Recent speculations on the 'subconscious' have shown that conscious and unconscious action do not stand so widely apart as a superficial observation would conclude. St Thomas here, and often elsewhere, with Aristotle (see Physics, II, v, 2), bridges over the difference between them, arguing the operations of conscious and of unconscious nature to be both teleological. But is there an agent whose intention or contrivance extends throughout all nature? That is the argument of B. I, Chap. XIII, where 'prime mover' means at once 'prime executor' and 'prime contriver.'

Of God and His Creatures: 3.16