One need find no great difficulty in the bewildering number of habits which are called virtues by St. Thomas, since there are also many substances which fall under one supreme genus and are arranged hierarchically in such a way that the common name can be said univocally of each of them. But it is disturbing to find different virtues on different occasions singled out as the principal virtue. Thus, wisdom is said to be the chief intellectual virtue{1} and since intellect has a more perfect mode of operation than will{2} it follows that wisdom will be more perfect than virtues which have appetitive powers as their subject. Nevertheless, we read elsewhere that prudence, whose subject is practical intellect, habet verius rationem virtutis,{3} and this because of its dependence on moral virtues which are in the appetitive part of the soul. Many habits are called virtues and this would lead us to believe that they save the definition of "virtue"; indeed, St. Thomas will say, when he has examined the elements of the definition of virtue given by St. Augustine, "All of these, however, belong to moral, intellectual and theological virtue, whether acquired or infused."{4} This would seem to suggest that when temperance, justice, prudence, art, science, wisdom and faith are named virtues that the name is univocally common to them. This is far from being the case, however. As we shall see, "virtue" is analogously common and is said of all these per prius et posterius.
The definition of virtue, one that is
involved in calling anything a virtue, is drawn from Aristotle:
"quae bonum facit habentem et opus eius bonum reddit."{5} What is
formal in this definition is the good and it is because they are
diversly ordered to the good{6} that different habits receive the
name "virtue" in different ways. Now there are two fundamentally
different ways in which something can be ordered to the good:
formally, that is to the good as good, and materially, as when a
habit is ordered to something which is good but does not look to
it insofar as it is good (sub
ratione boni). In order to grasp the meaning of this
distinction, we must first recognize that human virtue will have
to do with the good of man as man and what makes man to be man is
the fact that he is rational. Thus the good of man must be a
rational good. The rational or intellective part of man comprises
both a cognitive and appetitive faculty; moreover just as well,
the intellectual appetite, follows on the apprehension of
intellect, so, in the sensitive part of the soul, an appetite is
consequent on sense cognition and insofar as this appetite,
divided into the concupiscible and irascible, obeys the command of
reason it can be said to be consequent on intellect and thus
participate in reason.{7} In terms of the distinction between the
cognitive and appetitive, we can see the meaning of the
distinction between relating to the good formally and relating to
it materially. The good sub
ratione boni is the object of appetite alone, for the
good is that which all things seek. Thus only those habits which
are in the appetitive part as in their subject{8} or which depend
upon appetite in a special way are ordered formally to the good.
It is such habits that will save the definition of virtue most
perfectly.{9} Habits which are neither in the appetitive part as
in their subject, nor dependent on it, can be materially ordered
to that which is good, but not formally insofar as it is good;
because of this they can only be said to be virtues in a less
proper sense of the term.{10}
All of this raises a problem with respect to
what are called intellectual virtues. How can they be called
virtues if the definition of virtue implies an ordination to the
good which is the object of appetite? In order to understand how
intellectual habits can be called virtues, if less properly so
than moral virtues, we must acquire a more determinate
understanding of that ordination to the good which is such
materially and not sub ratione
boni. As has been already hinted, the problem is thought
to be less pronounced with respect to some habits of intellect,
namely those which depend in a special way on appetite. Other
intellectual habits, however, are said to be perfected absoluely
and in themselves such that they precede the will and are not
consequent upon it. With these, the application of the term
"virtue" constitutes a serious problem{11} How do they save the ratio virtutis at all?
In the Summa, St. Thomas speaks of habits which
are virtues simpliciter
and those which are such only secundum
quid. Virtues in the perfect sense are those which make
the one having them good and make his work good. Only habits of
the appetitive part can do this. Secundum quid, habits of the speculative and
practical intellect can be called virtues even without any
ordination to will.{12} How can there be a reference to the good
without will? Some ordination to the good is necessary if a habit
is going to be called a virtue. It is here of course that
ordination to the good materialiter
comes in, but what does that mean? Insofar as truth is the end of
intellect, it is its good; to know the truth is the good of
intellect and habits which determine it to this end can be called
virtues. This is an ordination to the good materialiter, however: truth
as a good is the object of appetite.{13} Intellectual habits,
therefore, do not perfectly save the ratio virtutis and "are not called virtues
absolutely because they do not render a good work except insofar
as they give a certain capacity, nor do they make the one having
them good simply speaking."{14} For this reason, science and art,
while they are sometimes numbered among the virtues, are at other
times divided against them.{15} It is thanks to his good will that
one having the science of grammar and thus the capacity to speak
well, actually speaks well.{16} Thus the use of the intellectual
virtues of art, understanding, science and wisdom pertains to the
will insofar as their objects are chosen as goods.{17} This
dependence on will for their use is accidental to intellectual
habits.{18}
There are some intellectual habits, as we have
already several times indicated, which have a special dependence
on will and consequently are more properly called virtues than are
art, understanding, science and wisdom: the intellectual virtues
we are presently concerned with, namely prudence and faith,
habent verius rationem virtutis.{19}
Such intellectual habits follow on will and give not only the
capacity of acting well but the will to do so. Let us look first
at faith. Faith perfects the speculative intellect insofar as it
is commanded by will, something clear from its act: "homo enim ad
ea quae sunt supra rationem humanam, non assentit per intellectum
nisi quia vult; sicut Augustinus dicit, quod credere non potest
homo nisi volens."{20} The object of faith is determined for it by
the will. Now prudence is not dependent on will in this way,
namely for its object, but only for the end, for it seeks its own
object. Presupposing then end of the good from will, prudence
seeks ways in which the good can be achieved and conserved.{21} Of
the intellectual habits, then, prudence and faith save more
properly the definition of virtue because they depend in a special
way on the will and thus relate more closely to the good sub ratione boni which is
what is formal in the definition of virtue.
