. The introduction of a new Form postulates an efiScient
cause. But, in many instances of death, there is no agent to which
the eduction of the corpse-Form can be attributed. Therefore, etc.
Answer. The same agencies which indispose the matter for
retaining the vital Form concur towards the retrogade eduction of
the coi*pse-Form.
PROPOSITION CCX.
It is neither necessary nor posaible that lower Forms of life
should actually oo-exist with a higher Form of life in the same
composite.
Declaration op the Proposition.
Certain Doctors of the School have maintained, that in man
there are three souls really distinct, — a vegetative, animal, and
^ * Corpus mortuum cujuBcumque alterius hominia non est idem dmpliciter, sed
eeoundum quid : quia est idem secundum materiam, non autem idem secundum
formam.* 3*« 1, 1™.
' ' Quaecumque differunt specie, diflerunt numero. Sed corpus Clunsti appensum
in cruce et jacens in sepulchro, differt specie eo modo quo mortuum et vivum diffi^
runt specie. Ergo non est unum et idem numero.' Quol. L. IV, a. 8, !■" arg.
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rational, soul. To be consequent, these authors would be com-
pelled to admit, that similarly in irrational animals there are two
actually distinct Forms, — the vegetative, and their own sensitive
soul. The arguments already offered in previous Theses sufficiently
establish the truth of the above enunciation, and afford a satisfactory
answer to the reasons given for the contrary opinion. One more
argument, however, — or rather a preceding argument under a new
form, — may be added^ in order to expose the absurdity of the
theory in question. If, for instance, a vegetative soul and a sensitive
soul could actually co-exist with the rational soul in a man, the
two former must of necessity be determined to some definite
species ; for no genus, as such^ can exist in the world of nature.
Consequently, — to put it in the concrete, — Charles (we will say) has
his own individual reasonable soul and, besides this, the vegetative
Form of a dandelion as well as the soul of a hippopotamus. The
practical incongruity of such a combination is sufficiently apparent ;
unless we suppose that these two latter Forms remain quiescent.
But their remaining quiescent wculd suppose a Form deprived by
nature of its natural operation ; which is preposterous.
The constant teaching of the Angelic Doctor confirms, were con-
firmation needed, the truth of the present Proposition. Thus, in an
Opusculum which is devoted exclusively to the discussion of this
question, he expresses his judgment as follows : * A Form that is
virtually more perfect contains within it the less perfect Form.
Therefore, the more perfect Form supposed, it is superfluous to
suppose the less perfect. Since, then^ there is nothing superfluous
in nature ; nature does not suffer that in the same composite there
should be two Forms, one of which is more perfect than the other \'
He then proceeds to heap up arguments in disproof ef the theory
that is here impugned ; for which the reader is referred to the
Opusculum, In the following passage, taken from another of his
Works, the Angelic Doctor pursues the same idea. *We must
understand/ he writes, 'that substantial Forms have a similar
relation, one with another, to that which subsists between numerals,
as it is said in the eighth Book of the Metaphysics ; or, again, like
to that subsisting between geometrical figures, as the Philosopher
^ * Forma ergo perfectior virtute continet formam imperfectiorem. Posita ergo
forma perfection, superfluit ponere imperfectiorem. Cum ergo in natura nihil sit
Buperflumn, non permittit natura quod in eodem composito sint duae formae, quarum
una rat perfectior alia.' Optise. XLV {aliter ^LII), init.
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remarks touching the parts of the soul in the second Book of his
De Anima. For a greater number, or a more complex geometrical
figure, always contains virtually within itself the less ; just as five
contains foufy and a pentagon contains a qtiadrilateraL In like
manner, a more perfect Form virtually contains within itself the less
perfect ; as is more particularly evident in animals. For the rational
soul has the virtue of conferring on the human body all that the
sensitive soul confers on brutes ; and similarly the sensitive soul in
animals causes all that the nutritive soul causes in plants, and more
besides. Wherefore, in man a sensitive soul in addition to an
intellectual soul would be useless ; because the intellectual sonl
virtually contains the sensitive soul^ and more besides ; just as
the * enumeration of the * number four would be a useless addition,
if we have arrived at the number fice. The same holds good of
all substantial Forms, till you arrive at primordial matter. . . .
Accordingly, it is plain that, when tjie perfect Form comes, the
imperfect Form is removed ; just as the figure of a quadrilateral
is removed^ as soon as that of a pentagon supervenes ^'
§3-
The poBsibility of a multiplication in the same body of snb-
stantial Forms, the rest of whieh are dispositions for the
principal Form.
The discussions upon which we are now about to enter are of
more than ordinary interest, if considered in the light of recent
physical investigations. There is a relative importance, therefore,
attaching to them, which it would ill become the author of this
Work to ignore ; seeing that one of his main objects, more pai^
ticularly in the present Book, has been to sjiow that the Scholastic
Philosophy squares in a remarkable manner with the discoveries in
^ 'Sciendum est quod fomiAe substantiales se habent ad invioem dcat nameri,
ut dicitur in 8 Metaph ; vol etiam sicut fiji^urae, at de partibus animae dicit Phiioflo-
phua in 3 de Anima. Semper enim major numenis vel figura virtute oontmet in
88 minorem, sicut quinarius quatemarium et pentagonus tetn^num ; et simifiter
perfectior forma virtute continet in se imperfeetiorem, ut maxime in animalibns pstei.
Anima enim intellectiva habet virtutem at conferat corpori humano quidqnid oonfert
sensitiya in brutis ; et similiter sensitiva facdt in animalibns qnidquid natritiTa in
plantis, et adliuo amplius. Frustra ergo esset in homine alia anima sensitiTa praeier
iutellectivam, ex quo anima intellectiva virtute continet sensitivam, et adhoc ampBns;
flicut frustrn adderetur quatemarius, posito quinario. £t eadem ratio est de omnibos
formis substantialibus usque ad materiam primam . . . Manifestum est aatem quod
semper, adveniente fbima perfecta, tolUtur forma imperfecta ; sicut etiam, advenicntc
f)gufa pentagoniy toUitur quadratic Qaol. Z. I, a. 6, c.
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The Formal Cause. 641
modem physics. Possessed with this firm conviction himself and
desirous that others, whom it more immediately concerns, should
share in a like conviction, he has been induced to go somewhat out
of his way, and perhaps to forestall certain subjects of subsequent
investigation, in order that the doctrine of the School touching the
constitution of bodies, and especially as to their substantial Forms,
may be presented to the reader in its full integrity. To this intent
the six following Theses have been introduced, in order to elucidate
the solution of the problems that follow and are immediately con-
nected with the subject of the present Section.
PROPOSITION CCXI.
All substantial bodily Forms in their own partial entity are
simple and unextended.
Prolegomenon.
By the term simple is not to be understood such simplicity as is
attributable to a mathematical point ; but a simplicity by virtue of
which the Form is entirely in the whole substantial composite and
entirely in each and every actual or possible part. When it is said
that all such Forms are in this sense simple, it is intended to in-
clude the Forms of inanimate, as well as animate, substances.
I. The first Member of this Proposition, wherein it is asserted
that all substantial Forms in their own partial entity are simple^ is
thus proved. The substantial act of a pure passive potentiality
must be simple. But such is every substantial Form. Therefore,
etc. The Major is thus declared. There cannot be more than one
substantial act informing one and the same portion of matter ; and
that act specifically and individually determines the whole.
Further : As Form of the matter it constitutes the parts, whatever
these may be, and is prior to them in order of nature. Therefore, it is
Form of the whole ; and, as Form of a simple whole, is wholly its act.
This no changes, — or rather, determinations,--can affect ; for nothing
can limit itself. When, then, parts or organs are constituted in the
composite through the actuation of the Form ; the Form is wholly in
each, because it is wholly the act of the whole matter. Further : If
we suppose it to exist only partially in the parts, though wholly in the
whole ; it must be composite in its own nature and, consequently, its
components prior in order of nature to itself. Hence, it could not
primarily be the act of matter, but of the parts constituted by
itself; which is absurd. For, in such a hypothesis, the sum of its
VOL. II. T t
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partial informations would constitute the integral information of
the whole ; not the integral information of the whole, the informa-
tion of the parts. Once more : If the substantial Form partially
informed the organs and parts of the composite; it would not
be one act, but many,— each with its own distinct operation.
Thus, for instance, the plant-Form would be no longer one ; but
there would be the root-Form, the leaf-Form, the tissue-Form, etc.,
collectively forming one nominal whole. These arguments are
confirmed by the testimony of experience. Divide a diamond or a
piece of sulphur, if this were possible, into atoms; each atom
would be a diamond or sulphur, just as truly and completely as the
original mass from which it had been taken.
II. The second Member, which declares that aU 9t£bstantial
bodily Forms in their own partial entity are unexlended, is evident ;
for extension is equivalent to quantity which is an accident of the
composite. Hence, all bodily substances, previous to their informa-
tion by quantity, would be unextended and naturally indivisible ;
a fortiori their essential constituents.
PROPOSITION ccxn.
All material compositeB, constituted by a living Form, have
parts and organs proportioned to the natural operation and
faculties of their respective Forms.
This Proposition virtually contains three Members. In the first
it is maintained that, in strictness of speech, parts and oi^ans are
predicated of the integral composite, and not of either the matter or
the Form separately. In the second it is asserted that all living
bodies have parts and organs. In the third it is added that these
part« and organs are proportioned to the natural operation and
faculties of their respective Forms. Let us consider each by itself
I. The fikst Membee, which is to the effect that joar^ and organs
are, strictly speaking, attributable to tie composite substance, not to
either the matter or the Form separately, is thus proved. Parts and
organs connote physical composition. But both matter and the
substantial Form are simple entities. Therefore, neither of them
separately can have either parts or organs. Consequently, it re-
mains that parts and organs are strictly attributable only to the
integral composite, or material substance. Again : Parts and organs
are properties of living bodies, — that is to say, accidents flowisg
from the essence of bodies. But accidents essentially presuppost?
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the integral substance as their only adequate Subject of inhesion.
Therefore, etc.
Nevertheless^ parts and organs are attributed to the matter in the
camposiie rather than to the Form; because in its partial entity
matter, as a passive potentiality, is receptive of such dispositions,
which a Form or act^ exclusively as such, is not.
Note.
An inanimate substance may have virttuil substantial parts^
forasmuch as it is a compound. Thus^ water i^ virtually made
up of oxygen and hydrogen. Such partibility is plainly enough
independent of that virtual divisibility into parts, common to all
bodies, which is the result of quantity. The two can be easily
distinguished ; for the latter only multiplies the substance, while
the former resolves it into its constituent elements.
II. The second Membeb, in which it is a£Srmed that all living
bodies have parts and organs^ is thus proved. It has been already
established that the matter i7i the composite substance must be pro-
portioned to the Form. Consequently, the Form in its actuation of
the matter introduces into this latter all those determinations which
are necessary in order to establish such proportion. In plants, then,
— to assume the lowest grade of life, — there are three faculties, viz.
those of assimilation, growth, reproduction. In order, therefore,
to enable the topical plant-Form, (for it is not necessary for our
present purpose that the differentiations of vegetative life should be
considered), to exercise the peculiar functions and operation which
belong to its nature, it is necessary that the body should be fitted
to both ; since its functions and operation are , purely material.
Thu9, — to keep to the original illustration, — for its functions of
assimilation and growth the plant-Form needs organs ; it finds
them in its roots, leaves, veins, tissue. For its function of repro-
duction it needs organs ; it finds them, in the sperm and germ-cells.
So then, it must have parts in the composite of which it is the
act, because separate organs connote diversity of parts. It must
have organs ; because organs, (as the Greek derivation sufficiently
indicates), are the instruments of function, and through function the
plant- Form evolves its natural operation. Without these it would
be naturally impossible for the plant-Form to energize in accordance
with its own nature ; which means, in other words, that the matter
would not be duly proportioned to its Form.
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III. The thied Member asserts, that thene parts and organs are
duly proportioned to tk ? natural operation and special faculties of the
respective Forms. This proposition follows, as a corollary, from the
preceding Member. For if it is necessary for the due apportion-
ment of matter to its Form, that it should be organized in accord-
ance with the natural functions of its Form; it follows that the
number and nature of parts and organs must be proportioned to the
number and nature of the functions of the Form. Thus it is, — for
instance, — that an animal requires organs of sense ; over and above
the organs of assimilation, growth, and reproduction, that are re-
quired for the natural operation of the plant-Form ; and a greater or
less number of organs in proportion to the excellence of its Form.
COROLLAEY I.
It follows that matter, as existing in the composite, — ^that is
to say, under information of its Form, — is the proper seat of parts
and organs, (as has been noticed in the declaration of the first
Member) ; since these are instruments of the Form, by means of
which it is enabled to energize. Of itself the Form is simple ; and
in the composite, as substantial Act^ preserves its simplicity. Matter,
on the contrary, is susceptive of differentiation. In other words,
matter of itself is simple by reason of its entitative imperfection ;
the Form is simple by virtue of its entitative excellence.
CoROLLAEY II.
The Form causes distinction of parts and organs proportionably
to the perfectness of its formal causality. Consequently, within
the limits of the same species, these parts and organs are suscep-
tible of appreciable modification according to the exigencies of the
individual Form. Thus, — ^to take an illustration from botany, —
the flowers of the snowdrops are, as we know, hermaphrodite.
In the instance of double snowdrops^ the stamina transform them-
selves into petals. When this occurs, the ovary pines away; because
the function of fertility is arrested by the accidental transformation
of the stamina. Similarly, the mole is bom with the organ of
sight, like other mammalia; but the organ does not grow with
the growth of the animal and, in the adult, ceases to function.
This latter is an instance of specific modification.
Corollary III.
All substantial bodily Forms have certain proper virtues or facul-
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ties proportioned to their grade. Those of inanimate bodies are
comparatively few and simple; but they ]5ecome more numerous
and complex, as we mount higher in the scale of nature. Their
correlation is due to the unity of their Form. They are limited
in act, — such^ at least, as do not transcend the sphere of matter, —
to the part or organ through which they eaergize. Hence there
arises a twofold way of regarding these Fo(ms. We may either
consider them as they are in their essential nature^ — in their ^r^i^
act ; — ^and, as such, they are simply and wholly in every part of the
body. Or we may consider them functionally, — ^in their second act ;
— ^and, as such, they admit of physical distinction and partial local-
Ization. Thus, the function of sight is limited to the eye; and that
of hearing normally in great measure to the ear.
Note.
Against the truth of the third Member of this Proposition it
may possibly be objected, that modern observations in comparative
anatomy have discovered certain rudimentary structures in higher
orders of animals, more or less ' useless to ' their ' organism, valueless
for life-purposes, worthless for' their 'functions^.' Thus; in man
the 09 coccygia affords the rudimentary structure of a tail ; and in
the human scapula, or shoulder-blade, there is a process of the bone,
called the coracoid process, (because of its resemblance to the beak of
a crow), which in the bird is an independent bone, doing duty as a ful-
crum for the downward sweep of the wing. But these physical facts
offer no real diflSculty, if we accept the teaching of Aristotle and of
the Angelic Doctor. They are the result of the action on the matter
of antecedent provisional Forms that have carried on the organi^-
tion to its appointed term ; and their arrest is due to the action of
that higher Form which finally determines the specific nature.
PROPOSITION COXIII.
Kg substantial bodily Form is absolutely capable of quanti-
tative totality ; although all such Forms are preaentially and
functionally determined by the quantity of the composite
substance either wholly or in part, according to the speoiflo
nature of each.
Peolegomenon I.
By quantitative totality is to be understood that continuous unity,
^ Ernst Haeckel's Evolution of Man, ch. 5 (vol. i. p. 109, Eng. Trans.). See the
instances there given.
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646 Causes of Being.
or union of continuity, which is characteristic of extension, and
cauf^es that the quantified entity should be capable of division into
parts, each one of which is entitatively less than the whole. An
illustration will best serve to explain what is here meant. The
Naididae, or water-worms, exhibit a singular process of reproduc-
tion. * In this process,' says Dr. Nicholson, * the Na'is throws out
a bud between two rings, at a point generally near the middle of
the body. Not only is this bud developed into a fresh individual,
but the two portions of the parent marked out by the budding point
likewise become developed into separate individuals. The portion
of the parent in front of the bud develops a tail, whilst the portion
behind the bud develops a head ^/ Here, then, we have at first
one substantial Form and one body ; afterwards, three substantial
Forms and three bodies. In other words, that which was originally
one living substance becomes three living substances. Now, each
of these three newly generated animals has less matter, less quantity,
than the original animal ; taken together, they equal the latter in
both. Informed matter, therefore, is capable of quantified totality.
But what about the Forms? This is certain ; that, whereas at the
outset there was but one, by the separation of the matter there have
arisen three. It is not necessary now to enter into the question
touching the existence of these Forms ; for thus much will not be
denied, that the primitive worm had no more of act or Form than
any one of the three into which it has developed. All in this
respect are equal : They possess the substantial Form of the Nafs,
which is capable of neither more nor less, but either is or is not.
In like manner, if one flame is divided into two, there is as com-
plete and adequate a Fire-Form in the parts as in the whole. These
bodily Forms, therefore, do not exhibit a quantitative totality.
Prolegomenon II.
By preseniial determination is to be understood such determi-
nation to place as this, viz. that within the given limit the entity
so determined exists and outside that limit exists not. Funcfional
determination means the entire limitation of the faculty in its
exercise to a particular part or organ. Thus, for instance, the
human soul is presentially determined, like every other substantial
act, by the limits of its body ; and its vegetative and sensitire
* Manuail of Zoology, part i, ch. xxix, p. 183.
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faculties are ftinctionally determined to this or that organ ; but in
its faculties of intellect and will it is not functionally determined.
Prolegomenon III.
The word, absolutely^ in the Enunciation needs to be explained.
An entity, then, is said to be absolutely capable of quantitative
totality, when it is of such a nature as to admit of union with quan-
tity as Subject of quantity, just as — for instance — ^matter is. On the
other hand, an entity is said to be capable hy accident of quanti-
tative totality, when, though in its own nature it may be incapable
of information by quantity, it nevertheless becomes to a certain
extent subject to quantity, on account of its natural connection
with another entity that is quantitatively informed. Thus, a quali-
tative Form is essentially connected, immediately with quantity as
being its immediate Subject, mediately with the integral substance
as being its ultimate and adequate Subject. In itself, however,
it is a pure Form and, consequently, simple. Since, then, it is
quantitatively divisible, (for of this there can be no question), yet
not in virtue of its own entity but by virtue of its inhesion in
quantified matter, it is capable of quantitative totality only by
accident. But remark, in order even to thus much it is necessary
that a part should be entitatively less than the whole. Thus, for
instance, the sweetness in one small lump of sugar is less than the
sweetness in two lumps ; as we know from the experience of the
breakfast-table.
Peolegomenon IV.
It is obvious that the substantial bodily Form is here considered
as actually informing the matter; for, apart from the matter it
cannot exist and, therefore, is capable of nothing.
I. In the first Member of the Proposition it is maintained,
that the bodily substantial Form is absolutely incapable of quan-
titative totality. As we shall see presently, the intimate reason of
this is explained by the Angelic Doctor. The proof is as follows.
That Form which neither presupposes nor is founded in quantity, is
not capable absolutely of quantitative totality. But a substantial
Form neither presupposes nor is founded in quantity. Therefore,
etc. The Minor is evident from all that Jias gone before touching
the mutual relation between substance and accident. The Major is
thus declared. Every Form is an act; and every material Form
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actuates its Subject according to the nature of that Subject. But
the substantial Form actuates primordial matter antecedently (in
order of nature) to the quantification of the composite^ as is plain ;
since the actuation of the matter by the Form is the constitution of
the composite. Therefore, it is simply the act of a passive poten-
tiality and wholly actuates an indivisible whole. Hence likewise
it follows, that the subsequent (in order of nature) information of
the composite by quantity cannot ahaolntely quantiiy the Form,
because it is a Form. For all that it is, is act ; and, if it could
be quantified^ it would no longer be wholly in all but partly here
and partly there. This, however, would suffice to change its essential
nature.
II. In the second Member it is asserted, that tke^e bodily Forms
are jpresenlially determined by the quantity of the substantial composite ;
which is thus declared. The substantial Form, because it is act of
this definite portion of matter, is determined to it exclusively ; and
it is in this sense St. Thomas teaches that it is individualized
by matter. An act cannot possibly be outside of the potentiality
that it actuates. Consequently, when the composite is determined
b}'- quantity to a certain local extension, its Form is entitatively
limited within the boundary of that extension ; so that it is wholly
there everywhere, but nowhere else.
III. In the third Member it is stated, that the Form is
functionally determined by the quantiiy of the composite substance;
which is thus declared. The purely material powers, or faculties,
of all bodily Forms are determined in their exercise to certain
particular organs. As soon, then, as these organs are locally
extended by the supervening quantity, the faculties of the Form
are determined in their exercise to a particular place in the body,
occupied by its own organ. Therefore, the Form \\siAi functionally
is determined to such or such a particular place in the body by
virtue of the quantity in the composite.
IV. The fourth Member declares, that this functional det^rmina^
tion of the Form is either entire or partial; which is thus declared.
Those material Forms, not all of whose functions are material, are
not quantitatively determinable, so far as relates to those faculties
which either are not material or in any way transcend material
conditions. Hence, the human faculties of intellect and will ^
themselves are limited in their exercise to no bodily organ ; thoogh,
for so long as the soul continues united to the body, they require
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the co-operation of other lower faculties that only energize in and
by some bodily organ.
Note.
From the above declarations a truth is made clear, which will
claim our special attention in another Book. There is a real,
physical, distinction between difference of parts, — or what may be
called entitative extension, — and local extension which is the result
of quantity. A material entity may have a most complex arrange-
ment of parts, and yet depotetUia absoluta might exist as a mathe-
matical point, 80 far as space is concerned. To put it yet more
plainly: — Organism and an indefinite multiplicity of parts enti-
tatively distinct from each other do not necessarily, — that is to say,
independently of the constituted order of nature, — connote a correla-
tive extension in space. Thus, de potentia absoluta the whole fabric
of the visible universe, as it now is, might be so self-contained as
to escape all actual or possible microscopic observation.
PROPOSITION CCXIV.
That retention of life after physical division of the organized
body, whioh is observable in plants and in certain lower
grades of animal life, is due, on the part of the Form, to the
paucity of its fteiilties and, on the part of the body, to a
corresponding paucity of its parts and organs.
Peolegomenon.
Suarez maintains the opinion, that the souls of all living bodies
are subject to quantitative division, with the single exception of
the human soul. Consistent with himself, he admits a specific
diversity of parts in these Forms. Thus^ speaking of plants, he
observes : ' It may be easily granted that, in the different hetero-
geneous parts ' of the plant, ' there are different heterogeneous parts
of the Form. For, of a truth, in a tree that part of the Form
which is in a leaf, is not of the same nature as the part that is
in a fruit.' Further on, he adds : ' Though there is some contro-
versy touching the souls of perfect animals, I nevertheless con-
sider it more probable that no material Form is truly and properly
indivisible.' Finally : A little further on, he thus sums up : * I
think it more probable, in the case of living entities which have
extended souls,' — be assumes such to be the case with all plants
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and with all animals except man, — * that, between the parts of the
soul which inform different organic parts, there is a greater diversity
than there is between the parts of a homogeneous Form,' — such as
is found in inanimate and inorganic substances ; — ' and that, there-
fore, there is in the substance itself a sort of diversity between
these parts, which may rightly be called a specific partibility *.'
Here once more the author feels compelled to dissent from the
opinion of this eminent philosopher. First of all, it is quite opposed
to the teaching of the Angelic Doctor, as will be seen in a foture
Thesis. From a careful inspection of the doctrine of St. Thomas,
indeed, it seems very doubtful whether in his opinion any material
Forms, — even such as inform inanimate bodies, — are capable,
strictly speaking, of quantitative division. Certain it is that he
denies such capability, considered as absolutely belonging to them ;
and it may fairly be disputed whether he admits that it is theirs
by accident. As to the souls of the more perfect animals, he
categorically denies that they are capable of quantitative totality
and, consequently, of quantitative division, either absolutely or by
accident. Of the souls belonging to the inferior grades of animal
life, — which in this respect may be considered as on a par with
vegetative. Forms, — he invariably speaks with hesitation. This
latter point will be discussed, when his teaching on the qaestion
generally is brought before the notice of the reader. Other
reasons for dissenting from the opinion of Suarez have been partly
suggested in the preceding Theses, and will receive addition from
those which have yet to foUoW. As touching plants in particular,
which form part of the subject embraced in the present Proposition :
Comparatively recent discoveries in botany, while tending to
subvert the foundation on which Suarez professes to rest his
opinion, have added proportional strength to the teaching of the
Angelic Doctor. It is little more than a hundred years ago, that
certain botanists, — principally Goethe,— came to find out that a
whole flower is only a terminal stem, or branch, under another
form ; and that all its parts and organs are merely modifications
of a leaf. The sepals of the calyx and the petals that form the
corolla, spite of the often rich and varied colours of the latter,
speak for themselves in the great majority of instances ; but it is
not so clear at first sight with regard to the special organs of
* Metaph. DUp. XV, sect, 10, nn. 30, 31.
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The Formal Cause. 651
reproduction. Yet it is now generally acknowledged that the
carpels of the fertilized pistil, the stamina, the anthers even of the
stamina, are mere modified leaves. As to the two latter, any one
can convince himself of the fact by examining a double flower,
where he will often find stamina with their anthers in course of
transformation into petals. To come to the fruit,-T— a term that
is not a little indefinite, since (as in the instance of the strawberry,
whose so-called fruit is the lengthened receptacle that envelopes the
real fruits) it often embraces some other part of the flower that
becomes incorporated with the ripened pistil : — let us take an
apricot as an instance. Its outer skin is the exocarp ; its pulpy
part, the mesocarp ; and its stone, the endocarp, of the carpel.
Within the last lies the seed. Thus it becomes quite clear that this
fruit is a carpel ; and a carpel is only a folded leaf, as any one can
see in a pea-pod with its mid-rib and the seam where the two
edges of the leaf have joined. Thus, then, on the one hand, there
is no such difierence between the leaf and fruit of a plant as to
require that distinction of function which Suarez supposes ; on the
other hand, the striking unity of organism tells strongly in favour
of the indivisibility of the plant-Form.
Declaration of the Proposition.
There are certain facts connected with the reproduction of plants
and of some inferior animals, which seem to militate against the
doctrine touching bodily Forms that has been maintained in pre-
ceding Theses. The facts arc these. Plants are propagated by
slips ; — that is to say, a certain part is cut off* from the parent
plant and fixed in the earth, where it gradually developes into an
independent plant animated by its own individual Form. Again :
Flowers plucked from the stem may live in water for days. Once
more : In the lower grades of animal life, corals, for instance, are
reproduced by gemmation or by fission, — in simpler phrase, by buds
which under the form of embryos separate off from the parent
animal, or by the severance of a completely organized offspring
from its parent, — ^in both cases, independently of the ordinary im-
mediate generative process. Reference has been already made in
the first Prolegomenon of the preceding Thesis to the peculiar
method of reproduction observable in a certain Order of Annelids,
called Naididae. Professor Mivart mentions a further curious fact
in the instance of the Syllhy another of the Annelids, 'where a
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652 Causes of Being.
new head is formed at intervals in certain segmehts of the body '
without previous budding or spontaneous severance ; evidently
showing 'an innate tendency to the development at intervals of
a complex whole.' He further tells us, that ' some other Annelids ^
exhibit the same tendency ^. In another place he adds, that ' this
remarkable phenomenon is repeated again and again, the body of
the worm thus multiplying serially into new individuals which
successively detach themselves from the older portion^.' The facts
connected with the class of hydrozoa are still more interesting.
The hydra^ we are told^ is capable ^f indefinite multiplication by
simply dividing it into pieces. ' Into however many pieces a Hydra
may be divided, each and all of these will be developed gradually
into a new and perfect polypite/ — that is to say^ into a separate
animal. But further: A great number of hydrozoa produce by
budding or simple severance two distinct sets of their own species,
— ^the one set destined only for the nutrition of the colony, the
other exclusively for reproduction ; though each individual of each
set has its own powers of nutrition and locomotion, and is physically
independent of his neighbour ^.
These physical facts give birth to two questions; one of which
regards the parent substance that has been severed, and the other
embraces the severed part or parts that acquire an independent
existence. Wherefore,
, i. It may be asked : How can it be explained on metaphysical
principles, that a living substance can preserve its original integrity
5
* Genesis of Species, ch. viii, p. 169. ' Ibid. ch. x, p. 211.
' Nicholson's MantuU of Zoology, part i, chapters vii, viii, pp. 80, 78. Br. Nicbolson
denies that these animaLs are individttals in a zoological sense ; because * the term
'* individual " in its zoological sense must be restricted to " the entire result of the
development of a single fertilized ovum,'* * — that is, egg. (p. 77). This arbitrary-
definition is not a little perplexing to the metaphysician ; since it denies individuality
to living entities that possess all the characteristic notes of individuation. This author
observes that * neither the trophottome nor the gonosome * (the two classes referred to
in the text), 'however apparently independent, and though endowed with intrinsic
powers of nutrition and locomotion, can be looked upon as an "individual** in the
scientifio use of this tenn.' Why not ? Because they are not derived from an ^g.
Then, if we assume the truth of the creation of Adam and Eve, neither Adam nor Eve
was a aoologioal individual. On the like grounds the botanist must deny that any
plants derived from slips are individuals ; since they do not spring from seed. It
is to be hoped, then, that Dr. Nicholson will excuse the following alteration in his
last sentence : * The entity in question cannot be looked upon as an individual accord-
ing to the vocabulary of modem zoology; though acientificcUly, i.e. fnetaphysicaUg,
it must be so regarded/
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The Formal Cause. 653
after havinf^ endured a serious diminution of its original or^nized
body ; seeing that in the higher grades of life it would be im-
possible to incur a parallel loss without at least impairing the
exercise of, and often without even destroying, its vital functions?
The answer to this difficulty is as follows. It has, first of all, to be
remarked that, looking at the Form exclusively as it is in its own
partial entity, any diminution of the body which such Form
actuates can make no difference, as may be seen in inanimate
bodies. For, since the Form is in itself simple and unextended,
quantitative division of the matter that it informs cannot touch it.
