286. Motion, Act, and God as First Mover

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Analogical Extension of ‘Motion’ and ‘Act’ #

• The word ‘motion’ (μοτος) originates in bodily movement but is extended analogically to intellectual and spiritual activities
• ‘Act’ (actus) similarly begins with motion in the strict sense but is carried over to form and perfect activities like understanding and loving
• This extension is an example of equivocal predication by reason (aequivocum secundum analogiam), where a word is used in multiple related senses
• Motion in the strict sense is an imperfect act (it ceases when completed), whereas understanding and loving are perfect acts

The Continuous as the Root of All Naming #

• All human naming derives ultimately from the continuous (continuum)—that which is divisible forever
• Words like ‘before,’ ‘under,’ ‘standing,’ and ‘undergoing’ trace back to spatial and temporal continuity
• The concept of ‘form’ (forma) itself denotes the termination of the continuous

The Heavenly Bodies as First Bodily Mover #

• Following Aristotle, the heavenly bodies (particularly the sun) are the first movers in the order of bodies
• Aristotle believed the heavenly bodies to be eternal and unchangeable, undergoing only change of place
• Berquist notes Aristotle’s two errors: (1) that illumination is instantaneous, and (2) that the sun is eternal—both errors stem from limited measurements of time and distance
• Thomas Aquinas recognized that Aristotle’s arguments required very good measurements and that change might occur over vast timescales
• The sun influences all terrestrial change through seasons and the provision of light necessary for all growth

God as First Mover Absolutely (simpliciter) #

• All bodily motions reduce to the heavenly bodies as first bodily mover
• All motions—both bodily and spiritual—are ultimately reduced to God as the first mover without qualification
• This mirrors the argument against infinite regress: there cannot be an endless series of movers
• God moves all things according to His providence (per modum providentiae), not by necessity of nature

Two Dependencies on God #

• Creatures depend on God in two distinct ways:
  1. Dependency on form: Receiving their nature or form from God
  2. Dependency on motion: Being moved by God to actualize their operations
• The natural light of reason (lux naturalis rationis) is itself an illumination from God
• For natural knowledge, this natural light suffices without additional grace
• For supernatural knowledge (faith, prophecy), a stronger light is required—the light of grace (lux gratiae)

The Problem of Self-Determination and Divine Motion #

• Man is lord (dominus) of his own acts through the deliberation of reason
• However, whether man deliberates or not cannot itself be in man’s power without infinite regress
• Therefore, the free judgment of man must be moved by something exterior to itself—God
• This argument is presented as an ’ethical argument for God’ based on the impossibility of originating one’s own deliberation

Why Creatures Can More Easily Fall into Sin Than Achieve Good #

• Sin is nothing but a falling short of the good proper to a creature’s nature
• Each created thing, considered in itself, is nothing (nihil)
• As creatures do not have being except from another, they are preserved in the good of their nature only by dependence on God
• A creature can more easily fall into nothingness (sin) than achieve being (good), precisely because it is nothing from itself
• This explains why sin is more ’natural’ to creatures abandoned by divine preservation than is virtue

Key Arguments #

The Reduction of All Motion to God #

1. All bodily motions are reduced to the motion of the heavenly body as first bodily mover
2. All motions (bodily and spiritual) are reduced to God as first mover without qualification
3. Therefore, no creature can proceed to its own act unless moved by God
4. This follows the principle that infinite regress of movers is impossible

The Argument Against Self-Origination of Deliberation #

1. Man deliberates or does not deliberate
2. If this is within man’s power, it must be through some preceding deliberation
3. This would lead to infinite regress
4. Therefore, man’s free judgment must ultimately be moved by something exterior—God
5. Aristotle proves this in the Eudemian Ethics, chapter on good fortune

Why Sin Is Easier Than Virtue #

1. From themselves, creatures are nothing (nihil)
2. Being (esse) requires dependence on God’s conservation
3. Nothingness (non-esse) requires no dependence; it is the natural terminus of abandonment
4. Therefore, creatures can more easily fall short of being (sin) than achieve positive being (virtue)
5. Sin is thus easier than good precisely because creatures are intrinsically nothing

