93. The Soul's Powers: Substance, Form, and Natural Emanation

Subscribe in Podcast App | Download Transcript

Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Soul as Substantial Form #

• The soul is neither a complete substance (Socratic view) nor an accidental form (Simmian view), but a substantial form
• Substantial form makes something “be simply” (esse simpliciter) - e.g., at conception one comes to be absolutely
• Accidental form makes something “be in a certain way” (esse secundum quid) - e.g., becoming healthy or learned is qualified being
• The soul’s subject is prime matter (pure potency); accidental form’s subject is already an actual being
• Substantial form causes being and actuality to its subject; accidental form is caused by the actuality of its subject
• The composite of soul and body is an act, already constituted as an actual being

The Question: Do Powers Flow from the Soul’s Essence? #

• Article 6: Whether the powers of the soul flow from its essence/nature
• The soul’s powers are like properties (proper accidents) that necessarily follow from what the soul is
• This is distinct from extrinsic accidents, which come from outside the thing
• Powers flow from the soul’s nature as a natural result, not through change or transmutation

Natural Emanation vs. Motion #

• Emanatio (emanation/flowing): Natural resulting of properties from a nature, not a temporal process
• The flowing of proper accidents from a subject occurs through natural resulting, like light flowing from the sun
• This is simultaneous with the nature from which it flows, not a succession
• The soul does not change itself to have these powers; rather, having them is what naturally flows from what the soul is

Multiplicity from Unity #

• From one simple nature, many diverse things can proceed in a certain order and through diversity of receptors
• Trinity analogy: From the Father proceeds the Son; from Father and Son proceeds the Holy Spirit - showing ordered procession from unity
• In the soul: The will may proceed from reason; higher powers direct lower powers
• The body’s diverse organs receive the soul’s powers in diverse ways

Key Arguments #

Against Powers Flowing from Essence - Three Objections #

Objection 1: From one simple thing, diverse things cannot naturally proceed

• The soul is one and simple; the powers are many and diverse
• Therefore powers cannot proceed from the soul’s nature
• Response: From one simple thing, many things proceed naturally in an ordered way and through diversity of receptors
  • Trinity exemplifies: ordered procession from Father to Son to Holy Spirit
  • The soul’s powers proceed through both ordered hierarchy and different bodily organs

Objection 2: The soul cannot be a cause of its powers

• From one simple thing, no causes are evident
• Response: The subject is a cause of its proper accidents in multiple ways:
  • As final cause (end/purpose) - powers exist for the soul’s perfection
  • As active cause (like a mover or maker) - the soul produces its powers
  • As material cause (for some powers) - the soul receives them as subject
  • Understanding and will are received in the soul; sensation and nutrition are received in the composite

Objection 3: Nothing moves itself; emanation implies motion

• “Emanation” suggests a motion or change in the soul
• Motion requires a subject moved and a mover; the soul cannot be both
• Response: Emanation is not through change but through natural resulting (consequential flowing)
  • Just as light naturally results from the sun without the sun changing
  • Just as opposite angles naturally result from straight lines intersecting without the lines changing

The Geometric Analogy - Natural Resulting #

• Intersecting straight lines: Opposite angles are equal
  • This equality is not imposed by external force but naturally results from the lines being straight
  • The cause of the equality is the nature of the intersecting lines themselves
• Triangle: Interior angles equal two right angles
  • This property naturally follows from the triangle’s nature, not through any change
• Number two: Being a half of four, a third of six, a fourth of eight
  • These relations naturally follow from the nature of two

Important Definitions #

Substantial Form vs. Accidental Form #

Property (Proper Accident) vs. Extrinsic Accident #

• Property: An accident necessarily following from the essence; has its cause in the nature of the subject
  • Examples: equality of opposite angles (from intersecting lines); powers of the soul (from soul’s nature)
• Extrinsic Accident: An accident coming from outside; not caused by the subject’s nature
  • Examples: green or yellow color on a triangle; a wound inflicted by a knife

Emanatio (Emanation) #

• Natural flowing or resulting of properties from a thing’s nature
• Simultaneous, not temporal; no motion or change involved
• Analogous to light flowing from the sun or colors resulting from light

Examples & Illustrations #

The Intersecting Lines Theorem #

• When two straight lines intersect, opposite angles are equal
• This is not externally imposed; it naturally follows from the lines being straight
• Definition of right angle: When a straight line meets another straight line making equal angles
• The straightness of the lines is the cause of the equality of angles
• The property (equal angles) is not in the definition of intersecting lines but flows from it

The Triangle #

• Interior angles of a triangle equal two right angles
• This property naturally follows from the triangle’s nature
• It is not imposed from outside but results from what a triangle is

The Number Two #

• Half of four, third of six, fourth of eight all naturally follow from being two
• These relations are properties that result from the essence “two”
• No external cause gives these properties; they are intrinsic

The Hospital Example (Powers as Properties) #

• Some students know Berquist as a philosopher
• Some students know him as a grandfather
• Neither group has false knowledge, though their knowledge is incomplete
• One property is knowable without the other, yet both are really true
• Order of knowledge can differ from order of reality
• If one said “this philosopher is not a grandfather,” that would be false
• But knowing one property without the other involves no falsity

Bathing at Bath, England #

• Tremendous amount of naturally flowing hot water from underground source
• Constant temperature, enabling bathing
• Natural emanation/flowing of water from the earth, continuously producing it
• Used as illustration of natural emanatio - something continuously flowing from a source without the source changing

Questions Addressed #

Q: How can one simple nature (the soul) give rise to many diverse powers? A: Through ordered procession (like the Trinity) and through diversity of bodily receptors. The powers proceed from the soul in a hierarchical order, and different organs receive these powers in different ways.

Q: Is the soul a cause of its powers? If so, what kind of cause? A: Yes, in multiple ways: (1) Final cause - the powers perfect the soul; (2) Efficient/active cause - the soul produces them like a mover; (3) Material cause - the soul (or composite) receives some powers as subject.

Q: If emanation means “flowing,” doesn’t that imply the soul is changing or moving? A: No. Emanation is natural resulting, not motion. Just as light flows from the sun without the sun changing, or as angles result from straight lines intersecting without the lines changing, the powers result from the soul’s nature without any change in the soul itself.

Q: Are the powers proper accidents or extrinsic accidents? A: Proper accidents (properties). They have their cause in the soul’s essence and necessarily follow from it. Extrinsic accidents (like color) come from outside and are not caused by the subject’s nature.

Q: How does this relate to Plato vs. Aristotle? A: Plato held that the mind’s way of knowing must match the way things are. Aristotle held it need not. One can know things in separation that don’t exist in separation (e.g., mathematical objects), in an order different from reality (effects before causes), and without falsity provided one doesn’t attribute one’s order of knowing to the order of reality itself.