It is, indeed, affected presentially. But how? The limits of its
presence in space are contracted, — that is all ; but its entire un-
partitioned presence is not weakened by smallness or extent of
quantity. The difficulty only begins, when we consider the Form
fundionally ; since it postulates orgtins and parts proportionate to
the nature and number of its faculties. If a purely material Form,
it ceases to be, should it be absolutely deprived of its natural opera-
tions. Why? Because it ceases to be a proportionate act of
matter; and in these circumstances a disruption, so to say, is
inevitable. In other words, such Form no longer corresponds with
the dispositions of the matter, and is compelled to make way for
another more convenient Form. Hence it follows, as a sort of
corollary, that by how much the faculties of the Form are more
numerous and complex and, in consequence, the bodily organs are
also more numerous and differentiated and locally distinguished;
by so much will any severance in the body imperil the due
functioning of the Form, and thus indispose the matter for its
retention. But, in those instances of plants and of lower animals,
wherein the faculties are few and simple with a corresponding
organism ; the living Form can fully energize with the portion of
the body left to it. Thus, for instance, the structure of a worm is
so simple and its organs so few and diffused over the body, that the
animal^s natural functions would hardly be disturbed by the loss of
some of its rings.
ii. The second question is : How according to the philosophy of
the School can it be explained, that the part severed from the
parent-substance can acquire a new and independent life ? While
in union with the parent-substance, it was evidently informed by
the substantial Form of the latter ; subsequently to its separation it
as evidently possesses a Form of its own. This seems at first sight
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654 Causes of Being,
to confirm *the idea, that the Form after all is capable of division
with the division of the quantified matter. St. Thomas, as we
shall see, leaves the question more or less in doubt. Wherefore^
the opinion may be safely expressed, that probably in most cases
a new substantial Form is evolved out of the separated body ;* and
that the parent-Form with its accompanying properties supplies
the place of that active fertilization by which the matter is proxi-
mately disposed for its proportioned organism. But here arises
a difficulty. For the above explanation seems to do away with the
necessity of a generating agent in all cases of living bodies ; since
in the way mentioned each could propagate itself by parting with a
portion of its body and proximately disposing the portion for the
evolution of a cognate Form. The answer to the difficulty rests oa
the same foundation as the answer given to the former question^
and is embodied in the Enunciation of the Thesis. The original
generating agent in the production of the parent-substance can
communicate such virtue to the Form of the generated substance,
that this latter can generate without normal generation^ when the
specific functions are few, the organism simple and distributed,
— or better, diffused. The reason is plain. The separated portion
of matter shares in the diffused organism, and is thus in proximate
preparation for the eduction of its Form. The Form will supply
the little that is wanting simultaneously with its eduction. But
with a complex and multifarious organism the case is very different.
It takes but little to supply the aci-anial head and the tail of
a worm ; but it would require a far more elaborate process to
develope eyes, ears, nose, a vertebrate structure, heart, lungs, etc.,
out of the hoof of an ox.
In the instance of plant-slips the case seems plain ; for corruption
takes place prior to the eduction of the Form and the concomitant
evolution of the root. The same may be said of animal reproduction
by budding. Nor is there anything in the facts connected with
the multiplication of the Hydra, which stands in the way of such
an explanation ; though these facts, on the other hand, of them*
selves, tell nothing in its favour. But that which is wanting to
them is supplied by the homologous phenomena presented by the
nais and syllu ; for in their case new heads and new tails are
developed either immediately before or after complete separation.
The case of the plucked flowers presents the only real difficulty.
But here, however the phenomena of apparent life are to be
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Tlie Formal Cause. 655
explained, it would seem certain that there is no real plant-Form
in them, for they exhibit neither of the characteristic^ or essential,
functions of a plants — to wit, growth and capability of reproduc-
tion. Even, however, if it should be necessary to admit that in
one or other of these instances the Form is multiplied by the
division of the body, (which is by no means granted) ; such an
opinion would not seem to postulate that the Form should be
capable of quantitative totality. On the contrary, the new Form,
though coming from the old, would not be a quantitative part
of it ; since its nature or entity is in no respect less than that
of the old Form previous to the separation, and a quantitative part
could never be equal to the whole. How, then, is the multipli-
cation to be explained ? Perhaps in this wise. The original Form
was wholly in the body that it informed and in every part of that
body ; but presentially limited by the one continuous periphery
of the body. When the body is divided, there are two peripheries
instead of one ; and the Form is multiplied simply by virtue of the
perseverance of its presence in the two. The body was one, the act
was one; the body becomes two, the act becomes two.
Note.
The budding and grafting, so well known to gardeners, present
no real difficulty; for there is no substantial plant-Form in the
bud or scion after separation from the parent-stock, but only those
natural dispositions of the matter under the provisional Form,
which, after the union of the bud or scion with the substantial
Form of the new stock, cause those modifications in the natural
operation of the latter, that produce the varieties required. A sign
of this is, that beneath the inserted scion or bud the primitive
action of the Form is undisturbed.
PROPOSITION CCXV.
The teaching of St. Thomas oonflrms the truth of the
preceding Theses.
Declaration of the Proposition.
St. Thomas declares that *It is the composite' in material sub-
stance 'which has diverse parts. Hence, diversity of parts does
not belong to the matter or to the Form, but to the composite ^.'
' * Compositum autem dicitur quod habet divenas partes. Unde divenitaa partium
non est mateziae, nee formae; sed compositi.* OpuMC. XXII (a2t(er XXVIII), c^ 5, inii.
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656 Catises of Bang.
Therefore, every substantial Form is simple, at all events in such
sense that it has no parts. Elsewhere he explicitly states the
nature of this simplicity. * The simplicity of a soul and of an
Angel/ he writes, — and the whole Article plainly shows that he
is not limiting the term to the human soul alone, — 'is not to
be estimated after the fashion of the simplicity of a point which
has a determined position in the continuous and, because it is
simple, cannot be in different parts of the continuous. But an
Angel and a soul are said to be simple, because they are whoUj
destitute of quantity. . . . And as an Angel is wholly in every
part of his place; so a soul likewise is in every part of its per-
fectible ^ ' body. But this simplicity, which in the above passa^
he attributes to a soul, is likewise attributed by him elsewhere to an
inanimate Form. * The whole substantial Form of wood,' — nich
are his words, — * is in every part of it ; because the totality of a
substantial Fornf does not admit of quantitative totality, as is
the case with the totality of accidental Forms which are founded
in quantity and presuppose it^.' Wherefore, according to the
Angelic Doctor, all substantial bodily Forms, no less than those
which are purely spiritual, are simple in this sense, that they
are wholly in the body they inform and wholly in each part of
it. Furthermore : they are not extended, because they are whoUtf
destitute of quantify. So much for the two hundred and eleventh
Proposition.
ii. Again: St. Thomas writes as follows; *When, then, any
substantial Form perfects matter ; as the potentiality of matter is
reduced to act by the Form, so by that same being it is chang^
into a distinction and termination of the parts of the integral com-
posite. For in the substantial Form there is a force not only per-
fective of the matter, but likewise capable of distinguishing the
whole by means of parts ^' In another place he adds: 'Every
' ' Simplicitaa anixnae et Angeli non est existimanda ad modam nmplicitatta
puncti, quod habet determinatuin situm in oontinuo; et ideo quod aiinplex est,
non potest esse siioul in diversis partibus continui. Sed Angelas et anima dicrmtur
simplicia per hoc quod omnino carent quantitate. . . . £t sicut Angelas est in qualibet
parte sui loci totus, ita et anima in qunlibet parte sui perfectibilis, tota.' Anima^
a. 10, 18™.
' 'Sicut tota fonna substantialis lignt est in qualibet parte ejus, quia totalitaa
formae sabstantialis non recipit quantitatis totalitatera, sicut est de totalitafee for-
marum acddentiilium, quae fundantur in quantitate, et praesupponunt ipsam.*
4 d. X, a. 3, q. 3, c.
' * Quando ergo aliqua forma substantialis perficit materiam ; sicut potentia
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The Formal Caiise, 657
soul requires a diversity of organs in the parts of that body of
which it is the act; and so much the greater diversity, in propor-
tion to the greater perfection of the soul '/ Thus much will suflSce
for the two hundred and twelfth Proposition ; though other passages
about to follow will confirm the same teaching.
iii. In the first of the quotations under the first headings St.
Thomas has told us that a soul, — ^a living Form, — is wholly desti-
tute of quantity ; and, in the second under the same heading, he
has declared in general that no substantial Form admits of quanti-
tative totality. To these will be added certain pregnant passages
which give evidence in fi^vour of other Propositions as well as of
the two hundred and thirteenth. Speaking of our immediate subject
generally, the Angelic Doctor remarks as follows : * This totality,'
(that is to say ' such as can be naturally divided into quantitative
parts '), ' can be attributed to Forms ^ — accidental as well as sub-
stantial,— *only by accident, inasmuch as they are accidentally
divided by a division of the quantity ; as, for instance, whiteness
by division of the superficies. But this ^ accidental division and
accidental subjection to quantitative totality * belongs to such
Forms only as are co-extended with quantity, which comports with
certain Forms for the reason that they have similar matter in the
whole as in the parts. Wherefore, Forms that require a great dis-
similarity in the parts have not such extension and totality ; as
souls, especially those of perfect animals. ... A soul, therefore, and
especially the human soul, has no extension in matter. Hence,
in its case the first totality,' — viz. that of quantity, — * has no
place ^.' In this passage certain points are propounded as certain.
{a) No Form, whether it be substantial or accidental, is absolutely
inRteriae est reducta per formam ad actum, ita per illud idem esse permutatur ad
distinctionem et terminationem partium totius compositi ; in forma enim subetazi'
tiali uoQ solum est vis perfectiva materiae, sed etiam distinctiva totius per partes.'
Opwe. XXXII {aliier XXVIII), c. 5. v. m,
^ * £t ideo omnis anima requirit diversitatem organorum in partibus oorporis cujus
est actus ; et tanto majorem diversitatem, quanto anima fuerit perfectior/ Spiritu,
a. 4, c, V. in.
' * Haec totalitas non potest attribui formis nisi per acddens, inquantum scilicet
per Rccidens divi<luntur divisione quantitatis, sicut albedo divisione superficiei.'
Sed hoc est illarum tantum formarum quae ooextenduutur quantitati ; quod ex hoc
competit aliquibus formis, quia faabent materiam similem et in toto et in parte. Unde
formae quae requirunt magnam dissimilitudinem in partibus, non habent hujusmodi
extensionem et totalitatem, sicut animae, praedpue animalium perfectorum. . . .
Anima autem, et praecipue humana, non habet extensionem in materia; unde in
ea prima totalitas locum non habet." Spiritut a. 4, c, p, m.
VOL. IT. U U
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658 Causes of Being.
capable of quantitative totality, but only bi/ accident, (t) No
Forms are capable of quantitative totality even by accident and,
consequently, of division, that are not extended together with
quantity. "With these we arrive at a point where a doubt arises
touching the mind of the Angelic Doctor. His words generally
would lead us to conclude that only accidental Forms are ex-
tended with quantity; and the example repeatedly given, as in
the last quotation, of ickifeness in a superficies confirms the sup-
position. But the subsequent sentence, which comports fcith certain
FarmSyfor the reason that they have similar matter in the whole and in
the parts^ evidently refers to substantial Forms. These words may
refer, — indeed, it is evident they do refer, — to the substantial
Forms of inanimate substances. But do they refer to such bodies
exclusively? The subsequent context would lead one to infer as
much ; but then, in his answer to an objection, which appears
in the same Article, he expressly includes certain lower grades
of animals. He says : ' In those animals that live after severance,
there is one soul in act and many in potentiality ; and by the
severance they are reduced to a multitude in act, as happens to
all Forms that have extension in matter*.' These words seem
to denote that the souls of these inferior animals are extended and,
consequently, are capable absolutely of quantitative totality. Hence,
two questions present themselves touching the teaching of the
Angelic Doctor on this jsubject. In the opinion of St. Thomas
are the Forms of inanimate bodies capable of quantitative totality
by accident? Are the Forms of some lower kinds of animab
also capable of quantitative totality by accident? Let us briefly
examine each of these points.
1°. It cannot be doubted that, in the judgment of St. Thomas,
the substantial Forms of inanimate, or inorganic, bodies are capable
of quantitative totality and consequent division 1/y accident. So
far^ by reason of their total immersion in matter^ they bear a
resemblance to accidental Forms^ but with thds difference; — ^viz.
that as acts of primordial matter they do not presuppose quantity,
while qualitative Forms are immediately acts of quantity. This
causes an essential distinction in the divided parts of the body
with relation to the two kinds of Forms ; because the substantial
^ * In illis amnifUibus qune decisa vivttnt, est ana anima in actu, et muliae in
potentia ; per decisionem aatem reducuntur in actum muItitudinU) sicut contingit ia
omnibuB formis quae habent extensionem in materia.' Ibidem, ig^.
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The Formal Caitse. 659
Form is equally in the part as in the original whole not only in
regard of its specific nature, — for this is verified likewise in the
instance of accidental Forms, — but it is intensively equal in both,
— which cannot be said of qualitative Forms, since they are more
or less with the quantity. Such multiplication of these substantial
Forms is not dissimilar to presential multiplication. The Form is
multiplied by virtue of a multiplication of peripheries, or of the
continuous.
2^. There is much greater difficulty in determining what is the
mind of the Angelic Doctor touching the substantial Forms of such
lower animals as live after the abscission of their bodies. But it
appears more probable that he did not consider such Forms to be
entitatively capable of quantitative totality, and that his words must
be interpreted as referring to functional totality (that which he
designates as totalitas virtuiis) in its relation to the quantified matter
and organism of the body. Hence, the passage last quoted from
his Question on Spiritual Substances may be paraphrased in some
such way as the following : ' When an animal has such simplicity
of organism that its few and simple organs are more or less
diffused throughout the body, this body has one Form in act, but
many in potentiality ; because, by reason of its divisibility into
many parts with an organism similar to the whole, the parts are
ipso facto proximately disposed for the actuation and eduction of
their specific Form. It is in consequence of this that such Forms
may be considered as functionally extended, because the ojgans
by which they function are extended equally with the extension of
the body.' The above explanation is notably confirmed by the
comparison which the Angelic Doctor habitually institutes between
these and higher orders of animals, the functions of whose Forms
are not indefinitely extended over the whole body, but are limited
each to a definite localized organ or part in the body. It has the
further advantage of reconciling apparently discordant statements
of St, Thomas touching this question. It receives powerful ad-
ditional confirmation from other parallel passages in the various
writings of the same Doctor, which it is now proposed to set before
the reader. In his last and greatest Work he, as it were, in-
cidentally touches upon the point, while discussing the nature
of the human soul. The following is the passage. 'Aristotle
reprobates this opinion of Plato,' — viz. that there is a diversity of
souls in the distinct organs of the body, — * as regards those parts
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66o Causes of Bein^,
of the ' human * s«ul, which make use of bodily organs in their
operations, from the fact tliat, in the instance of animals which
live after severance, different operations of the soul, — like sense
and appetition, — are found in every part^.' In these last words
we seem to find a clear description of the extension which St.
Thomas had in his mind. There is a corresponding exposition of
the same truth at the end of a passage from the same Work, which
will immediately follow the present discussion. The following
quotation from another of his writings is yet more striking",
especially as he is directly referring to the animals now under
consideration. ^ Their souls,' he writes, 'because they are more
imperfect than other souls, require but little diversity of organs.
Hence it is, that a part severed can be receptive of a soul, as
having so much of organism as su£Sces for receiving such a soul ^.'
Here, the Angelic Doctor explicitly speaks of the divided part as
receptive of a soul, because it is of sufficient organism. It would
seem, therefore, that he considered the new Form of the severed
part to be normally educed out of the potentiality of the matter.
But to this interpretation a grave objection may be brought, based
upon the preceding and subsequent context. For in the former
St. Thomas asserts that ^ By the severance of the matter * in these
annelids 'the soul remains in each part; since, though it was
actually one in the undivided body, it was potentially many'.'
In the latter he subjoins that ' The same sort of thing happens in
other similar bodies, — as, for instance, in wood, and stone, water,
and air *.' The former words declare that the Form remains in the
severed part ; while the words last quoted indicate that the case
of these animals is on a par with that of inanimate substances,
whose divided parts do not evolve a new Form but retain their
primitive actuation. To this, however, it must be objected, that
^ ' Quam quidem opinionem Aristoteles reprobat in lib. 3. de Anima, quantum juI
illns animae partes quae corporeits organis in Buis operibus utuntur, ex hoc quod in
ariimalibus quae decisa vivunt, in qualibet parte inveniuntur dlTersae operatknies
aiiimae, sicut senBus et appetitus.' i*' ixxvi, 3, c.
^ ' Eorum animae, quia imperfectiores sunt aliis^ modtcam diversitatem oipuiomm
requirimt. £t inde est, quod una pars decisa potest esse animae susceptiva, utpute
Iiabens tantum de organis quantum sufficit ad talem animam suscipiendam.' Po*
Q. iii, a. 1 2, 5m.
' ' Per decisionem materiae anima in utraque pnrte remanet ; quae quidem erai in
toto una in aotu et plures in potential Ibid.
* * Sicut accidit in aliis corporibus similibus, utpote ligno et lapide, aqua et
aere.* Ibid,
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The Formal Catise. 66 1
such an interprelation is at variance with the general teaching of the
Angelic Doctor on this point, and is inconsistent with his main
argument. Wherefore, as touching the antecedent context, it must
be said that St. Thomas describes the Form as remaining^ because
there is no corruption and therefore no generation in the strictest
sense of the word, (for this requires a generating agent in order
of nature); and 'because the severance is the result of violence^'
and the matter is proximately disposed for the Form, therefore by
the very act of abscission the new Form is evolved. In accordance
with this exposition St. Thomas in another place, referring to the
same question, says: 'Souls less noble, that have but little diversity
in their faculties, perfect a body likewise which is, roughly speak-
ing, uniform in the whole and in the parts ; and accordingly on a
division of the parts different souls are produced actually in the
parts, as is the case with both annelids and plants*.' In this
passage, as we see, the Angelic Doctor expressly states that the
Forms in the severed parts are actually produced, or made in act.
This quotation, moreover, confirms our main contention ; viz. that,
according to the teaching of St. Thomas, these living Forjms are
allied to quantity only by virtue of the functional totality and, as
it were, extension which is native to them, and which finds its
correlative in the oi^gans constituted by them in the actuation of
the matter.
As to the subsequent context, there can be little or no doubt
that the ncut of the Angelic Doctor symbolizes that special simi-
larity which directly affects his answer to the difficulty proposed ;
but cannot be extended to the source and manner of the multipli-
cation of the respective kinds of Forms, St. Thomas would be the
last to deny that life, even in its most rudimentary Forms, has
a ifnity and corresponding perfection whicli raises it far above the
normal conditions of inanimate substance ; and he would be fore-
most in admitting that the soul even of a worm cannot be judged
by the laws which govern the substantial Form of a stone or of
water.
Now that an answer has been given to the above difficulty, let
' ' Ex hoc ipso decisio animalis annulosi est violenta et contra naturam.* Ibidem.
' ' iSed animae minus nobiles quae habent parvam diveraitatem in potentiis, per-
ficiunt etiam corpus quod est quasi uniforme in toto et partibus ; et ideo ad
divisionem parti urn efficiuntur diversae animae ac^u in partibus, sicut etiam in ani-
malibuB annulosis et plsntis.* i rf. viii, Q. 5, a. 3, 2™.
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662 Causes of Being.
us return to the teaching of the Angelic Doctor respecting these
animals that live after severance of their body. In another passage
St. Thomas is speaking of annelids {animalibua annulosis)^ and says
that ' By reason of the slight difference of organs in these animals,
the part is more or less of a nature similar to the whole, and on
this account the perfect soul remains in the part as it was in the
whole ^.' The remaining in this passage evidently refers to the
original body after its diminution; for in the preceding context
the Angelic Doctor says that when these animals are divided,
* each part is made (or produced) animate^ having a distinct seal ^.'
Here, then^ again the cause of the phenomenon is traced to the
functional totality of these animals. Once more : * For this reason,'
he remarks, 'the Form which is wholly in such a whole and wholly
in its parts, before division of the continuous is not said to be
there manifoldly in act, but only in potentiality ; but afler division
it is multiplied actually, as is seen plainly in annelids^.' St.
Thomas here says of the souls of these annelids, that liey are
wholly in the whole body and wholly in its parts; therefore, in his
judgment they are simple Forms even in the composite, and are
not entitatively subject to quantitative totality. Finally: In a
parallel passage, speaking of the Form of the severed part, he wsea
the following . expression : ' As soon as the body of the said animal
has been severed, a soul deffins to be actually in each living
part*.'
After this not unimportant digression, let us resume the con-
sideration of the teaching of the Angelic Doctor as confirmatoiy of
the two hundred and thirteenth Proposition. In his last and most
carefully elaborated Work, he thus treats the whole question, with
special reference, however, to soul-Forms in general and to the
human soul in particular. * Because the soul is united to the body
' 'Propter parram diflferentiam organonim in illis animalibus pars est fere toti
oonBimiliB ; et ideo in parte remanet anima perfecta, Bicut erat hi toto.* 2 d. znii,
Q. 3, a. 3. c, t7./.
' * XJnde qiiando dividuntur, effidtur quaelibet pars animata habens animam dia-
tinctam/ Ibidem.
' * Et propter hoc forma quae est tota in toto tali, et tota in partibns ejus, non
dicitur ante divisionein continui esse ibi plories actu, sed solum potentia ; sed post
divisionem multiplicatur secundum actum, sicut patet de anima in animalibus ansa-
losis.' 4 d. X, a. 3, q. 3, i™.
* * Diviso autem corpore animalis praedicii, (scilicet, animalis annulosi), in qualibet
parte vivente incipit anima esse actu.* Cg, L. II, (f 86, a^.
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The Formal Cause. 663
as its Form,' he writes, ' it must necessarily be in the whole body
and in every part of it; for it is not an accidental Form, but the
substantial Form of the body. Now, a substantial Form is not
only the perfection of the whole, but of each part. . . . Wherefore,
a soul must be in the whole body and in every part of it. And
that it is entire in every part of it, may be gathered from what
follows; for, seeing that a whole is that which is divisible into
parts, there is a threefold totality corresponding with a threefold
division. For there is a certain whole that is divisible into
quantitative parts ; such as, a whole line or a whole body. There
is also a certain whole that is divisible into conceptual and essential
parts ; as, for instance, the thing defined is divisible into the parts
of the definition; and the composite is divided into matter and
Form. The third is a potential whole, which is divided into
fiinctional ' (or facultative) * parts. Now, the first kind of totality
is not consonant with Forms, unless possibly by accident ; and only
with such Forms as have an. undifferentiated relation to the whole
quantified entity as well as to its parts ; such as whiteness which,
so far as its nature is concerned, is equally disposed to be in the
whole superficies and in each part of that superficies. Wherefore,
when the superficies is divided, the whiteness is divided by acci-
dent. But a Form that postulates diversity in the parts, as a soul
does and especially the souls of perfect animals, is not equally
disposed to the whole and to its parts. Wherefore, it is not divided
by accident, — ^that is to say, by reason of a division of the quantity.
But the second totality, which is founded in the perfectness of
concept and of essence, is properly and absolutely consonant with
Forms. So, in like manner, is the totality of function, because the
Form is princtpiant of operation. . . . Because a soul does not
possess quantitative totality, either absolutely or by accident, it
suffices to say, that a soul is entire in each part of the body ac-
cording to the wholeness of its perfection and essence, but not in
totality of function ; because it is not in each and every part of the
body in respect of each and every faculty, but as regards sight,
in the eye, — hearing, in the ear, — and so on, for the rest. Never-
theless, it is to be observed that, forasmuch as a soul postulates
diversity in the parts, it is not related in the same way to the
whole and to the parts ; since it is related to the whole primarily
and absolutely as to its proper and proportioned perfectible, but
to the parts consequently, forasmuch a« the parts are in order to
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664 Causes oj Being,
the whole ^' The reader is requested to notice the words whicli
have been italicized. They^ like others oF a similar kind in other
passages, are expressive of a state of doubt touching the question
in its relation to the lower animals, which deserves notice. In the
above quotation, then, we are taught that Forms are not capable
of quantitative totality, save possibly by accident; and that souls
are not capable of it even by accident. But these latter are capable
of functional totality ; as they evidently are, like the rest, of
conceptual and essential totality. Here, then, we find \he functional
totality mentioned in the two hundred and fourteenth Proposition,
lu order to discover the presential totality, as it has been called
in the same Proposition, we must betake ourselves to another
place. In answer to an objection, — ^tbat the soul is extended and
therefore cannot be entire in every part of the body ; and that it
is extended, because Aristotle declares, I judge a soul to exist ajs
extensively as the space of the body allows of its existing ^y — Stt
^ * Quia anima unitur corpori ut forma, necesse est quod Bit in ioio et in qaalibet
parte corporis; non enim est forma corporis accidentalis, sed aubstantialis. Sab-
stantialis autem forma non solum est perfectio totius, sed cujosUbet partas. . . . Dude
oportet aoimam esse in toto corpore et in qualibet ejus parte. £t quod toia ait
in qualibet parte ejus, hinc considerari potest ; quia cum totum sit quod dlTiditrir
in -partes, secundum triplioem divisionem est triplex totalitas. Est enim quoddam
totum quod dividitur in partes quantitativas, sicut tota linea vel totum corpus. Est
etiam quoddam totum quod dividitur in partes rationis et essentiae ; sicut definitum
in partes definitionis, et compositum resolvitur in materiam et formam. Tertium
autem totum est potentiale quod dividitur in partes virtutis. Primus autem totalitatis
modus non convenit fbrmis nisi forte per accidens, et iUis solis fonnis quae faabent
indifferentem habitudinem ad totum quantitativum, et partes ejus; sicut albedo,
quantum est de sui ratione, aequaliter se habet ut sit in tota superficie et in qualibet
superficiei parte. Et ideo, diviaa superficie, dividitur albedo per aoddens. Sed fonna
quae requirit diversitatem in partibus, sicut est anima et praecipue animalium perfec-
torum, non aequaliter se habet ad totum et partes ; undo non dividitur per accidena.
scilicet per divisionem quantitatis. Sic ergo totalitas quantitativa non potest attribui
animae nee per se nee per aocidens. Sed* totalitas secunda, quae attenditur secundjum
rationis et essentiae perfectionem, proprie et per se convenit fonnis. Similiter autem
et totalitas virtutis ; quia forma est operationis principium. . . . Sed quia anima totali*
tatem quantitativam non habet nee per se nee per accidens, ut dictum est (in isto art.),
suffidt dicere quod anima tota est in qualibet parte corporis secundum totalitateni
perfectionis et essentiae, non autem secundum totalitatem virtutis ; quia non secun>
dum quamlibet suam potentiam est in qualibet parte corporis, sed secundum visum
in oculo, secundum auditum in aure, et sic de aliis.' i** Ixxvi, 8, o. Cf. Anima^
a. lo, o.
^ *Praeterea, nulla forma quae extenditur secundum extensionem materiae, est
tota in qualibet parte saae materiae. Sed anima extenditur secundum extensionem
materiae. Dicitur enim in libro de quantitate Animae, Tamen aestimo e»e animam.
quantum ram spati.'i corporis esse patiuntur.' *S/?irt7»/, a. 4, argum. 5".
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The Format Cause. 665
Thomas observes as follows : * That authority is not to be so under-
stood, as though the human soul were extended after the manner
of the extension of the body ; but that the virtual quantity of the
soul is not produced beyond that of the body ^ ; — ^that is to say,
in other words, that the present entity, or presentiality^ (if the word
may be allowed), of a soul is limited to the circumference of its
body. So much for the two hund/red and thirteenth Proposition.
iv. Passages have already been presented under the preceding
number, which reveal the mind of the Angelic Doctor concerning
the souls of inferior animals. Two others shall be added. ' Anne-
lids/ he writes, 'live when divided, not only because the soul is in
ever}' part of the body, but because their soul, by reason of its im-
perfection and of the fewness of its operations, requires little diver-
sity in the parts; which diversity is discoverable in the severed part
of the living animal.' Hence, as it retains the disposition by which
the integral body is capable of being perfected by the soul, the soul
remains in it.^ So, once more : ' It is also plain,' he writes, * that
a soul is not divided by a division of the continuous, especially the
souls of perfect animals which, when divided, do not live. For it
may possibly he different in the case of annelids, in which there is
one soul in act and several in potentiality, as the Philosopher teaches
us in the second Book of his De Anima^,' So much will suffice for
the two hundred and fourteenth Proposition.
v. One point of the teaching of the Angelic Doctor, connected
with the subject-matter of the present Section, has been reserved
to the last on account of its peculiar interest and importance, in
face of the current theories of the day; although it is adduced
in confirmation of an earlier Proposition. In the declaration of the
fourth Member of the hundred and thirteenth Proposition it is vir-
tually affirmed, that all brute animals whatsoever are wholly deter-
' <Ad quintum dicendum, quod ftuctoritas ilia non do intelligitur quod aniuia
humana extendatur secundum extensionem corporis ; sed quod virtualis animae quan-
titas non porrigitur in majorem quantitatem quam corporis.* Ibidem ^™.
* ' Animalia annulosa decisa vivunt, non solum qiiia anima est in qualibet parte
corporis ; sed quia anima eorum, cum sit imperfecta et paucarum actionam, requirit
paucam diversitatem in partibus; quae etiam invenitur in parte decisa a vivente.
XJnde, cum retineat dispositionem per quam totum corpus est perfectibile ab anima,
remanet in eo anima.' Anima, a. lo, I5'>.
' * Planum est etiam quod non dividitur divisione continui ; praecipue anima ani-
malium perfectorum, quae decisa non vivunt. Secus enim esset forte de animabus
animalium annulosorum, in quibus est una anima in actu et plures in potentia, ui
PhiloBophus docet (2 de Anima).* Jhid. c„ v./.
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666 Causes of Being.
mined in their functions by quantitative totality, — in other words,
that they have no functions which do not necessarily require a
definite bodily organ for their exercise. So much is evidently im-
plied ; because the only exceptijons there made are the two human
faculties of intellect and will. Yet, on the other hand^ there are
certain well-known natural facts that appear to militate against
such a conclusion. Some higher kinds of animals seem to possess
a sort of forestalling of intellect and will. They have the faculty
of apprehending what is suitable and what harmful to their nature,
not only in the individual instance objected before their senses bat
under something like a generic form. Thus, for instance^ a mouse
apprehends cat in general to be hurtful to it, not this cat only wit-h
its individual notes. In like manner, certain animals are known to
forsake that which is pleasurable to sense for an object that is
necessarily accompanied with considerable pain; as, for example,
when stags forsake pairing in order to do battle. To these may
be added the peculiar powers of imitation in some animals, which
are not always limited to a literal copy of the original, but are able
to accommodate themselves to circumstances. Again : Some animals
exhibit strong attachments and strong aversions, which not unfre-
quently arise on first acquaintance^. It may, then, seem at first
sight open to doubt whether, in eliciting such acts, the £BUMilties
brought into play are subject to any particular organ: since no
external organ of which we are cognizant would serve the purpose.
Now, first of all, it must not be supposed that the Angelic Doctor
was ignorant of these and similar facts upon which as upon their
basis certain strange modem theories rely. On the contrary, he
makes full account of them in his animal psychology. Thus, for
instance, while alluding to the intercommunication that exists be-
tween the various realms of being, he observes : ' Animals are joined
on to man by the estimative faculty which is what in them is high-
est, by which they elicit something like the operations of reason*.'
^ Mr. Darwin in his Descent of Man has collected a number of most interesting
facts in relation to this subject. This Work includes a double element; viz. a
collection of valuable observations and amusing anecdotes about animals, and a
view, (it hardly deserves the name of a theoiy), tagged on to the rest, which does
scant justice to the ingenious author of The Origin of Species, It almost seems as
though added by way of emblazonment.
' * Sicut animalia continuantur hominibus in vi aestimativa, quae est supremum
in eis, secundum quam aliquid simile operibus rationis operantur.* 3 d. xxxv, Q, i,
a. 2, q. 2, im.
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We shall see presently what he understands this edimative facuUif
to be. So again^ at much greater length : * As well on the part of
the apprehensive faculties as on the part of the appetitive faculties
of the sensitive part, there is something belonging to the sensitive
soul/ — that is to say, the soul of certain animals, — * in accordance
with its own proper nature ; and something, on the other hand, be-
longing to it by virtue of its having a sort of participation of reason.