We have, therefore, an unequal participation in
the ratio virtutis.
Virtues which have appetite as their subject, such as temperance
and justice, participate most properly in the definition of
virtue: potissime habent
rationem virtutis. Habits which have intellect, whether
practical or speculative, for their subject, if they depend on
will as do prudence and faith, participate properly in the
definition of virtue; others participate in the definition, licet non ita secundum propriam
rationem.{22} "And althought all in some way can be
called virtues, more perfectly and properly these last two (i.e.
prudence and faith) have the notion of virtue; but it does not
follow from this that they are more noble habits or
perfections."{23} This remark indicates that more and less proper
participation in the ratio
of a given name is not an absolute judgment on the relative
perfection of the things named. As a matter of fact, intellectual
virtues are more perfect than habits of the appetitive part.{24}
This is the resolution of the riddle we posed at the outset of our
discussion of "virtue": prudence is named virtue more properly
than is wisdom; wisdom is more perfect than prudence.{25}
Since it is the view of St. Thomas that there
are three genera of virtues, the moral, intellectual and the
theological, it is not surprising that they are not covered
univocally by the term "virtue," but only analogically, per prius et posterius. It is
just this inequality among the things named virtue that we have
been examining. The ratio
virtutis is not shared equally, but most properly by the
moral virtues, less properly by intellectual habits. "It should be
said that when a univocal genus is divided into its species, then
the parts of the division are equal with respect to the generic
notion, although according to the nature of the thing one species
may be more perfec+t and prior to the other, as man is to the
other animals. But when there is a division of something
analogous, which is said by way of the prior and posterior of
many, then nothing prevents one to be more perfect than the other
even with respect to the common notion, as substance is more
properly called being than is accident. And such is the division
of the virtues because the good of reason is not found according
to the same order in all.{26}
We have already looked at the discussion of signification at the
outset of On Interpretation where
words are said to be signs of concepts. Now, as it happens,
Aristotle there uses the phrase "passions of the soul" (παθήματα τῆς ψυχῆς) for
concepts. This is a somewhat surprising use of the term "passion"
and St. Thomas remarks that it is possible due to an extension of
the word's signification.{27} By following the extension of the
meaning of "passion" we will be analysing another analogours
name.To find the proper meaning of 'passion,' we must
turn to motion which is shown to involve action and passion. In
his teaching on the nature of motion, Aristotle makes the point
that motion is always between contraries, for what is received in
the patient is contrary to what the patient or moved thing loses.
The reception on the part of the patient is what assimiltes it to
the agent or mover. Properly speaking, then, passion involves a
contrariety and a loss on the part of the patient. Before
discussing the nature of this loss, we must make it clear that
passion in its proper sense is saved only in motion according to
quality, that is, alteration, for in local motion there is no
reception of something immobile: rather the mobile thing is
received in a certain place.In augmentation and decrease, motion
according to quantity, there is no reception or loss of form but
of something substantial, such as food, which brings about a
change of quantity. In generation or corruption there is
neither motion nor contrariety save by reason of the preceding
alteration. Only in alteration, consequently is there properly
passion where a form is received and its contrary expelled.{28}
Let us go back now to the notion of the loss
involved in passion. Obviously the patient, in the medical sense,
loses something if the ministrations of the doctor are successful,
namely his illness, and this can only be called good riddance. We
wouldn't commiserate with one who had lost a cold. The patient, in
this example, is not the subject of passion in the most proper
sense of the term: that is had when what is lost is better for the
subject than the contrary gained as the result of an alteration. "Et hic est proprissimus modus
passionis."{29}
Passion as implying loss is seen to involve a
corporeal transmutation and we must ask how the term "passion" can
be understood in the phrase "passions of the soul." Since the
soul, by definition, is incorporeal it will have passion in the
proper sense said of it only accidentally.{30} The most proper
animal passion will be read in terms of a change for the
worst.{31} None of this enables us to grasp the meaning of the
phrase used at the outset of On
Interpretation since intellectual cognition does not
entail any consequent transmutation in the body. To understand
that phrase, we are going to have to see a number of uses of the
term "passion" as said of living sensitive things, i.e. animals,
uses which will exhibit a scale of diminishing propriety with
respect to the most proper sense of the word established in terms
of physical motion.{32}
St. Thomas often introduces us to the fact that
a term has taken on extended meanings by saying at the outset that
it can be used in several ways; so when he is speaking of pati, he says immediately
that it is used in three ways: communiter,
proprie, propriissime.{33} We have
already seen what the most proper sense of "passion" is: when the
term is used commonly it means any reception and is no longer
restricted to the corporeal order. In terms of this, we can say
that "passion" is applied to activities of sense appetite, will,
sense cognition and intellection in such a way that there is a
gradual falling away from the proper sense of the term.{34}
First, St. Thomas argues that passion is found
more properly in the appetitive than in the cognitive part of the
