68. Matter, Form, and the Immateriality of the Soul

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Question: Does the Soul Have Matter? #

• Objections claim the soul must have matter to exist and have a cause
• Some Church Fathers confused about how to express that the soul is not pure act
• Thomas’s response: the soul has no matter, neither corporeal nor ‘spiritual matter’
• The distinction between composition of matter-form versus substance-existence

The Problem of Equivocation: ‘Receiving’ Forms #

• Material reception: Matter receives form by losing its previous form (per se corruption)
• Immaterial reception: The soul understands one contrary without excluding the opposite
  • Example: The doctor knows both health and sickness simultaneously
  • Example: The moral philosopher knows both virtue and vice
• This is equivocation by reason (not by chance) because there is real likeness between the meanings
• Equivocation by reason is more deceptive than equivocation by chance (e.g., ‘bat’ as animal vs. sports equipment)

Act, Potency, and Form #

• Form is act; matter is pure potency
• Form insofar as it is form is an act; therefore matter cannot be part of form
• Aristotle often uses ‘act’ (ἐνέργεια/energeia) instead of ‘form’ in definitions
• The soul is the first act (πρῶτος ἐνέργεια) of a natural body

The Composition of Substance and Existence in Angels and the Soul #

• In God: essence and existence are identical (“I AM WHO I AM”)
• In angels and the soul: substance and existence are NOT the same
• The soul relates to its existence as potency (δύναμις/dynamis) to act
• This composition (substance-existence) is different from composition of matter-form
• When compared to us, angels appear as pure act, but compared to God, they are in potency
• Satan likely the highest angel because he could be so enamored with himself (implied great excellence)

Form and Matter: The Word Analogy #

• A word (e.g., ‘cat’) is made of letters (c-a-t) BUT the order/arrangement is not made of letters
• If the order itself were made of letters, two different orders of the same letters would need another order to distinguish them (infinite regress)
• Therefore: form/order is not made out of that of which matter is made
• The matter of a word (letters) is not part of the form (order)
• Applied to soul: the matter in which the soul is is not part of the soul

The Sphere and Cube Example #

• A clay sphere and clay cube have the same material (clay) but different forms (shape)
• The shapes are not made out of clay; the shapes are that by which the word/composite is made
• Form and matter are distinct principles, not parts of each other

Key Arguments #

Against Matter in the Soul #

From the Definition of Soul

• The soul is a form by definition (it is the form of some body)
• If the soul were composed of matter and form, either:
  • The whole soul is form (then no part can be matter)
  • Part of it is form and part is matter (then that matter would itself be the animated thing, not the soul)
• Matter, insofar as it is in potency only, cannot be part of act
• Therefore, the soul has no matter

From the Understanding Soul’s Reception of Forms

• Whatever is received is received according to the mode of the receiver (ἔχομεν παράδοσις)
• The understanding soul knows things universally and absolutely (not individually)
• Therefore, the form of stone (and all things) exists in the understanding soul according to its formal definition, not as individual
• If the understanding soul were composed of matter and form, forms received in it would be received as individual (because matter is the source of individuation)
• But the understanding soul knows universally, not singularly (as the senses know singulars)
• Therefore, the understanding soul is not composed of matter and form

From Comparison to Sensory Powers

• The sensing powers receive forms in bodily organs
• These forms are received as individual because matter is the principle of individuation
• Matter (as extended/continuous, διαιρετόν/diairetón) is the source of there being many individuals of the same kind
• The understanding does not work this way; it receives universal forms
• Therefore, the understanding soul lacks matter

From the Aristotelian Principle

• Aristotle: The understanding must be capable of receiving all intelligible forms
• Therefore, it cannot have the nature of any material thing (lest it be limited to that one nature)
• The senses lack the sensible quality they receive (the eye lacks color to receive color)
• The understanding must lack matter to receive all forms

Important Definitions #

Reception (Receptio) #

• Material reception: The matter acquires a form and loses its previous form; the receiver is actualized as a subject
• Immaterial reception: The form is received without the receiver becoming limited; understanding one contrary helps understand the opposite

Form (Forma) #

• That which is act (ἐνέργεια)
• That which gives being and determination to matter
• In definition and essence (κατὰ τὸν λόγον/kata ton logon)
• Form per se is not composed of matter
• The soul is a substantial form

Matter (Ὕλη/Hyle) #

• That which is pure potency (δυναμις/dynamis)
• Has existence only through the form it receives
• Receives form through an agent acting upon it
• Source of individuation (when extended/quantified)
• First matter (πρώτη ὕλη) has no form of its own

Individuation (Individuatio) #

• The principle making something one individual rather than another of the same kind
• Matter, especially as extended and continuous, is the principle of individuation
• Why there can be many identical chairs (multiple instances of the same form in different matter)

Subsistence (Subsistentia) #

• Having existence by oneself, not merely as modification of something else
• The human soul is subsistent (can exist independently of body in understanding and willing)
• Contrasted with accidents and material forms dependent on another for existence

Composition of Substance and Existence #

• In all creatures (angels and human souls): substance ≠ existence
• The soul/angel is to its existence as potency is to act
• Differs from material composition (substance-matter and form)
• Thomas discusses this at length in Summa (a chapter devoted to differences between these compositions)

Examples & Illustrations #

The Teacher and Reception According to Receiver #

• A teacher gives a lecture to ten students
• Some grasp it better than others
• The same teaching is received differently according to each student’s capacity
• Each thing is known as its form is in the knower

The Doctor and Health/Sickness #

• The doctor knows both health and sickness at the same time
• Understanding one contrary helps understanding the other (unlike material reception)
• Shows immaterial reception operates differently from material reception