. . . Thus, for instance, the imaginative faculty belongs to the sensile
soul in accordance with its own proper nature ; because in it the
forms received through the senses are retained. But the estimative
faculty, by which an animal apprehends cognitions that are not
received from the senses, — as for instance, friendship or enmity, —
is in the sensitive soul accordingly as it has some sort of a partici*
pation of reason. Hence, by virtue of this estimation animals are
said to have a sort of prudence, as is shown in the beginning of the
Metaphysics ; as, for instance, that a sheep flees from a wolf whose
enmity be has never experienced. The case is similar as regards
the sensitive part. For that an animal should seek that which is
agreeable to the senses, (which belongs to the concupiscent part),
is in unison with the proper nature of a sensile soul ; but that,
deserting what is agreeable, it should seek after victory which it
gains at the expense of pain, (which belongs to the irascible part),
accrues to it because after a certain sort it borders upon a higher
order of appetite,^ — that is to say, the will. * Hence, the irascible
approaches nearer to reason and will than the concupiscent ^.' In
a parallel passage St. Thomas illustrates the concluding remarks of
the last quotation by instancing animals ' who seek a fight with
' * Sciendum est antem, quod tarn ex parte apprehensivarnm virium quam ez parte
appetitivaram senaitivae partis, aliquid est quod competit sensibili animae Becondum
propiiam naturam; aliquid vero, secuDdum quod habet aliquam participationem
modicam rationis : . . Sicut vis imaginativa competit animae sensibili secundum prp-
priam rationem ' (naturam?) * quia in ea reservantur fonnae per sensum aooeptae ; sed
vis aestimativa, per quam animal apprebendit intentiones non aoceptas per sensum, ut
amicitiam vel inimicitiam, inest animae sensitivae secundum quod participat aliquid
rationis. Unde ratione bujus aestimationis dicuntur animalia quamdam prudentiam
habere, ut patet in principio Metapbysicorum ; sicut quod ovis fugit lupum, cujus
inimicitiam nunquam sensit; et similiter ez parte sensitivae. Nam quod animal
appetat id quod est delectabile secundum sensum, quod ad ooncupiscibilem pertinet,
hoc est secundum propriam rationem sensibilis animae ; sed quod relioto delectabili
appetit victoriam, quam consequltur cum dolore, quod ad irasdbilem pertinet, com-
petit ei secundum quod attingit aliqualiter appetitum superiorem ; unde irascibilis est
propinquior rationi et vdluntati quam concupiscibilis.' Veni. Q. xxv, a. a, c, v, f.
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668 Causes of Being.
another animal, or face up to any other whatsoever difficulty ^' So,
once more, — treating the matter, as it were, h, priori^ — he writes as
follows : * It is necessary for an animal to pursue or avoid some
things not only because they are agreeable or disagreeable to seuse,
but likewise because of certain other advantages and benefits or
banes ; as, for instance, a sheep flees when it sees a wolf coming,
not by reason of an incongruity of colour or shape, but as a natural
enemy ; and, in like manner, a bird collects straw not because it
may be pleasing to sense, but because the straw is useful for the
purpose of constructing its nest */
The Angelic Doctor admits, then, that there is in certain animals
a foreshadowing of the intellect and will of a spiritual nature ; and
he discovers the former in the estimative faculty and the memory,
the latter in the pursuit of that which is not agreeable to their sen-
sile nature. These two phases of the question practically resolve
themselves into one ; for, though there can be intellect where there
is not full freedom of the will, yet there can be no freedom of the
will without intellect. Now, the Angelic Doctor admits that these
nobler animals do receive cognitions which are not received from
the senses, and that they possess the two aforesaid faculties to which
these cognitions are assigned. * In order,' he writes, * to be able to
apprehend the cognitions which are not received from sense, the
estimative faculty is ordained; and in order to be capable of retain-
ing them, the memory *.* Hence, as we have seen in one of the
quotations just made, he ascribes to these animals a sort of prud^uee,
understanding by prudence a practical judgment that what conduces
to the natural end is to be pursued, what is prejudicial to such end
is to be avoided, prescinding from the question whether the said
judgment is instinctive or rational. Furthermore, he teaches that
man has two similar faculties to the same end ; but he alters the
names. The former he designates as the cogitative faculty, or par-
' *■ Sicut quod animal appetat pugnam cam alio animali, vel aggredi aliam qiuun>
cumque difficultatem.' 3 d. xxvi, Q. i, a. 2, e., r. m,
' * Sed necessarium est animali ut quaerat aliqua vel fugiat, non solum qaia sont
convenientia vel non convenientia ad sentiendum, sed etiam propter aliqaas alias ocKn-
moditates et utilitates, sive tiocumenta ; sicut ovis videns lupum venientem fugiti lum
propter indeoentiam coloris vel figurae, sed quasi inimicum naturae; et similiter
avis colligit paleam, non quia delectet sensum, sed quia est utilis ad mdificandimL*
!•• Ixxviii, 4, c, init.
* * Ad apprehendendum. autem intentiones quae per sensum non acdpiontur, otdi-
natur vis aestimativa; ad conservandum autem eas vis memorativa." i** Izxriii,
H, c, p. m.
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The Formal Cause. 669
iiailar reason; the latter, reminiscence. Why this change of nomen-
clature ?
The question proposed oflTers a sore temptation to wander off into
the fields of psychology. But this would involve a violation of
that international law which obliges the sciences. As it is, the
answer that shall be given must be accepted as a Lemma from
psychology, and will be limited according to the exigency of the
metaphysical truth which is under present consideration. How can
we hope to do it better, — more consonantly with the title and pro-
fessed object of this Work, — than by giving ourselves up to the
guidance of the Angelic Doctor ?
The one reason, then, why this difference of nomenclature has
been introduced, is traceable to the fact, that intellect directs these
faculties in man ; instinct, in brutes. Since, therefore, the process
of the two faculties is different in man and brute, there is need of
a nominal distinction. ' For other animals/ writes St. Thomas,
' perceive cognitions of this kind,' — that is to say, such as are not
derivable from the senses, — *by a certain natural instinct; while
man ' perceives -them ' by a certain collation ^,' or inference. To
this process of inference St. Thomas adds in other place ' The pro-
cess of investigation 2.* But these, it may be objected, are mere
assertions. In the instance of man alike and of the brute the
results of these faculties are the same ; or, at the least, so far the
same that the one argues a mere development from the other.
Inistinct and i7itell€ct are mere names, — ^the former, in particular, to
protect a foregone conclusion. If a man builds himself a com-
mcdiously constructed house ; so do trap-door spiders, ants, bees,
birds. If a man has his friendships and dislikes ; so have the dog,
the cat, the elephant, the horse. In the beast, therefore, we are in
presence of those same faculties, only under a rudimentary form,
which are vainly supposed to be characteristic of man. St. Thomas
replies, that there are three classes of facts which give the lie to
such a hypothesis, even within the narrow limits of the present in-
vestigation. In the first place, the judgment that brute animals
evoke touching that which is conducive to their good or otherwise,
is not free. * They act,' says the Angelic Doctor, ' according to a
' * Alia animalia percipiunt hujuBmodi intentiones solum natural! qaodam instinctu,
homo autem per quaindam collaticnem.* i** Ixxviii, 4, c„ p. m.
' 'Homo autem p6r investigationem quamdam et collationem hujusmodi rationes
consideiat.* 2 d. xxiv, Q. 2, a. 2, c, init.
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670 Causes of Bdiig,
judgment that is not free^.' But how so? The same Doctor
answers^ On the apprehension of what is useful or harmful, their
impulse is the result of their natural operation. They do not com-
mand their movement ^, Thus, for instance, the wolf may have
been caught in a trap, and have become thereby comparatively
harmless; yet the sheep will flee. It has its natural judgment
about the wolf, and instinctively obeys the direction of such judg-
ment. To the same cause must be ascribed that which has been
called the treachery of certain pet animals, — ^for instance, parrots
and squirrels, — evinced towards those who have been intimate with
them for a considerable time. Accordingly, St. Thomas compares
their actions to that of infants, ' when they seek the breast ^' The
natural food of the child niay have become deleterious from a
variety of causes that might easily be known to one who exercised
his reason ; but the babe, without instruction and without question-
ing,, instinctively seeks its nourishment according to the order
prescribed by nature. It is in no sense master of its impulse. In
the next place, St. Thomas proves his point from the uniformity of
operation observable in animals of the same species. * All animals,'
he says, ' of the same species perform similar operations ; — as, for
instance, every spider makes a like web ; — which would not be the
'case, if out of their own heads they arranged their work, as though
labouring by art *.' Hence it comes to pass that spiders construct
their webs as they have done from the beginning; and no one
differs from, or improves upon, his fellow, nor does one kind of
spider borrow his architecture from another. There is a great deal
of stationary ingenuity, but there is no mental invention. Lastly,
there is this marked difference between the nature of the said prac-
tical judgments in man and in the brute, that ' Brute animals at
the beginning of their life receive a natural eat'imaiion in order to
^ 'QuaeUam autem agunt judicio, sed nun iibero, sicut animalia bruta.' 1**
Ixxxiii, I, c.
* * Unde ordinantur ab alio ad agendum, non autem ipsa seipsa ordinant ad ac-
tionem. Et ideo in eis est impetus, sed non imperium.' !-«•• xvii, 2, 3™. See the
whole of this answer.
' ' £t talis naturalis instinctus est etiam in pueris ; unde etiam mamillas aocipiont,
ot alia eis convenientia, etiam sine hoc quod ab aliis doceantur.' 2 d, zx, <^. 2,
a. 3, 5"-
« ' Ideo ex determinatione naturae actus suos exercent, non autem ex propria det^*
minatione agentis. Unde omnia etjusdem speciei similes operationes fadunt^ sicBt
omnis aranea similem facit telam; quod non esset, si ex seipsis quasi per arteai
operantea sua opera disponerent. Et propter hoc iu eis non est liberum arbitrium.'
2 d XXV, a. I, 7".
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The Formal Cause, 671
know that which is hurtful and that which is suitable, because they
cannot attain to this by their own investigation * ; ' whereas man is
left to form these judgments gradually by the practical experience
of life. Hence it is that at the outset he is the most helpless of
animals. A young swallow would find little diflSculty in construct-
ing a nest according to the usage of its tribe ; but a child would
be sore put to if it were compelled to construct its own habitation.
It is for these reasons principally that the Angelic Doctor dis-
tinguishes between animal instinct and human sagacity.
But, — to conclude this difficulty and to establish the truth of the
Member in question, by the authority of the Angelic Doctor; — even
in the instance of man St. Thomas limits this estimative faculty
to a special organ. ' In man,' he writes, ' it is called the particular
reasoUy and medical men assign to it a determinate organ which is
in the middle of the brain V If in man, a fortiori^ in brutes.
It now only remains to present the teaching of St. Thomas em-
bodied in this Proposition before the eye of the reader under a
synoptical Form.
a. The human soul, as well as the souls of the nobler orders of
animals, are not entitativelj'- subject to quantitative totality either
absolutely or by accident. They are, nevertheless, both subject to
quantitative totality functionally after a manner, — the human soul
partially, the souls of brutes entirely, — ^in such wise that those func-
tions which are seusile, and therefore common to both, are limited
to certain definite organs, not as though they were capable of quan-
titative division in themselves. Thus are to be understood the
words of St. Thomas : ' It remains, therefore, that, in the soul of
man and of every perfect animal whatsoever, no totality can be
admitted save that which is in oi*der of specific perfection and in
order of function or faculty ^'
i. The souls of inferior animals are not, in strictness of speech,
entitatively subject to quantitative totality ; though they may be
^ ' Animalia bruta in stri principio accipiunt naturalem aestimationem ad oogno-
Rcendum noclvum et conveniens, quia ad hoc ex propria inquiaitione pervenire non
possunt. Homo autem ad haec et multa alia potest per rationis inquisitionem per-
venire. Undo non oportuit quod omnis scientia naturaliter insit.' VeriU Q. xviii^
a. 7, 7«.
' ' Unde etiam dicitur ratio pariiculai'is, cui medioi assignant determinatuni or-
ganum, scilicet mediam partem capitis.' i«* Ixxviii, 4, c, v. fi.
' < Belinquitur igitur quod in anima hominis et cujualibet animalis perfecti, non
potest aocipi totalitas nisi secundum perfectionem speciei et secundum potentiam
seu virtubem.' Anima, a. 10, c, v.f.
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672 Causes of Being,
f
said to be so in a cei*tain way, inasmuch as their organs are more
or less diffused throughout the whole body and in consequence their
psychical functions are extended (so to say) with the extension of
the body. Hence, when a severance is made in their bodies, the
severed parts live an independent life. St. Thomas seems to have
remained in uncertainty, — as his repeated expressions of doubt
serve to show, — whether these Forms are entitatively subject to
quantitative totality by accident, and consequently whether their
soul is divided with the division of the body, or whether a new
Form is evolved out of the separated part. The evidence inclines
one to the opinion that he held this latter view as the more
probable of the two.
c. St. Thomas includes plants in the same category with these
annelids, so far as the present question is concerned ; as may
be gathered from a passage taken from his Commentary on the
first Book of the Seiitefices, (d. viii, Q. 5, a. 3, a™), quoted under the
second number of the "third Section.
d. The substantial Forms of inanimate bodies are subject to
quantitative totality by accident ; forasmuch as by division of the
body the Form becomes present under two limits instead of one
and is, consequently, divided.
e. Qualitative Forms are subject to quantitative totality by
accident, because they immediately inhere in quantity. Like all
other Forms they are essentially the same in the whole and in
each part ; yet, after division, they are quantitatively and, there-
fore, intensively less in a part than in the whole.
PROPOSITION CCXVI.
The formal co-existence with the principal and adequate Form
of certain partial substantial Forms in one and the same
body, which correspond with the partial functions of the
principal Form and are subservient to it, would be useless,
and is, at the least naturally, impossible.
Declaration op the Proposition.
The preceding Theses of this Section have prepared the way
for the main questions mooted in this and the next Propositions.
The truth of both has been already established at the beginniog
of the present Article, where it was proved in general that under
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no conceivable circumstances can more than one substantial Form
actuate one body. Nevertheless^ as the opinion here impugned
assumes a peculiar shape of its own, it may be well at the outset to
state succinctly what it is. It has been maintained^ then, that in
living bodies there exist in the several dissimilar parts and organs
of the body several Forms specifically and actually distinct from
each other and from the principal Form which they subserve as
its dispositions. The patent fact of a complexity of function,
augmenting with the nobility of the Form, has evidently given
occasion to this strange theory. If the apparent functional and
structural diversity of fruit, flower, leaf^ could have seduced such
a one as Suarez into the opinion that the plant-Form was enti-
tatively composite ; it can hardly be matter of surprise that others
should have gone a step further, and have resolved these putative
Tirtual components of the Form into so many partial Forms enti-
tatively distinct.
But, first of all, such supposed dispositions are wholly unneces-
sary ; since the one substantial Form has its faculties, as we have
already seen, by which itself energizes in the various organs.
Besides, the co-existence of these partial Forms is, — to say the
least, — naturally impossible. For, (omitting the previous demon-
strations that two substantial Forms cannot simultaneously actuate
the same portion of matter), such co-existence would destroy func-
tional unity. Either these partial Forms energize in co-operation
with the principal Form or they do not. If they do, they are
useless; if they do not, how could the different sensations, for
instance, in different organs received by specifically distinct Forms
be reduced to a common focus so as to represent one common
object ? To take an instance : — a houni perceives a particular
smell by one Form, — colour, form, motion, by another, — sounds
irom parting grass, twigs, and the like, by a third ; how can it
synthesize these several sensile impressions so as to refer them
all to the^b^r? The answer might be made, that such reduction
to unity is effected by the principal Form. But how is this
possible, if this latter Form is specifically distinct from, and does
not co-operate with, its subordinates ? Again : On supposition
of the truth of this hypothesis, any animal or living thing what-
soever could be physically divided into a multitude of animals or
living things specifically distinct from each other. The AnUcedent
is thus declared. If each organ were severed from the original
VOL. II. XX
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body, it would still retain its own substantial Form which, though
partial relatively to the whole, is not partial relatively to the par-
ticular organ. Its partiality, therefore, would cease by virtue of
its severance from the integral body; but, since it is specifically
distinct from the principal Form and is itself a substantial Form
exclusively actuating such organ or part, there is no assignable
reason why it should not continue its existence in union with its
organ, somewhat in the same way as the gonosomes and Iropioaomei
of the coral. " Accordingly, the world would be stocked with living
leaves, roots, flowers, ears, eyes, noses, hearts, stomachs, etc., each
enjoying a separate and independent existence. Finally, it may
be added, in confirmation of the previous arguments, that in this
hypothesis unity of being would be more imperfect as material
entities ascend in the scale of being ; since partial Forms would
multiply in the same composite in exact proportion to the com-
plexity of function.
The Angelic Doctor maintains the truth of the present Thesis in
the following passage : ' A soul does not presuppose other sub-
stantial Forms in the matter, in order to give substantial being
to the body or to its parts. On the contrary, both the entire
body and all its parts have substantial and specific being by means
of the soul ; on the withdrawal of which, just as neither man
remains nor animal nor living thing, so neither does hand nor eye
nor flesh nor bone remain, unless equivocally as in a picture or a
statue^'; — ^that is to say, these latter under the corpse-Form pre-
serve their outward shape and appearance as in a picture or a
• statue, but they are functionless and specifically other from what
they were before.
PROPOSITION CCXVII.
The substantial Eorms of the elements do not actually remain
in mixed, or compound, substances.
PaOLEGOMENON,
It is necessary to a true understanding of the Scholastic
^ ' Anima non praesupponit aliaH formas substantuJos in matenAy quae dent ease
substantiale corpori aut paribus ejus; sed et totum corpus et omnes ejus partes
habent ease lubeiantiale et Bpecificum per animam ; qua reoedente, sicut non manet
homo aut animal aut vivum ; ita non manet manus aut oculus aut caro aut oa nia
aequivooe, dcut depicta aut lapidea.* Spiritu, a. 4, c, t'lit^
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The Formal Cause. 675
doctrine concerning the constitution of bodies, that the phrase,
mxed bodies, as employed by the Doctors of the School, should
be rightly understood. The term is not limited by them to the
sense in which it is now «used by chemists ; but is specially applied
to those compound bodies which are the result of chemical com-
bination. This will be shown immediately, in a citation from the
Angelic Doctor. Avicenna, against whose opinion the present
Thesis is mainly directed^ maintained that the substantial Forms
of the elements, or simple bodies, remain actually in the compound
substance and that the mixture is accidental^ — that is to say, that
these compounds are a mere combination of the qualities proper
to the respective elements. Against this theory St. Thomas argues
in several of his Works ; but there is one passage in particular
which it will be serviceable to quote here. The hypothesis of
Avicenna^ he argues^ ' Is impossible ; for the different Forms of
the elements cannot exist except in different portions of matter.
But in order to the diversity of these portions it is necessary to
recognize dimensions; for without these matter is incapable of
division. Matter, however, that is subject to dimension is discover-
able only in a body. But different bodies cannot exist in the same
place. Hence it follows, that the elements in the mixed body
are distinct according to position ; and thus there can be no true
mixture which is according to the entire substance, but a sensible
mixture which consists of molecules in juxtaposition *.' With such
accuracy does the Angelic Doctor distinguish between chemical
compounds, (which he calls true mixtures), and the mechanical
mixtures of modern chemistry, (which he calls mixtures in ap-
pearance).
We must here mention another opinion touching this question,
which was maintained by Averrhoes, the greatest of the Arabian
Peripatetics. According to him the Forms of the elements are
the most imperfect of all substantial Forms. Wherefore, they are
half way, as it were, between substantial and accidental Forms, so
as to admit of increase and diminution. Accordingly, in the com-
* ' Sed hoc Mt impoflsibile ; quia diyersae fonnae elementorom non possont esse
nisi indlveniB partibus mateiiae, ad quarum diyendtatem oportet inteUigi dimen-
riones, dne quibus materia dividbiliB esM non potest. Materia autem dimensioni
subjecta non inveoitur nisi in coipore; diveiBa autem corpora non poasunt ene in
eodem loco. Unde aequitur quod elementa sint in mixto distiocta seoundum ntum ;
et ita non erit vera miztio quae est secundum totum, sed miztio ad sensum, quae est
secundum minima jnxtase posita.' i«* Ixxvi, 4, 4n.
X X 2
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pound they become relaxed in energy by mutual reaction, and
conspire towards the production of the substantial Form of the
compound. Against both these opinions the truth of the present
Thesis must be established.
Declaration of the Proposition.
i. The argument of St. Thomas against the first opinion, — that
of Avicenna, — is irrefragable. It is naturally impossible that more
than one body should occupy one and the same place by reason
of their mutual impenetrability. But the said opinion supposes
more than one body to occupy one and the same place. Therefore,
etc. The Minor is thus proved. Diverse substantial Forms postu-
late as their respective Subjects diverse portions of matter and,
because diverse portions of matter, diverse bodies. For there can
be no portioning of matter without dimensions ; and matter with
dimensions is a body. On the other hand^ these bodies must be in
one and the same place ; because they are supposed to exist in-
separably together in the one place of the compound. If they
do not so exist, they must be in mere juxtaposition, — like wine
and water, or oxygen and nitrogen in the air, — and consequently
do not form a true compound. Further, — to borrow another argn-
ment of St. Thomas ^ — each substantial Form requires its own
proper dispositions. But it is impossible that separate dispositions,
often mutually repugnant, should exist in the same Subject. Thus,
for instance, the Forms of sulphur and hydrogen respectively
require repugnant dispositions; for sulphur in a natural state is
a solid, has a yellow colour, assumes crystalline shapes, while
hydrogen is a gas, colourless, and incapable of crystallization.
ii. The opinion of Averrhoes is refuted by the following arg^a-
ments of the Angelic Doctor 2. First of all, the substantial entity
of any body is indivisible ; so that a substantial Form which de-
termines the specific substantial entity of a body is not capable
of increase or diminution. Accordingly, Aristotle in his Categories
expressly excludes more and less from the Category of Substance.
Secondly, the existence of a hybrid Form, — half substance, half
accident, — is impossible ; for on its one side it would be essentially
presupposed to the composite, on the other, the composite would
» Opusc, XXXIII {alUer XXIX), De mixtione Elementorum.
« Ibidem.
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be essentially presupposed to it as being its Subject. Besides,
substantial Forms are in matter but not in an integral Subject,
whereas accidental Forms are in the integral substance. Lastly, —
to quote the words of St. Thomas, — * It is ridiculous to talk of
a medium between things which do not belong to the same
Categfory; because the medium and its ^extremes must belong
to the same Category, as is proved in the tenth Book of the
§4.
The poBsibility of a mnltiplioation in the same composite of
substantial Forms which are independent of each other.
PROPOSITION ccxvin.
It is impossible that two or more independent substantial
Forms should simultaneously actuate one and the same
portion of matter.
This Proposition has been subjoined, in order to exhaust the
number of possible cases wherein a multiplication of substantial
Forms in one and the same composite is supposable. But it needs
no declaration ; since its truth has been already abundantly esta-
blished in the earlier Theses of the present Article.
ARTICLE VIII.
The Metaphysical Form.
Having ended the discussions touching physical substantial
Forms ; it follows in order, previous to approaching the considera-
tion of accidental, that we should determine the nature of meta-
physical, Forms. For these latter are identified with the essences
of things and, in consequence, are more cognate than accidents
with the physical substantial Form.
It must be clearly understood at the outset, that the terms,
Camposile, FortHy Subjecty etc., when used in a purely metaphysical
sense, are analogical in their application; since the ideas which
they rep];esent are primarily representative of those physical
entities from which they have been originally derived. The sub-
^ ' Item ridiculum eet dicere medium esse inter ea quae non sunt unius generis ;
quia medium et extrema oportet ejusdem generis esse, ut probatur in lo Metaph.*
Jbidem, p. m.
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Btantial Form and the matter are real physical parts constitative
of a real physical whole, and are only inseparable de pottntia
absoluta because they are mutaally necessary to each other's ex-
istence by reason of their substantive imperfection. But the
metaphysical Form and Subject are not real parts^ though they are
entitatively real; neither do they constitute a real composite.
Perhaps the above statement stands in need of a short explanation.
Let us then very briefly recall the ideas about matter and Form
which, it is to be presumed, have been now suflBciently precised.
The material cause, as it exhibits itself in material substances, is
something undetermined in itself but capable of, and essentially
disposed towards, determination, — something receptive of actuation,
— something inchoative, — in a word. Subject of natural differen-
tiation. The formal cause or Form, on the other hand, is a de-
termining principiant, — an act, — constitutive of the specific nature,
— the perfection, the beauty and splendour, of Being. Accord-
ingly, wherever in the objective concept there is presented to the
mind in what way soever the indeterminate, the inchoative, or the
passively potential, there the concept of a Subject naturally arises.
On the other hand, wherever in the objective concept there is
presented to the mind the determinating, the perfect, the actu-
ating, the actual, there the concept of a Form naturally arises.
Form fashions the world, surmounts the world, and finds its foU
expression in the Infinite Who is Act Itself. Thus apparisoned,
we may safely enter upon the present discussion.
PROPOSITION CCXIX.
The metaphjrsical Eorm is twofold, in accordance with a
twofbid metaphysical composition.
Deciaration op the Thesis.
Every essence may be metaphysically regarded in two ways. It
may be considered as a whole in the abstract, yet connoting a
transcendental relation to support; or it may be considei-ed analyti-
cally as determined to its specific nature by its ultimate specific
difference. Both these ways of contemplating it are founded in
reality ; yet they are very different in the respective conoepts by
which they represent essence. In the former case the metaphysical
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composite will be the entire abstract essence conceived as unitied
to supposit, — not to thii or that individual supposit, bot to in-
determinate supposit; in the latter case, the entire essence is
resolved into its material and formal parts, and the composite
consists in the synthesis of these two metaphysical parts. To take
an instance, by way of illustration: Vegetativenesa is an entire
essence, considered in the abstract ; yet connoting a transcendental
relation to a supposit in general^ — that is to say, (because it is a
dubstantial essence), to a subsistent existence on its own account,
without support from, or a belonging to, any other entity. The
metaphysical composition of these two will be vegetable^ which is
vegetativeness in the concrete. Such metaphysical composition
and corresponding concept of a metaphysical Form are conceivable
of all finite being, and not of substance only. Wherefore, — to
describe it as it is in its transcendental universality, — it may be
said that being is the material part, and the essence by which being
is determined to this epecific being is considered as the metaphysical
Form. The former is the qtwd, the latter the quo, of the School.
Thus, for instance, whiteness is the Form by which an accidental
being is white. On the other hand^ the concept vegetativeness may
be analyzed, and separated into that which is common to it with
other grades of being and that which is specifically determinative
of its own essence. For instance, — ^for the analysis differs ac-
cording to the line of abstraction, or relationship with other grades
of being, that may have been selected, — vegetativeness is seen to
include the general concept of life^ and the determining concept
of the vegetable form of life. The union of these two metaphysical
parts^ resulting in vegetative life, — constitutes a metaphysical com-
position plainly different from the former; for in the one the
metaphysical Form of the composite is the entire essence ; in the
other, the entire essence is the composite and the specific difference
the Form.
The Angelic Doctor sets forth this twofold concept with his
usual succinctness. ' There is a twofold limitation of a Form,' he
writes, 'one by which the specific Form is limited to the indi-
vidual,' in a way to be explained presently. * And such limitation
of the Form is by means of the matter. There is another ' limita-
tion *by which a generic Form is limited to a specific nature.
Such limitation of the Form is not made by matter, but by a more
determinate; Form from which the difference is assumed. For the
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diflTerence^ added over and above the genus, contracts it to Bpeeies^'
It is true that he is here alluding, in the former of these two
divisions, to material Forms and their physical individuation ; but
the principle will apply equally, as will be seen, to the metaphysical
composition first mentioned.
The nature of these respective metaphysical Forms will be better
understood, now that we proceed to consider them separately.
PROPOSITION CCXX.
Substance is metaphysically composed of its integral essence
and supposit ; and in such composition the integral essence is
the metaphysical Form, while the supposit may be considered
as the material cause.
Prolegomenon I.
As no science deals with individuals, as such^ but with uni-
versals ; h fortiori Metaphysics, the queen of the sciences, cannot
admit individuals into its subject-matter. If such, then, is the
case, how can it exprofesso deal with supposit which connotes the
individuation of its substantial Subject ? Again : It has been
enforced in the first Book that Metaphysics treats of essences, not
of existences ; forasmuch as the latter are contingent and mutable,
whereas the former are necessary and eternal Yet here existences
seem to be the metaphysical composites that are the exclusive
subject of the present Proposition. It is to be observed, — in order
to obviate that which might otherwise prove a difficulty, — ^that,
(as there has been occasion to remark before). Metaphysics does
not concern itself with the individual and existent as a physical
fact, but as a real entity having its own nature. But again :
Though supposit connotes individuation, and after a manner exist-
ence, like all other realities ; yet its objective concept is separate
from both. Accordingly, we can consider supposit as a universal
concept and prescind^ as in the case of other abstract ideas, from
its actual existence. Regarded as such^ it is a universal, embracing
^ * Duplex est limitatio formae. Una qoidem secundum quod forma spedei limi-
tatur ad individuum ; et talis limitatio formae est per materiam. Alia vero Becundom
quod forma generis limitatur ad naturam speciei ; et talis limitatio fonnae non fit per
materiam, sed per formam magis determinatam, a qua sumitur di£ferenti» ; difierentia
enim addita super genus contrahit ipsum ad speciem/ Spiritu, a. i, 2*. Vide
Jhidem, 8™.
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The Formal Cause, 68 1
indifferently all substance as being the natural perfection of the
latter.
♦ Prolegomenon II.
The two concepts, Sujpfodt and Person^ will be treated at length
in their own proper place. Suffice it here to repeat the definition
of the former given in the Glossary at the end of the first Volume,
and to add a word or two about the latter. ' Supposit is a sub-
stance complete in its nature alike and in its substantiality, and
consequently, master of itself and incommunicable to another in
such wise as to become that other's nature. Sometimes^ as in the
present Proposition^ the word supposit expresses this individual
autonomy^ as abstracted from the substantial nature of which it is
the perfectionment. When the substance so perfected is an in-
tellectual nature, it is called person^ and the substantial mode by
which it is so perfected is called personality, (See the word,
Personality, in the Glossary to the first Volume). Prom what has
been stated it is plain that a supposit supposes individuation ; for
a nature, as such, is communicable to many. As subsisting, it is
incommunicable to others after the manner of an accident ; as
supposit, it is incommunicable as a nature to some other supposit,
and this supposes the individual distinctness of the one from the
other.
Prolegomenon III.
The metaphysical essence differs from the physical,— or better,
the essence considered metaphysically differs &om that same essence
considered physically, — in more ways than one ; but more particu-
larly, (so far as material substances are concerned), in this : In the
former, matter enters only, as it were, implicitly and not as one of
the parts; whereas in the physical essence matter enters as one
of the essential constituents. Thus, man physically defined is
a rational soul informing an organized body ; defined metaphysically,
he is a rational animal^ just as humanity is defined to be rational
animality. In these two latter definitions the body or matter only
enters as confusedly included under the concepts, animal and
animality.
Prolegomenon IV.
It will be useful to repeat here a remark that has been made in
an earlier part of this Volume. Individuality of the body as well
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as individuality of its several parts and organs may be considered
in the abstract as well as in the concrete ; just as in the case of in-
dividuation itself. When considered in the abstract, individuation
of the body and similarly individuation of the parts and organs
assume the form of a universal. Thus, for instance, it is most true
that an individual body, individual bones, muscles, eyes, arms^ etc,,
are common to all men. Consequently, the following universal
Judgment is true : Every man ha9 his own hody^ his own honen^ Ais
own eyes, etc. To put it otherwise, for the sake of contrast : It is
true to say that Every man has an individual body, etc, ; but it is
false to say that Every man has this individual body, etc. Where-
fore, an individual body is a universal concept; this individual
body is a singular. So likewise, in all propriety of speech thisness
of body is a universal ; this body is a singular.