soul.{35} The word "passion" implies that the patient becomes like
the agent and since appetite is ordered towards things as they are
in themselves (the good is in things) whereas the apprehensive is
such that it assimilates the thing known to the mode of the knower
(truth and falsity are in the mind), "unde patet quod ratio
passionis magis invenitur in parte appetitiva quam in parte
apprehensiva."{36} Secondly, because sense appetition entails a
bodily transmutation, which is passion properly speaking, whereas
willing does not, sense appetite saves the notion of passion
better. "Unde patet quod ratio passionis magis proprie invenitur
in actu appetitus sensitivi quam intellectivi..."{37} Thirdly,
sense knowledge is said to be a certain passion. "Est enim sensus
in actu, quaedam alteratio: quod autem alteratur, patitur et
movetur."{38} "Passion" here must be understood communiter and minus proprie,{39} as any
reception: just as what receives is in potency to what it
receives, so sense is as potency to its operation. Fourthly,
intellection can be called a passion.{40} Intellection is less
properly called passion than is sensation: "...passio et alteratio
magis proprie dicitur in sensu quam in intellectu, cuius operatio
non est per aliquod organum corporeum."{41} Intellection then will
involve passion in the most remote and least proper sense of the
word. As for the phrase "passions of the soul," this would more
properly designate operations of appetite than operations of
sensation or intellection,{42} although it is generally true that
"passion" will signify something of soul only equivocally.{43}
"Passion" emerges as an
analogous name whose signification is saved properly only where
there is a corporeal alteration for the worse and less properly as
the term is applied to animate operations until as used of
intellection we have the most remote meaning of the term. Communiter loquendo in this
discussion clearly means the least proper, most diluted meaning of
the word. The ratio which is common per prius et posterius is the definition which
is saved in physical alteration ad
deterius. It is not common in the sense that it is saved
perfectly and properly in every use, but in that some of it is
involved in every extended use of the word, something which calls
for reference back to the full and proper notion. In other words,
it seems suggested that pati
communiter is not the ratio
communis passionis; and while the use of the word
"passion" to speak of intellection runs the risk of an
interpretation of it as passion in the strict sense, i.e.
univocally, when we realize that the term is being extended
and is not to be taken proprie, the reference back
to the most proper meaning is a reference to what we are
attempting to say about intellection. The many things named
passion are not made equal in a common notion, but rather
participate per prius et
posterius in a notion so that extended uses are
explicable only in terms of the full, strict, proper notion and a
hierarchy of meanings of "passion" is recognized. Just as with
"virtue," what saves the ratio
passionis most properly is not the most perfect from the
point of view of reality: indeed, it is precisely the perfection
of the mode of intellectual cognition which prevents it from
saving the ratio passionis except
in the most tenuous and diluted sense of the word.
An examination of the analogy of verbum has a double advantage for our purposes
in that it reveals something common to words while casting light
of the doctrine of the analogy of names. Moreover, there are are
terminological features of St. Thomas' discussion of verbum which give the texts
added interest.
Verbum
is imposed to signify from something sensible, a reverberation in
the air,{44} which is more easily known by the one imposing the
name. Thus, according to the first imposition of the name,
something is named verbum which
does not best save that which the word is imposed to signify, the
res significata.{45} The
distinction of imposition and signification is also expressed in
terms of the interpretatio
nominis and the res
significata.{46) Verbum
is taken to signify first of all the spoken word. By saying "first
of all" we are suggesting, of course, that something is said to be
a verbum in many ways.
"Ad cuius evidentiam, sciendum est quod verbum tripliciter quidem
in nobis proprie dicitur: quarto autem modo, dicitur improprie
sive figurative. Manifestius autem et communius in nobis dicitur
verbum quod voce profertur."{47} St. Thomas indicates here that
any non-metaphorical use of verbum
is proper, though this does not preclude a scale of greater and
lesser propriety; metaphor here is characterized by the adverb improprie. Another point of
interest in this text is the way the first imposition of the word
is described: it is manifestius
and communis.
"More common" does not seem to refer to our problem of the ratio communis, however, but
simply indicates that the more obvious, familiar and manifest
meaning of "word" is the spoken word and consequently that that is
what will usually and commonly be meant by verbum.
The extension of verbum is carried on in terms of the cause of
what is first named such, namely the inner word which is both the
final and efficient cause of the spoken word. "Finalis quidem, quia verbum
vocale ad hoc a nobis exprimitur, ut interius verbum manifestetur:
unde oportet quod verbum interius sit illud quod significatur per
verbum exterius. Verbum autem quod exterius profertur, significat
id quod intellectum est, non ipsum intelligere, neque hoc
intellectum quod est habitus vel potentia, nisi quatenus et haec
intellecta sunt: unde verbum interius est ipsum interius
intellectum."{48} The spoken word is not simply a reverberation of
air, nor simply a noise emanating from the throat, a vox, but also a vox significativa ad placitum.
That is, to understand the first imposition of word is to
understand that it is expressive of what is understood by the
mind.{49} Now since what is understood is what is formal in the
first imposition of verbum,
it is not surprising to learn that what is understood should also
be called a word.