Important Definitions #

• Motion (motus): The act of what is able to be, insofar as it is still able to be; an imperfect act that ceases when completed
• Act (actus): First means motion; extended to form and to perfect activities like understanding, loving, and seeing
• Potency/Ability (potentia): The capacity to be actualized; known through act; more perfect in act than in potency
• Form (forma): The termination of the continuous; the principle by which a thing is what it is; itself an act but not motion in the strict sense
• Continuous (continuum): That whose parts meet at a common boundary; divisible infinitely
• Undergoing (pati): Used in two senses: (1) matter receiving form and becoming that form as its own; (2) sense receiving the form of an object without taking on that form as its own
• Equivocal by reason (aequivocum secundum analogiam): A word used in multiple related senses ordered to one primary meaning; differs from pure equivocation
• Providence (providentia): God’s manner of moving creatures according to His will, not by necessity of nature
• Natural light of reason (lux naturalis rationis): The capacity for understanding connatural to the human intellect, itself a gift from God
• Light of grace (lux gratiae): A stronger illumination from God needed for supernatural knowledge beyond natural reason

Examples & Illustrations #

The Water and Fire Example #

• Water is not able to heat itself; it must be heated by fire
• Similarly, a creature is not able to actualize itself; it must be moved to action by God
• This illustrates why even the most perfect created nature needs God’s motion to proceed to its act

The Eye and the Apple #

• The eye undergoes the shape of an apple when seeing, but does not take on the apple’s shape as its own
• This differs from the way clay receives the shape of a mold as its own form
• Illustrates that ‘undergoing’ has multiple senses depending on whether the recipient becomes the form or merely receives its impression

The Marble and Michelangelo #

• The marble underwent the chiseling away of Michelangelo—an example of undergoing in the inanimate world
• This is extended to show how the senses undergo the forms of objects

Berquist’s Garden and the Trees #

• Trees grew in the back of his property and began blocking sunlight from his vegetable garden
• All growth depends on the light from the sun, which radiates only a tiny fraction of its total energy to Earth
• The sun is 93 million miles away; despite this vast distance, life on Earth is utterly dependent on this distant source
• Illustrates the principle that all life and motion depend on a first mover (the sun in the bodily order)

The Stove and the Water #

• My water in the morning is cold before it is hot
• It is able to be hot before actually being hot
• But it goes from potency to actuality only because of the stove (the efficient cause)
• The water cannot actualize itself; an external agent is required

The Sick Man and the Healthy Man #

• An infirm person can make some movements but cannot move perfectly like a healthy person
• Similarly, human nature corrupted by sin is impeded from the good and needs God’s grace to think about and achieve good
• An infirm will needs divine aid more than a healthy will, just as a sick body needs medicine more than a healthy one

Notable Quotes #

“All of our naming really goes back to the continuous or what is in the continuous.”

“No matter how perfect some bodily nature or spiritual nature is, it is not able to proceed to its own act unless it be moved by God.”

“The first being, the first cause, will be pure act, and that’s the basis for saying why God is altogether simple, unchanging.”

“From ourselves we are nothing; therefore we have built in a kind of negative aspect—weakness.”

“Act is simply speaking before ability.”

“I’m more able to be a nobody than a somebody. Because I’m a nobody from myself.”

“It’s an ethical argument for God—that you can’t be the start of your own deliberation; you’re moved by God.”

Questions Addressed #

Does Man Need Grace to Know All Truths? #

• Question: Does man need divine aid for the knowledge of any truth?
• Answer: Yes, man needs divine aid insofar as God moves his intellect to its act (as all creatures need the first mover). However, for natural knowledge achievable through the natural light of reason, no additional grace beyond this natural illumination is required. Only for supernatural truths (faith, prophecy, the Trinity) is an added light of grace necessary.
• Qualification: God miraculously sometimes instructs through grace concerning things knowable by natural reason, just as He sometimes miraculously performs things that nature is able to do.

How Does Man Determine Himself if Determination Requires Prior Deliberation? #

• Question: If man must deliberate to will something, and deliberation itself requires prior deliberation, does this not lead to infinite regress?
• Answer: The free judgment of man cannot originate its own deliberation. It must ultimately be moved by something exterior to itself—God. This breaks the regress and establishes God’s necessity in human willing.

Why Can Man Sin More Easily Than Do Good? #

• Question: If sin is against nature, shouldn’t creatures be more capable of what is natural (good) than what is unnatural (sin)?
• Answer: From themselves, creatures are nothing. They are intrinsically capable of falling into nothingness (non-being) more easily than of achieving positive being (good). Being requires dependence on God’s conservation; nothingness requires no dependence. Therefore, the capacity for sin comes more naturally to abandoned creatures than the capacity for virtue.
• Implication: Man’s lord-ship (dominium) over his own acts is real but limited; it consists in the deliberation of reason, yet this very deliberation must be moved by God.