Prolegomenon V.
A word or two touching the respective concepts, essence and
nature^^-in addition to, as well as in confirmation of, that which
has been stated in previous pages of this work, — will not be without
profit. The ordinary distinction between the two is thus given by
the Angelic Doctor. 'Because nature/ he says, 'designates the
principiant of act, but essence is so called from bein^,^ (essentia^
esse); ' some things may be said to be of one nature, which agree
together in some act, — such as all things that impart heat But
things cannot be said to be of one essence^ save those that have
unity of Being *.' Taken in this sense, essence is the principle of
being, and nature the principle of operation, corresponding re-
spectively more or less with the first and second acts of all being.
But nature is often identified with essence, as again St. Thomas
tells us in a passage that it will be useful to quote. These are his
words : ' Because that by which a thing is constituted in its own
genus or species, is what we express by the definition that expresses
what (Quid) the thing is ; hence it is that the name of essence is
changed by philosophers into the name of quiddity, ... It is like-
wise called Form, accordingly as by Form is meant the perfection
or certitude of any thing whatsoever. ... It is also called under
^ ' Quia natuia designat principium actus, essentia vero ab essendo dicHur ; poannit
did aliqua uuius naturae, quae conTeniunt in aliquo actu, isicut omnia calefiuneniia ;
fied uniuB eisentiae dici non postunt tiiai quorum eet unnm ease.' i** xzxix, a, 3"^.
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another name nature, nnderstanding the word nature according to
the first of the four meanings assigned by Boetius in his Work On
tie hoo Natures, viz. as nature is understood to mean that which
can be conceived in whatsoever way by the intellect ; for a thing is
only intelligible by virtue of its definition and essence. In this
sense likewise the Philosopher says, in the fourth Book of his Meta-
pAysics, that every substance is a nature. But the word, nature,
taken in this way, seems to express the essence of a thing accord-
ingly as it has order, or an ordering, to the proper operation of the
thing ; seeing that no entity is without its proper operation \^
Hence, according to this interpretation of the word nature, there
are four words which objectively are equivalent, — essence^ quiddity.
Form, nature. But the same object is called essence, forasmuch as
it answers to Being : quiddity, forasmuch as it answers to the
definition ; Form^ forasmuch as it answers to the perfection and
fixity of Being ; nature, forasmuch as it answers to the true concept
of the intellect.
The four definitions, — more accurately, meanings, — alluded to
by St. Thomas, which Boetius has given to the word, nature, are
as follows : (i) In its most universal acceptation, ' Nature is pre-
dicated of those things which, since they exist, can in some way
or other be conceived by the intellect.' (ii) In a more restricted
sense, as applicable to integral entities, ' Nature is everything that
can operate or make impressions.' This definition answers very
nearly to the difierential meaning of the term, by which it is dis-
tinguished from essence. But it includes qualitative accidents,
since these, are capable instrumentally of operating and making im-
pressions, (iii) Yet further restricted to substances exclusively,
* Nature is the principiant of motion absolutely, not by accident.'
(iv) From a more strictly metaphysical point of view, * Nature is
■ ' Et quia iUad per quod res constitaitur in proprio genere vel specie, est quod
Bignificamus per definitiooem indicaatem quid est res ; inde est quod nomen easentiae
a philoBophis in nomen quidditaiis mutatur. . . . Didtur etiam forma, secundum quod
per formam significatur perfectio vel certitudo uniuscujusque rei. . . . Hoc etiam alio
nomine natura dicitur, accipiendo naturam secundum primum modum illorum quatuor
modorum quos Boetius, de duabus Naturis, assignat, secundum scilicet quod natura
dicitur esse illud quod quocumque modo inteUectu capi potest ; non enim res intelligi-
bilis est nisi per suam definitionem et essentiam : et sic etiam dicit Philoeophus in
4 MetaphjB., quod omnia substantia est natura. Nomen autem naturae hoc modo
■umptae videtur significare essentiam rei secundum quod habet ordinem yel ordina-
tionem ad propriam operationem rei, cum nulla res propria destituatur operatione.'
Opmc. XXX, (aZtter. XXVI), c« i.
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684 Causes of Being.
the specific diflFereDce that informs every single thing ^.' This last
definition will prove of service in a subsequent Proposition.
From these passages three principal meanings of the word
Nature, suitable to the present investigation, may be gathered.
I. Nature is identical with essence, — that is to say, it includes
everything that has actual Being. 2. It is distinguished from
essence, as expressing the principiant of natural operation. 3. It
represents the specific difference of a metaphysical composite.
Once more : ' Essence^' adds St. Thomas, ' sometimes expresses
that by which a thing is, such as is conveyed by the word, huma-
nity; and sometimes that which is, such as is conveyed by the
word, man ^/
Declaration of the Proposition.
In order to enable the reader to acquire a clear cognition of a
somewhat abstruse doctrine, it will be better to proceed by way of
analysis, and to commence with objects that are patent to the
senses,— corporeal substances. In this path the Angelic Doctor
shall lead the way. ' In entities,' he writes, ' that are composed of
matter and Form, there is necessarily a difference between the
nature, or essence, and the supposit. For nature, or essence, com-
prehends within itself those things which enter into the definition
of man ; for by these man is man. And this it is which the term,
humanity, conveys; viz. that by which man is man. But individual
matter, with all the accidents that individuate it, does not enter
into the specific definition. Thus, this flesh and these bones, or
whiteness or blackness, or other things of a like nature, do not
enter into the definition of man. Hence, this flesh, these bones,
and the accidents that designate this matter, are not included in
humanity. Nevertheless^ they are included in that which is man.
Hence, that whicb is man has in it something that humanity has
not. Wherefore, man is not entirely the same as humanity; but
humanity is conceived as the formal part of man, because the defin-
ing principiants,' — that is to say, the principiants which constitute
the definition, — * exhibit the nature of a Form relatively to the indi-
viduating matter ^' Let another similar passage be subjoined:
^ De Persona et dtiobm NcUurit^ c. i.
' 'Et sic patet quod eBsenti* quandoque dicit quo est, ut significatur nofEnine
hvmanitaiU ; et quandoque quod est, ut significatur hoc nomine homo' i d. xxiii,
a I, c, p. m. Gf. Quol. L, II, a. 4, c.
^ 'Sciendum est quod, in rebus compositia ex materia et forma, necesse est quod
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* Out of the union of soul and body is constituted both man and
humanity. These two differ as follows. Humanity is conceived
after the manner of a part ; since that is said to be humanity^ by
which man is man. Thus it exclusively represents the essential
principiants of a species, by which this individual is collocated
under such a species. Wherefore, it assumes the character of a
part ; since many other things besides such principiants ' (to wit,
the genus and difference) 'are to be found in the things of nature.
Sut mun is conceived after the manner of a whole. For man means
one having humanity, or subsisting in humanity, without pre-
scinding from any whatsoever elements that are over and above
the essential principiants of species; since by my sayiug, having
humanity, is not excluded one who has colour, and quantity, and
other like things ^.'
Let us, then, adopt the illustration of St. Thomas, and pursue the
analysis with the help of those hints which he has given us. For
the concept, man, there are two elements that are both common to
each and all who are included under the concept, yet aft«r a very
different manner. There is something which, and something 6y
which, — a person, and a nature, — some one who receives a specific
essence, and the specific Being which such a one receives; for
man is a person, and such person is man by virtue of his hu-
manity. Humanity, then, — or to express it by its definition, rational
different natura vel essentia et suppomtum ; quia essentia vel natura oomprehendit in
Be ilia tantum quae cadunt in definitiune speciei ; sicut humanitas comprehendit in se
ea quae oadunt in definitione hominis ; his enim homo est homo : et hoc significat
faumanitas, hoc scilicet quo homo est homo. Sed materia individualis cum aocidenti-
bus omnibus individaantibus ipsam non cadit in definitione speciei ; non enim cadunt
in definitionem hominis hae oames et haec ossa, aut albedo vel nigredo, vel aUqua
hujusmodi. Unde hae cames et haec ossa, et accidentia designantia banc materiam
non conduduntur in humanitate ; et tamen in eo quod est homo, induduntur. Unde
id quod est homo habet in se aliquid quod non habet humanitas ; et propter hoc non
est totaliter idem homOf et humanitas ; sed humanitas signifioatur ut pan formnlis
hominis; quia principia definientia habent se formaliter respectu materiae indivi-
duantis/ !•• iii, 3. c.
^ * £x unione animae et corporis conatituitur et homo et humanitas : quae quidem
duo hoc modo differunt; quod hunumitaa signifioatur per modum partis, eo quod
humanitas dicitur qua homo est homo, et sic praecise significat easentialia principia
speciei, per quae hoc individuum in tali specie collocatur. Unde se habet per modum
partis, cum praeter hujusmodi principia multa alia in rebus naturae inveniantur. Sed
homo signifioatur per modum totius ; homo enim dicitur habens humanitatem, vel
Bubsistens in humanitate, sine praecisione quorumcumqud aliorum supervenientinm
essentialibus principiis speciei: quia per hoc quod dico, Habens humanitatem, non
praeciditur, Qui habet oolorem, et quantitatem, et alia hujusmodi. Quol. L, IX,
a. 2, I".
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animality, — is the nature, or something by tokich; for every man is
a person, and every such person is a man by virtue of his rational
animality. This nature is specifically the same in all men. But
in the concept, «w», there is, — ^as we have seen, — another element
included ; for man expresses an entity having rational animality, and
an entity having rational animality is equivalent to a person who is
human. Therefore, personality is included in the idea of tnan as well
as humanity. Now, personality supposes individuation, because it
essentially denotes incommunicability to another and the separation
of one from the other within the limits of the same species and
beyond. But, if it represents individuation; how can that other
assertion, made at the outset^ be true, viz. that it is common to
each and all who are included under the concept ? The answer to
the difficulty is, that each man and all men have a thisnesSy and each
man has this thisness by which he is distinguished from his neigh-
bour. All men have individuation ; -but the individuation of each
is proper to himself and cannot be communicated to another. All
men have certain individual notes by which they are mutually dis-
tinguished ; but the individual notes of Peter are not the individual
notes of Paul. (See Prolegomenon iv.). In man^ then, it is plain
that there are two elements, — the specific nature and a person.
Now, there are certain points of difference in these two elements,
which are worthy of note. Rrst of all, in the specific nature body
is only implicitly included in the idea of animality^ of which body
is a remote genus, as may be seen in the Porphyrian tree ; whereas
in the person of man are expressly included thisness of matter^ this^
ness of quantity, thisness of qualities, thisness of parts and organs,
— though not this thisness, — after the manner already explained.
Hence, in the second place, the abstract essence is universal,
necessary, immutable ; for, apart from a Subject, — that is to say,
from actual existence in the concrete, — it is simply a Divine Proto-
typal Idea ; whereas the concept of person, or supposit, supposes (at
least, ideally) individuation and implicitly includes those indi-
vidual notes which are contingent and accidental. Further : It is
most important to remark, on account of its intimate relation to the
present Proposition, that the concepts of supposUy person, individual,
are more general, because more indefinite, than humanity or any other
specific nature. For supposit belongs to all complete substances ;
person, to all complete intellectual substances ; and individual to all
actual being. The concept of a specific nature, — ^as rational ani-
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mality^ for instance, — is, on the other hand, more restricted and
definite. It, as it were, actuates and specifically determines the
former. Hence, supposit, person^ individual^ exhibit more of the
nature of matter as known to us in physical composition ; while the
specific nature assumes the character of a determining Form. Once
more : Objectively the specific nature in itself is a universal, as all
Forms are, according to the teaching of the Angelic Doctor:
whereas in the supposit it receives individuation, as physical Forms
in the matter. It is true that the individuation in the former case
is conceptual and, therefore, takes the form of a universal, as we
have already seen ; otherwise, it would not belong to Metaphysics.
Nevertheless, the individuation is essentially real. Hence, the
following Judgment is unconditionally true : Every rational animal
is a man ; not man only, though it is likewise true that every
rational animal is man. The former Judgment, however, is philoso-
phically more correct; and it would be instinctively adopted in
ordinary speech by most persons. But why is this, if not because
in the idea of man is included a tAi&ness, or individuation, which
the term, a man, denotes; though such individuation, — ^like the
article that expresses it, — is indefinite ?
Wherefore, in sum : Supposit and the determining specific nature
together constitute a metaphysical composite. Whether tAis sup-
posit as terminating this specific nature cai\ be truly considered to
be a physical composition, will be better determined when the
nature of the former shall be examined ea prqfesso. Meanwhile, one
word of caution. Care must be taken, in thus conceptually separat-
ing supposit or person from the specific nature, not to fall into the
error of supposing that the former can really be separated from the
latter ; although it is possible de pofentia absoluta that the nature
should be without its own proper supposit, or personality.
From the above analysis it may be clearly understood why the
specific nature is considered as a metaphysical Form. Nothing can
be plainer than the fact that it is not a physical Form ; since it is
an abstract generalization. On the other hand, it is equally plain
that it cannot be a merely logical Form ; since the foundation for
conceiving it is eminently real. Therefore, it is metaphysical ;
that is to say, the concept of it is logical in the mode of representa-
tion, but is nevertheless representative of a real object. Secondly, it
has been made manifest why it can be justly regarded as a Form.
It is a transcript of the Exemplar Form in the Divine Intelligence,
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688 Causes of Being.
and possesses all the nobility, determinations, actuositj, of a trae
Form. Moreover, by it every creature has its definite grade in the
hierarchy of being. Lastly^ it is the essential source of natoial
operation.
COEOLLABT.
Though the metaphysical Form is primarily predieable of sub-
stance ; yet it is not to be altogether excluded from accident. It
must be admitted that there is a special difficulty; because accident
is essentially dependent upon substance in which it naturally inheres.
Nevertheless, it has an entity of its own, an essential nature ; con-
sequently, though it receives its individuation from its substantial
Subject, still it retains its own proper individuation. Of course, it
neither is nor can be so terminated as to become an adequate
supposit ; for this would be in contradiction to its nature.
PROPOSITION CCXXI.
The metaphysical Form, as constitating an essence, ia the
speciflo difference.
Prolegomenon I.
The Form of an essence^ as such, must necessarily be metaphysical.
The adjective has been prefixed to Form in the Enunciation, simply
for the purpose of preserving the external harmony of the Proposi-
tion with the heading of the Article. For the difference between
a metaphysical and physical essenoe, — or, to put it more accoratdy,
between an essence physically and metaphysically regarded, — the
reader is referred to the third Prolegomenon in the preceding
Thesis. Since Metaphysics contemplates the universe of reality as a
united whole, its concepts are the result of a wider comparison than
those of physics ; first, because its sphere of truth is immeasurably
wider, and then, because unity is the highest excellence of science,
— ^the more so, as it approaches nearer to that foremost among* the
three transcendental attributes of Being. It results from such
comparison, that Metaphysics is ever reaching higher and higha
universals, — that is to say, higher and higher unities, — till it is
arrested by a Transcendental that is all inclusive. Neither are these
universals, as it is hardly necessary to say, a mere creation of
thought, though logical in their Form ; since they are founded upon
that exceptionless and intimate intertwining of finite beings witk
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one another, by which they so plainly manifest their production
from Unity. Similarly, in examining into the essential constitution
of a specific nature, Metaphysics looks out f6r a similarity and a
distinction ; — a similarity with such essences as are nearest to it in
grade of being, and a distinction by which it is essentially itself and
not another. The former is conmion and, as a consequence, inde-
terminate ; the latter is special and differentiating. Hence, in order
to arrive at the scientific concept or true definition of its object,
metaphysics resolves the given essence into two of its causes, — the
material and formal, i.e. speaking logically, into its proximate genus
and specific difference. The former represents that which is common
to the essence, ^2(? et nunc under consideration^ and to other cognate
essences and is, therefore, undifferential; the latter represents that
which is special to the same essenoe and, therefore, differentiating.
Prolegomenon II.
As will be seen in the subsequent Declaration, Suarez maintains
an opinion touching the subject of the present Thesis, which seems
to i*equire the introduction of a Lemma from logic and ideology.
Though the metaphysical division of an essence into its material
and formal parts corresponds in its results with the logical division
of a species into its genus and specific difference, and in consequence
metaphysical and logical definition will be so &r practically
identical ; yet there is a vital distinction between the two, corre-
sponding with the different nature of the logical and metaphysical
wholes. As the logical whole is the whole of extension, its division
is objectively synthetical. We divide a logical whole by adding and
determining. On the other hand; as the metaphysical whole is the
whole of comprehension^ its division is analytical. We divide by
subtracting and resolving the determinate. Hence, in order to
arrive at a logical definition, we run down the geuera, adding and
adding by means of fresh differences, — determining more and more
that which was indeterminate, — till we arrive at the division and
definition required, and thus in the final definition many others are
virtually contained. But in order to arrive at a metaphysical
definition, the essence, or specific nature is analyzed by metaphysical
division into its material and formal parts ; and the synthesis of
these constitutes the metaphysical definition. Wherefore, such
definition can be one only.
VOL. II. y y
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Dbclaeation of the Pkoposition.
From the concludiDg sentences of the first Prolegomenon it majr
be seen that, in a specific nature metaphysically regarded, there are
two parts, one of which is indeterminate, indifferent, receptive ; the
other determinate, differentiating, actuose. The former is repre-
sented by what logicians call the proximate genos ; the latter, by
the specific difference. Thus, to resume the instance of St. Thomas,
humanity is a specific nature. If subjected to metaphysical analysis,
it is seen to consist of two elements, — animality and rationality.
Animality is that which is common to it with other specific natures^
and forms that bond of union which has been signalized in the first
Prolegomenon. It is indeterminate; for it is neither man nor
beast, though potentially inclusive of both. Of itself it is indifferent
whether it be the one or the other, because it is equally receptive of
both. On the other hand, rationality is determinate, differentiating,
actuating ; because, as informing (so to say) animality, it detei^
mines and actuates the latter to one specific nature, and in conse-
quence differentiates it, — that is to say, distinguishes the specific
nature so constituted from every other. Thus, then, animality may
be justly regarded as the matter, and rationality as the Form^ of
humanity. Hence it is, that the two are respectively called in meta-
physical phraseology the material and formal part of the specific
nature.
There are three striking points of similarity between the proxi-
mate genus and the specific difference (as logicians call them) on the
one hand^ and matter with its substantial Form on the other. For,
as matter is indifferent to all Forms of itself, yet is so determined
by the actuation of one Form that, while preserving its absolute
potentiality to other Forms, it admits the simultaneous presence of
no rival Form ; so the genus is of itself indifferent to any whatsoever
difference, yet is actually so determined by the added difference that,
while preserving its potentiality to other differences^ it will admit the
simultaneous presence of no rival difference. Thus, aȣma/ is of itself
indifferent whether to be rational or irrational i but once determined
to be rational^ in the composite so determined it can no longer be irra-
tiojial, Suarez, however, seems to maintain a contrary opinion ; for he
asserts that there may be a multiplication of Forms in the same
metaphysical composite, because there are many genera and many
difference^ included in the same species, as may be seen in the Por-
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phyrian tree. He adds^ by way of confirmation, that there can be
more than one definition ; although a definition is supposed to re-
present the entire essence of the entity defined. But the answer is
plain. Suarez is confounding the metaphysical with the logical
whole in his first argument. The metaphysical whole is the ultimate
species, which is composed, — to preserve the logical terminology, —
of the proximate genus and the specific difference. But in one and
the same line of abstraction there is not more than one proximate
genus or more than one specific difference. Each specific nature
consists of but one material part and of but one formal part. A
somewhat similar reply must be made to the confirmatory argu-
ment. Definitions of one and the same object may be multiplied^
either because they are incomplete, (and this is the sort of multipli-
cation which Aristotle contemplates in the passage from the Be
Anima cited by Suarez) ; or because essential, physical, accidental,
definitions of the same object are mutually distinct^ (and such is
the multiplication which Aristotle refers to in the three passages
from the Posterior Analytics, quoted by the same authority). But
there can be only one adequate metaphysical definition of a specific
nature ; just as the nature itself is one only.
There is a second striking resemblance between the proximate
genuft and specific difference,— or the material and formal part of an
essen^e^ — on the one hand, and matter and its substantial Form on the
other ; viz. that neither of the two elements in each order can exist
independently of the other. In the physical order matter, as we
have seen, cannot exist without Form, or Form without matter; in
the metaphysical order the material part cannot exist without the
formal, or the formal without the material. Thus, in man animality
naust be rational, and rationality must be animal. Neither is it
possible for animality to be^ unless informed by rationality or
irrationality.
There is a third observable resemblance. In material substance
no necessity exists for any distinct act of union between matter and
the Form, because union enters into the essential nature of the Form ;
in like manner, there is no necessity for a metaphysical union
between the material and formal parts of an essence^ because the
latter is essentially the metaphysical act of the former. A rational
animality is identical with an animality as rationalized. It is hardly
necessary to add, that Suarez, — consistently with that independence
of entity which he erroneously, as is here maintained, attributes both
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692 Causes of Being.
to matter and Form in the physical order, — denies the troth of this
last parallel ; so that, while admitting the statement in regard of
the metaphysical, he rejects it when applied to the physical, con-
stituents ; whether with sufficient justice, it is for the reader to
determine.
PKOPosmoN ccxxn.
Though the metaphysical oomposition 6f the essential nature
with its supposit approaches more nearly to a real oompositLon
than that which is constituted by the union of the material
with the formal part in a speoiflc nature; yet the specific
difference approaches more nearly to the true nature of a Form
than the integral essence.
I. Thb fisst Member of this Proposition, wherein it is asserted
that the metaphysical composition of an essential nature with its sup-
posit approaches more nearly to a real composition than the combination
of the material with the formal part in a specific nature, is thus declared.
, It is to he ohserved that this Member virtually contains two
propositions^ since it is implied that in neither case is the com-
position real. This first proposition is easy of proof. For universals
and abstract concepts, as such^ are incapable of existence. There-
fore, as such, they are not real. But all metaphysical composites
are universals and abstract concepts. Therefore, formally they are
not real, nor is their composition real. Nevertheless, they are
founded in reality ; for thus it is that they are distinguished from
merely logical concepts. It follows as a consequence, that the
second and explicit proposition which is made in this Member
depends upon the nature of the reality* which is the foundation of |
these two metaphysical compositions respectively. Wherefore, the
metaphysical distinction between a specific nature and the supposit
is founded upon a real minor distinction between the two in
the concrete; whereas the metaphysical distinction between the
material and formal part of a specific nature is not founded upon
any real distinction either major or minor. The Antecedent is thus
declared. We know from Supernatural Theology that it is possible
for a substantial nature to exist without its proper personality;
and, moreover, there is no intrinsic repugnance. But no real
distinction is possible between the proximate genus and specific
difference of an individual entity. Genera cannot exist save in
their species. No one has seen, or ever will see, an animal that
is neither rational nor brute. Henee^ the two concepts bear the
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relation to each other of the determinate to the indeterminate.
Nevertheless, even here there is remotely a real ground of dis-
tinction. For, though a rational entity, (using the term^ rational^
according to its specific meaning), is, — by implication, at least, —
necessarily animal; yet animality does not necessarily include
rationality, seeing that de facto there are many animals which
are not rational. Therefore, though when united in the same
physical composite, the two are really inseparable ; yet in diverse
physical entities one really exists without the other.
II. The second Membeb, in which it is asserted that lAe specific
difference approaches more nearly to the true nature of a Form than
the inteffral essence^ is thus declared. The integral essence does
not exhibit any real characteristic of a Form relatively to the
supposit with which it is metaphysically composed. For really the
supposit is itself an act modally determining the substance ; since
all, even substantial, modes so far share in the nature of an accident
that they depend upon, and perfect, substance. In the present
instance, substance of itself possesses this essential perfection, that
it can stand alone and neither postulates nor admits a Subject of
inhesion. This it has as substance. But supposit adds this
ulterior and complemental perfection, that substance is thereby
made incommunicable as a nature to any other supposit or person.
Hence, — if anything, — substance, or the specific nature, assumes
the nature of a Subject relatively to its mode, rather than the
supposit relatively to its substance. Again : Supposit is no part
of the essential nature, but a supplemental perfection ; therefore,
if Subject at all, it would assume the nature of an accidental
Subject. But such composition is not metaphysical. Once more :
The supposit depends for its origin and existence upon, and there-
fore presupposes, the specific nature ; but so considered, the nature
exhibits more of the characteristics of a material than of a formal
cause. On the other hand, the specific difference has the c*ha-
racteristics of a true Form, as has been shown.
PROPOSITION CCXXIII.
The metaphysical Form, understood in either of these ways,
exercises no formal oausality.
DeCLABATION op the PfiOPOSITION.
From the explanation given under the second Member of the
previous Thesis it will be obvious, that the specific nature does not
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exercise any formal causality in the supposit; since its causality
would, if anjrthing, be material. So, again^ the specific difference
exercises no formal causality in the proximate genus ; although there
is more semblance of formal causality in this than in the former
instance. The reason why there can be no formal causality, speaking
even metaphysically^ is this ; that in the species the proximate genos
and specific difference are objectively identical, and formal causality
postulates a real distinction between the Subject and the Form.
To resume the old instance: — In humanity rationality is really
identified with animality ; the only difference being, that the latter
is an indeterminate, the former a determinate, concept, but both of
the same object.
ARTICLE IX.
Accidental Forma.
The causality of the accidental Form so closely resembles that
of the substantial Form, that the detailed examination already
instituted of the latter will spare the necessity of a like prolixity
touching the former. The division of the subject-matter will be
nearly the same. Consequently, the present Article will be divided
into five brief Sections, as follows ; —
1 . The real formal causality of accidents.
2. The nature of such causality.
3. The effects.
4. The eduction of accidental Forms out of the potentiality o{
their Subject.
5. The causality of modes.
§1.
The real formal causality of aooidents.
PROPOSITION CCXXIV.
Aooidents which have a true entity of their own distinct firom
that of their substantial Subject and intrinsioally determine
the latter, exercise a true formal causality.
Pbolegomenok I.
So far as the present discussion is concerned, accidents may be
conveniently divided into two classes, viz. those which intrinsically
determine, either immediately or mediately, their substantial Sub-
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ject, and those on the other hand which only extrinsically affect
their Subject by a sort of reference and consequent denomination.
We may assume, as an instance of the latter class, clothes. These
are said to be an accident of their wearer, because they are referred
to him in a special way ; as they are his, and by reason of them he
is said to be clothed. Suarez subdivides the former; but the
subdivision necessarily introduces questions touching individual
Categories and their respective subordinate species, about which
there may be a diflference of opinion. It will, therefore, be better
to wait till these Categories are treated e;e prof esse.
One thing it is necessary to add by way of caution. That which
relatively to another is an accident^ in itself may be a substance ;
as in the instance given. ClotheSy as woollen or linen textures,
are substances; relatively to him who wears them they are
accidents.
Peolegomenon II.
The term, causality, like that of Being, is analogously applied to
accident. For, as accident is not simply Being ^ but Being of Being;
60 the formal causality of accident is not univocal with the formal
causality of the substantial Form. The former presupposes its
Subject already fiiUy constituted in its essential nature ; the sub-
stantial Form is congenital with its Subject. Wherefore, accident
has no causal connection with the absolute existence of its Subject,
though it does causally affect the existence of its Subject as such
or 9mh. Thus, for instance, whiteness presupposes the constitution
of the integral substance of the rose^ while causally affecting its
•xistence as a white rose. It hence follows that the causality of
an accidental Form does not result in the absolute oneness of the
resultant composite, but only in an adventitious oneness. Lastly :
The formal causality of an accidental Form is inferior after a sort to
the material causality of its substantial Subject. It gets more than
it gives. On the contrary, the causality of a substantial Form is
in all respects of a nobler order than that of matter.
Deola.ra.tion op the Peoposition.
Wherever there is a real potentiality on the part of the Subject
and a real actuation on the part of the supervenient Form, there
must necessarily be a true formal causality. But in the accidental
composites included under the present Thesis there existed, prior to
actuation^ a real potentiality on the part of the substantial Subject
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696 Causes of Being.
and sabsequently a real actuation on the advent of the accidental
Form. Therefore, etc. The Major is evident ; for it rests upon ihe
definition of a formal cause. The Minor is thus declared. The
substance, which is the destined Subject of the accident, prior to
its information is without such accident ; yet it is capable of receiv-
ing it, otherwise it never could have it. Therefore, the substantial
Subject is in potentiality to such accident, of its own nature. On
the other hand, the said accident, according to the hypothesis, is
a reality with an essence of its own ; and when it informs the sub-
stance, the latter is that actually of which previously it was only
capable. It has received an additional reality which it did not
possess before. Thus, in the instance already adduced, the ro9e in
its own essential nature is neither white nor red nor of whatsoever
other definite colour, but is capable of any colour. It becomes
determined to iohitey and thereby receives a perfection extraneous to
its own integral nature. These accidents are intrinsic causes of
their own proper efiects. Since, then, their causality is intrinsic,
they must be either material or formal causes. But they are evi-
dently not material. Therefore, they are formal.
Such is the teaching of the Angelic Doctor. ' Since all acci-
dents,' he writes, ' are certain Forms superadded to substance and
caused ' efficiently ' by the principiants of substance ; their being
must be superadded to the being of substance, and dependent upon
it^.' So again: *The Subject is compared with accident, as poten-
tiality with act; for the Subject is to a certain extent in act by
reason of the accident^.' Lastly: St. Thomas adds more expli-
citly : ' A Subject is compared with accident in three ways ; first
as affording it support, for accident has no subsistence of its own
but is sustained by the Subject. Secondly, as potentiality to act ;
for the Subject is subjected to accident as a sort of potentiality to
its act. Hence, also, accident is called a Form. Thirdly, as cause
to effect ; for the principiants of the Subject are principiants abso-
lutely of the accident ^.' This third characteristic does not concern
us for the present.
^ ' Quia ezmn omnia aocidentia sunt formae quaedam substantiae euperaddiUe et a
principiis substantiae caoBatae, oportet quod eorum esie sit Buperadditnm supira eno
Bubstantiae et ab ipso dependens.' Cg. Z. /F, ffi 14, |). m.
' 'Subjectum oomparatur ad accidens sicut potentia ad actum; subjectum emm
secundum aocidens est aliquo modo in actu.' i«* iii, 6, e,
' ' Subjectum triplidter comparatur ad aocidens. Uno modo sicut praebens ei wsr
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PROPOSITION CCXXV.
Accidents which only denominate their Subject extrinsically do
not exercise a true formal causality.
Pbolegomenon.
In order that the Declaration of this Proposition may be made
more intelligible to the reader, it will be necessary to forestall in
some measure the doctrine touching the Categories, which will
occupy us in the seventh and eighth Books ; nor can this be done
more safely than in the words of the Angelic Doctor. ' Because the
Categories/ he writes, *are arrangements of predicables, . . they
are therefore recognized by their being predicated, or by their
denominating. Now, something may be predicated denominatively
of another, or denominate it, in two ways. First, in such wise as
that such predication or denomination is the result of something
that is intrinsic in the entity about which predication or denomi-
nation is made, — ^that is to say, something that perfects it either by
identity or by inherence. This latter, ag&in) takes place in two
ways. One wise, in that such denomination is made absolutely and
in itself; and in such way the three absolute Categories, — viz.