The inner word is also said to be the efficient cause of the spoken word: what is involved here is the working up in the imagination of what is to be spoken. "Similiter etiam voces significantes naturaliter, non ex proprosito aut cum imaginatione aliquid significandi, sicut sunt voces brutorum animalium, interpretationes dicit non possunt."{50} "Primo, ponitur vox per per quod distinguitur nomen ab omnibus sonis, qui non sunt voces. Nam vox est sonus ab ore animalis prolatus, cum imaginatione quadam..."{51} From this point of view, the spoken word is an artificat and, as such, has the will as a principle. There must then preexist an exemplar of the spoken word.
Et ideo, sicut in artifice tria consideramus, scilicet finem artificii, et exemplar ipsius, et ipsum artificium iam productum, ita etiam in loquente triplex verbum invenitur: scilicet id quod per intellectum concipitur, ad quod significandum verbum exterius profertur: et hoc est verbum cordis sine voce prolatum; item exemplar exterioris verbi, et hoc dicitur verbum interius quod habet imaginem vocis; et verbum exterius expressum, quod dicitur verbum vocis. Et sicut in artifice praecedit intentio finis, et deinde sequitur excogitatio formae artificiati, et ultimo artificiatum in esse producit; ita verbum cordis in loquente est prius verbo quod habet imaginem vocis, et prostremum est verbum vocis.{52}The vox is said to be a word only insofar as it is taken to be significative of what is grasped by the mind and the order of the three modes of verbum distinguished is this: "Sic igitur primo et principaliter interior mentis conceptus verbum dicitur: secundario vero, ipsa vox interioris conceptus significativa: tertio vero, ipsa imaginatio vocis verbum dicitur."{53} Since the verbum cordis enters into the notions signified by verbum in the other two cases, the word "word" obviously applies per prius to it, per posterius to the others. Now this is productive of no small problem since "word" is first imposed to signify the spoken word secundum impositionem nominis, which is the order secundum nominis rationem,{54} the spoken word is the per prius of "word." This gives us one per prius too many, of course, and we must wonder how there can be a reduction to one of the modes of verbum. Fortunately, St. Thomas faced this problem formally as such.
Sciendum est autem, quod reductio aliorum modorum ad unum primum, fieri potest dupliciter. Uno modo secundum ordinem rerum. Alio modo, secundum ordinem qui attenditur quantum ad nominis impositionem. Nomina enim imponuntur a nobis secundum quod nos intelligimus, quia nomina sunt intellectuum signa. Intelligimus autem quandoque priora ex posterioribus. Unde aliquid per prius apud nos sortiturnomen, cui res nominis per posterius convenit: et sic est in proposito. Quia enim formae et virtutes rerum ex actibus cognoscuntur, per prius ipsa generatio vel nativitas naturae nomen accepit, et ultimo forma.{55}When we are concerned with the per prius secundum ordinem rerum, we must not think that this thing necessarily saves the ratio nominis per prius, since often this is not the case.{56} There is involved in all this a difficulty which exercized Sylvester of Ferrara because it is posed in the Contra Gentiles.{57} In discussing the order of the ratio and res in terms of "healthy," an example to which St. Thomas appeals in the text and where these orders differ, it is pointed out that the power of healing in the medicine is naturally prior to the quality of the animal, as cause is prior to effect; nevertheless, animal is first of all named healthy because the quality is first known by us.{58} Now it seemed to Sylvester that "healthy" is not exactly like names common to God and creature nor does it seem to be like "nature" and "word" as these are analogous names. What is the difference? Well, one difference surely is that we would not say that the animal is denominated healthy from medicine, though in the case of names analogously common to God and creature, where God saves the res nominis per prius, we sometimes say the creature in denominated such-and-such from the divine perfection{59}, just as we might say that the spoken word is denominated from the verbum cordis. But could we say that medicine saves the res significata of "healthy" best secundum ordinem rerum? Surely not, if sanitas is the res significata of sanum, as it is.
It is because what is most formal in the
first imposition of verbum,
the notion of manifestation, is better saved by the verbum cordis that the
latter is per prius secundum
ordinem rerum{60} In somewhat the same way, the word
"light" has as what is formal in its signification the notion of
manifestation. According to its first imposition, the ratio propria of the name,
"light" signifies the principle of manifestation in visual
perception; if we consider only principium manifestationis as the
signification of "light," we have a ratio communis.{61} What makes "light" an
analogous name is the fact that when considered as common to the
sun, say, and intellectual evidence, the ratio propria of the name
if found in one alone and the other is denominated from it. So
too with verbum: the ratio propria of the name is saved by the
spoken word alone and the others receive the name from it. And,
though the spoken word is a word to the degree that it signifies
the verbum cordis, that the concept should be called a verbum
entails and extension of the name from what it is first imposed
to signify. So too in the case of "nature": though generation
implies matter and form,{62} to call the latter natures involves
an extension of the word from its first signification. In other
words, to be naturally prior as cause to effect is not
synonymous with being most perfectly the res significata of the
name.
