103. Understanding as a Power of the Soul

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Core Question #

• Is the understanding (intellectus) a power (potentia/ability) of the soul, or the essence (essentia) itself?
• Thomas argues it is a power, not the essence
• This distinction is foundational for understanding the soul’s nature and operations

The Principle of Proportionality #

The Foundational Argument:

• Just as being relates to nature as doing relates to ability, a proportion holds:
  • Being (esse) : Nature (essentia) :: Doing (agere) : Ability to do (potentia)
• If being and doing were identical, then nature and ability would be identical
• But being and understanding are not the same in creatures
• Therefore, nature and ability to understand are not the same

The Practical Implication:

• We are all the time (continuous existence)
• We do not always understand (understanding is intermittent)
• This asymmetry shows that understanding is something additional to our being
• Therefore, the ability to understand must be something additional to our nature

God as Pure Act (Actus Purus) #

• In God alone, being and understanding are identical
• God has no composition; He is purely actual with no potentiality
• All divine attributes (simplicity, perfection, infinity, immutability) follow from this
• The Word of God (Son) exists in God’s understanding, and since God’s understanding is His being, the Word is God
• The Holy Spirit proceeds from God’s love/will, and since God’s willing is His being, the Spirit is God
• In creatures, even angels: to be and to understand are not identical

The Unity of Multiple Powers #

• The soul has diverse powers: nutrition, sensation, understanding, will
• These diverse powers (appetitive and intellectual) unite in the one essence of the soul from which they flow
• They are not unified in a single power, but in the substance that possesses them
• Understanding and will are distinct powers with distinct operations, though both are rational powers

Terminology and Equivocation #

• Intellectus (understanding/intellect) is used equivocally in Latin to mean:
  • The act of understanding
  • The power/ability to understand
  • The soul that possesses understanding (the understanding soul)
• Augustine uses “mind” (mens) to name the substance (the immaterial soul), not specifically the power
• The understanding soul is named by its chief power, understanding, but this is the soul itself, not the power in isolation
• Similar equivocation occurs with “sense” (sensus): sometimes names the power, sometimes the sensing soul

Key Arguments #

Argument for Understanding as Power (Thomas’s Position) #

1. Being and understanding are not identical in creatures
2. By the principle of proportionality: being : nature :: doing : ability
3. If being and understanding were identical, nature and ability would be identical
4. But since being ≠ understanding in creatures, nature ≠ ability to understand
5. Therefore, understanding must be a power, not the essence of the soul

Objections and Responses #

Objection 1: Augustine says the mind IS the essence

• Response: Augustine uses “mind” to name the immaterial substance, not the power itself
• The understanding soul is named by its chief power but that doesn’t make the power identical to the essence
• Compare: the sensing soul is named by its chief power (sense) but the power of sensation is not identical to the soul’s essence

Objection 2: Diverse powers (understanding and will) seem to require diverse genera

• Response: Understanding and will are diverse powers but they unite in the one essence of the soul
• The appetitive power partly follows understanding (the will) and partly follows sensation (sense desires/emotions)
• They flow from a single source but have distinct operations and objects

Objection 3: Angels are called “minds” or “understandings”

• Response: This names the substance (an understanding substance), not the power in isolation
• Angels are so named because their entire power consists essentially in understanding and will
• Even for angels, to be and to understand are not identical (unlike God)

Objection 4: The soul is immaterial; therefore it understands by its nature

• Response: Immateriality is the condition for understanding, not identical with understanding itself
• From the immaterial nature flows the power to understand
• Immateriality enables understanding but is not itself the power of understanding

Important Definitions #

Power (Potentia) / Ability #

• A proximate source of operation
• Distinct from essence in creatures (but not in God)
• In the category of quality (second species of quality: natural power/ability)
• A natural property that flows from the essence

Act (Actus) vs. Potentiality (Potentia) #

• Act: the realization or exercise of an ability
• Potentiality/Ability: the capacity to perform an operation
• In creatures: ability precedes act (we can understand before we actually understand)
• In God: act is prior to ability; God is pure act with no unrealized potentiality

Being (Esse) vs. Essence (Essentia) #

• Essence: what a thing is (its nature, quiddity)
• Being/Existence: that it is (its act of existing)
• In creatures: these are really distinct (real composition)
• In God: identical (complete unity/simplicity)

Understanding (Intellectus) #

• The act of grasping intelligible forms
• The power/ability that enables this act
• Can also name the soul capable of understanding
• Contrasts with sense knowledge: understanding grasps what sense cannot directly perceive (e.g., that someone is alive, relations between things)

Examples & Illustrations #

The Problem with Greek Generals (Opening Example) #

• Agamemnon kisses a woman who comes to the Greek camp
• Odysseus says: “She’s been kissed by the general, but she hasn’t been kissed in general yet”
• This puns on two senses of “general”:
  • General (particular person): Agamemnon, the commander
  • General (universal predicate): that which applies to all instances
• Shows how confusion about senses of words can lead to logical confusion
• The common sense (sensus communis) is not “common in predication” (said of all) but rather “common” as a common source/root to which all particular sensations are referred

Discriminating Between Sensations #

• Private senses can discriminate within their own domain (sight distinguishes white from black/green; taste distinguishes sweet from bitter)
• Private senses cannot discriminate between objects of different senses (sight cannot distinguish white from sweet; taste cannot distinguish white from sweet)
• Reason: To discriminate between two things, one must know both
• Necessity of common sense: If we discriminate the whiteness of sugar from the sweetness of sugar, the changes (immutations) from all outward senses must come back to a common center (the common sense/central sense)
• Anatomical confirmation: Evidence suggests this common center is in the brain

Self-Perception and Consciousness #

• The outward senses can perceive their own act through the common sense (we know that we see)
• The private sense alone cannot do this
• This requires the common sense because the private sense only knows the sensible form that perfects it

Questions Addressed #

Question 79, Article 1: Is Understanding a Power of the Soul? #

The Question: Is understanding the essence of the soul or a power flowing from it?

Thomas’s Answer: Understanding is a power (ability), not the essence

The Reasoning:

• The principle of proportionality: being : nature :: doing : ability
• Since to be ≠ to understand in creatures, nature ≠ ability to understand
• Therefore understanding is a power, an accident in the category of quality
• The essence is in the category of substance; the power is in the category of quality

Why Not in God?

• In God, being and understanding are identical
• Therefore God’s understanding is His essence/nature
• God has no accidents; all perfections are identical with His substance
• This is why the Word (God’s Understanding) and Holy Spirit (God’s Love) are God, not accidents of God

How Can Multiple Powers Unite in One Soul? #

• Powers are diverse according to diverse objects and definitions
• But all powers flow from the single essence of the soul
• They are unified not in a single power but in their source (the soul’s essence)
• Example: nutrition, sensation, understanding, and will all flow from the one human soul

What is the Relationship Between Understanding and Will? #

• The will is the rational appetite that follows upon understanding
• Just as sense appetite (emotion) follows sense knowledge, intellectual appetite (will) follows intellectual knowledge
• Both are powers of the rational soul but with distinct operations
• Understanding knows; will chooses/desires based on what understanding presents as good
• Unlike understanding, will is not a passive power (power acted upon); it is an active power (though moved by what is understood as good)