Substance, Quantity, and Quality, — denominate. Wherefore, we
say, 8ocrat€9 is a substance by identity, or that he is of such size
and of such sort by inherence. Otherwise ; in that such denomina-
tion is from what is intrinsic, connoting, nevertheless, something
extrinsic as a term to which that which is denominated stands in
a certain relation. This is the way in which Relation denominates ;
as, for instance, when it is said that Socrates is equal to, or like,
Plato. In another way denomination is made from that which is
extrinsic, — that is to say, from something which is not in the for-
mal object of denomination, — ^but there is something absolute that
is extrinsic, from which the denomination arises ; as, for instance,
when we say that Socrates is an agent, such denomination arises
from the passing Form itself which is received in the Subject of
the action. For the heat that is caused in the Subject that receives
it, in order to denominate a thing as hot^ (which is an intrinsic
tentamentum ; nam aocidens per se non subiistit, fuldtur vero per subjectum. Alio
modo riout potentia ad actum; nam subjectum acddenti Bubjicitur, sicut quaedam
potentia actui ; onde et accidens forma dicitur. Tertio modo dcut causa ad effectum ;
nam prinoipia subject! sunt principia per se accidentia.* Virt : a. 3i c.
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denomination), requires nothing else^ in order to be so denominated
by it, save a Subject of inhesion. But^ in order that it may receive
some such denomination as, for instance^ imparting heaJt^ something
else besides the Subject is necessarily required, — ^to wit, a came
effective of heat; since the Subject in which such heating is received
requires it. The case is similar with Place, which is a sort of
surface. For a surface, in order to denominate that of which it is
the sur&ce, requires nothing else but a Subject of inhesion^ — that
is to say, a body containing it ; but in order that something may be
denominated after the manner that Place denominates the placed,
it requires something else besides the Subject of the surface. The
last six Categories denominate in this way. And such ' (Cat^^ries)
'as so denominate by an extrinsic denomination convey another
reality beyond the entity denominated, which the other Categories
that denominate intrinsically do not convey ; although the entities
theinselves from which such denomination is received are the same.
Such diversity suffices for distinguishing the Categories. In this
way these six Categories are distinguished from the first four ; that
is to say, by the extrinsic entities which they denominate, and
which the other four do not. Now^ it must be understood that an
extrinsic denomination postulates some sort of essential relation
between the extrinsic entity that denominates and that whioh
receives denomination from it. For it is necessary that essentially
and from the condition of entities such a mode of denomination
should accompany things. Wherefore^ it is necessary that the
reality from which such denomination arises should be the founda-
tion of some essential relation. And seeing that the relation
between entities is not of itself the foundation of the relation^
(otherwise, it would go on for ever) ; consequently, the denomina-
tion is not made from the relation. For to have something pro-
duced by a thing itself, (which belongs to action), denotes a certain
relation ; and to have a position in space ; and so of other Cate-
gories. These Categories, however, do not express these relations ;
because such relations belong to the Category of Relation. But the
aforesaid Categories only express something absolute^ as denomi-
nating extrinsecally. For heating, which is in action, expresses
heat which is an absolute Form and denominates an efficient cause,
viz. something imparting heat; and so of the rest ^'
^ * Notandum, quod quia prMdicamenta sunt ordinationes praedicabilium, . . . idco
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The above passage will possibly prove obscure to some of our
readers. Wherefore, a synopsis shall be given, in which the more
difficult parts will meet with an explanation.
i. The Categories are a classification of predicables or of attributes
(in the most generic sense of the term) by which the Subject may be
denominated. These predicables are realities. So much will suffice
for the present. The first four of these Categories denominate
from something intrinsic in the Subject denominated. This some-
thing is either absolute or relative. Now, the names of the first
per praedicari seu denominare cognoscuntirr. Dupliciter autem potest aliquid de alio
praedicari denominative, sive illad denominare. Uno modo quod talis praedicatio sea
denominatio fiat ab aliqao quod sit intrinsecum ei de quo fit talis praedicatio seu deno-
minatio, quod iridelioet ipsum perfidat sive per identitatem sive per inhaerentiam. Et
boo adbue oontingit dupliciter. Uno modo, quod talis denominatio fiat absolute et in
Be ; et sic denominant tria praedicamenta absoluta, scilicet substantia, quantitas, et
qualitas. Unde didmuR, Socrates est substantia per identitatem, vel est quantus et
qualis per inbaerentiam. Alio modo, quod talis denominatio sit ab intrinseco, impor-
tando tamen aliquid extrinsecum ut terminum, ad quern se babet illud quod denomi-
natur. Et isto modo denominat relatio ; ut cum dicimus, Socrates est aequalis vel
. similis Platoni. Secundo modo fit denominatio ab eztrinseco, scilicet ab eo quod non
est in denominate formali, sed est aUquod absolutum extrinsecum a quo fit talis deno-
minatio : at cum dicitur, Socrates est agens, talis denominatio est ab ipsa forma fluente
quae in passo acquiritur. Galor namque causatus in passo, ad hoc quod denominet
aliquid calidum, quae denominatio est intrinseca, nihil aliud requirit ut sic denomine-
tor per ipsum, nisi subjectum in quo est. Sed ad hoc ut denominetur tale aliquid,
puta calefiBMdens, de necessitate requirit aliam rem a subjecto, sdUcet causam efifectivam
caloris, quia requirit passum in quo est talis calefnctio. Similiter est etiam de loco
qui est superficies quaedam. Superficies enim, ad hoc ut denominet illud cujus est
superficies, non requirit nisi subjectum in quo est, scilicet corpus continens ; sed ad
hoc ut denominet aliquid sicut locus locatum, requirit aliud a subjecto superficiei.
Et isto modo denominant ilia sex praedicamenta. Et talia sic denominantia denomi-
natione extiinseca important aliam realitatem quam rem denominatam, quam non
important alia praedicamenta quae intrinsece denominant, licet ipsae res a quibus
aocipitur talis denominatio, sint eaedem ; et talis divendtas sufficit ad distinguendum
praedicamenta. Et isto modo ista sex praedicamenta a primis quatuor distinguuntur,
scilicet per res extrinseoas quas denominant, quod non faciunt ilia quatuor. Sciendum
est autem, quod denominatio ab extrinseco requirit aliquem per se respectum inter
extrinsecum denominans et denominatum ab eo ; quia oportet quod per se et ex con-
ditione rerum talis modus denominandi consequatur res. Et ideo oportet quod illud
a quo fit taUs denominatio, sit fimdamentum per se alicujus habitudinis. Et quia
habitude rerum non est per se fundaroentum habitudinis, alioquin iretur in infinitum ;
ideo talis denominatio non fit a respectu. Habere enim aliquid a se productum, quod
pertinet ad actionem, didt quemdam respectom, et habere Ipcum, et sic de aliis. Ista
tamen praedicamenta non dicunt hos respectus, quia iste respectua pertinet ad genus
* relationis ; sed praedicta praedicamenta solum dicunt absolutum, ut denominans ex-
trinseco; calefisM^tio enim, quae est actio, didt calorem qui est forma absoluta, et
denominat causam effidentem, scilicet calefadentem; et sic de aliis.* OptMC XLVIII,
{aliter XLIV), Capvi unicum de sex pr<tedioam€nti$, po$t Tractat, v"*.
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700 Causes of Being.
four Categories are. Substance, Quantity, Quality, Relation. In
the first three of these the foundation of denomination is something
absolute ; in Relation, as the name suggests, it is relative. This
something intrinsic is cause of the absolute denomination of the
Subject of predication, (which is a first substance)^ either by reason
of identity, — as in the Category of Substance, — or by reason of
inherence, — as in the Categories of Quantity and Quality. Thus, —
to adopt the example of the Angelic Doctor, — ^that Socrates is a
substance, is predicated of him by identity ; that Socrates is six'feet
in height, or that he is red-haired, is predicated of him by inherence.
All three are absolute; — that is to say, they connote nothing
outside of Socrates. That Socrates is a father, is relative; because
it connotes something extrinsic to Socrates, viz. a son. But the
foundation of such relation is something intrinsic in Socratea, as
will be seen in its place. The preceding Thesis principally r^ers
to Quantity and Quality; as there are special difficulties con-
nected with Relation, which are reserved.
ii. The last six Categories denominate from something extrinsic
to the Subject denominated. Thus, imparting heat is in the
Category of action. Let us analyze the idea with St. Thomas.
The heat imparted is an accidental Form inherent in the bar of iron,
— ^for instance, — which is the Subject of the action. As heat
simply in the bar of iron, it is a quality absolutely inhering in the
bar, and nothing else. But, when imparting is predicated of heat,
it denominates an extrinsic efficient cause from which the heat has
proceeded. Similarly, when the Subject is considered as subject
to the imparting of the heat, it falls under the Category of Reception
(Passio), and as such postulates an efficient cause ; for action and
reception connote each other. In other words, when it is predicated
of the bar of iron that it has received heat, the predication is in
the Category of Reception and therefore postulates the action of
some efficient cause.
The names of these six Categories are. Action, Passion or Re-
ception^ Place, Time, Position, Property or Possession.
iii. The entity that is subject of extrinsic denomination remains
the same in its own entity as it was before. Thus, the Form of
heat is the same, whether it is considered as that by which the bar
of iron is hot, or as imparting heat to the bar of iron. Henee,
whether this denomination of action expresses the relation of the
efficient cause to its effisct, (as some say), or simply denotes the
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The Fovjnal Caiise, ' 701
fire as communicating heat, (as others say) ; it equally remains^
that the qualitative Form of heat remains entitatively the same,
but receives a peculiar denomination because communicated by the
action of the efficient cause.
iv. Hence arises a difficulty. According to this explanation, the
whole real difference between inherent heat and imparting heat, —
between hot and heating, — ^would seem to consist in this ; that the
former is absolute, the latter relative. For inherent heat is an
absolute quality informing its Subject ; while heating heat receives
such designation from the relation of the qualitative Form to the
efficiency, say, of fire. Thus, the Category of Action would be
identified ex parte rei with the Category of Relation. St. Thomas
replies. The objection would hold good, if action formally denoted
the relation itself; but such is not the formal content of its
predication. Action is predicated of the informing heat, — ^to
resume the example already given, — as communicated to the bar
of iron by an efficient cause, and consequently as an efect in such
bar. Therefore, heating represents the inherent Form of heat, plus
an extrinsic denomination derived from the efficient cause. The
relation follows as a consequence ; and is properly reducible under
the Category of Relation.
V. If, however, we accept this explanation, there remains a still
more formidable difficulty. Aristotle, the author of the Categories,
asserts, — and the assertion has been defended by the Doctors of the
School and, indeed, by all who teach the Peripatetic philosophy, —
that the Categories are a real, not a merely logical division^. But,
if it be true that action adds nothing to the Subject of predication,
— that is to say, in the instance, given, to the Form of heat, —
but an extrinsic denomination, while the entity of the subject in
itself remains the same ; it seems as though the Category of Action
were a purely logical universal, and the rest of the six Categories
would be obnoxious to the same criticism. Yet, on closer examina-
tion, it will be found that the objection cannot stand. For the
communication of heat — ^that is to say, the heat as communicated,
— includes a reality in the concept quite distinct from the concept
^ For instance, Sanderson in his valuable Logic, speaking of the Categories, has the
following : ' In aliqiia istarum classium quicquid nspiam rerum est oollocatur ; modo
ait unum quid, reale, completum, limitataeque ac finitae naturae. Ezulant ergo his
sedibus Intentiones secundae, Privationes et Ficta, quia non sunt realia,' etc. Com-
pendium Lofficae ArtU, L, /, c. 8, 'pair, a.
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702 Causes of Being.
of the simple Fonn of heat as inherent in its Subject. It connotes
a causal dependence on an agent, which is the action. Wherefore,
though the entity of the Form is in no wise even modified by the
extrinsic denomination; yet the causal dependence is a reality,
although extrinsic to the constituted nature of the Form as it is
in itself. Consequently, there is a real accidental difference between
the immanent information of a qualitative Form and its transient
communication ; and this suffices to constitute a real difference
between the two Categories.
vi. As the qualitative Form in the instance given, by virtue of
an extrinsic denomination^ enters within the sphere of another
Category; so does the Subject of the Form likewise. As abso-
lutely informed by the Form it is Substance ; considered in rela-
tion to the efficient cause, it falls under the Category of Passion,
forasmuch as it receives the action. Hence, the two Categories of
Action and Passion stand in transcendental relation to each other.
This observation will throw light on a clause which occurs towards
the middle of the citation from St. Thomas, and is very difficult
to understand. The author would suggest with great diffidence
the following emendation of the text. ' Calefaciens de necessitate
requirit aliam rem a subjecto, scilicet causam effectivam caloris,
quia (aliter, quam) requirit passum in quo est talis calefactio.'
Declaration op thb Proposition.
From the exposition already given in the Prolegomenon the
truth of the Enunciation is made sufficiently apparent. All formal
causality is from its nature inherent in the composite which it
constitutes. No accident, therefore, which is extrinsic to the
entity of its Subject can exercise any real formal causality. Again :
Every Form, if truly causal, confers a new entity of some kind
on its Subject; forasmuch as it determines the latter either to a
specific nature or to an accidental perfection. But these extrinsic
accidents, (if one may call them so), can boast of no such result ;
since the Subject, as we have seen, remains in its entity precisely
the same with or without such accidental attribution. Once more :
Formal causality connotes material causality; for the two are
transcendentally related. But in the instance of these accidents,
included under the last six Categories, there is no such material
cause. It would be absurd, for instance, even to imagine a man
as a material cause of his clothes or of his house and park. Lastly:
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Wherever there is true formal causality, there must be physical
conjunction between the Form and its Subject. But there is no
physical union between the extrinsic entity denominating and the
Subject denominated. Therefore, etc. Thus, — ^to repeat once more
the instance of St. Thomas, — ^there is no physical conjunction
between the furnace which denominates the Form of heat as heat-
ing the bar of iron and the Form of heat as afterwards informing
the iron ; and his path is not physically one with either the body
or soul of the squire,
§ 2.
The nature of the formal causality of an aooident.
PROPOSITION CCXXVI.
In aooidents which exercise a real oausaUty, the formal and
proximate principiant of causality is the entity itself of such
accidental Form, as exhibiting an essential disposition for
informing its Subject.
Declaration of the Proposition.
The reasons which evince the truth of the above Enunciation
will be understood without any difficulty, since they are precisely
of a similar nature to those which have been given in proof of a
similar Proposition touching the substantial Form. The formal
and proximate principiant of formal causality in an accident, is the
accident itself; because its disposition to inform its Subject belongs
to its essential nature. It is educed from substance as its source ;
and it naturally depends upon substance for its actual existence and
preservation. Further : Its generation is in substance ; so that it
needs no intervening mode of union, since in the natural order
it is united to its Subject as a necessary condition of its existence.
Neither is this tendency or disposition of accident to inhere in its
Subject anything really distinct from its essential nature. For,
first of all, such tendency is the essential difference which dis-
tinguishes accident from Substance ; consequently, it is & potentia
absoluta inseparable from accident. Then, again, if we suppose^
for the sake of argument, that this disposition is really distinct
from the essential nature of accident ; it must itself be an accident.
Thus, the question returns touching its proximate principiant of
formal causality. Either, then, we must admit an infinite process,
which is absurd ; or it must be admitted that some accident is
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704 Causes of Being.
itself the proximate principiant. But if so, there ifl equal reason
for admittiDg thus much at the first as at the last.
Note.
It is not necessary to throw into the shape of a Proposition
the question bearing upon the conditions necessary to the formal
causality of an Accident ; since the answer is obvious. As in the
instance of the substantial Form, the only condition, (exclusive of
the necessity of an efficient cause), requisite for the ex« rcise of such
causality, is a disposition on the part of the ^ ubject to receive the
accidental Form. Thus, for instance, iron has no natural recep-
tivity of sweetness ; therefore^ sweetness cannot exercise its formal
causality in iron.
PROPOSITION CCXXVII.
The causality of quantity is its actual inherence in its
Subject.
Declaration op the Proposition.
As has been already remarked, there is something peculiar in
the nature of quantity; for it partakes more of the nature of
matter than of Form. Hence it is a common saying among the
Doctors of the School, that quantity follows the matter. In fact,
it may be said to exercise a double causality; for it is a formal
cause of substance and proximate material cause of qualities.
Hence, it is not impossible, de poientia adsoluia, that it should
continue to exist in a state of separation from the substance which
it once informed; for there still remains that it should be the
Subject of the qualities. Thus, then, though a disposition to inhere
in its Subject is, actual inherence is not, of its essence. Therefore,
actual inherence is something really distinct from its entity. Con-
sequently, the formal causality of quantity is not the Form itself
but the actual conjunction of the Form with its Subject, that is
to say, its actual inherence ; since in its case the two are really
distinct.
PROPOSITION CCXXVIII.
The causality of a qualitative Form is the Form itself as
essentially inherent in its immediate Sulsject.
Declaration op the Peoposition.
Quality is distinguished from quantity, in that the former is a
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pure act, whereas quantity is at once an aiet and a potentiality.
Even substantial spiritual Forms have something analogous to this
double nature, with the exception of the One Infinite Form Who is
Pure Act. For Angelic Natures themselves, which are subsistent
spiritual Forms^ are potentialities after a manner as well as acts ;
since they have properties, — to wit, the faculties of intellect and
will. Hence, in alluding to them St. Thomas says : ' If there is a
Form that in one respect is actual and in another respect poten-
tial, it will only be a Subject in so far as it is potential .' There-
fore, certain even substantial Forms may be said to be partly one,
partly the other ; but there is a great difference between their case
and that of quantity, as is plain. For they are integml substances
and, as a consequence, exist in their own right ; and then, secondly^
the accidents of spiritual natures are themselves spiritual, so that
there is no physical composition of Form and Subject. Suarez
denies that any Form can exercise the functions of a Form in a
Form distinct from itself*. But, unless he uses the term Form in
the second instance reduplicatively, — that is to say, as Form, — he is
in manifest contradiction with the teaching of the Angelic Doctor,
as just quoted ; and it is hard to understand how he can admit the
information of. quantity by quality.
Now, qualities in general, (unless perhaps an exception should be
made on behalf of certain qualities that are included under the
second species), are acts only, and in no case whatsoever are actuated
out of their own Category. Quantity, on the other hand, is so
markedly potential, — and that too in regard of other Categories^ —
that, according to the opinion of Suarez and others, it is the proper
accident of matter; as though included in the material cause of
substance. As an act, in any ease, it informs the body; as a
potentiality, it postulates the information of qualities for its own
actuation. Consequently, if by an Act of the Divine Omnipotence
it should remain in a state of separation from the substance that it
once actuated ; it loses itself (so to say) as act, but remains as a
passive potentiality. Hence it follows that, within the sphere of
accidental being, it would in such case assume something like the
nature of primordial matter ; and it may therefore be safely doubted,
' 'Si autem aliqoa forma ait quae Becundom aliquid sit in actu, et Becundum aliquld
in potentia ; secundom hoc tantum erit subjectum, secundum quod eet in potentia.*
Spiritu. a. i, i™.
^ * Una forma non cAuaat formaliter aliam formam.' Metaph. IKsp.xvi, tect. j, n. i8.
VOL. II. Z Z
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7o6 Causes of Being,
whether de poteniia ahioluta it could exist in the said state of sqmn-
tion, unless actually informed by its qualities. But, on the other
hand, qualities are purely actuating Forms. Thus, for instance^
the yellow in a jdsinhie'^flower simply informs^ or actuates, the quan-
tity of the petals and, by means of the quantity^ the petals tiiem-
selves. It has no other either formal or material function. There
is an instrumental causality which it possesses; but that is
altogether outside the present question.
If follows from the preceding exposition, that the arguments
adduced in proof of the inseparability of the substantial Form
from its Subject apply with equal force to the case of qualities;
for, as will be explained presently, acoidental-^ike. substantial —
Forms are educed from the potentiality of their Subject^ and haye
an essential dependence upon it. Indeed, the arguments are in one
respect mote cogent when applied to qualities than when applied
to substantial Forms ; because the latter are, so to say, in poten-
tiality as to their faculties and forces. If, then, qualities could be
separated from their Subject, (since they are actm&ting acts simply
and exclusively) ; they would be acts of nothing, — that is, no acts
at all, — that is, absolute nothingness.
Here, however, it is necessary to interpose a remark ; otherwise,
the reader might labour under a false impression. The immediate
Subject of qualities iS) — it is necessary to repeat, — quantity ; and
it is only through the medium of this latter that the qualities
inhere in substance. When, then, it is said that a qiality is
inseparable de poientia abtolvta from its Subject ; the meaning is,
that it is so inseparable from its immediate Subject, i. e. quantity.
For, seeing that it inheres in substance^ only through the medium
of quantity ; if quantity is inseparable de poientia absolnta from
substance, it will follow that quality is likewise sepanMe from
substance, although incapable of separation from quantity, its
immediate Subject, — or rather, because inseparable from the latter,
it is separable froin the former.
It is here affirmed, then, that it is absolutely impossible for
qualities to be preserved in a state of s^aration from the quantity
which they inform. For this assertion we have the plain authority
of the Angelic Doctor. For, treating expressly of this question, be
writes as if with a smile : * The nature of whiteness by a miracle
might be made to be without any quantity ; nevertheless, such
whiteness would not be the same as lAis,^ (i. o. individual) * sensible
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The Formal Cause, 707
whiteness, but would be a sort of intelligible Form, like those sepa-
rate Forms that Plato invented ;' that is to say, if anything real,
an exemplar Idea in the Mind of God. ^ But that this sensible
individoated whiteness should exist without quantity, is impos*
sible; although it is possible that individuated quantity should
exist without substance ^/ If this be true, then aotufd inberenoe
in its immediate Subject is of the essential nature of a quality.
Therefore it follows that there is no real distinction between its
actual entity and its inhesion. Its existence is in quantity and,
through quantity, in the material sub&tanee.
Note.
The truth maintained in this Proposition is equally applicable,
in its way, to the fourth Category,^ — viz. that of Relation ; but
it would not be possible to demonstrate this assertion without
supposing on the part of the reader a knowledge touching tela*
tians, which it is intended to set before him in the seventh Book.
Suffice it here to say, that it is impossible de pot^entia ab^oluta to
separate either fatherhood, or the real foundation on which father-
hood rests, from the father of whom the relation is predicated.
§ 3-
Efibcts of the formal causality of accidental Fonnfl.
PROPOSITION OCXXIX.
The primary and adequate effect of the fbrmal causality of
accidents is the accidental composite.
DECLARiLTION OF THE PkOPOSITION.
It does not require many words to establish the truth of the
above Enunciation ; more particularly after our previous treatment
of the parallel question touching the adequate effect of the substan-
tial Form. Let the argument be put, then, in the following shape.
That is the primary and adequate effect of a cause within the limits
of a given causality, which is the adequate term of its natural
operation or, in other words, the end of its essential energy. But
* ' Poteet ergo fieri miraculo ut natura albedinis Bubosteret absque omni quantitate;
taroen ilia albedo non eiset ricnt haeo albedo sensibiliB, sed easet quaedam forma in-
telligibilifl ad modum formarum separatarum, quas Plato posuit. Sed quod haec albedo
BensibiliB individuata esBet sine quantitate, fieri non poBaet, quamviB fieri poBsit quod
quantitas individuata sit sine substantia.' Qiio2. Z. vii, a. lo, c.
Z Z 2
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7o8 Causes of Being,
the accidental composite is the adequate term of the natural opera-
tion, or essential energy, of the accidental Form within the limits
of its formal causality. Therefore^ etc. The Minor is thus declared.
The accidental composite is the integral body, (in the instance of
material substance), constituted by the substantial Subject together
with its accident or accidents. Such are all existing substances,
whether material or immaterial. If material substances), which are
the main object of inquiry at present), were not thus constituted in
conjunction with their accidents^ they would neither be subject to
sensile perception nor capable of their natural operation. For in
the natural order all the interaction of 'substances in their various
grades of excellence, by which the universal harmony and Divine
meaning of the visible — to say nothing of the invisible — creation
are realized^ is effected through the instrumentality of accidents ;
so that, without them^ the action of each material substance would
be purely immanent. Accordingly, if material substances should
be without quantity and qualities, they would be in solitary con-
finement,— in presence of one another, as though they were not,
perfectly idle in the commonwealth of being. But the entity of
accident is not Being, but Being of Being. It is the act of sub-
stance, as the substantial Form is the act of matter. It is that by
which another has Being, rather than Being itself. In other
words, all that it has and is, it has and is in, and for the sake of,
substance. Hence it follows, that the term of its natural opera-
tion and of its essential energy is not the mere actuation of
substance, but the perfecting of the latter in its operation by con-
junction with it in one and the same composite. As, then, the
adequate term of the formal causality of the substantial Form
is the substantial composite ; so the adequate term of the formal
causality of the accidental Form is the accidental composite.
The same, servatis servandis, holds good in the instance of
spiritual accidental Forms relatively to spiritual substance.
PROPOSITION CCXXX.
The formal and proximate effect of the causality of the acci-
dental Form is the actuation of the accidental potentiality
of its Subject.
Prolegomenon.
In the opinion of Suarez, the Subject cannot be allowed to be one
of the effects of the accidental Form. Against the opposite opinion.
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which is here maintained, he brings forward certain objections that
will be considered in their place.
Declaration of the Pkoposition.
(i) The constitution of the accidental composite cannot be the
formal and proximate effect of the caosaliiy of an accidental Form ;
because the constituted accidental composite essentially includes
the accident itself. But no Form, in strictness of speech, can be
formal cause of itself, (ii) The formal effect of every Form is actu-
ation, not constitution. For every Form is an act ; and the correla-
tive of act is actuated. The constitution of the composite follows as
a consequence. Further : Since the constitution of the composite is
by the actuation of the substance, not the actuation of the substance
by the constitution of the composite ; it follows that the actuation
is the proximate effect, (iii) The accident, a* Form, formally re-
gards substance as Subject of its information^ not as partner with
it in the constitution of the accidental composite.
Such is the plain teaching of the Angelic Doctor. *The essential
nature of accident,' he writes^ * is to inhere and depend, and to make
composition with the Subject hy way of consequence'^ ^ And, though
in other passages he corrects the former part of the same definition,
forasmuch as it might seem to imply that actual inherence is of the
essence of accident ; yet he invariably retains the notion of aptitu-
dinal inherence in, and of necessary dependence of its being on^ the
Subject, as of that which is of the essence of accident. Thus^ he
declares that ' It belongs to the quiddity or essence, of accident, to
have being in the Subject ^.^ So, again, he defines accident to be
* An entity whose due it is to have being in another*;' or, as in
another place, ' An entity to whose nature it is due that it should
have being in another *.' Therefore, according to St. Thomas, its
proximate and formal term of causality is the accidental actuation
of the Subject by its inherence in it, and ' it makes composition with
its Subject as a consequence.'
* ' Batio autem aocidentis imperfectionein continet : quia ene aooidentis est ineiie
et dependeie, et oompositionem fiusere cmn subjeoto per comequens.' i d. viii, Q. 4.
a- S*^'-
' * Quidditati autem, mve esMntiae aocidentis oompetit habere ene in rabjecto.' 3"*
Izxvii, I, 2".
' ' Bee cui debetur ease in alio.' 4 d. xil, Q. i, a. I, 9. i, j*".
* ' Adbuo natura ejus remanet talis ut ei debeatur esse in alio/ Qyuol, L. IX,
a. 5, 3™.
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7IO Causes of Being.
DiPFICULTTES.
I. If we admit that the Subject can be an effect of the formal
causality of accident, it will consequently be necessary to admit a
certain dependence of substance on accident. But this is impos-
sible for the following reason. The adequate Subject of accident is
substance. Therefore^ substance is natumlly prior to accident.
Therefore it cannot depend on accident. The above argument
is further confirmed as follows. The essence of the Subject is
substantial Therefore, it is incongruous to suppose its depen-
dence anywise on the imperfect entities of other Categories.
Accordingly^ all are agreed that substance does not depend on
accident as on a proper formal cause.
Answer. The Antecedent is gp*anted ; the Consequent denied. Now
for the proofs adduced in support of the latter. It is undeniable
that substance is the adequate Subject of accident; but that substance
is naturally prior to accident^ needs distinction. It is naturally prior
to accident in its own substantial entity, that is to say, in its essen-
tial composition as constituted of matter and its substantial Form,
— ^granted ; it is naturally prior to accident in its real potentiality to
the accidental Form, — a Subdistinction is necessary : // is naturally
prior in order of genesis^ — ^granted ; it is naturally prior in the con-
stitution of the accidental composite^ — denied. To explain the
above distinction : It is quite certain that substance^ in its own
essential nature, is incapable of any dependence upon an accidental
Form ; since it is integrally constituted prior, in order of nature, to
its accidental information. But it is equally true that it has an
accidental potentiality, or real subjective capacity and aptitude, for
receiving accidents ; and^ though this potentiality is naturally prior
in order of generation, — ^because it is, as it were, the immediate
Subject, — nevertheless, it is not prior in the constituted composite
or in absolute nobility of Being. Consequently, in this respect
substance admits of a dependence on its accidental Form for its
completorial, not its essential, perfection. Thus, for instance, de-
prive material substance of its quantity, it would be most nearly
represented; in its relation to sensile perception, by a mathematical
point. Much the same may be said for the accidents by which a
spiritual substance is perfected. Hence, the Angelic Doctor, refer-
ring to the soul of man, observes that ' even the created truth,
which is in our intellect, is greater than the soul, — not simply but in
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The Foi^mal Cause. 711
a certain sort of way,-r-forft8mueb as it is a perfection of the soul ;
just as science also might be said to be greater than the soul ^.'
And again : ' Substance is simply nobler than accident ; neverthe-
less, an accident is in a sort of way nobler than substance, because
it perfects substance in some accidental being '/ Once more, with
yet greater clearness and precision : ' Created science is indeed
nobler than the soul of Christ after a manner, because it is an act
of the latter,^-in the same way as colour is nobler than its body,
and every accident is nobler than its Subject, in so iar as the former
is compared to the latter as act to potentiality. But simply,' or
absolutely, * the Subject is nobler than the accident ^.' Lastly, in
still plainer terms: 'No accident is nobler than its Subject as
regards its mode of Being ; because Substance is Being of itself,
while accident is Being in another. But in so far as accident is in
act and a Form of substance, there is nothing to prevent accident
from being nobler than substance ; for in this way it is compared
to substance as act to potentiality and as perfectness to the per-
fectible*.' There are two expressions that occur in these quo-
tations from the Angelic Doctor, which stand perhaps in need
of explanation; — for the s^ke of those ^S least who make their
first acquaintance with the Scholastic Philosophy in this Work.
CreckUd truths then, and created science ttre respectively contradis-
tinguished from the Uncreated Truth and the Uncreated Science.
Created truths therefore, means, truth existing 9s an accidental per-
fection in the created, or finite, intellect ; and created science means
the demonstrative h^bit of the certain cognition of tbingp by their
causes, as accidentally perfective of the intellectual fiaculty in the
creature.
A ' £t tunen etiivm verita^ creata, quae est in intellectu uostro, est major anima non
siinpliciter, sed secondum quid, in quantum est perfectio ejus, sicut etiam scientia pos-
set did major anima.' i*« xvi, 6, i">.