With respect to the difficulty of Sylvester
of Ferrara, then, we should point out that several things are
said to be named analogically when they have a common name which
is saved in one alone according to its proper notion and the
other or others are denominated from that thing. This has to do
with the rationes signified
by the common name and it is true equally of "healthy," "word,"
"virtue," "passion," and of names common to God and creature. If
there are dissimilarities, these are not such as to disturb the
universality of the foregoing description of the analogous name.
Particularly when it is question of the res significata of the name, it should not be
thought that when this is found in both analogates, as wisdom is
found in both creature and God, that this entails that the ratio propria of "wise" is
saved in both, for then the name would be univocal.{63} The ratio propria, the notion
first and properly and more commonly associated with the name
will be saved first of all in creatures and God will be
denominated such from creatures. And, as in the case of lux, we can say that He
receives the name accoring to a common notion (ratio communis) which will
be other than what manifestius
and communius{64} is
meant by the name. The order secundum
rem{65} need not be the same as that established by the
successive impositions of the name, particularly when causes are
denominated from their effects. And where the species of cause
and grade of cause differ, there will be important differences
between the things named analogically by one name and things
named analogically by another name. However, these differences
will be accidental to the analogy of names, that is, will not
arise from the fact that these things are named analogically.
For this reason, we would not want to elevate these differences
into formal differences of the analogous name as if they
constituted species of it. Were we to do this, the names common
to God and creature would not be instances of analogical naming,
but a special type of analogous name; moreover, one might want
to go on to erect each name common to God and creature into a
special type-but that way lies madness, and we would not so much
as set foot on it if we became clear at the outset as to what it
is for things to have a name analogically in common.
Our discussion of "word" has made several
appeals to texts concerning the analogy of "nature," so we need
not concern ourselves with a separate development of the latter,
something which would, moreover, take us very far afield.
Perhaps the three instances of analogy we have discussed will
provide us with an adequate base for indicating the fundamental
unity of St. Thomas' various remarks on the analogous name,
though the terminology in which he sets forth the doctrine is
supple and fruitfully various. That variety, however, can
obscure the answer to our central question. We have encountered
the phrase, "communiter
loquendo" which is opposed to proprie loquendo; we have seen the first
imposition of a term referred to as what is communius,{66} though the
same word, "word," is said to be used proprie in three ways as opposed to a fourth
which is figurative
and improprie.{67} So
too we find the extended meaning of such a word as lux referred to as a ratio communis opposed to
the ratio propria of
that term. If it were not for that common notion, lux would be said only
metaphorically of spiritual things, we are told, but we have
also been told that what is named improprie is named metaphorically. Does this
mean that what is said to be such-and-such improprie is spoken of
metaphorically? If this were the case we would have to say that
things extra animam
are said to be true metaphorically. "Si autem accipiatur veritas
improprie dicta, secundum quam omnia di cantur vera, sic sunt
plurium verorum plures veritates; sed unius rei una est tantum
veritas."{68} That is, we would be faced with the somewhat
unsettling recognition that to speak of true as convertible with
being involves a metaphorical use of "true."
Later on we will make explicit that all the
elements for an answer to our central question (namely, "Is
there a ratio communis
of the analogous name?)," have been given in the texts already
cited, though this is something the discerning reader will long
since have seen. Before spelling out that resolution, however,
we want first to examine the relationship between analogy and
metaphor in order to sharpen a difficulty which emerges from the
texts already considered. After that, we shall examine the
doctrine that "being" is not a generic name, since this will
bring out important issues for the discussion of the ratio communis of the
analogous name, a matter to which we can then turn.
{1} IaIIae, q. 57, a.
2, ad 2.
{2} Ia, q. 82, a. 3.
{3} Q.D.
de virtutibus in communi, a. 7.
{4} Ibid. a. 2: "Haec
autem omnia conveniunt tam virtuti morali quam intellectuali,
quam theologicae, quam acquisitae, quam infunsae."
{5} Nicomachean Ethics,
II, 6, 1106a15.
{6} Q.D. de virt, in com., a.
7: "...virtus in unaquaque re dicitur per respectum ad bonum; eo
quod uniuscuiusque virtus est, ut Philosophus dicit, quae bonum
facit habentem, et opus eius bonum reddit; sicut virtus equi
quae facit equum esse bonum, et bene ire, et bene ferre
sessorem, quod est opus equi. Ex hoc quidem igitur aliquis
habitus habebit rationem virtutis, quia ordinatur ad bonum." -
Cf. ibid., a. 12:
"Illud autem quod est completivum et untitur: virtus est quae
bonum facit habentem, et opus eius bonum reddit. Unde et virtus
hominis, de qua loquimur, oportet quod diversificetur secundum
speciem secundum quod bonum ratione diversificatur."
{7} Ibid.,
a. 12: "Cum autem homo sit homo inquantum rationale est; oportet
hominis bonum esse aliqualiter rationale. Rationalis pars, sive
intellectiva, comprehendit et cognitivam. Pertinet autem ad
rationalem partem non solum appetisus, qui est in ipsa parte
rationali, consequens apprehensionem intellectus, qui dicitur
voluntas: sed etiam appetitus qui est in parte sensitiva
hominis, et dividitur per irascibilem et concupiscibilem. Nam
etiam hic appetitius in homine sequitur apprehensionem rationis,
inquantum imperio rationis obedit; unde et participare dicitur
aliqualiter rationem. Bonum igitur hominis est et bonum
cognitivae et bonum appetitivae partis."
