22. The Category of Relation and Its Foundations

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Category of Relation (Ad Aliquid) #

• Definition: Things whose whole being or nature is to be toward another
• Weakness of being: Relations are the most remote from substance among the accidents
• Relations exist only toward another, not in themselves
• Examples: double/half, taller/shorter, father/son, master/slave

Two Definitions of Relation #

First Definition (Platonic/Broad) #

• “Those things which in what they are are said to be of another or toward another in some way”
• Too broad because it includes parts of substances (hand of body, heart of body)
• Problem: Would dissolve substance into mere relations
• Includes both types of relations indiscriminately

Second Definition (Aristotelian/Proper) #

• “Those whose whole being or nature is to be toward something”
• Properly restricts the genus to pure relations
• Excludes things fundamentally substantial or qualitative that happen to have relations
• Preserves substance as real and fundamental

Relative Secundum Esse vs. Relative Secundum Dici #

Relative Secundum Esse (Essential Relations) #

• Whole nature is to be toward another
• Nothing in itself; only meaningful in relation
• Examples: double, half, taller, shorter, equal, unequal
• Properly placed in the category of relation

Relative Secundum Dici (Accidental Relations) #

• Said to be of another but fundamentally something else
• Primarily in another category (quality, quantity, action/passion)
• Have relations following upon them as consequences
• Examples: knowledge (fundamentally quality), power/ability (fundamentally quality), father/son (fundamentally based on action/generation)
• Should not be placed primarily in the category of relation

Real Relations vs. Relations of Reason #

Real Relations #

• Have a foundation in the thing itself
• In creatures: founded on quantity (taller/shorter), quality (knowledge), or action/passion (father/son)
• In God: identical with divine substance (fatherhood = divine nature)
• Example: Knowledge is really related to the knower

Relations of Reason #

• No foundation in the thing; arise from mind’s comparison
• Examples: right/left on a pillar, genus/species
• Exist only in the mind, not in external reality
• Still capable of truth-value (e.g., “nothing is nothing” is true)

Why Thomas Says Some Relations Are Real and Some Are of Reason Only #

• Relations with real foundation: Double and half have a real foundation in quantity; father and son have real foundation in action (generation)
• Relations with reason foundation only: Right and left on a pillar have no intrinsic foundation in the pillar; genus and species are relations existing only when the mind abstracts the universal from the singular

Key Arguments #

Why the Second Definition Is Necessary #

1. The first definition includes things that are not properly relations
2. A part is always part of a whole, but this doesn’t make it fundamentally a relation
3. Parts are fundamentally substantial or qualitative; the relation of part to whole follows upon their nature
4. The second definition restricts relation to things whose whole nature is toward another
5. This preserves both the reality of substance and the proper genus of relation

How Relations Are Founded in Creatures #

1. Relations require a foundation in the subject
2. This foundation is either quantity, quality, or action/passion
3. Example: My being taller than you is founded in my quantity (my height)
4. Example: My being a father is founded in my action of generation
5. The relation ceases when the foundation changes (if my child grows taller, I am no longer taller)

How Relations Exist in God Without Being Accidents #

1. In creatures, accidents exist in a subject; relations exist toward another
2. In God, the relation (e.g., fatherhood) is identical with the divine substance
3. Therefore, God’s relations are real without being accidents
4. This explains how Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are truly distinct yet one God
5. The change occurs in creatures (creation), not in God

Important Definitions #

Relation (ad aliquid) #

“That whose whole being or nature is to be toward something”

Relative Secundum Esse #

A thing whose entire nature consists in being referred to another; has no being in itself; only meaningful in relation

Relative Secundum Dici #

A thing said to be of another but whose fundamental nature is something else, primarily belonging to another category (substance, quality, quantity, action/passion)

Being of Reason (ens rationis) #

Existence only in the mind, not in external reality; still capable of truth-value

Foundation (Fundamentum) #

The real basis in a thing that grounds a relation; in creatures: quantity, quality, or action/passion; in God: the divine substance itself