' 'Siout substantia est simpliciter d^gnior Aocidente; aUquod tamen aooidens est
secundum quid dignius substantia, in quantum perfidt substantiam in aliquo esse ac-
cidentali.' i-a** IxTi, 4, c, inf.
* ' Sdentia creata est quidem secundum quid anima Cbristi nobilior, in quantum
«it aotufl ejus ; seoundum qqem modum et color ejus oorpore nobilior est, et quodlibet
»ccide|is suo snbjecto, prout compara^ur ad ipsum sicut ^ctus ad potentiam. Simpli-
dter autem subjectum est nobiiius aoddente/ Vent Q. xx, a. i, i™.
* * Nullum aocidens est dignius subjecto quantum ad modum essendi ; quia substan-
tia est 008 per se, aeddens vero ens In aUo. Sed inquantum aoddeip est actus et
fbrina 9ubetantiae, nibil prohibet aocidens esse dignius subs^ntia; sic enim oomparatur
ad ipsam ut actus ad potentiam, et perfectio ad perfectibile.* Carii., (alUer, Viri. Q.
u), a. I, aii*.
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7 1 2 Causes of Being.
The answer to the confirmatory argument is virtually included
in the explanation given above, and in the accompanying quota-
tions from St. Thomas. It would indeed be incongruous to suppose
that substance could depend in its essential nature on accident;
but it is not incongruous to suppose that it should depend on
accident for its completorial perfectness. Wherefore, albeit all are
agreed that substance cannot depend on accident v^ on its proper
formal cause, because that would be to transform an accidental into
a substantial Form; yet this in no wise prevents substance from
depending, in its potentiality of actuation by the accidental Form,
on the accidental act by which it receives an accidental perfection
extrinsic to its own essential nature.
II. That a substance should be in real potentiality to an acci-
dental Form, is by no means necessary ; since it is not universal.
For there are many instances of accidental Forms that do not
postulate any real potentiality on the part of their Subject In
their case, therefore, there is no real dependence of substance on its
accident.
Answer. It is true that there are many such accidents ; for it
is manifest that substance can in no possible sense really depend
on those of its accidents which affect their Subject only by an
extrinsic denomination. But it is equally true that accidents of
this description do not enter into the question, because they
exercise no real physical causality ; whereas we are now exclusively
concerned with the real causality of accidents, and consequently
with accidents that are really causal. Much the same may be said
of accidents that are purely modal and simply terminate substance.
But with regard to all accidents that exercise a real causality, it
is certain that they are acts^ — that their substantial Subject is in
real potentiality to them, — and that, accordingly, there is so fiu* a
real dependence of substance upon them, after the manner already
explained.
III. The conclusion enunciated in the last solution is denied.
For quantity immediately informs the matter alone ; and, as being
a necessary disposition of matter for the reception of the Form,
partakes in the nature of a material cause. Therefore, the sub-
stantial composite by no means depends upon quantity as upon a
Form ; although quantity exhibits a real intrinsic causality.
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Answer. One is kiclined to fear, upon looking at the objection
as it stands, lest the above statement should not represent the
argument as Suarez meant it. If he has been misrepresented^ the
misrepresentation is unintentional.
In reply, then, it is to be observed that this immediate actua-
tion of matter alone by the quantitative Form is an assumption,
and seems to be plainly at variance with the mind of the Angelic
Doctor. But the discussion of this opinion of Suarez must be
relegated to its proper place, where the nature of quantity will be
professedly treated. Let us, then, — ^merely for the sake of argu-
ment^— suppose that the hypothesis of Suarez is true. What has
been gained as touching the problem determined by the present
Proposition ? Absolutely nothing. All that we have to face is a
change of Subject and a consequent change in the term of de-
pendence. The dependence itself remains as before. It is no
longer the integral substance that is considered as Subject of the
quantitative Form, but primordial matter which is thus invested, —
itself a pure passive potentiality, — with a new potentiality foreign
to its own entity, — that, viz. of actuation by an accidental Form.
But, — supposing, (while by no means admitting), the possibility of
this, — then the causality of the quantitative Form would be exer-
cised on matter which, in the given hypothesis, would receive the
accidental perfection that the more common opinion attributes to
the integral substance. In such case, quantity would be a material
disposition relatively to the substantial Form, (which under any
hypothesis must be admitted to be true, however variously ex-
plained) ; while exercising, — or rather, because exercising, — its
formal causality in the matter.
IV. The actuation of the Subject by the accidental Form is
identical with the composition of the accidental Form. There-
fore, the distinction between the primary and adequate effect of
accident on the one hand, and its proximate and formal effect on
the other^ is unnecessary and useless.
Answer. Undoubtedly, so far as regards the physical result, the
accidental information of substance and the constitution of the
accidental composite are identical. But the same may be said of
the substantial information of matter and the constitution of the
substantial composite. There is^ we freely admit, a marked dif-
ference between the two. For in the substantial composition each
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714 Causes of Being.
constituent is necessary to the existence of 4he other ; while in
the accidental composition, though the accidental Form naturally
depends for its existence on the Subject, the Subject does not
depend for its existence on the Form. But this distinction, how-
ever important in itself, does not affect the present question ; or, if
it does, tells in favour of the accidental composite, since it leaves
the information, (so to say), more free. Accordingly, since Suares
admits the distinction in one order ; to be logically consequent, he
should not reject it in the other. However, to answer the difficulty
directly : Though there is confessedly no real distinction, there is
a conceptual distinction, (that is to say, a logical distinction based
on a reality) ; and such is the nature of a metaphysical distinction.
PROPOSITION CCXXXI.
From accidental composition there does not result aji entity
simply or absolutely one, for two reasona ; first, because such
composition presupposes the integral constitution of the
Subject that is therein infbrmed, and secondly, because no
essential nature is capable of being perflscted in itself by any
whatsoever entity of another Category.
Prolegomenon.
The present Thesis has been introduced in order to meet a special
difficulty connected with the question of accidental composition.
It is universally admitted, — and is otherwise patent, — that, in the
instance of those accidents which exercise a real formal causality,
there is a real physical union between the substance and its acci-
dent. Whence comes it, then, that the composite, according to the
consentient judgment of all the Doctors of the School^ is not simply
and absolutely, but only adventitiously, one ? Such is the problem
that awaits solution.
The Proposition resolves itself into two Members.
I. In the first Membeb of the Thesis it is asserted, that one
reason why the accidental composite ia not simply and absoliUely one^
may be discovered in the fact ^ that such composition presupposes the
integral constitution of the Subject therein informed ; which is thus
declared. As we have seen in the third Book, unity is a transcen-
dental attribute of Being. Hence, the nature of the unity follows
upon the nature of the Being. Now, Being is absolutely one by
its essence. Consequently, all that supervenes can in no wise
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affect its simple and absolute unity, but will cause at the most an
adventitious or accidental unity. But in accidental composition
the substance is presupposed as constituted in its integral essence.
Therefore, the unity of the accidental composite ia not an absolute
unity. Thus, a man now with black, now with grey hair, does not
in either case exhibit a simple unity \ since the essential unity of the
man remains^ whether his hair be black or grey. Consequently, the
physical union of black or grey hair with the human Subject causes
a temporary and purely adventitious unity, for such time as it lasts.
II. In the second Member it ia asserted, that another reason
why an accidental composite cannot claim simple or absolute unity is^
because no essential nature is capable qf being perfected in itself by any
whatsoever entity of another Category. This second reason has been
specially urged by Suarez, in order to obviate the diflBculty
generated by his opinion touching the information of matter by
quantity^ which is not satisfactorily met, (as is plain), by the
previous argument. Nevertheless, as the argument is of singular
strength quite independently of its special application, it has been
expressly inserted in the Enunciation.
In order that the composition of a Form with its Subject may
exhibit simple, or absolute, unity, it is necessary that the Subject
should be actuated by a Form within the limits of its own
Category. For the essence of any finite entity whatsoever is
limited to its own Category, as is self-evident; and hence it
follows that any completion of its essence must be effected within
the limits of its own Category. Therefore, all addition that it '
receives outside such Category is extra-essential. But an entity is
simply, or absolutely, one by its essence. Hence, it follows that
whatsoever actuation by a Form belonging to another Category
cannot essentially perfect the Subject, and in consequence cannot
cause that the resultant composite should be absolutely one.
PROPOSITION ccxxxn.
Althou^ there oan be but one accidental Form to each aooi-
dental composite; nevertheless, mansr aooidental Forms can
actuate one and the same substantial Subject^ because by
their information they do not give absolute being to the
Subject but only additional and adventitioua being.
This Proposition manifestly contains three Members, each of
which we will consider apart.
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7 1 6 Causes of Being.
I. In the first Member it is asserted that tkere can, be but one
accidental Form to each accidental composite ; which is thus declared.
The same arguments which went to prove that there can be only
one substantial Form in one substantial composite apply with equal
force to the accidental composite. Indeed, in one respect they
assume a greater cogency ; because the passive potentiality of the
integral substance in regard of the accidental Form is not, like the
potentiality of primordial matter, a receptivity capable of all
material Forms and indifferent to one or another ; since it is not
potential of all accidental Forms^ and exhibits an aptitude for, and
proportion with, one particular Form even within the same species
of the same Category. But the natural requirements of this poten-
tiality are fully satisfied by one act ; a second^ therefore, would be
superfluous. Nay more: A new Form under the circumstances
would be impossible ; since this second act would find no poten-
tiality to actuate. Neither is it possible to suppose that in the
same substance, or in the same part of the same substance, there
could be two potentialities specifically the same; for, in such a
hypothesis^ the same substance or the same part of the same sub-
stance would.be at once in potentiality and in act relatively to the
same specific accident. But this is a contradiction in terms. No
entity, for instance, can be at one and the same time red and
not-red.
Corollary.
It follows that, as there can be but one accidental Form to each
accidental effect, so there can be but one accidental effect to one
accidental Form.
II. In the second Member of the Proposition it is declared,
that many accidental Forms can actuate one and the same substantial
Subject. This is universally acknowledged. Hence the old saying
that When Socrates was born, all the Categories were bom with him.
Moreover, it is patent to sensile perception. Every body has
quantity, quality, relation, etc. Nay, repeatedly it happens that
different parts of the same body have synchronously different acci-
dental Forms within the same species; as colour, for instance, is
different in different parts of a plant or animal, and in some fruits
the stone is hard and the pulp soft, — to say nothing of the successive
changes of accidental Forms in one and the same substance during
the lapse of years. It follows from this multiplicity of accidental
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The Formal Cause. 717
Forms, that there must be a corresponding multiplicity of acci-
dental potentialities in the same Subject ; and, if every part and
organ of the body is capable of a multiplicity of such Forms, it can
be imagined what a number may be aggregated in the integral body
itself. It remains, then, to inquire, how this is possible. Why is
it that, while one portion of matter only admits of information by
one substantial Form, one and the same integral substance is recep-
tive of any number of accidental Forms,— of Forms that really and
physically inform their Subject ? Such is the problem that is solved
in the next Member.
III. The third Member, — in which it is aflSrmed that the
reason why this multiplication of accidents is possible in one and the
same substance is, because accidental Forms by information of their
Subject do not give absolute^ but only adventitious. Being to the latter, —
is thus declared. Substantial bodily Forms can neither ordinat^ly
nor accidentally be conjoined in the same portion of matter accord-
ing to the order of nature; because they determine the specific
nature. On the hypothesis, therefore, that two such Forms could
either ordinately or by accident inform the same Subject, there
would be one being with two essences; which is a manifest ab-
surdity. It may be as well to observe parenthetically, that by
the ordinate conjunction of two or more Forms is to be under-
stood a union which involves a certain order and relation be-
tween them such as subsists between the quantity and qualities of a
body; by accidental conjunction, that which takes place without
any such order or relation,— as it were, by hap-hazard. Now,
accidental Forms may be united in the same Subject both ordinately
and by accident. An instance of the former has been given ; in-
stances of the latter are numerous. They meet us everywhere.
Thus, for instance, the varieties of colour in the petals of a pansy,
— the union of sweetness with a brown colour in moist sugar, —
length of proboscis, smallness of eye, flapping ears, ivory tusks, etc.,
in the African elephant, — are all instances of the conjunction,
apparently by accident, of a number of accidental Forms in the
same Subject. The reason why such multiplication is possible
may be found in the fact, that accident does not affect or modify in
the slightest degree the specific nature of its Subject. If, then,
accident does not touch the essential Being of substance but only
adds to it some accidental perfection extraneous to the specific na-
ture of its Subject ; since such extraneous or adventitious perfection
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71 8 Causes of Being'.
leaves the unity of essence untouched, it is plain that it is capable
of various and indefinite amplification.
COKOLLART.
There is a similarity at once and a dissimilarity between a sub-
stantial and an accidental Form. Both are the causes of one effect
and are acts of one potentiality. Hence, the accidental, like the
substantial^ composite is constituted by tbe causality of one only
Form. In both cases the Form is dependent upon the Subject for.
its orig-in and existence, (always excepting the human soul). They
agree likewise in this, viz. that each determines and perfects its
Subject in its own order. Finally, both are educed out of the
potentiality of their Subject. But they difi*er in mauy respects.
The most prominent and important difference is this: The sub-
stantial Form gives being to its Subject, because the latter is
nothing else but a passive potentiality. An accid^ital Form, on the
other hand, presupposes the integral being of its Subject. Hence,
in the instance of substantial composition actuality appertains
primarily to the Form ; whereas in accidental composition actuality
primarily attaches to the Subject. Wherefore, in the third place,
the indigence and necessity of a Form is absolute in sut^tantial
composition; in accidental composition, — or rather, in the acci-
dental composite, — it is conditional. Wi,thout the substantial
Form no actual entity ; without the accidental Form there remains
an integral entity, but not such or mch. Hence, lastly, there can
be but one substantial Form, but there may be many accidental
Forms in the same substance, since this latter may enter into count-
less varieties of accidental composition. The above distinctions are
confirmed by the authority of the Angelic Doctor. * A substantial
and an accidental Form,' he observes, 'partly agree and partly
differ. They agree in this, that each is an act ; and that according
to each,' — by means of each, — ' something some way or other is in
act. But they differ in two points. The first is, that a substantial
Form causes being simply, and its Subject is an entity that is in
pure potentiality ; whereas an accidental Form does not cause being
simply, but such or so great being or being in a certain condition^ for
its Subject is entity in act.. Hence it is clear that actuality is
found in the substantial Form prior to its discovery in the Subject
of the Form ; and, since that which is first is cause in every genus^
the substantial Form causes actual being in its Subject. But, con-
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The rormal Cause, 719
versely, actuality is found in the Subject of an accidental Form,
prior to the accidental Form itself. Hence, the actuality of an
accidental Form is caused by the actuality of the Subject ; so that
the Subject, in so far as it is in potentiality^ is susceptive of the
accidental Form, but in so far as it is in act, is productive of the
same. This I say of accident properly and absolutely such ; for
as regards extraneous accident the Subject is receptive only, while
that which is productive of such accident is an intrinsic a^nt.
And in the next place a substantial and an accidental Form differ,
because, (seeing that the less principal is for the sake of the more
principal)^ matter is for the sake of the substantial Form, but
conversely the accidental Form is for the sake of the perfecting of
the Subject ^'
§ 4.
The eduction of accidental Forms out of the potentiality of
their Subject.
PROPOSITION CCXXXIII.
It is evident that accidents which only extrinsically denomi-
nate their Subject are not educed out of the potentiality of
the latter.
Declaration op the Proposition.
The trutb of the present Enunciation is so evident, that it would
have been left to itself, save that by its introduction an occasion is
afforded for throwing further light on the nature of such accidents.
' * Forma substantialiB et acddentalis partim conyeniunt et partim differunt. Con-
yeninnt quidem in hoc quod utraque est actus, et secundum utramque est aliquid quo-
dammodo in actu ; diffemnt autem in duobus. Primo quidem, quia forma substanti-
alis facit esse simplieiter, et ejus subjectum est ens in potentia tantum ; forma autem
accidentals non facit esse simplieiter, sed esse tale, aut tantum, aut aliq6o modo se
habens : subjectum enim ejus est ens in actu. XJnde patet quod actualitaa per prius
invenitur in forma substantiali quam in ejus subjecto. Et quia primum est causa in
qaolibet genere, forma substantialis CAusat esse in actu in suo subjecto. Sed e con-
verao actualitas per prius invenitur in subjecto formae accidentalis quam in forma
aecidebtali ; unde actualitas formae accidentalis causator ab aotualitate sabjeoti ; ita
quod subjectum, inquantum est in potentia, est susceptivum formae accidentalis;
inquantnm autem est in actu, est ejus productivum. £t hoc dico de proprio et per
80 aocidente ; nam respectu aocidentis extranei subjectum est susceptiyum tantum ;
prodactiyum yero talis accidentis est agens extrinsecum. Secundo autem differunt
substantialis forma et accidentalis, quia cum minus principale sit propter principalius,
materia est propter formam substantialem ; sed e converse forma accidentalis est
propter eompletionem subject!.* i** Ixxyii, 6, o.
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720 Causes of Being.
Wherefore, — to expedite the proof of the Thesis, — let this much
suffice. An accident that only aSects its Subject by an extrinsic
denomination is outside that Subject, — exercises no real causality
over it, — and has a certain real indeed, but merely external
connection with it. Therefore it is plain that an accident of
such a nature cannot possibly be educed from the potentiality of
its Subject ; because its eduction would be tantamount to its
inhesion.
But a question incidentally arises touching the extrinsic entity
which assumes the character of an accident in regard of the Sub-
ject-substance. Since it cannot be evolved out of the potentiality
of the Subject that it dominates ; what is the nature of its genesis ?
The answer to this query is virtually included in the fact, that the
extraneous accident is another entity really distinct from its puta-
tive Subject. It may, therefore, be either a substance itself, — as in
the instance of a man's clothes, — or it may be an accident or a
mode. In each case it follows the order of generation proper to its
nature ; — if a substance, it will be constituted in act by its Form,
— if an accident in the proper sense, by eduction out of the poten-
tiality of its own Subject, — similarly, if a mode. Hence, in the
new production of any entity that extrinsically denominates an-
other, we must not seek for the reason or nature of its genesis in
the entity that it extrinsically denominates, but either in itself or
in that Subject of which it is the intrinsic accident ; and thus con-
templated, it falls under the ordinary laws, already discussed, of
substantial or accidental constitution.
PROPOSITION CCXXXIV.
All aocidenta that in the order of nature exercise real formal
causality in their Subject are educed out of the potentiality
of that Subject.
Declaration of the Proposition.
After the elaborate discussion in the third Article of this Book
touching the eduction of the substantial Form out of the poten-
tiality of the matter, the above Enunciation admits of easy proof.
In the genesis of an accident such as is here described all the con-
ditions that together explain and satisfy what is meant by the
eduction of a Form out of its Subject are present. For (i) Such an
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accident is not so much an entity itself as that by which another
entity is constituted in its perfection, (ii) By reason of its imper-
fect or incomplete entity it cannot naturally become the adequate
term of either creative or productive action, (iii) Existence is not
absolutely predicable of it in order of nature, (iv) It cannot be
produced of itself, but requires to be evolved out of another as its
source, (v) It cannot naturally continue by itself, but needs the
support of the Subject whence it derives its origin. So far nega-
tively. Positively, such an accident fulfils the two conditions ; viz.
(i) That its substantial Subject, (and the same may be said propor-
tionately in regard of the immediate accidental Subject, where
there is one), — as claiming priority of nature over the Form and as
containing within itself a natural aptitude for, and potential inclu-
sion of, the same, — 'can be, and is, the source from which it springs
and the Subject on which it depends for its existence and preser-
vation, (ii) That itself has an essential aptitude and disposition
for inhering in its Subject. (See the Summary at the end of
Article lii.).
PEOPOSITION CCXXXV.
Intentional qualities are educed out of the potentiality of
the Subject.
Prolegomenon.
This is a point which has been made a subject of debate in the
Schools, though apparently with little reason. Nor, indeed, are
the authorities that have maintained the opinion opposed to the
one enunciated in the present Proposition, of such weight as to
demand at our hands any great labour of proof. The discussion,
however, has been introduced here ; because it will incidentally
help to generate a more scientific knowledge touching the nature
of accidental Forms.
It is necessary, first of all, clearly to understand what is meant
by intentional qualities, which naturally range themselves under the
third species of Quality. An Intention, (see the explanation of this
term in the Glossary at the end of the first Volume), is primarily
applied, in its philosophical use, to the stretching of the mind over
some object. But the mind in this respect may be considered pas-
sively as well as actively ; — that is to say, it may be regarded as
stretched over by the object, not stretching itself over. Hence the
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722 Causes of Being,
difference in ideology between an impressed and expressed species.
In the former the intellect is receptive rather than prodactive.
The word is sown. In the latter, the intellect is productive rather
than receptive. The word has fructified. The same distinction
applies to other lower faculties of the soul ; and, as intellectual con-
cepts are primordially received from the senses, we may go on to
these latter. We find that the senses likewise have their impressed
and expressed species. In the instance of the former there is some-
thing passively received in the senses from the external object ; in
the latter we are in presence of a sensile perception, or quasi cog-
nition, such as is common to us with irrational animals. These
species must be carefully distinguished from the purely material
impression produced in the organ of sense. This latter is produc-
tive of the former; but the two are distinct, as soul is distinct from
body. If we limit our attention to these impressed species, whether
intellectual or sensile, it is easy to see that in both cases there is
something real which has stretched itself over the faculty and
added to its essential nature, immutable in itself, — some accidental
complement, or perfection, which was not there before. To illus-
trate from the sense of sight: When an object,— say, a beautiful
landscape, — through the instrumentality of the eye impresses itself
on this sensile faculty of the soul ; the landscape is, so to say,
reproduced there. But it is evidently not a material, — or that
which is ordinarily called a physical, — reproduction; for housi^
and fields and rivers and hedges and mountains would find some
diflBculty in passing through the gateway of the retina and along
the optic nerve. Moreover, the human soul, — forasmuch as it
is simple and spiritual in its essential nature, — could make
nothing of such a material invasion, even supposing that it
were possible. Yet the landscape is really there somehow. To
give it a determining name, it is said to be intentionally present ;
because its immaterial presentative really stretches itself, so to
speak, over the psychical faculty of sight. That real sometliinir.
which is presentative of the material object, is evidently an acci-
dent ; for it was not and now is, — ^it comes and it goes, — while the
man who sees, — body and soul, — remains substantially the same.
It is a real Form and a pure Form, really actuating the Subject.
It cannot be quantity or relation, as is self-evident ; yet it is an
accident. It must, then, be a quality; and, in virtue of its par-
ticular nature, it is called an intentional quality. It is likewise
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The Formal Cause. 723
called a sjiecies, following the primitive meaning of the word as
applied to bodily form. To denote its pure passivity, it is called
an impressed species ; for it resembles the impression made by a
seal upon the wax. Transfer these terms, (as they have been
transferred), with their appropriate significations to that first germ
of the intellectual concept, received into the intellectual faculty
from the sensile species purified and transformed; you have an
intellectual impressed species which is likewise, and for the same
reasons, an intentional quality in the spiritual order.
The question now mooted is, whether these intentional qualities,
like other real qualities, are educed from the potentiality of their
Subject. Two things, ex antecessor are quite plain. The one is,
that these intentional qualities are a real something in the faculty
that claims them. The intentional presence of the landscape in the
visual faculty of the soul is a real addition and perfection to that
inner sense considered as existing in its previous state of pure
potentiality. The other is, that such intentional quality is intrinsic
to the soul's faculty of sense. Here, it is of the utmost necessity to
distinguish accurately between the material object and its inten-
tional presentative. The object is the efiicient, the presentative is
the formal, cause; the former is extrinsic, the latter intrinsic, to
the faculty. In like manner, it behoves us carefully to distinguish
between the expressed and impressed species. The former is term
of the faculty as efficient cause ; the latter is a Form that actuates
the faculty considered as a passive potentiality. It is this latter
that falls more directly within the scope of the present inquiry.
Declaration op thb Proposition.
These intentional qualities are produced by natural agency.
Therefore, it is quite plain that they are not created. Consequently,
they presuppose a Subject concurring by its own natural poten-
tiality, as a material cause, to their genesis and existence. Thus,
all the conditions requisite for the eduction of a Form out of the
potentiality of its Subject are verified. For (i) This intentional
quality is something real and something accidental to the faculty;
therefore, its essence is not to be, but to be in^ at least, aptitudinally.
(ii) It is a real Form, intrinsic in the faculty, (iii) It is not created
or creatable. (iv) It depends upon the faculty, as Subject, for its
existence and preservation. There could be no presentation of the
landscape in the soul, if there were no inner sense of sight, (v) It
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724 Causes of Being.
depends Tor its existence and continuance on the soul, as is evident,
(vi) Not even de potentta absoluia could it exist apart ^m the soul ;
for in its case there is no question of quantity. Wherefore, it is
educed out of the potentiality of its Subject.
Difficulties.
I. These intentional qualities are produced in an instant. There-
fore, they are not educed out of the potentiality of their Subject ;
for accidental Forms so educed are produced gradually.
Answer. It is anything but essential to an actuating Form
educed out of the potentiality of its Subject, that it should be
educed gradually. All substantial Forms, on the contrary, are pro-
duced in an instant. Neither can it be legitimately objected that
the previous dispositions of the matter are gradual ; because these
are anticipatory of the eduction of the Form. The nature of the
eduction is not affected, as Suarez justly remarks, by any relation
to previous alterations in the matter; but is to be sought for
in the intrinsic causality of the eductive action itself, which is
instantaneous. Hence, the previous alterations are, as it were,
accidental to the eduction of the Form. Neither, again, does it
affect the question, that qualitative Forms admit of more and leitis ;
since this will not serve to prove that their production is not
instantaneous, as the objection implies. In the first place, the
capacity for more pr less is not common to all qualities ; and must
certainly be denied to these intentional qualities. For, though the
latter admit a greater or less distinctness in the representation of
the object ; yet this relative distinctness is not a matter of growth
but of comparison. One sensile representation is more distinct and
faithful than another ; nevertheless, a sensile or intellectual species
once impressed on the faculty proportioned to receive it, it admits
in its own entity neither of augment nor of diminution. Where-
fore, such relative distinctness is beside the question. Then in the
next place, even if these sensile or intellectual species should have
been capable of representative growth, the question does not turn
on the after increase of the quality, but on its first genesis.
II. These intentional qualities are produced without the resist-
ance and expulsion of the contrary and, in consequence, without a
real transformation of the Subject. Therefore, they are not educed
out of the potentiality of the Subject.
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Tfie Formal Cause. 725
Answer, i. As to the absence of contrariety, we have the
authority of the Philosopher for asserting that contrariety is not
a property of qualities in general. Neither is the genesis of one
accident necessarily preceded by the expulsion of its contrary.
For, in the first place, there are accidents which do not admit of
contraries. Such is quantity ; such, in particular, are these inten-
tional qualities. Who could imagine the contrary to the sensile
presentation of a landscape? Secondly, in the instance of such
accidents as admit of contraries, (which the majority of qualities
do), there could have been no expulsion of contraries in the creation
of simple substances ; which is sufficient proof that it is not of the
essence of their formal genesis. Further: In the generation of
each successive substance there is no, — ^properly speaking, — eoppuU
don of precedent accidental Forms accompanying the genesis of
qualities ; for the simple reason that, as they essentially accompany
the substantial Form, their genesis and the disappearance of pre-
ceding incompatible qualities simply constitute an orderly succes-
sion. This is sufficiently evinced by the fact that, in the generation
of a new bodily substance, certain accidents remain in the new,
that were already accidents of the old, substance. It is true that
some accidents of the corrupted substance disappear and that other
accidents, proper to the new substantial Form, are introduced ; but
there is no expulsion even here. The old accidents that are incom-*
patible with the new state of things retire with the old Form that
they subserved ; and the new accidents accompany the new Form
as part of its retinue. But the duel is between the substantial
Fonns; because two cannot reig^ together in the same body.
Thirdly, even in the expulsion of the antecedent substantial Form,
which invariably takes place in each natural generation, such con-
comitant expulsion of the old Form constitutes no essential part of
the eduction of the new Form ; but occurs as though by accident,
because of the impossibility that more than one substantial Form
should inform the same body. Consequently, should there be no
such inconvenience in any given genesis, there would be no neces-
sity for a like expulsion. Wherefore, lastly, there is no necessity
for the expulsion of a preceding Form in the instance of these
intentional qualities. For, since they are accidents, their number
in the Subject needs not to be reduced to one ; and, since they do
not admit of contraries, they are not incompatible in their nature
with each other.
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726 Causes of Being,
ii. As to the transformation of the Subject, it is of great import-
ance that our concepts should be accurately determined. If by
transformation of th^ Subject, or substance, is meant a change
from one accidental Form to another of the same species, it is
granted that there is no such transformation in the true sense of
the word ; but it is denied that such transformation is necessary to
the evolution of the accident. But if by transformation of the
Subject is meant a transition from a state of accidental potentiality
to real accidental actuation^ — which is confessedly necessary to the
eduction of the accidental form out of the potentiality of the Sub-
ject ; — then it must be confessed that such a transformation
(thougji the term is misapplied) is necessary, but it is to be added,
that the condition is indubitably verified in the instance of these
intentional qualities.
§5-
Modes.
PROPOSITION CCXXXVI.
Accidental modes exeroise real formal causality in their
Subject.
Prolegomenon.
Accidental modes are so called to distinguish them from subsiau-
iial modes. An accidental mode is a species of accidental Form ;
but it differs from accident specifically so called, in that it cannot
de poteniia dbaoluta be separated from its Subject by reason of its
defect of entity. It may perhaps be objected to this descriptive
•definition that, if we accept the teaching of the Angelic Doctor,
qualities would in such case be modes, not specific accidents ; which
is contrary to the universal judgment of the philosophers of the
School and of all, in general, who follow the teaching of Aristotle.
But careful consideration will serve to show the groundlessness of
such a conclusion. There is one deficiency of entity common to all
accidental Forms ; in that according to the order of nature tiiey
cannot exist by themselves, but postulate a Subject of inhesion.
There is, again, a certain nobility of some accidental Forms, 09
accidental^ by virtue of which these latter essentially postulate
actual inhesion in their immediate Subject; and this nobility
consists in their being pure Forms without admixture of entitative
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potent iality. Hence, their inseparability from their immediate
Subject, even de potentla absoluiUy does not arise from deficiency in
their accidental being but from the impossibility of a purely actu-
ating Form existing without actuating. Such are qualities. Accord-
ingly, St. Thomas does not absolutely deny the possibility of their
separate existence, which he would have done if such possibility
arose from a mere deficiency in accidental being; but contents
himself with saying that, if they should so exist, they would
assume the character of the Platonic Ideas, as commonly under-
stood^ — realized universals, — not sensible qualities, because they
would be separated from quantity. But modes, on the othei* hand,
cannot be separated de potentia absoluta from their Subject, simply
by reason of their deficiency in accidental being. They are mere
fashions, so to say, of being ; yet real. Thus, for instance, / sit ;
and my sitting posture is an accidental mode of my body. It is
evidently something real ; for my sitting and my standing are not
mere fictions of the intellect. The common sense of mankind tes-
tifies to the truth of this. In like manner, mathematical forms, —
such as the circle, triangle, cube, cone, etc., — are modes of quantity.
No one, but a pure idealist, would venture to deny that these
shapes, — or quantitative limits, — are real, and really distinct from
each other. Hence, such entities are ranged by Aristotle under
the fourth species of Quality. Yet, who could even conceive of a
sitting position really apart from some one sitting, or of the figure
of a cube really existing in nature without quantity ? The reason
of this impossibility is, that modes are next to nothing ; and the
mere fashions — however real in the concrete,— of the being of their
Subject.