{8} On this phrase, cf. Ibid.,
a. 3.
{9} Bonum autem sub ratione boni est objectum solius appetitiva
partis; nam bonum est quod omnia appetunt, Illi igitur habitus
qui vel sunt in parte appetitiva, vel a parte appetitiva
dependent, ordinatur formaliter ad bonum; unde potissime habent rationem
virtutis." - Ibid. a. 7; cf. ibid., a. 12: "Non autem secundum eamdem
rationem utrique parti bonum attribuitur. Nam bonum appetivae
parti attribuitur formaliter, ipsum enim bonum est appetitivae
partis obiectum; sed intellectivae parti attribuitur bonum non
formaliter, sed materialiter tantum. Nam cognoscere verum, est
quoddam bonum cognitivae partis; licet sub ratione boni non
comparetur ad cognitivam, sed magis ad appetitivam; nam ipsa
cognitio veri est quodam appetibile."
{10} "Illi vero habitus qui nec sunt in appetitiva parte, nec ab
eadem dependent, possunt quidem ordinari materialiter in id quod
est bonum, non tamen formaliter sub ratione boni; unde et
possunt aliquo modo dici virtutes, non tamen ita proprie sicut
primi habitus." - Ibid., a. 7.
Ibid:
"Sciendum est autem, quod intellectus tam speculativus quam
practicus potest perfici dupliciter aliquo habitu: uno modo,
absolute et secundum se, prout praecedit voluntatem, quasi eam
movens; alio modo, prout sequitur voluntatem, quasi ad imperium
actum suum eliciens: quia, ut dictum est, istae duae potentiae,
scilicet intellectus et voluntas, se invicem circumeunt."
{12} "Subiectum igitur habitus qui secundum quid dicitur
virtus, potest esse intellectus, non solum practicus, sed etiam
intellectus speculativus, absque omni ordine ad voluntatem." _ IaIIae q. 56, a. 3.
{13} "Dicendum quod bonum uniuscuiusque est finish eius. Et
ideo, cum verum sit finish intellectus: cognoscere verum est
bonus actus intellectus; unde habitus perficiens intellectum ad
verum cognoscendum, vel in speculativis, vel in practicis,
dicitur virtus," - Ibid.,
ad 2. "Nam cognoscere verum, est quoddam bonum cognitivae
partis; licet sub ratione boni non comparetur ad cognitivam, sed
magis ad appetitivam: nam ipsa cognitio veri est quoddam
appetibile." Q.D. de virt. in
com, a, 12.
{14} aIIae q. 56, a.
3: "...non simpliciter dicuntur virtutes: quia non reddunt bonum
opus nisi in quadam facultate nec simpliciter faciunt bonum
habentem."
{15} Cf. ibid.
{16} Cf. Q.D. de virt. in
com. a. 7: "Illi igitur qui sunt in intellectu practico
vel speculativo primo modo, possunt dici aliquo modo virtutes, licet nonita secundum perfectam
rationem; et hoc modo intellectus, scientia et
sapientia sunt in intellectu speculativo, ars vero in
intellectum practico. Dicitur enim aliquis intelligens vel
sciens secundum quod eius intellectus perfectus est ad
cognoscendum verum; quod quidem est bonum intellectus. Et licet
istud verum possit esse volitum, prout homo vult intelligere
verum; non tamen quantum ad hoc perficiuntur habitus praedicti.
Non enim ex hoc quod homo habet scientiam, efficitur volens
considerare verum; sed solummodo potens; unde et ipsa veri
consideratio non est scientia inquantum est volita, sed secundum
quod directe tendit in obiectum."
{17} IaIIae, q. 57, a.
1: "...possunt quidem dici virtutes, inquantum faciunt
facultatem bonae operationis quae est consideratio veri, hoc
enim est bonum opus intellectus; non tamen dicuntur virtutes
secundo modo, quasi facientes bene uti potentia seu habitu. Ex
hoc enim quod aliquius habet habitum scientiae speculative, non
inclinatur ad utendum; sed fit potens speculari verum in his
quorum habet scientiam. Sed quod utatur scientia habita, hoc est
movente voluntate."
{18} "Nam quidam in nullo a voluntate
dependet, nisi quantum ad eorum usum; et hoc quidem per
accidens, cum huiusmodi usus habituum aliter a voluntate
dependeat, et aliter ab habitibus praedictis, sicut sunt
scientia et sapientia et ars. Non enim per hos habitus homo ad
hoc perficitur, ut homo eis bene velit uti; sed solum ut ad hoc
sit potens." - QD. de virt.
in com., a. 7; cf. CD.
de ver., q. 14., a. 3 ad 3: "...bonum illud ad quod
virtus ordinatur, non est accipiendum quasi aliquod ofiectum
alicuius actus; sed illud bonum est ipse actus perfectus, quem
virtus elicit. Licet autem verum ratione a bono differat; tamen
hoc ipsum quod est considerare verum, est quoddam bonum
intellectus..."
{19} Q.D. de virt. in com.,
a. 7.