Examples & Illustrations #

Double and Half #

• Pure relations with no being in themselves
• “How much is double?” - unanswerable without reference to another
• Four is double of two, but also half of eight
• Shows that relative terms have no absolute meaning

Knowledge #

• Fundamentally a quality (in the knower), not a pure relation
• Has a relation following upon it (to the known)
• Illustrates relative secundum dici
• Shows why knowledge is placed in quality, not relation

Father and Son #

• Fundamentally based on action (generation)
• Father generates son; this is a real action
• The relation follows upon the action
• Father/son relations in God are identical with divine substance

Right and Left on a Pillar #

• Relations of reason only
• The pillar has no intrinsic right or left
• Exist only relative to an observer
• No real foundation in the pillar itself

Height Comparison #

• I am taller than you
• Founded in my quantity (my height)
• Real relation because it has a real foundation
• If I grow taller than my child, the relation changes due to change in my quantity

Motion and Becoming #

• Growing is less being than the size one has achieved
• Motion is defined as “the act of what is able to be insofar as it’s able to be”
• Motion is a kind of imperfect being
• Child growing to five-foot-ten is different from being five-foot-ten

Negation and Non-Being #

• Being ignorant, blind, deaf are kinds of non-being (privations)
• Non-being is itself a kind of being (of reason)
• “Nothing is nothing” is a true statement about being of reason
• Shows how equivocal the word “being” is

Notable Quotes #

“Relation, as Thomas explains, is not an accident from its being alone toward something, because an accident is something that exists in another. Well, my relation is only toward another and has no foundation in me. That’s not an accident in me.”

“Relations are very hard to understand. Especially the in-laws.”

“The difficulty in knowing relation, you get hit at both ends. Because relations of Father and Son and Holy Spirit, they’re the difficulties in us, because your mind is not adequate to understanding those things. But in regular relations, the difficulty is in the thing itself—it hardly is.”

“Nothing is something in the mind only.”

“Philosophy is the only subject where you can get paid for talking about nothing.” (Attributed to Berquist’s teacher)

“In God, the relation (fatherhood) is identical with the divine substance. Therefore, God’s relations are real without being accidents.”

Questions Addressed #

Why does Aristotle treat relation after quality rather than in the natural order? #

• Because the Platonic definition confused relative secundum dici with relative secundum esse; Aristotle must clarify this distinction first

Is substance merely a collection of relations? #

• No. Parts of substance are fundamentally substantial or qualitative; the relation of part to whole follows upon their nature. The second definition prevents this confusion.

Is knowledge fundamentally a relation? #

• No. Knowledge is fundamentally a quality (in the knower). It has a relation following upon it (to the known), making it relative secundum dici.

Why is knowledge placed in the category of quality rather than relation? #

• Because knowledge, while having a relation to the known, has its essence or foundation in the knower as a quality. The relation follows upon the quality.

Can relations be real in creatures without being accidents? #

• No. In creatures, real relations must inhere in a subject and are therefore accidents. They have their foundation in another accident (quantity, quality, or action/passion).

How can God have real relations without being changed? #

• In God, relations are identical with the divine substance. Since God is unchanging and simple, the relations (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) are real but not accidents. The change occurs in creatures (creation), not in God.

What is the difference between relative secundum esse and relative secundum dici? #

• Relative secundum esse has its whole nature in being toward another (double, half). Relative secundum dici is fundamentally something else (quality, quantity, action) with relations following upon it (knowledge, power, father).

Can a relation cease to be without change in the relative thing itself? #

• Yes. If the thing to which it is referred changes, the relation ceases without change in the subject. Example: I am taller than my child, but when my child grows, I am no longer taller—the change is in my child, not in me.

Is “nothing” something? #

• Yes, in a limited sense. “Nothing” is a being of reason that exists only in the mind. Yet true statements can be made about it (“nothing is nothing”), showing how equivocal “being” is.