Precisely the same in this respect is apparent in substantial
modes, -^such as, for instance, the union itself between soul and
body. Where would the union be, if there were no soul and no
body? Yet the said union is real ; otherwise, the juxtaposition, —
nay, the existence, — of both would be enough.
Declaration op the Pboposition.
Accidental modes are real entities and really actuate their Sub-
ject. Moreover, they intrinsically actuate their Subject. Therefore,
they exercise real formal causality.
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728 Causes of Being.
PEOPOSITION CCXXXVII.
Aocidental modes are educed out of the potentiality of
their Subject.
This Proposition needs no declaration ; since the demonstration
already given in the instance of accidental and substantial bodily
Forms is equally valid as applied to modes.
PROPOSITION CCXXXVIIL
Artificial Forms are simply accidental modes. Wherefore, they
exercise a real formal causality and are educed out of the
potentiality of their Subject.
Declaration of the Proposition.
It behoves us, in this interesting and important metaphysical
question that is so intimately connected with aesthetics, to dis-
criminate with 'great care between efficient on the one hand and
formal and material causality on the other. The former will occupy
our attention in the next Chapter ; but it matters little to formal
or material causality, whether the efficient cause be either what is
called natural or human. As a fact^ in both cases art grovems;
since the efficiency of nature in ultimate analysis proceeds from
the Divine Artificer. But there is a wide difference, nevertheless,
between the effects possible to the one and to the other. The
efficacy of human causality does not extend beyond the production
of a mode^ (save when it exhibits itself as a purely natural agency);
though it may assist nature in its formal and material causality
by applying the necessary conditions. But these modes, indw-
triously produced, exercise a real formal causality. Thus, for
instance^ the exterior figure given by a sculptor to a block of
marble is a mere mode of the quantity informing the marble ; yet
it gives a real form to the stone. No sane person can doubt that
the particular shape is there united really to the marble. More-
over : It is equally plain that such mode is educed out of the
potentiality of the marble, and that it depends upon the latter for
its existence and preservation as its material cause^ and that it has
no subsist.ence of its own.
It has, indeed, been objected that these artificial Forms are not
educed out of the natural potentiality of their Subject ; since the
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The Formal Cause. 729
marble, if left to the simple operation of natural forces, would never
develope into such figures. Hence, it has been asserted that such
Forms correspond with what has been called the obediential poten-
tiality of matter, not with its natural potentiality. By obediential
potentiality is understood the purely passive capacity for receiving
an act, or Form, in obedience to the action of a higher than mere
natural efficiency; as happens in the instance of supernatural
accidents.
In answer, two observations occur. First of all, it is not a
metaphysical impossibility that the stone should assume such a
shape ; though it is physically improbable. There are, indeed,
instances, — ^as all who have read Tom Brown are aware, — of rocks
that have taken to themselves a shape all but sculptorial. Then,
again : Suppose even that such Forms actuate an obediential poten-
tiality in their Subjects; this does not hinder their being truly
educed from such potentiality, provided that it is real. All the
conditions necessary and sufficient for their eduction are present ;
and the nature of the potentiality does not affect the question.
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APPENDIX A.
THE TEACHIKG OF ST. THOMAS TOUCHING THB GENESIS OF THE
MATEiOAL UNIVERSE.
It remains now to fulfil the promise previously given, and to set
before the reader a suocinet account of the evolution of bodies ac-
cording to the doctrine of St. Thomas. It will be made as brief
as possible; since a detailed exposition belongs properly to that
which was till lately known as physical science. The following
Summary must necessarily include certain points that have been
already discussed during the course of this Chapter ; but it will
not be inconvenient to have them reduced under one conspectus.
I. The primordial Divine Act of Creation terminated in three
creatures ; viz. the spiritual Intelligences, the celestial bodies, the
elements or simple bodies. The first two we may dismiss, and limit
our attention to the last. These were each constituted of prim-
ordial matter and their respective substantial Forms. The reason
why these simple bodies are called elements, is thus explained by
the Angelic Doctor : * No mediate Form is discoverable between
primordial matter and the Form of an element, in the way that
there are found many mediate Forms between primordial matter
anji the animal-Forra, of which one succeeds another until the
ultimate perfection is attained, many generations and corruptions
intervening, as Avicenna remarks ^.' Hence, if you could resolve
an element, (which is absolutely impossible); you would be in
presence of naked primordial matter.
II. At the same time there was concreated in the primordial
^ ' Prima habilitaa quae est in materia, est ad formam elementL Unde non inre-
nitar aliqua forma media inter materiam primam et formam element!, sicut xnyeniim-
tur multa media inter materiam primam et formam animalis, qoarum una alteri luooedit.
quousque ad ultimam perfeotionem veniatur, intermediia multb generatkmibui et
corruptionibuB, ut Avicenna didt.' a d, zii, a, 4, c, in m.
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Appendix A, 731
matter, thus primevally constituted under the Forms of the elements,
a true passive potentiality for all subsequent bodily Forms ; so that
these latter were virtually precontained in the primordial matter.
III. But, as yet^ these elements were not in a proximate dis-
position for combination and the gradual evolution of the material
universe. Wherefore, certain seminal forces or influences were im-
planted in matter, in. order that it might be completed in this
proximate disposition. (The term used by St. Thomas is rationes
sefninaleSy for which it is impossible to find a just English equiva-
lent.) The Angelic Doctor shall explain them himself. *The
powers lodged in matter,' he writes in one place, * by which natural
effects result, are called seminales rationes^,'' In another place he
is more explicit : ' The complete active powers in nature with the
corresponding passive powers, — as heat and cold, and the form of
fire, and the power of the sun, and the like, — are called seminales
rationes. They are called seminal, not by reason of any imperfect-
ness of entity that they may be supposed to have, like the forma-
tive virtue in seed; but because on the individual things at first
created such powers were conferred by the operations of the six
days ; so that out of them, as though from certain seeds, natural
entities might be produced and multiplied 2.' It may be presumed
that electricity, with its cognates, galvanism and magnetism,
would be a good modem illustration of these forces.
IV. Thus was completed the Work of the Mosaic six days. All
the rest was the result of a gradual natural evolution, — that is to
say, of an evolution effected by the Creator according to the laws
imposed by Himself on nature and through the operation of natural
causes. ' Augustine maintains,' writes the Angelic Doctor, * that
in the very beginning of the creation there were certain entities
specifically distinguished in their proper nature, — as, the elements,
the celestial bodies, and spiritual substances; while there were
some in their seminales rationes only, as animals, plants, and men,
^ ' Ipsae autem yiitutes in materia positae, per quae natarales effectus oonsequontur,
rationet seminaleB dionntur.' a d. xviii, Q. i, a. 2, 0., v. m.
' * £t ideo ooncedo . . quod rationes seminales dicuntur virtutes activae completae
in natara cum propriis passivis, at oalor et frigus, et forma ignis, et virtus solis, et
hnjusmodl : et dicuntur seminales non propter esse imperfectum quod habeant, sicut
▼irtus formativa in semine; sed quia rerum individuis piimo creatis hujusmodi virtutes
coUatae sunt per opera sex dierum, ut ex eis quasi ex quibusdam seminibus produce-
rentur et multiplioarentur res naturales.' Ibidem^ in f. ('Completae in oatura*
mighty perhaps, be translated ' naturally complete).*
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^^2 Appendix A.
all of which were afterwards produced in their proper nature by
that operation by which, after those six days, God administers
nature already created ^.' In another place, St. Thomas speaks
more pronouncedly in his own person: 'Wherefore,' he writes,
'keeping in the pathway of other saints,' (as distinguished from
St. Augustine), * who maintain ' temporal * succession in the Works
of the six days, the answer seems to me to be this : That primordial
matter was created under a certain number of substantial Forms,
and that all the substantial Forms of the essential parts of the
world were produced in the beginning of the creation.' The
passage that follows and is omitted as containing the old physical
ideas, shows plainly that he is referring to the Forms of the
primordial elements. ' . . . But I add, that the active and passive
powers,' — the seminales rafiones, — * were not conferred on the parts
of the world at the beginning, by which they are said to have
been afterwards distinguished and ordered 2.' Hence we gather two
important points in the teaching of the Angelic Doctor ; the one,
that he pronounces in favour of a succession of time even in the
Works of the six days; secondly, that the various orders of
material substances were not constituted at once, but that their
evolution was left to the operation of natural causes, — in particular,
of the active and passive powers in nature.
V. The last passage quoted in the preceding Section alludes to
a diflPerence of opinion among the early Fathers of the Church as
to the interpretation of the six days of Creation, recorded in the
Mosaic Cosmogony. St. Augustine maintained that thev were
not meant to express succession of time but succession of order.
Others, Greek Fathers, on the contrary, supposed them to repre-
sent succession of time. St. Thomas judges that either opinion
may be safely entertained. As the discussion is Theological, this
^ ' AugUBtinus enim vult in ipso creationis principio quaadAm res per spedes mas
distinctas fuiaae in natura propria, at elemental oorpora cadestia^ et sabetantias ^iri-
tuales ; alia vero in rationibus seminalibus tantum, at animalia, plantas, et homines,
quae omnia postmodum in naturis propriis prodacta sunt in illo opere qao post sena-
rium illorom dieram Deua naturam prius conditam adminiatrat.* 2 d. zii, a. 2, e^
inm.
3 *£t ideo tenendo viam alioram sanctorom qai ponunt suocessionem in operibus sex
dieram, yidetor mihi dicendum, qaod prima materia fait creata sub ploribos fonnia
sabstantialibas, et qaod omnes formae sabstantiales partium essentialium mondi in
principio creationis prodactae sunt. . . . Sed dioo quod virtates activae et passiTae
nondum in principio partibus mundi coUatae faerant, secundum qaaa postmodom dis*
tingui et ordinari dicuntur.' Ibidem, a. 4, e., v, f.
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Appendix A. 733
is not the place to pursue it ; nor would it have been alluded tp,
save that^ while balancing these two opinions, the Angelic Doctor
gives a brief summary of £he points on which both Schools were
agreed, — a summary which is of singular importance as exhibiting
the consentient judgment of the primitive Church relatively to the
present subject. * Because Augustine lays down/ writes St. Thomas,
' that all the Works of the six days were done at once, he does
not therefore seem to be at variance with the others as touching
the manner in which things were produced : First of all, because
according to both, in the first production of things, primordial
matter was under the substantial Forms of the elements, so that
primordial matter was not prior in duration of time to the sub-
stantial Forms of the elements of the world : Secondly, because
in the opinion of both, on the first constitution of things by the
Work of Creation, plants and animals were not existent in act, but
only in potentiality; so that they might be produced from the
elements themselves by the power of the Word^.'
VI. Chemical compounds, in particular, — with which the natural
evolution of the material universe was initiated, — were not created
but generated according to natural operation after the six days of
Creation. Primordial matter, says the Angelic Doctor, * did not
have one Form, but many ; not, indeed, the Forms of mixed
bodies, because these are a consequence of the active and passive
forces of the prineipiants of the world, by which it is essentially
integrated^.' Hence he makes the further remark: *The nature
of an entity is not the same in its perfectly constituted being as in
the course of its production. Accordingly, although the nature of
the world in its completed st^te postulates that all the essential
parts of the universe should exist together ; nevertheless, it could
have been otherwise in the course of the world's production ; — just
as the heart in a completely developed man cannot exist without
> * In hoc autem quae (I) Augustinus ponit, omnia opera sex dierum esse simul ficta,
non videtur divenificari ab aliis quantum ad modum productionis rerum. Primo, quia
secundum utrosque in prima rerum productione materia erat sub formia substantialibus
elementorum ; ita quod materia prima non praecesdt duratione formas substantiales
elementorum mimdi. Secundo, quia secundum utrorumque opinionem in prima rerum
institutione per opus creationis non fuerunt plantae et animalia in actu sed tantum in
potentia, ut ex ipuis dementis per virtu tem verbi possent produci.' Po» Q. iv, o. 2, c.
V. f. See a brief summary of this Article, !•• Ixxiv, 2, c.
' * Dicendum quod' mateiia prima *non habebat fonuam unam, sed pi urea; non
quidem formas corporum mixtorum, quia hae consequnntur virtutes aotivas et passivas
principiorum mundi, ex quibus es-^entialiter integratur.' 2 d. xii, a. 4, 3™.
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734 Appendix A,
the other parts, and yet, in the formation of the embryo, the heart
is generated before all the members^.' Whatever may be the
judgment of physicists touching the physiological value of the
above passage, is a matter of comparatively small importance. The
value of the quotation, (which accounts for its appearance here),
consists in this, that it shows how thoroughly St. Thomas held to
the doctrine of a gradual evolution.
VII. As has been noticed in another place, though the Angelic
Doctor uses the terms mixSure and mixed, with reference to these
chemical combinations of the compound bodies; yet he makes a
point, whenever he is expressly treating of them, to distinguish
with careful accuracy between them and what are called in modern
chemistry mechanical mixtures. He distinctly points out that in
the former the substantial Forms of the simple components make
way for the substantial Form of the compound, so that two or
more bodies are transformed into one ; whereas in the instance of
the latter the bodies remain two or more, but appear one to sense
by reason of the intimate juxtaposition of their molecules.
In order, however, to afford an adequate idea of the teaching of
the Angelic Doctor with regard to the genesis of bodily substances,
it will be necessary to set before the reader that which he has to
tell us touching the nature and constitution of these chemical
compounds. Agreeably with the order that has been ordinarily
adopted in this Work, St. Thomas shall first speak for himself;
afterwards his doctrine shall be presented in a connected and
synoptical form. The following are the passages collected : —
I. *If, then, in the production of the compound the substantial
forms of the simple bodies remain ; it follows that the composition
would not be a true one, but only in appearance ; — a sort of juxta-
position of parts that are not pervious to sense by reason of their
smallness of size. ... It is worthy of consideration, then, that the
active and passive qualities of the elements are mutually opposed
and admit of more and less. Now, out of contrary qualities that
admit of more and less, — that is, which are capable of degrees of
intensity, — can be constituted a medium quality which includes
* * Noa est eadem natunt rei jam perfeotae, et prout est in suo fieri ; et ideo
quftinvis natura mundi completi hoc exigat nt omnes partes easentiales univcfrd sint
siinul, potuit iamen aliter esse ab ipsa mundi factione ; sicut in homine perfecto noa
potest cor ease sine aliis partibus ; et tamen, in formatione embrionis, cor ante omnia
membra goneratur.* Hid a. 2, C».
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Appendix A. 735
something of the nature of each ; as, for instance, pale between
white and black and tepid between hot and cold. In this way^ then,
by an abatement in the exuberance of the elemental qualities, out
of them there is constituted a medium quality which is a quality
proper to the compound body, differing, however, in different
bodies according to a diversity of proportion in the composition.
This quality is a proper disposition for the Form of the compound
body, just as the simple quality is for the Form of the simple body.
Accordingly, as the extremes are to be found in the medium which
partakes in the nature of each ; so, in like manner, the qualities of
the simple bodies are to be found in the quality proper to the
compound body. Now, it is true that the quality of a simple body
is not the same as the substantial Form of the body ; still, it acts
in virtue of the substantial Form. . . . Thus, then, the energies (or
virtues) of the substantial Forms of simple bodies are preserved in
compound bodies. The Forms of the elements, therefore, are in the
compounds not actually but virtually ^.'
2. *The Fonns of the elements remain in the compound not
actually but virtually. For the qualities proper to the elements,
(within which there is the efficacy of the elemental Forms), remain
though tempered. And such quality of the combination is a
special disposition for the substantial Form of the compound body,
— a Btone^ for instance, or any whatsoever living thing ^.'
* * Si igitur mixtum fiat remanentibus formiB irabBtantialibuB Bimpliciuin corporum,
aequitor quod non sit vera mixtio, sed ad sensain golum, quasi juxta se posdtis partibu.i
insensibilibuB propter parvitatem ConBiderandam est igitur, quod qualitatee acti-
vae et passivAe elementorum sunt ad invioem oontrariae, et Buscipiunt magiB et miniiB.
Ex contrariis autem qoalitatibuB suscipientibuj magis et minus constitui potest media
qualitas, quae utriusque sapiat extremi naturam, sicut pallidum inter album et nigrum,
et tepidum inter calidam et frigidum. Sic igitur remiasis excellentiis qualitatum
eleinentarium, constituitur ex eia quaedam qualitas media, quae est propria qualitHS
corporiB mixti, dlfferens tamen in divenis secundum diversam mixtionis proportionein.
Et haec quidem qualitas e9t propria dispositio ad formaro corporis mixti, sicut qualitas
simplex ad formam corporis simpliciB. Sicut igitur extrema inveniuntur in medio quod
participat utriusque naturam; sic qualitates simplicium oorporum inveniuntur in
propria qualitate corporiB mixti. Qualitas autem corporis simplicis est quidem aliud
a forma substantiali ipsius ; agit tamen in virtute formae substantialis. ... Sic igitur
virtutes formarum substantialium simplicium oorporum salvantur in oorporibus mixtis.
Sunt igitur fonnae elementorum in mixtis non actu, sed virtute. Et hoc est quod dicit
PhilosophuB in i de Gener.' OpuK. xxxiii, (aZtter xxix), Bt Mixtions Elementorum,
Although many of the OpuBCida included in the Works of St. Thomas are either
doubtful or spurious ; the authenticity of the one here quoted does not seem to have
been called in question.
* * Dicendum est secundum Philosophum (2 de part, anim a princip.)j quod formae
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736 Appendix A.
3. 'In another tnanner, some one entity is produced out of
perfect but transformed substances; just as a compound body is
produced out of the elements. . . . That which is compounded is not
specifically identical with any one of the components; jUik^ for
instance, specifically differs from every one of the elements \'
4. 'One is produced out of many by' chemical 'combination;
in the way that out of the four elements is produced a compound
body. . . . Such combination is proper to those entities only which
are jointly material in their composition and naturally act upon
and are acted upon by each other. Combination cannot be effected
of components one of which is in great Excess of the other. . . .
Supposing a combination to be effected of two components, neither
nature would be preserved ; but some third or other 2.'
5. ' When anything small is admixed with a very great,' — that
is to say, small and great in their relative quantities, — ' it does not
produce a combination, as is said in the first Book Be Geiieraiiotte ;
but the specific nature of the small that is added to the great is
dissolved; as, if a drop of wine should be added to a thousand
pitchers of water ^'
6. 'Whensoever a combination is made of any' bodies 'that
differ in virtue either of opposite qualities or of pureness and im-
pureness of the same ' quality ; ' when the combination is complete,
neither retains its own proper quality^ (otherwise, the combination
would be of bodies that remain in their own nature and would be
composition ' — admixture — ' only), but it is necessary that the whole
together should receive one Form which is mediate ^.'
elementorum manent in mixto non actu, sed virtute ; maiient ezum qualitates propiiiie
elementorum, in quibua est virtus formftrum elementaricun. Et hujusmodi qualiUii
mixtionis est propria dispositio ad formam substantialem corporis mixti, pnta formam
lapidis vel anim&ti cujuscumque.* i»* Ixxvi, 4, 4™.
* * Alio modo fit aliquid imam ez perfecds, sed transmutatis ; sicut ez elementis fit
mixtum. . . . Secundo, quia id qaod est commiztuniy nulli miscibilinm est idem spede;
differt enim caro a quolibet elementorum specie.* 3** ii, i, c, p. m.
^ * Tertio modo, ex pluribus fit unum per commixtionemy sicut ex quataor elementis
fit corpus mixtum. . . . Mixtio non est nisi eorom quae communicant in materia et quM
agere et pati ad invicem nata sunt. ... Ex his quorum unum multum excedit aliud mixtio
fieri non potest. . . Dato quod fieret mixtio, neutra natura remaneret salva, . . sed ali-
quid tertium.' Cg. Z. iv, c° 35, v. m.
' ' Quando aliquid parvum alicui maximo admiscetur, non fadt mixtionem, ut in i
de Gener. dicitur ; sed solvitur species parvi quod magno additur, sicut si gutta vini
iiiiUe amphoris aquae addatur.' a d. xxx, Q. 2, a. 2, c, p. m. Cf, Verit. Q. xiii, a.
3, I".
* ' Quandocnmque autem fit mixtio aliquorum differentium vel secundum oontrariaia
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Appendix A, 737
7. * We see that compound bodies have Forms so much the more
noble in proportion as they arrive nearer to an equally tempered
combination. Wherefore, that which has the most noble Form, —
viz. intellectual substance, — if it is a compound, must be most
perfectly tempered. Hence we notice that softness of the flesh
and an exquisite sense of touch, which indicate a well-balanced
interlacing of the elementary constituents, are signs of a good
intellect ^'
Prom the above passages the doctrine of the Angelic Doctor
touching the genesis of chemical compounds may be easily deduced.
Let it be reduced to the following principal heads.
i. The production of compounds, (which is the primordial step in
the natural evolution of the material world out of the created
elements), is a substantial generation. For the Forms of the
component elements make way for a new substantial Form by
which the compound is constituted. See No, 6,
But it is to be observed that the generation of these compounds
differs from all other generations specifically so called, notably in
this; that the evolution of the new Form is effected by the
chemical combination of two complete substances. Hence, the
corruptive motion is terminated to two substantial Forms, not to
one only. See No. 3. Thus, the combination of oxygen and hydrogen,
which constitutes water, involves in the process the corruption of
the two Forms of oxygen and hydrogen. There are other dif-
ferences, the consideration of which will find a more appropriate
place in the next Chapter.
ii. The primary qualities of the component elements remain
under modification in the compound ; so that there is a true sense
in which it may be affirmed that there is a physical permanence of
the elements in all the compounds, into the constitution of which
such elements enter. The reason is, that the properties are the
instrumental causes of the element, — the faculties or forces by
qualiiatem vel secundum pnritatem et impuritatem ejuadem, mixtione completa non
retinet unumquodque qualitatem propriam : alias admixtio esset ex rebus salvatis, et
esset compositio tantum : sed oportet ut totum simul unam fonuam accipiat, quae est
medium.' Ibid. a. i, 0., v.f.
^ * Gum videamus corpora mixta tanto nobiliores formas habere quanto magis ad
temperamentum commixtionis perveniunt. Et sic quod habet formam nobilissimam,
utpote substantiam intellect ualem, si sit corpus mixtum, oportet esse temperatisdmum.
TJnde etiam videmns quod mollities camis et bomtas tactus, quae aequalitatem com-
plexionis demonstrant, sunt signa boni intellectus.* Cg, L. lly e9 90, init.
VOL. II. 3 B
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738 Appendix A.
which it acts on other bodies. But these qualities do not remain
in their normal integrity ; if they did, there would be no chemical
combination but only mechanical mixture. For if they remained
in their normal integrity, (seeing that they are the respective
properties of the elemental substances to which they appertain),
the Form of each element would likewise necessarily remain and
there would be no substantial change. Hence, there is a rnatual
combination of the qualities proper to each component element, by
virtue of which a medium quality is produced proper to the new
Form of the compound. But within such medium quality are
potentially contained the primitive qualities of the component
elements. Thus^ as chemists tell us, the weight of a compound is
the sum of the weights of its components. See Nm. i, a.
iii. It follows from the preceding observation that the sub-
stantial Forms of the elements exist virtually in the compound
after a manner very different from the virtual inclusion of all other
bodily Forms in the potentiality of matter. For they are there in
virtue of their qualities or properties which, however modified in
themselves and in their action, remain nevertheless as extremes in
the medium quality which is the result of chemical combination.
See No. i.
iv. In order that chemical combination may take place between
two or more simple bodies, it is necessary that there should be a
definite proportion between them. If such proportion is violat<ed^
the greater absorbs the less. See Nos. 4, 5.
V. A diversity in the normal proportion gives birth to a diversity
in the quality or qualities and^ consequently, to a diversity specific
or other in the substantial compounds themselves. See No, i.
vi. In every element there exist active as well as passive qualities
by which each can act upon, and in turn be acted upon by, its
neighbours. It is by means of these that chemical combinations
take place. See Nos. i, 4.
vii. As the active qualities in the respective elements are
often mutually opposed, a sort of neutralization takes place in the
process of combination, whence results a medium quality. See
N08. I, a. This neutralization may be described as a balancing or
tempering of the qualities as capable of intension and remission.
See No9. i, 7.
viii. The balance and temperament of the qualities is more
perfect in proportion to the perfection of the substantial Form of
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Appendix A, 739
the compound. See No. 7. Hence, in organized bodies, (which are
proper to living sabstances), the composition is more complex and
the balaiice of qualities more complete.
ix. In the compound there is a well-balanced interlacing of the
constituents.
A consideration of the relation which the above principles hold
to modem chemistry is reserved for the next Chapter. Meanwhile,
one remark is suggested in connection with the special subject-
matter of this Appendix. The genesis of inorganic from organic
compounds, — ^in a word, the leap from bodies animate to inanimate,
— seems to be the result of chemical combinations so naturally
progressive, that there is no apparent reason why it should not
have been the result of gradual evolution^ subject to the ordinary
supervision of the Divine Providence. If this be so, then it follows .
that we must regard sexual reproduction as a mere physical law
ordained for the wisest ends, but not as an absolute necessity.
Should this inference be legitimate^ the appearance of the first pair
in any given species can be easily explained without our being
obliged to have recourse to any extraordinary intervention. Such
is certainly the outcome of the teaching of St. Thomas. The one
exception is always understood, — the human soul.
YIII. St. Thomas includes the production of minerals in a sort
of way under that of the elements. * Because mineral bodies,' he
writes, 'do not possess any evident excellence of perfection over the
elements such as living things have, their formation is not de-
scribed ' in the Mosaic record ' apart from the elements ; but "they
may be understood to have been produced in the institution itself
of the elements ^.'
IX. According to the Mosaic cosmogony which the Angelic
Doctor takes, of course, for his infallible guide, plants were created
after the elements and before the animals. But St. Thomas as
evidently teaches, that they were actually produced after the
seminal forces had been conferred on nature and after the chemical
combinations had been effected by virtue of these forces. (See
Sections IV and V). A question, however, arises, whether St.
Thomas taught that plants were created in the strict sense of this
1 ' Quia corpora mineralia non habent aliquam evidentem perfectionis excellentiam
supra elementa, sicut habent viventia, non seorsam ab elementis formata describuntur;
sed in ipsa elementomm institutione possunt intelligi esse produoia.' Po^ Q. iv. a. i,
13™. Cf, i»»lxix, 2, 3»
3B2
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740 Appendix A.
term, or whether they were gradually developed by natural opera-
tion under the Divine Administration. After the passages quoted
in the Sections referred to, it can scarcely be doubted that St
Thomas held the latter opinion ; for he tells us expressly that this
was one of the two points on which the two Patristic Schools were
agreed. Further: In the passage about to be quoted, it would
seem as though his leaning in this his last Work was rather
towards the interpretation of St. Augustine in its entirety. After
pointing out how this Doctor of the Church shows the consonance
of his opinion with the Mosaic narration, he proceeds as follows :
*This view is likewise confirmed by reason. For in those first
days God created the creature in iU origin or eause^ and aftierwards
rested from this Work. Nevertheless, he subsequently until now
works according to the administration of created things by the
Work of propagation. Now, to produce plants from the earth
belongs to the work of propagation. Therefore, on the third day
plants were not produced in act but only in their cause ^.' In
another place he defends the opinion of St. Augustine at greater
length. These' are his words : ' In the opinion of Augustine, when
it is said. Let the earth bring forth the green herb (Genesis L ii),
it is not meant that plants were then produced actually and in
their proper nature, but that then there was given to the earth a
germinative power to produce plants by the work of propagation ;
so that the earth is then said to have brought forth the green herb
and the tree yielding fruit in this wise, viz. that it received the
power of producing them. And this he confirms by the authority
of Scripture (Gen. ii. 4), where it is said. These are the generations
of the heavens and the earthy when they were created^ in the day thai
the Lord Ood made the heaven and the earthy and every plant of the
field BEFORE IT SPRUNG UP in the earth, and every herb of the ground
BEFORE IT GREW. From this passage two things are elicited : First,
that all the works of the six days were created in the day that
God made the heaven and earth and every plant of the field ; and,
accordingly, that plants, which are said to have been created on
^ * Confirmatnr hoc etiam ratione ; quia in illis primis diebuB oondidit Deus
turam originaliter, vel catisaliter; a quo opere postmodum reqoievit: qui tames
postmodum secundum administrationem rermn oonditarum per opus propagaticKus
usque modo operator. Producere autem plantas ex terra ad opus propagationis
pertinet. Non ergo in terLia die productae sunt plantae in actu, sed causaliter tantuzn.*
!•• Ixix, 3, e.
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. Appendix A. 741
the third day, were produced at the same time that God created
the heaven and the earth. Secondly, that plants were then pro-
duced, not in act but according to causal virtues only ; in that the
power of producing them was given to the earth. This is meant^
when it is said that it produced every plant of the field before
it actually sprang up in the eartA by the work of administration,
and every herb of the ground b^ore it actually greto. Prior, there-
fore, to their actually arising over the earth, they were made
causally in the earth. This view is likewise confirmed by reason.
For in those first days God created the creature either in its cause,
or in its origin, or in act, in the Work from which He after-
wards rested. Nevertheless, He subsequently until now works
according to the administration of created things by the Work of
propagation.
' But to produce plants in act out of the earth, belongs to the
work of propagation ; because it suffices for their production that
they have the power of the heavenly bodies, as it were, for their
father, and the efficacy of the earth in place of a mother. There-
fore, plants were not actually produced on the third day, but only
causally. After the eix daySy however, they were actually produced
according to their proper species and in their proper nature by the
Work of administration ^.' To explain : In the Creation, — ^repre-
' ' Secundum AuguBtmum, oum didtnr : Produoat terra herham virentem, nan. in*
teUigitur tuno plantas esae produotiiB in acta et in propria natora, Bed tunc teirae
datam esse yirtntem genninativam ad produoendum plantas opere propagationis ; ut
dicatur tunc taliter produxiase terra herbam virentem et lignum pomiferum, idett
producendl aocepiBse Tirtutem. Et hoc quidem oonfirmat auctoritate Scripturae, Grenei.
2, 4, ubi didtur : Ittae maU generoHones eadi et terrae, qitando creata twnt, in die quo
/eeit Deus caelum et terram, et omne tnrguUum agri antequam oriretur in terra^ omnem^
guehefhamregionitpriutquamgerminaret. Ex quo elioiuntar duo. Primo, quod omnia
opera sex dierum creata sunt in die quo Deus fedt caelum et terram et omne virgul-
tom agri ; et sic plantae, quae tertia die ftctae leguntur, simol sunt productae quando
Deus creavit caelum et teiram. Secundo, quod plantaa tunc iuerunt productae non in
actu, sed secundum rationes causales tantum, quia data fuit virtus terrae producendi
illas. Et hoc significatur cum didtur, quod produxit omne virgtdtum agri antequam
eutu oriretur in terra per opus administrationis, et amnem herbam regionit, priuequam
aetu germUnaret. Ante ergo quam actu orirentor super tenam, fiMta sunt causaliter
In tena. Confirmatur etiam hoc ratione ; quia in illis primis diebus condidit Deus
creaturam causaliter vel originaliter vel actuaUter opere a quo postmodum requlevit,
qui tamen poetmodum secundum administrationem reruni conditarum per opus propa-
gationis usque modo operatnr. Produoere autem plantas in acta ex terra, ad opus
propagationis pertinet ; qui# ad earum productioi^em suffidt virtus cadestis tanquam
pater, et virtus tenae loco matris ; id^o non f uerunt plantae tertia die productae in
actu, sed causaliter tantom ; post sex vero dies fuerunt in actu seoundam proprias
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742 Appendix A,
sen ted by Moses in the manner best suited to the intellectual
calibre of the chosen people under the figure of six days, (as St.