{20} Ibid: "Ita est
similiter erit fides in intellectu speculativo, secundum quod
subiacet imperio voluntatis; sicut temperantia est in
concupiscibili secundum quod subiacet imperio rationis. Unde
voluntas imperat intellectui, credendo, non solum quantum ad
actum voluntatis in determinatum creditum intellectus assentit;
sicut et in determinatum medium a ratione, consupiscibilis, per
temperantiam tendit."
{21} "Prudentia vero est in intellectu sive ratione practica, ut
dictum est: non quidem ita quod ex voluntate determinetur
obiectum prudentiae, sed solum finis; obiectuum autem ipsa
perquirit: praesupposito enim a voluntate fine boni, prudentia
perquirit vias per quas hoc bonum et perficiatur et
conservetur."
{22} Ibid.
{23} Ibid.: "Et licet
omnes quoquo modo possint dici virtutes; tamen perfectius et
magia proprie hi duo ultimi habent rationem virtutis; licet ex
hoc non sequatur quod sin nobiliores habitus vel perfectiores."
{24} "Et quia bonum magis congrue competit parti appetitivae,
propter hoc nomen virtutis convenientius et magis proprie
competit virtutibus appetitivae partis quam virtutibus
intellectivae; licet virtutes intellectivae sint nobiliores
perfections quam virtutes morales, ut probatur in VI Ethic." - Q.D. de virt. in com., a.
12; cf. ibid., a. 7, ad 1.
{25} Cf. IaIIae, q. 1,
a. 1, ad 3; ibid., q.
66, a.3.
{26} IaIIae, q.
61, a. 1, ad 1: "Dicendum quod quando genus univocum dividitur
in suas species, tunc partes divisionis ex acquo se habent
secundum rationem generis; licet secundum naturam rei una
species sit principalior et perfectior alia, sicut homo aliis
animalibus. Sedquando est divisio alicuius analogi, quod dicitur
de pluribus secundum prius et posterius; tunc nihil prohibet
unum esse principalius altero, etiam secundum communem rationem, sicut
substantia principalius dicitur ens quam accidens. Et talis est
divisio virtutum: eo quod bonum rationis non secundum eundem
ordinem invenitur in omnibus."
{27} In Periherm.,
lect 2, n. 6: "vel quia extenso nomine passionis ad omnem
receptionem, etiam ipsum intelligere intellectus possibilis
quoddam pati est."
{28} "Omnis motus est inter contraria; oportet illud quod
recipitur in patiente, esse contrarium alicui quod a patiente
abiicitur. Secundum hoc autem, quod recipitur in patiente,
patiens agenti assimilatur; et inde est quod proprie accepta passione,
agens contrariatur patienti;et omnis passio abiicit a
substantia. Huiusmodi autem passio non est nisi secundum motum
alterationis. Nam in motu locali non recipitur aliquid immobile,
sed ipsum mobile recipitur in aliquo loco. In motu autem
guamenti et decrementi recipitur vel abiicitur non forma, sed
aliquid substantiale, utpote alimentum, ad cuius additionem vel
subtractionem sequitur quantatis magnitudo vel parvitas. In
generatione autem et corruptione non est motus nec contrarietas,
nisi ratione alterationis praecedentis; et sic secundum solam
alterationem est proprie passio, secundum quam una forma
contraria recipitur, et alia expellitur." - Q.D. de ver., q. 26, a. 1.
{29} IaIIae,
q. 22, a. 1; In V Metaphysic.,
lect. 20, n. 1067: "Et ideo magis proprie dicitur pati, cum
subtrahitur aliquid de eo quod sibi congruebat, et dum agitur in
ipso contraria dispositio, quam quando fit e contrario. Tunc
enim magis dicitur perfici." Cf. ibid., lect. 14, n. 958.
{30} "Si ergo passio proprie dicta aliquo modo ad animam
pertineat, hoc non est nisi secundum quod unitur corpori, et ita
per accidens." - Q.D. de ver.,
q. 26, a. 2.
{31} "Quando huiusmodi transmutatio fit in deterius, magis
proprie habet rationem passionis, quam quando fit in melius.
Unde tristitia magis proprie est passio quam laetitia."- IaIIae, q. 22, a. 1.
{32} Cf. IaIIae, q.
22, a. 1, ad 1.
{33} IaIIae, q. 22, a.
1.
{34} Cf. Q.D. de ver.,
q. 26, a. 3.
{35} IaIIae, q. 22, a.
2.
{36} Ibid.,
cf. ad 1: "Et sic etiam in priori vi animae, scilicet
apprehensiva, invenitur minus de ratione passionis."
{37} IaIIae, q. 22, a.
3.
{38} In II de anima,
lect. 10, n. 350.
{39} Ibid., lect. 11,
n. 366.
{40} In III de anima,
lect. 7, nn. 675-6: "Ex hoc autem sequitur quod cum sentire sit
quoddam pati a sensibili, ait aliquid simile passioni, quod
intelligere sit vel pati aliquod ab intelligibile, vel aliquid
alterum huiusmodi, scilicet passioni. Horum autem duorum
secundum verius est."
{41} In II Ethic.,
lect. 5, n. 291.
{42} In VII Physic.,
lect. 4, n. 1833.
{43} "...passio aequivoce in anima sicut et actio..." - Q.D. de anima, a.6, ad 7.
{44} Q.D. de ver., q. 4, a. 1,
ad 8; cf. I Sent., d.