The Moral Philosopher #

• Knows virtue and vice simultaneously
• Another example of how the understanding soul can hold opposites without exclusion

The Cat Word Example (Detailed) #

• Word ‘cat’ is made of letters c, a, t
• Word ‘act’ is made of same letters (numerically different, but same ‘stuff’)
• Two different orders of same letters
• Are the two orders themselves made of letters? If so, they differ by another order (infinite regress)
• Solution: The order is not made of the letters; the order of the letters is not a part made out of which the order is made
• Applied: Matter of the soul is not part of the soul’s form

The Wooden Table and Wooden Chair #

• Made of same wood but different forms (table-shape vs. chair-shape)
• The shapes are not made out of wood
• The wood is that of which (the matter) these composites are made
• Form is not composed of matter

The Clay Sphere and Clay Cube #

• Both clay but different shapes
• The shapes are not made of clay
• If they were, their difference would need another form of form (infinite regress)
• Better to say the shapes are not made of clay
• Shows matter and form are not parts of each other

The Hand as Intrinsic Tool vs. The Pen as Extrinsic Tool #

• A hand is part of the body, intrinsically joined
• A pen is used but not part of the person
• The soul is to the body as intrinsic tool
• This illustrates intimate union while maintaining distinction

Anaxagoras and the Greater Mind #

• Anaxagoras arrives at the concept of a greater mind that moves and orders matter
• Berquist notes: This is an angelic mind, not divine
• A mind that acts on matter but doesn’t bring matter into existence
• Compared to us, it seems divine, but compared to God, it is not
• Shows the danger of proportion: something great relative to us seems infinite, but it is not

The Ape, Man, and God (Heraclitus) #

• Fragment: “As an ape is to a man, so is a man to God”
• Alternative: “As a boy is to a man, so is a man to God”
• Man is the ‘wise ape’ (homo sapiens) compared to other animals
• But man is practically ignorant compared to God
• Shows no contradiction: different proportions of comparison

The Boy and Father #

• A little boy thinks daddy knows everything
• To the boy, father appears wise
• Shows how what appears godlike to us (an angel) is not godlike compared to God
• Explains why meeting a guardian angel after death might seem to be meeting God (but isn’t)

St. Paul Refusing Divine Honors #

• At Ephesus, priests and people wanted to sacrifice to him
• Paul tore his clothes: “I’m not a god” (cf. Acts 14:14-15)
• Shows angels should likewise refuse such confusion
• Satan’s pride (if he was the highest angel) made sense because of his excellence

Objections and Responses #

Objection: If the soul has no matter, it must be pure act (like God) #

Response:

• The soul is form only, so compared to us it seems like pure act
• But compared to God, it is NOT pure act
• In God: essence and existence are identical
• In the soul: substance and existence are distinct (substance-existence composition)
• This composition is different from matter-form composition
• The soul is in potency to its existence (relates as potency to act)
• Augustine proved (Genesis Commentary) the soul is made neither from corporeal matter nor from any kind of ‘spiritual matter’

Objection: From Aristotle’s Metaphysics VIII #

• “Things without matter have no cause of their being”
• “But the soul has a cause (created by God)”
• “Therefore the soul has matter”

Response:

• In material things, matter has existence through form by being acted upon by an agent
• A form not in matter would not depend on another transforming matter for its being
• But it might depend on a creator (which the soul does)
• These are different kinds of dependence
• Forms only (angels, soul) don’t come to be through matter’s transformation but through creation

Objection: Form only = Pure Act = God #

• “Pure act and infinite is God only”
• “But the soul is form only”
• “Therefore the soul has matter”

Response:

• Form is act, but this doesn’t make the soul pure act in God’s sense
• Comparison to God reveals the soul is in potency to existence
• Compared to us, angels appear to be pure act
• Compared to God, neither angels nor soul are pure act
• Example: Anaxagoras’s ‘greater mind’ seems divine compared to us but isn’t
• The soul’s composition of substance-existence (not matter-form) shows it is not pure act

Questions Addressed #

Primary Questions #

1. Does the human soul have matter?

   • No. The soul, being form and principle of understanding, cannot have matter either corporeal or ‘spiritual’

2. How can the soul be immaterial yet depend on God?

   • Dependence on a creator (for existence) differs from dependence on matter being transformed
   • Material things depend on agents transforming matter; immaterial forms depend on creation

3. If the soul is form only, isn’t it pure act like God?

   • No. Only in comparison to us does it appear so. Compared to God, the soul is in potency to its existence
   • The composition of substance-existence differs from the composition of matter-form
   • In God alone, essence and existence are identical

4. How can the understanding soul know universals if forms are received in it?

   • Unlike material reception (which individualizes), immaterial reception preserves universality
   • The understanding receives forms absolutely (according to their definition), not as individual
   • Understanding one contrary helps understand the opposite (unlike material reception)

5. Isn’t saying the soul is ‘form only’ equivalent to saying it’s not composed of anything?

   • No. It is not composed of matter and form, but all created beings (including the soul) are composed of substance and existence
   • This is a different composition from matter-form

Notable Quotes #

“The soul does not have matter, and this is able to be considered in two ways: first from the definition of the soul in general…”

“Form insofar as it is a form is an act; therefore that which is in potency only is not able to be a part of act, since potency is repugnant to act.”

“Whatever is received in something is received in it according to the way of the receiver.”

“The form of stone, absolutely speaking, according to its formal definition, is in the understanding soul.”

“An angel compared to us seems godlike, but compared to God, no.”

“So you’re going to go on forever [with infinite regress], so you must stop at the beginning there and say that the order of the letters is not made out of the letters.”

“Not the thing is singular when sensed, but universal when understood.” (Boethius, as cited by Thomas)