Thomas, quoting from St. Augustine^ remarks), the elements alone,
among earthly things, were actually produced by the Creative Act ;
but simultaneously, in the primordial matter thus actuated by the
elemental Forms, a virtue was implanted dispositive towards all
the material Forms conditionally necessary to the perfection of this
earthly universe. But it was an ordered potentiality ; so that, in
the after actual evolution of these substantial Forms, the lower
should precede the higher ; and that these latter should presuppose,
and virtually absorb the former. Thus were these figurative six
days completed with the sowing of the seed of the future Cosmos.
There ensued thereupon a Sabbath of rest. The fresh elemental
world was sown with germs of future beauty in diverse forms of
life, in diversity of species, and possibly varieties under the same
species. But these as yet lay hidden in the womb of nature. No
earthly substance existed in act save the simple bodies, — ^primordial
matter under its first and lowest Forms. Such was the earthly
creation, when the first Sabbath closed in upon it. After this
Sabbath followed the order of Divine Administration, wherein
(as it continues to the present hour) the Divine Wisdom and
Omnipotence superintended the natural evolution of visible things
according to a constant order of His own appointing and amid
ceaseless cycles of alternate corruptions and generations. Com-
pound inanimate substances were first evolved by means of the
seminal forces bestowed on nature. Then, from out the bosom of
these compounds sprang into being the green life of herb, plant,
and tree, gradually unfolding iuto higher and more complex Forms
of loveliness, as the ages of time rolled on^ according to the virtual
order imprinted at the first upon the ol^edient matter. Thence
onward marched the grand procession of life, marking epochs as it
went along; till it culminated in man, — ^the paragon of God's
visible universe.
It rests to add a word with respect to that which St. Thomas
characterizes as the Divine Work of Administration. As will be
■pedes et in propria natura per opus admintstratioiiis productae. [£t ita anteqnaa
oausaliter plantaa assent productae, nihil fnit produetum, sed simul cum caek> et terra
productae sunt. Similiter pisoeB* ares, et animalia, in illis sex diebus causaliter, eft
non aotualiter, producta sunt.] Po^ Q. iv, a. 2, 28**. The sentence between bradcets
is not translated in the text, as referring to the other orders of living things.
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Appendix A. 743
proved in the last Book on Natural Theology, there is absolutely
no act whatsoever of any creature possible without the Divine
Co-operation in the act. God can operate, as He does in a pure
Act of Creation, without the co-operation of the creature ; but it
is a metaphysical impossibility that a creature should elicit the
smallest act, — for instance, a change of posture or the contraction of
a muscle, — without the help of God. Now, the Divine Work of Ad-
ministration includes this ; but it includes more. Limiting our atten-
tion to the subject in hand, two things notably fall under this His
administration. The one is, the constant order (in common phrase,
the natural laws) by which the visible universe is governed. Thus,
for instance^ that all living things should be ordinately propagated
by seed belongs to the Divine Administration. The second, which
may be called exceptional, is this. Evidently, there must have
been a beginning to each higher family of living things. There
must have been a first plant, a first fish^ a first bird, a first
quadruped. Hereditary propagation must have been established
subsequently to the production of the first pair in each family of
life. That these primitive pairs, then, should have been evolved
out of the potentiality of the matter without parentage, — in other
words, that the matter (of itself utterly incapable for the task)
should have been proximately disposed for such evolution, — belongs
to a special Divine Administration: In other words, God must
have been the sole Efficient Cause of the organization requisite,
and, therefore, in the strictest sense is said to hsLYe/brmed such
pairs and, in particular, the human body out of the pre-existent
matter ^. But more about this in the next Chapter.
It will be seen, by a comparison of the two citations last given,
that there are in each one or two sentences identical in sense and
all but verbally identical. There is, however, one notable variation.
In l)e Potentia the Angelic Doctor describes the Divine Creation
of this visible earthly universe as resulting either in the virtual or
actual production of material substances. In the Summa he omits
any mention of actual production. This seeming divergence may
be accounted for in two ways. Either in the former passage among
the Disputed Questions^ St. Thomas intended to include the elements,
(whose creation was actual), which he omitted in the latter, because
in the Summa the problem is restricted to the production of plants,
* !•• xd, a, c, et 4«» ; xdi, 4, c, et 3™.
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744 Appendix A,
whereas in the Be Potentia it is general ; or he was careful, in the
composition of his last Work, to avoid all ambiguity touching his
opinion on this point. It is morally certain that he must have had
the passage in the Be Potentia before his eyes, when he was
penning bis Article in the Siimma. The verbal identity is too
complete to leave any room for doubt.
X. Here is the place to insert the teaching of St. Thomas
touching the way in which the various species of living things are
interchained ; in such wise that the lowest Forms of a higher order
are closely allied to the highest Forms, of the order immediately
beneath it. As this doctrine has been exposed at some length
already ; it is only necessary to recall attention to it. Still, there is
a fresh declaration of it, made by the Angelic Doctor, which it is
worth while subjoining. *Now, it is manifest,' he writes, 'that
compound bodies surpass the elements in order of perfection ; that
plants in like manner surpass mineral bodies, and animals plants;
and in each of the genera, according to the degree of natural
perfection, a diversity of species is discovered. ... In minerals
nature is found to mount step by step through different species
up to the species of gold; in plants, too, up to the species of
perfect trees ; and in animals up to the species of man. Whereas,
on the other hand, there are certain animals which approach most
nearly to plants, as those without locomotion, which have only the
sense of touch ; and, in like manner, there are some plants that
approach near to inanimate entities, as is plain from what the
Philosopher states in his Work on Vegetables K^ The animals of
which St. Thomas speaks are fairly represented by the sponges
among the protozoa, and by many of the Orders comprised under
the sub-kingdom of the coelenterates ; the plants, by some of die
algae And/unffi.
XI. The principle of evolution, as maintained by the Fathers of
the primitive Church and by the Angelic Doctor, has been already
* * ManifeBtam est enim quod corpora mixta supeigrediimtiir ordine perfectioaus
elementa; plantae autem corpora mineralia; et animalia plantas; et in singolis gene-
ribuis secondum gradum perfectionis naturalis, diversitas ipederum iiiTeiiitar. ... Si-
militer autem in mineralibus gradatim natura inyenitur per diverBaa apecies profioera
usque ad speciem auri. In plantia etiam usque ad speciem arborum perfectarum ; et
in animalibus usque ad speciem hominia ; cum tamen quaedam animalia aint plantas
propinquiaaima, ut immobilia quae faabent solum taotiun : et similiter plantanzm
quaedam sunt inanimatis propinquae, ut patet per Philosophum in lib. de Yegetabilibas.'
Anima, a. 7, c, p. m.
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Appendix A, 745
explained under the ninth Section. Nevertheless, there is an
interesting passage to be found in the Works of the latter, which
shall be quoted ; because it suggests much touching the principle
of zoological arrangement. It is as follows. ' The nutritive and
growing powers subserve the generative.' Hence it is prone to
conclude that, in the judgment of St. Thomas, the generative holds
the highest and most distinctive place among the purely vegetative
faculties. To proceed with the citation: 'Among the animals,
those on the earth, generally speaking, are more perfect than birds
and fishes: (not that fishes are without memory); . . . but by
reason of distinction of members and perfectness in manner of
generation. As to certain marks of sagacity, however, some even
imperfect animals more abound, as bees and ants. . . . But animals
of the earth (Scripture) designates as a living soul by reason of the
perfectness of life that is in them, as though fishes were bodies
that have something of life ; but terrestrial animals, by virtue of
the perfectness of their life, are, as it were, souls that dominate
over their bodies^.' From these words we may gather that, in the
judgment of the Angelic Doctor, three elements enter by rights
into the classification of animals ; to wit, their structure and '
organism, their mode of reproduction, and their sensile faculties.
Of these structure and organism hold the lowest, while the sensile
faculties claim the highest, place. We must here recall to mind
the teaching of St. Thomas relatively to those higher animals that
are the most perfect in their order, and anticipate, (so far as it
is possible for a merely sensile soul to anticipate), — or rather
obumbrate, — ^the spiritual faculties of thought and will. It may
be as well to repeat here likewise that, as the vegetable substances
presuppose and embrace chemical compounds, so the sensitive Form
of animals presupposes, and eminently contains within itself the
nutritive, growing, and reproductive, faculties of the plant-Form.
^ < Nutritiya enim et augmentativa generativae deserviunt. . . . Inter animalia vero
perfectiora mint, oommuniter loquendo, terrestria avibus et pifldboB ; non quod pisces
memoria careant, (ut Baailius dicit, et Angustinus improbat), sed propter diirtinctionem
membromm et perfeotionem generationis. Quantum autem ad aliquas aagacitates
etiam aliqua animalia imperfecta magis vigent, ut apes et formieae ; et ideo pisces
vocat non animam viverUem sed rattle animae viveniU. Sed terrena animalia vocat
i^iiimam viventem propter perfeotionem vitae in eis ; ao si pisces sint corpora babentia
sJiquid animae, terrestria vero animalia propter perfeotionem vitae sint quasi animae
dominantes oorporibus/ i^ Ixxii, art. unie., i"*.
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746 Appendix A.
Hence, animals are naturally posterior to plants in order of de-
velopment.
XII. At the head of the material universe stands man. As we
have already seen, St. Thomas teaches that in the human emhiyo
there is a succession of generations and corruptions, by means of
which the future child passes through a vegetative and sensitive
life previously to its receiving the human soul. These previous
Forms assume a higher grade, in proportion to a growing perfect-
ness of organization. But in every case the inferior Form yields
to, and is virtually absorbed by, the superior Form. * Hence I
assert,' — such is the declaration of St. Thomas, — 'that on the
advent of the human soul, the substantial Form which had pre-
viously been in' the human embryo *is expelled; otherwise, genera-
tion would take place without corruption of the other, which is
impossible^.' Further: the preceding lower Forms are purely
provisional, and are the result of a process of natural generation
originally proceeding from one and the same efficient cause ; con-
sequently, they are of a type adapted to their work. Lastly, the
human soul, as being a spiritual substance, must be, — and in every
case is, — ^immediately created by the Power of God.
XIII. From the preceding Sections it may be clearly seen, that
there is nothing in the principle of natural evolution, which is not
in strict accordance with the teaching of St Thomas and of the
Fathers of the Church. On the contrary, the latter taught it some
fifteen hundred years ago.
XIV. It is likewise plain, according to the same teaching, that
the primordial elements alone were created in the strict sense of
the term, and that the rest of nature was gradually developed out
of these according to a fixed order of natural operation under
the supreme guidance of the Divine Administration. The said
fixed order is revealed to human cognition in the phenomena of
nature.
XV. But the modern misapplication of the principle of evolution
has led to grave philosophical errors ; because certain recent
physicists have done that for which Aristotle blames the first
known essayists in philosophy. They have practically ignored the
formal and efficient causes by which, according to a difierent order
^ 'Undo dico quod, adyeniente aninut humana, tollitur fonna substantialis quae
priuB inerat ; aUoquin generatio easet sine comiptione alteriua, quod est impoflnbOe.*
Quol. L. 1, a. 6, c, inf.
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Appendix A. 747
of causality, each nature is essentially constituted, and have based
their theories exclusivel}' upon the material cause. Accordingly,
they seem wedded to the strange hypothesis that the organism
constitutes the Form (the species), rather than that the Form
constitutes the organism. In all the theories more or less based
on protoplasm^ or on the diseased bioplasm of Dr. Beale, — ^theories
of Pangenesis or of the evolution of the living cell, etc. — there is
consequently a fatal flaw. They do not account for life. They
begin with organism ; but organism connotes life. Whence, then,
this life ? Take the first instance, — and a first instance there must
have been, — of an inanimate chemical compound showing signs of
life, — say phenomena of cleavage and of subsequent Gastraean in-
version. How is it that this particular inanimate chemical com-
pound has taken such a start? If matter evolves itself spon-
taneously into life without aid of formal or efficient cause; why
have not the metamorphic rocks through all these eons of time
shaken off the incubus of their primitive passivity, and wakened
up into protoplasm, and thus secured to themselves the privilege
of self-motion, internal growth, reproduction? Again: Is it
possible to imagine that brute matter, inert and purely passive,
could by its own unaided exertions pass straight from the labora-
tory into the kingdom of life ? And if one mass could do it, why
not all? Why do those venerable metamorphic rocks remain at
the root of the geological tree, unchanged? Perhaps, this may
prove another instance of the survival of the fittest. Here, then, is
the flaw. These recent theorists accept life as a fact; and they
start with it. They are superstitiously contented to begin and
end with a mystery, because they are either afraid or unwilling to
acknowledge the operation of a formal and of an efficient cause in
the evolution of material substances.
XVI. Because, as the Angelic Doctor teaches, the human embryo,
(and the same may safely be predicated, as we have seen, of other
embryos), goes through successive provisional stages of life ; it in
no wise follows that man is originally descended from inferior
animals. This identification of Ontogeny and Thylogeny^ (to adopt
for once this infelicitous terminology of the day), is a patent
paralogism ; and is obnoxious to the charge of completely ignoring
the action of secondary efficient causes in natural evolution. An
efficient cause cannot go beyond the limits of its own native
energy; although it can produce all that is virtually included
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748 Appendix A,
under its proper term of production. Man, as eflScient cause
of generation, can generate the lower Forms of life, because hiB
soul virtually and eminently contains them all under itself; but a
worm cannot generate a fish, or a fish a quadruped, simply because
it is above its power. In this respect the old proverb holds good,
Like begets like. With varieties under the same species the case is
dififerent; because these may be produced by the influence of
different external circumstances on the efficient cause, and even on
the special evolution of the formal cause and the concomitant
qualitative accidents.
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APPENDIX B.
SIGNIFICATIONS OF THE TERMS, POBM, MATTEB.— FORMAL,
MAT£RIAL,^FOBMALLY, MATERIALLY.
Form and Matter.
Taking the most universal and least defined sense in which the
terms Form and Matter are employed, we may say that Matter
represents every entity which is, or is conceived as being, the
Subject, potentiality, inferior part, of some real or conceived com-
posite; while Form represents every entity which either is or is
conceived as being subjected to its Subject,— the act or superior
part of some composite. For the clearer and more definite under-
standing of these two general concepts^ two points will be sub-
mitted to the reader's consideration : First of all, what is to be
understood by the terms. Subject^ Potentittlity, Part, and their Cor-
relatives? secondly, what entities in a true and univocal, what in au
accommodated or analogical, sense are designated by these terms.
From the definite predicability of the nouns it will be comparatively
easy to determine the homogeneous application of adjective and
adverb.
I. The meaning of the tebms, Subject, Potentiality, Part, mth
their Correlatives,
In its most universal acceptation Subject is understood to be
anything whatsoever which is so ordered relatively to another
entity as that this latter should be in it. Potentiality, (passive of
course), whatsoever is so ordered that by it a thing is, which with-
out it is not. Part is that which is ordered relatively to another
entity more noble, less noble than, or equal to itself, that together
with this latter it may make a whole of some sort. That which is
subjected to the Subject (subjectatum), is that which inheres in the
Subject ; Act, is that by which a potentiality is determined to be
what without that Act it neither is nor can be.
Now, a Subject, Potentiality, inferior Part, and in like manner
their Correlatives, may be real and physical, real and metaphysical,
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750 Appendix B.
or logical. Again : Real and physical may be either intrinsic or
extrinsic, accordingly as the three former are either intrinsically or
extrinsically perfected by the three latter. In a strict sense they
are said to be intrinsic^ when the Subject^ Potentialify, inferior Pari,
are not only perfected but perfect their correlatives, and when in
like manner their Correlatives^ — Form, Act, superior Part, not only
perfect but are in turn perfected. In a less strict sense they are
said to be intrinsic, when the former are only perfected, and the
latter only perfect the former. They are said to be denominatively
Subject, etc., and correlatively; when there is no such real perfec-
tibility on the one side or perfectioning on the other, but only ac-
cording to our way of conceiving and consequently of denominating.
They are said to be corporeal or incorporeal, as applied to corporeal
or incorporeal entities. They are, moreover, substantial (either com-
plete or incomplete) or accidental. Here remark^ that the relative
may be substantial, and its correlative accidental. By real and
physical we must understand that the entity denominated as Sub-
ject, eta, is not only a real entity itself but is really distinct firom
the entity denominated by the correlatives. Form, etc. If real
itself, but not really distinct from the latter, it is a real and nut^-
physical denomination. If the entities are logical, the use of these
terms is logical.
Thus much premised, it remains to inquire^
II. What entities in a true and univocal, what in an accom-
modated OR ANALOGICAL SENSE, ARE DESIGNATED BY THE TERMS?
Wherefore,
i. If that which is denominated as Subject, etc., and that which is
denominated as Form, etc,, be real and physical, and
1. are, moreover, intrinsic in the strict acceptation of the term,
corporeal, incomplete substantial entities ; that which is denominated
Subject, etc.^ is in the fullest and most determinate sense called
Matter, and that which is itfi correlative, the substantial Form.
2. If that which is denominated as Subject, etc.^ is intrinsic:, but
a complete substantial entity, it is with less propriety called the
Matter. In such sense, marble is the matter of a statue. That
which is denominated as Form, etc., if intrinsic, but accidental, is in
the fullest sense denominated an accidental Form. Thus^ the
outline is the Form of the statue.
3. If that which is denominated as Subject^ etc., is intrinsic, but
an accident', it is still less strictly called Matter. In this way
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Appendix B. 751
quantity is said to be the matter of figure, or outline. Thus, for
instance, the quantity of a salt-crystal is the immediate matter of
its cubical figure.
4. If that which is denominated as Subject, etc., is intrituie, but
incorporeal ; it is improperly or analogically called by the name of
matter. In this way, the intellect, regarded in the light of a pas-
sive potentiality, may be called the matter of an act of thought ;
and in a like manner, free-will the matter of the moral act. The
correlatives are analogously termed Form. Thus, a concept is an
accidental Form of the intellect; conformity with the order of
reason is the intrinsic Form of the moral act, as moral.
5. If that which is denominated as Subject, etc., is extrinsic^
whether it be corporeal or incorporeal, it is with still less propriety
called matter, and similarly its correlative called Form. Thus^ the
bricks, stones^ and mortar, are called the matter ; the design, the
Form of a house. The books are the matter of a library ; their
arrangement, the Form. So, in a human act, — or rather, in the
act of a man, — the act itself would be the matter ; physical com-
pulsion, the Form.
6. If that which is said to be Subject, etc., is only denominativeltf
such, it is called Matter in the loosest of senses. In this way,
bodies are said to be the matter of sensile ideas ; facts, the matter
of history; virtue, the matter of a panegyric. The correlative
likewise is called Form in the loosest of senses.
ii. If that which is denominated as Subject^ etc., is real and tneta*
physical^ it is sometimes called matter and its correlative, the
metaphysical Form ; but the terms are used analogically.
iii. If that which is denominated as Subfect, etc., is logical, it is
called genus ; while its act is called the difference. These same,
considered metaphysically are called respectively the material and
the formal part.
Foiteal and Material.
From what has gone before it will be easy to determine the
meaning of the two adjectives, formal and material respectively.
The first is equivalent to that which belongs to the Form; the second,
to that which belongs to the matter. Wherefore, that is said to
be material in any given entity, which belongs to that which
corresponds with Subject, etc., in its composition ; whereas that is
called formal in the same which corresponds with act, etc., in its
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752 Appendix B,
composition or manner of conceiving. This declaration will be
best explained by examples.
1. ^l^!i% formal object is an entity considered as in possession of
that by which it is precisely determined to be an object, — that is to
say, hy which it is fitted to become the term of that faculty of
which it is considered an object. The material object is that same
entity considered as it is in itself and without regard to the afore-
said aptitude. Thus, for instance, something that is tasteful may
be a material object of sight, but not the formal. Something that
is white may become a material^ but not the formal, object of the
sense of smell ; though it is formal object of sight. A vertebrate
animal may be a material object of metaphysics ; it is the formal
object of zoology. So, again, the same entity may be the material
object of sense^ intellect, and will ; but it becomes the formal object
of sense according to its material accident ; the formal object of the
intellect, inasmuch as it is a truth ; the formal object of the will,
inasmuch as it is a good.
2. Being is neither really nor conceptually distinct from the
material True and Good ; but it is conceptually distinguished,
with a real foundation for the distinction, from iiie formal True
and Oood.
3. The choice of any object prohibited by the moral law is a
ffiaterial sin, when the prohibition is not known to the person who
has made the choice ; it is informal sin^ if the prohibition is known.
The reason is, because choice in the latter instance means the choice
of diSbrmity from the moral law ; but this known difformity deter-
mines the will to sin, like as a Form determines a potentiality.
4. In man, metaphysically considered^ humanity is something
formal ; because it determines the specific nature of the complete
substance or supposit. Again : In man animality is something
material ; rationality, something formal. See the eighth Article of
the third Chapter of this Book.
Note I. From the examples given it may be clearly gathered,
that the same entity may be considered as material or formal under
a diversity of respect. Thus, a white thing may be the material
object of touch, the formal object of sight.
Note II. The same entity may be a formal object of more than
one faculty according to adverse realities contxtined within itself.
Thus, white sugar, as white, is the formal object of sights — as
sweet, of iante^ — as rough or sticky, of touch, — as a material sub-
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Appendix B. 753
stance, of the intellect. Again, as sweet, it is a material object of
touchy — as rough, of sights and so on. So again, a concept is an
intrinsic Form of the intellect,— extrinsic and denominative Form
of the object conceived, — matter, of logical Forms or Second
Intentions.
Formally and Materially.
The preceding Paragraphs sufficiently determine the sense of
these two adverbs. It will, accordingly, prove more profitable to
illustrate their multifarious use, leaving more or less to the reader
the task of traeing throughout the one fundamental meaning.
I. An action materially goody is in itself good ; — that is to say, an
action that corresponds with the moral law is good in itself, even
though he who elicits the action should do so in ignorance of the
law or irrespectively of it. An action, therefore, materially good
is in potentiality to a right or wrong intention which is the Form
of a moral act.
a. An action materially bad may be formally good. Tlius, a man
may perjure himself in a court of law in order to save his father's life.
We suppose that he is invincibly ignorant of the paramount claims
of the moral law that prohibits perjury, and that his conscience has
decided in favour of the parental claims. The action is irreclaim-
ably bad in itself; but the invincible ignorance of the man allows
of its being formally good. Why ? Because his intention was
good. He judg^, — though falsely, of course, — that under the
circumstances it was his duty to perjure himself.
3. An action materially good may be formally evil. Thus, alms-
giving is good; but if alms should be given with the sole intention
of securing a vote, or for purposes of ostentation, or to ruin
innocence, it becomes evil formally.
4. Possible essence is formally negative and conceptual ; materially
it does not differ from existing essence. Essence is here considered
as the material part of the concept, determinable or not to exist-
ence. Its pure possibility is the formal part of the concept ; and
pure possibility is negative and conceptual. See Book II, Ch. 2.
5. Intellect, Will, Love, Sanctity, etc., are formally predicable of
God ; reasoning is not formally predicabh of God. The reason is,
that the first-named are perfections in their formal nature, con-
sidered apart from the mode of their existence in the creature;
VOL. II. 3 c
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754 Appendix B.
reasoning, on the contrary, essentially connotes an imperfection, —
that is to say, an intellect that is not intoitiye of all truth.
6. A picture U formally good but materially bad ; in other words,
the conception is good but the execution bad.
7. The property is materially the otoner^Sj but formally it belongs to
tie mortgagees. The owner retains the property^ simply because the
mortgagees have not foreclosed ; but, as the former is virtually a
bankrupt, the latter are by rig At (which is regarded as the Form)
entitled to the property.
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GLOSSARY.
ACTION. This term always denotes some effect as depending on its efficient
cause. (Jsed specifically, it stands for the motion or quaai-motion, caused in the
Subject, on its road towards the completed effect. So understood, it is distinguished
from (tet which is its term. Used generically, it includes both the motion and the
term as dependent on its efficient cause. Sometimes action, like its cognate (^ra-
tion, is taken as including under one all the acts of a given entity as conspiring
towards the attainment of its end. Trakstknt action. That motion or effect
which is produced by the efficient cause in a Subject external to itself. Immanent
ACTION. That which is produced by the principal efficient cause (the prinoipium
quod) within itself as Subject, p. 5 so.
ALTERATION. Aocideutal change ; a change in the accidents of a substance,
p. 375-
IN ACTU SIGNATO, IN ACTU EXERCITO. These two terms are used by the
Schoolmen to distinguish between two conjoined effects sometimes resulting from
the same action. An effect is said to be tn actu tignato, which is directly intended
(so to speak) by the action. Thus, the impression produced in the wax by a seal
is the effect in aetu tignato. An effect is said to be tn actu ezereito, when it is a
necessary concomitant result of the same action, though not directly intended. Thus,
■ in the above instance the cooling of the wax resulting ^m contact with the seal is
in CiCtu exerciio.
C.
CONDITION. That which is requisite or conducive to the actual causality of a
cause, though itself forming no part of such causality. Thus, light is a condition of
reading, but it has nothing to do with the act of reading. There are other meanings
of the word ; but they do not concern us here. Condition sinb qua non. A con-
dition in default of which causality is naturally impossible. Thus, faggots will not
catch fire unless they are dry. Condition bbmovsns prohibens. A condition
requiring the removal of some obstacle that hinders the causality of the cause. Thus,
in order to have sunlight in a room, it is necessary to open the shutters, p. 165.
CORPOREITY. The abstract essence of material substance under its first generic
and undifferentiated form that is virtually included in all the specific forms of
material substance. Its corresponding term in the concrete is Body. The form is
said to be generic, because it only exists virtually in the specific forms. It is tm-
differentiated, because it is the common form of all material substances without
distinction, p. 633.
CORRUPTION. The dissolution of a body by the expulsion of that substantial form
by which it had been previously actuated. In the order of nature it is the invariable
accompaniment of generation. Generation is the effect of the efficient cause in actu
tignato ; corruption, in actu exerdto. This Scholastic use of the term must be care-
fully distinguished firom its ordinary meaning of retrograde transformation such as
occurs, for instance, in the death of a living entity.
3C2
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756 Glossary,
GENERATION. In ita most generic BignificaUon, the production of a new eotiiy or
a new production. Active oenebatiok. The new producing or production, formaUj
oonudered as dependent on the efficient cause. Passitb genebatiox. The ssme
production, formally considered as an effect in the Subject of causality. GBNERAnoir
IN FISBI. The generating motion on its way to the perfisctod new prodnctioD.
Genebatioit ih facto esse. The perfected producing or production. (See pp. 275,
379). In its widest sense generation includes all new production even by the
Creative Act. In a more restricted sense it includes all transformations, accidental
as well as substantial In a still more restricted sense, substantial transfonnations
only. Tet more specially, the natural production of living things : most specially
the natural production of man, pp. 373, 374.
N.
NATURAL. See Op^ra^ton.
O.
OCCASION. Something &vourable to the causality of a cause. See pp. 165, 166.
ORDER. See p. 518. It is worthy of notice that order is always a cmcepiwd unity in
one way or another ; since ordered things (or things in an order) are pkysieally
distinct and only one interUionaUp, Consequently, order necessarily connotes some
intelligence that conceives such unity. It is an intellectual being alone that can
perceive a heap of stones ; a brute perceives them simply as stones.
OPERATION, NATURAL. The entire course of action by which an entity, either
necessarily or freely, teuds to its appointed end, p. 520. A natural opsbatiox,
any action within the same course, or series.
P.
POTENTIALITY. (See Glossary of the first Volume). Objective. The capacity
of a non-existent entity for existence by virtue of an intellect and power external to
itself. Thus, an unformed statue is in the objective potentiality of the sculptor whose
mind can conceive and hand execute it. (See Chapter ii. of Book II, on Potnble
Being). Subjective. A real capacity in a Subject, (as freewill in man), or real
entity that is nothing else but a real capacity, (as primordial matter). See pp. 309,
310, 333.
PRINCIPIANT, PRINCIPIATE. See pp. 146, 147.
PRINCIPIUM QUOD. The supposit or person to whom the causal action or effect
is attributed.
PRINCIPIUM QUO. That which is formally cause of the effect. The principium
quo is twofold ; — ^the principal cause and the proximate instrumental cause. Thus,
when Peter Mnks, Peter is the prineipium quod, Peter^s soul is the prmdpal
prineipium qm, and Peter's intellectual faculty is the proximate and inetrwnenlal
prineipium quo. See p. 533.
PRIORITY A QUO, IN QUO. See p. 566.
R.
REMOYENS PROHIBENS. (See Condition), p. ar.
RELATION MUTUAL, NOT MUTUAL. See p. 157.
S.
SCHOLION. Something which is expUnatory or illustrative of the subject-niAtter.
It differs from a Corollary, in that this latter is an evident deduction from a
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Glossary. 757
previous demonstration. It differs from a VrtiLegofttymon, in that this latter is a pre-
face neoessary, one way or another, to the demonstration that follows.
SEPARATED FORMS. Pure IntelligenceB, wholly independent of matter. They
are called ieparcUed Forms, because they are not only separated from matter, de
facto, — like the human soul after death, — but likewise dejitre,
T.
TERM. (See Glossary of the first Volume, and p. 274 of the present Volume).
U.
UNICITY. The one^loneness of a thing. It expresses unity of singularity, or singular
unity. Thus, we may speak of the unicity of the sun, because it is the one only
centre of the solar system, or of the unicity of .the moon as a satellite of our earth,
p. 6a8.
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THE METAPHYSICS OF THE SCHOOL
BT
THOMAS HARPER, S.J.
Vol I. 8vo. 18*.
' Althongh Father Harper disclaims originality, the simple justice
must be done him hj remarking, that he has shown considerable
skill in the production of apt illustrations, and in dealing with the
modem temper. . . . We shall be curious to watch the &te of this
unusual metaphysical venture.' — TAe Westminster Review.
' If the clergy of either communion in this country could be
brought to study Father Harper's book, we should augur well for a
sounder theology even in the next generation.'— 3%^ Church QiMr-
terly Review.
'Nous sommes curieux de savoir quel acciieil ce livre recevra
dans le pays de Herbert Spencer et de Darwin.' — Revue Philos<H
jahique,
' A grand monument of the learning, the power, and the patience
of one man. ... To the student it is in many other ways most
valuable. It will help him to translate his philosophy into current
speech ; it will assist him in correcting his slovenly and slipshod
English ; it will make him ashamed of unnecessary barbarisms ; and
it will not unfrequently kindle a spark of true philosophic fire by
the keen and nervous *' rally" of its responses, or the solid and
vigorous phrasing of its demonstration. . . . We can only recom-
mend professors, students^ and cultured readers of all sorts to study
it, and to try to master it. Its pages will brace like sea air in
October those wits which are apt to grow flaccid in the atmosphere
of science made easy.' — Dublin Review.
*• Of Mr. Harper's share in this independent summary of doctrines,
his great industry and carefulness, and the sympathetic intelligence
with his author everywhere exhibited, we can only speak in terms
of sincere respect. He has contributed not only to the science but
the more literary and excursive aspect of the subject.' — The Scotsman.
* It is a book without which no gentleman's library can be con*
sidered complete.' — Dublin Evening Mail.
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