27, q. 2, a. 1, obj. 1.
{45} Dicendum quod nomina imponuntur secundum quod cognitionem
de rebus accipimus. Et quia ea quae sunt posteriora in natura,
sunt ut plurium prius nota nobis, inde est quod frequenter
secundum nominis impositionem, aliquando nomen prius in aliquo
duorum invenitur in quo um altero res significata per nomen
prius existit; sicut patet de nominibus quae dicuntur de Deo et
creaturis, ut ens, et bonum et huiusmodi, quae prius fuerunt
creaturis imposita, et ex his ad divinam praedicationem
translata, quamvis esse et bonum prius inveniantur in Deo."
- Q.D. de ver.,
q. 4. a. 1. Notice the use of translata
which indicates that the word is not restricted to describe
metaphorical uses of terms.
{46} I. Sent., d. 27,
q. 2, a. 1, ad 1.
{47} Ia, q. 34, a. 1.
{48} Q.D. de ver., q.
4, a. 1.
{49} Cf. In evang. Ioann.,
cap. 1, lect. 1, nn. 25-6.
{50} In Periherm.,
proem., n. 3.
{51} In I Periherm.,
lect. 4, n. 3; "Operationes enim animales dicuntur, quae ex
imaginatione procedunt. Et sic patet quod vox non est percussio
respirati aeris, sicut accidit in tussi. Sed id cui
principaliter attribuitur causa generationis vocis, est anima,
quae utitur isto aere, scilicet isto acre, scilicet respirato,
ad verberandum arem, qui est in arteria, ad ipsam arteriam. Aer
ergo non est principale in vocis formatione, sed anima quae
utitur aere, ut instrumento, ad vocem formandum." - In II de anima, lect. 18,
n. 477. This would seem to be that first form of the word
mentioned by St Albert, In
praedicament., tract. 1, cap. 2; the second form would
be that which makes it a vox
significativa ad placitum: cf. St Thomas, In I Periherm., lect. 4, n.
3.
{52} Q.D. de ver., q.
4, a. 1. The production of the artifact which is the word
involves a practical syllogism, as St Thomas explains elsewhere:
"...ut quasi videatur esse quidam syllogismus cujus in parte
intellectiva habeatur major universalis, et in parte sensitiva
habeatur minor particularis, per virtutem motivam imperatam;
ipsa enim operatio se habet in operabilibus sicut conclusio in
speculativis..." - I Sent.,
d. 27, q. 2, a. 1.
{53} Ia, q. 34, a. 1.
{54} I Contra Gentes,
cap. 34.
{55} In V Metaphysic.,
lect 5, n. 825; cf. Q.D. de
malo, q. 1, a. 5, ad 19.
{56} Sic igitur, quia ex rebus aliis in Dei cognitionem
pervenimus, res nominum de Deo et rebus aliis dictorum per prius
est in Deo secundum suum modum, sed ratio nominis per posterius.
Unde et nominari dicitur a suis causatis." - I Contra Genes, cap. 34.
{57} In I
Contra Gentes, cap. 34 nn. IV-V.
{58} I Ctntra Gentes,
cap. 34.
{59} Cf. In Scti Pauli epist.
ad Ephesios, cap. 3, lect. 4 apropos of "Ex quo omnis
paternitas in caelis et in terra nominatur."
{60} Q.D. de ver., q.
4, a. 1, ad 7: "...ratio signi per prius convenit effectui quam
causae, quando causa est effectui causa essendi, non autem
significandi, sicut in exemplo proposito accidit. Sed quando
effectus habet a causa non solum quod sit, sed etiam quod
significet, tunc, sicut causa est prius quam effectus in
essendo, ita in significando; et ideo verbum intnc, sicut causa
est prius quam effectus in essendo, ita in significando; et ideo
verbum interius per prius habet rationem significationis quam
verbum exterius, quia verbum exterius non instituitur ad
significandum nisi per interius verbum" Mention must be made
here of the remarkaable series of articles by Bernard Lonergan,
S.J., "The Concept of Verbum
in the Writings of St Thomas Aquinas," Theological Studies, VII (1946), pp. 349-92;
VIII (1947), pp. 35-79, 404-44; X (1949), pp. 3-40, 359-93.
These articles form the textual background for Fr. Lonergan's
ambitious tome, Insight,
Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1957. Whatever one may think
of the author's assessment of St Thomas and of his own fairly
independent views, the articles mentioned are a veritable
thesaurus of texts with often penetrating comments. For a
critique which captures some of the flamboyant style of its
target, see Cornelius Ryan Fay, "Fr. Lonergan and the
Participation School," The
New Scholasticism, XXXIV (1960), pp. 461-87.
{61} Il Sent., d. 13,
q. 1, a. 2.
{62} Cf. In
V Metaphysic., lect. 5, nn. 825-6.
{63} Ia, q. 16, a. 6.
{64} Ia, q. 34, a. 1.
{65} I Contra Gentes,
cap. 34.
{66} So too moral virtue is virtue communius. Cf. Q.D. de ver., q.
14, a. 3, ad 1. {67} Ia, q. 34, a. 1. {68} Q.D. de ver., q. 1, a. 4.
© 2011 by the Estate of Ralph McInerny.
All rights reserved including the right to
translate or reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form.