56. Act and Ability: Definition, Being, and Time

Subscribe in Podcast App | Download Transcript

Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Priority of Act Over Ability #

Aristotle establishes that act is prior to ability in three distinct senses:

In Definition: Ability cannot be defined except through the act for which it is an ability. We say “the builder is able to build” or “the visible is able to be seen”—the act (building, seeing) comes first in the definition. Therefore, knowledge of act precedes knowledge of ability.

In Being: Act can exist without ability, but ability cannot exist without act. What is able to be may never be actualized, but what is actualized necessarily was able to be. For example, bricks can exist without a brick wall, but a brick wall cannot exist without bricks.

In Time (with qualifications): This requires careful distinction. In individual things, ability temporally precedes act—the egg comes before the chicken. However, simply speaking, act is before ability even in time, because what moves from ability to act does so through something already in act.

The Critical Distinction: “Simply” vs. “In Some Way” #

Berquist emphasizes that Aristotle’s argument depends on a subtle but fundamental distinction:

• Simply (haplōs): what is true without qualification or limitation
• In Some Way (pōs): what is true only in a limited, imperfect, or conditional sense

Example: A student does not simply know geometry; rather, he knows it “in some way” before learning it fully. He can seek what he knows imperfectly. This distinction resolves Meno’s paradox and distinguishes the materialist error from correct philosophy.

The Causal Structure: What Moves from Ability to Act #

Aristotle’s key principle: “For always from what is in act comes to be what is in act.”

What passes from ability to act must be actualized by something already in act:

• Water (able to be hot) becomes actually hot through contact with something already hot
• The learner acquires knowledge through exposure to what is already known
• The builder is moved to build by already-existing forms and patterns

This establishes a causal hierarchy where act always precedes ability in the order of causation.

Implications for the First Cause #

If act is simply before ability, then the first cause must be pure act (actus purus) without any passive ability or potentiality. This refutes the early Greek materialists who made matter (pure ability) the first principle. Matter as pure ability cannot move itself or give rise to anything; only what is already in act can actualize what is in ability.

Key Arguments #

Argument from Definition #

• Ability is always defined through the act for which it is an ability
• Example: “The builder is able to build” defines ability by reference to the act of building
• If ability is known only through act, then act is prior in definition and knowledge
• Conclusion: Act is logically prior to ability

Argument from Causation (The Supreme Principle) #

• What moves from ability to act must be moved by something already in act
• Nothing in ability can actualize itself (it would have what it lacks)
• Example: Earth cannot become a statue without external agency (the craftsman); copper cannot become a statue until shaped by art
• Conclusion: Simply speaking, act must precede ability even in time

Argument from Materialist Error #

• The materialist claims matter (pure ability) is the first principle
• This confuses “simply” with “in some way”
• Ability is before act only in some limited sense; simply, act is before ability
• Conclusion: The first cause cannot be matter; it must be pure act

Important Definitions #

Ability (δύναμις/potentia): The capacity to be or to do something. Known only through the act for which it is an ability. Cannot actualize itself.

Act (ἐνέργεια/actus): The actualization or realization of ability. The perfection or completion of what is in ability.

Pure Ability (First Matter): Ability without any act; exists only in ability and never in act by itself.

Pure Act (actus purus): Act without any admixture of ability or potentiality; the nature of the first cause.

Before in Time: One thing comes before another temporally in the sequence of becoming.

Before in Being: One thing can exist without another, but not vice versa. The letter C is before the word “cat” in being.

Examples & Illustrations #

Geometry and Learning #

• A man who doesn’t know plane geometry is not able to know solid geometry
• Once he knows plane geometry, he becomes able to know solid geometry
• Learning the Pythagorean theorem: one must know propositions 1-46 before being able to understand proposition 47
• The ability to know proposition 47 exists only when one is “one step away” through mastery of preceding theorems

The Baseball Player #

• We never see a player’s ability directly; we see what he does through his ability
• We know the ability to walk is distinct from the ability to talk by observing different acts
• The saying “Let’s see your stuff” shows that ability is revealed through act, not independently

The House #

• Wood is in ability to be a house; the form actualizes this ability
• The house is in ability when materials are prepared (wood cut into boards)
• Only when assembled is it in act as a house
• The use (the end) determines the form: “the one who uses the thing commands the one who forms it”

The Parking Lot #

• A stationary car doesn’t catch attention; one in motion does
• Motion is more sensible than being; this is why we first recognize act through motion
• Yet being (existence) is more fundamental than motion

The Chicken and the Egg #

• In the individual, the egg comes before the chicken temporally
• But the egg came from an actual chicken (or something more perfect)
• Simply speaking, the actual (chicken) is before the potential (egg)
• Illustration of the principle that act is simply prior to ability

Acquiring Virtues and Skills #

• One becomes a harpist by playing the harp
• One becomes just by doing just things
• Yet the learner already has some imperfect act before acquiring the full virtue
• The learner plays poorly, struggles, experiences instability—contrasting with the ease and stability of the virtuous person

Notable Quotes #

“For what is first able, is able in that it can act.” — Aristotle (Book IX of Metaphysics, Reading Seven)

“For always from what is in act comes to be what is in act, as man from man and the knower from the knower.” — Aristotle, on the causal principle

“Since it goes from ability to act because of something already in act, then simply, you can say, act is even in time before ability.” — Berquist, explaining the resolution of the apparent paradox

“Things in motion sooner catch the eye, the what not stirs.” — Shakespeare (quoted by Berquist), on why act is more sensible than ability

“Simply act is before ability. But in some way, ability is before act.” — Berquist, stating the crucial distinction

“Neil, doc, put them out there.” — Berquist, expressing the principle that what lacks an act cannot give itself that act

Questions Addressed #

How Is Ability Known? #

• Answer: Ability is never known by itself, only through the act for which it is an ability
• We know a musician’s ability by hearing what they do, not by observing the ability in isolation
• We distinguish different abilities (walking vs. talking) by the difference in acts

Which Comes First: The Chicken or the Egg? #

• Answer: In the individual, the egg comes before the chicken; but the egg came from an actual chicken
• This illustrates that ability is before act “in some way,” but simply, act is before ability

How Can What Lacks Act Give Itself Act? #

• Answer: It cannot. What is in ability must be actualized by something already in act
• Example: Earth cannot become a statue without the craftsman’s art
• This establishes the necessity of an unmoved mover or first cause

How Do We Acquire Virtues If We Must Already Possess Them? #

• Answer: We acquire them “in some way” through practice
• The learner already has some imperfect act (imperfect playing, imperfect justice) before the full virtue
• The learner does not simply have the virtue but has it “in some way”
• This resolves the apparent paradox of becoming virtuous through practice

Must the First Cause Be in Ability or in Act? #

• Answer: The first cause must be pure act without any ability or potentiality
• If the first cause had ability, it would depend on something else to actualize it, contradicting its status as first
• Materialism errs by making matter (pure ability) the first principle, confusing “simply” with “in some way”

Structure and Method #

Berquist notes that Readings Five and Six established the distinction of act and ability and the senses of ability. Reading Seven (and those following) will establish the order of act and ability, meaning “before and after.” He emphasizes that distinction must precede order logically, as there can be distinction without order (as in the Trinity) but not order without distinction.