Of God and His Creatures
That all Things seek good, even Things devoid of
Consciousness
As the heavenly sphere is moved by a subsistent intelligence (Chap.
XXIII), and the movement of the heavenly sphere is directed to
generation in sublunary creatures, the generations and and movements of
these sublunary creatures must originate in the thought of that
subsistent intelligence. Now the intention of the prime agent and of
the instrument is bent upon the same end. The heavenly spheres then
(coelum) are the cause of sublunary motions by virtue of their
own motion, which is impressed upon them by a spirit. It follows that
the heavenly spheres are the instrument of spirit. Spirit then is the
prime agent, causing and intending the forms and motions of sublunary
bodies; while the heavenly spheres are the instruments of the same.
But the intellectual outlines of all that is caused and intended by an
intelligent agent must pre-exist in his mind, as the forms of works of
art pre-exist in the mind of the artificer, and from that mind (et
ex eo) those forms must pass into the things made. All the forms
then that are in sublunary creatures, and all their motions, are
determined by the forms that are in the mind of some subsistent
intelligence, or intelligences. Therefore Boethius says that the forms
which are in matter have come from forms apart from matter. In this
respect the saying of Plato is verified, that forms existing apart are
the originating principles of the forms that are in matter: only, Plato
supposed these forms to subsist by themselves, and to be immediate
causes of the forms of sensible things; we suppose them to exist in a
mind, and to cause sublunary forms through the instrumentality of the
motion of the heavenly spheres.
Thus it is not difficult to see how natural bodies, devoid of
intelligence, move and act for an end. For they tend to their end,
being directed thereto by a subsistent intelligence, in the way that an
arrow tends to its end, directed by the archer: as the arrow from the
impulse of the archer, so do natural bodies receive their inclination
to their natural ends from natural moving causes, whence they derive
their forms and virtues and motions. Hence it is plain that every work
of nature is the work of a subsistent intelligence.* The credit of an effect rests by preference
with the prime mover, who guides instruments to their purpose, rather
than with the instruments which he guides. Thus we find the operations
of nature proceeding in due course and order to an end, like the the
operations of a wise man. It is evident therefore that even agents
devoid of consciousness can work for an end, and strive after good with
a natural appetite, and seek the divine likeness and their own
perfection. It is further evident that, the more perfect the power and
the more eminent the degree of goodness, the more general is the
appetite for good, and the more distant from self are the objects for
which good is sought and unto which good is done. For imperfect beings
tend solely to the good of the individual; perfect beings to the good
of the species; more perfect beings to the good of the genus; and God,
who is the most perfect in goodness, to the good of all being. Hence
some say, not without reason, that goodness as such is diffusive of
itself.
3.21 : That things aim at Likeness to God in being Causes of other things
3.25 : That the End of every Subsistent Intelligence is to understand God