291. Grace as Quality and the Five Predicables

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Three Senses of Grace (Equivocation by Reason) #

• First sense: Grace as favor or good will (e.g., “in the good graces of the king”)
• Second sense: Grace as a gift given gratis (not owed as payment)
• Third sense: Grace as gratitude or recompense for a benefit received freely (“gracias”)
• These three senses are ordered by reason: the first causes the second (gift given), the second causes the third (gratitude)
• This is equivocation by reason (not by chance) because there is an order among the meanings

Grace in God vs. in Creatures #

• In creatures: the good in the thing causes our love for it
• In God: God’s love causes the good in creatures (reversed order)
• God’s love is eternal and unchanging; it does not suddenly decide to love
• God loves all creatures with common love (secundum quid) by giving them being
• God loves rational creatures with special love (simpliciter) by drawing them to share divine goodness (“I call you no longer servants, but friends”)

Is Grace a Quality? #

First Objection (Equivocation on “Act”) #

• Objection: Quality acts upon its subject, but grace justifies the soul, so grace cannot be quality
• Response: This commits equivocation on the word “act” (ἀκτός/actus)
• Quality acts not as efficient cause but as formal cause: whiteness makes something white; justice makes someone just
• Just as the form (second cause of being) makes something what it is, so grace as form acts upon the soul
• Maker/maker applies to all four causes by extension, though primarily to efficient cause

Second Objection (Nobility) #

• Objection: Substance is more noble than quality; grace is more noble than human nature; therefore grace should be substance, not quality
• Response: Grace is accidental, not substantial
  • Every substance is either the nature of a thing or part of its nature
  • Grace is above human nature and cannot be the very substance of the soul
  • What is substantially in God comes accidentally to the soul (participatory mode)
  • The soul imperfectly partakes (imperfecte participat) of divine goodness; this participation is grace
• Grace is more noble than human nature as an expression/participation of divine goodness, not as regards God’s mode of being (“I AM WHO AM”)

Third Objection (Incorruptibility) #

• Objection: No quality remains after ceasing to be in its subject; but grace remains, so grace is not quality
• Response: According to Boethius and Aristotle, “the being of an accident is to be in another”
  • Strictly speaking, nothing is in itself
  • Accidents do not properly come to be or be corrupted; rather, they are said to come to be or be corrupted according as their subject begins or ceases to be in act according to that accident
  • Grace is said to be created (new creature, Galatians) because men are created according to grace—that is, constituted in new being not from their merits
  • “Created in Christ Jesus, in good works” (Ephesians)

Grace Within Aristotle’s Ten Categories #

• Grace is not a quantity (how much) but a quality (how/what kind)
• Grace is not in the fourth species of quality (form and figure) because it does not pertain to the body
• Grace is not in the third species (sensible qualities like heat/cold) because it is principally in the mind
• Grace is not in the second species (natural power/lack of power)
• Grace must be in the first species of quality: habit or disposition (ἕξις/habitus)
• Note: Grace is compared to habit by likeness but is not identical to it

Aristotle’s Five Predicables (Book of Five Names) #

The Five Predicables are what are said of things:

1. Genus (γένος): what is said of many things, signifying what they are in common (e.g., “rectilineal plane figure” for triangle)
2. Species (εἶδος): the more particular specification of what a thing is (e.g., “triangle”)
3. Difference (διαφορά): how the species differs from others under the same genus (e.g., “three-sided” for triangle)
4. Property (ἴδιον): something outside the nature of the thing but following upon it (e.g., “interior angles equal to two right angles” for triangle)
5. Accident (συμβεβηκός): something outside the nature with no connection to it (e.g., “green” for triangle)

Key Distinction:

• Property and accident both exist outside what a thing is, but:
  • Property follows upon the nature (proprium sequitur naturam)
  • Accident has no necessary connection to the nature

Application to Soul and Its Powers:

• Species to Property = Soul to its powers
• The more noble the soul, the more powers it has:
  • Plants: vegetative powers (nutrition, growth, reproduction)
  • Animals: add sensation and emotion
  • Humans: add intellectual powers
• Similarly, grace relates to virtues as the soul’s essence relates to its powers (implied development)

Key Arguments #

Against Grace Being Substance #

• Grace cannot be substantial because it is above human nature
• What is substantially in God comes accidentally to creatures through participation
• The soul imperfectly participates in divine goodness; perfect participation would make it identical, which is impossible for creatures

On Equivocation and the Word “Act” #

• Aristotle’s Categories distinguish act primarily as motion (ἀκτός), later extended to form
• Motion is more known than form; hence words like “action” and “activity” primarily suggest motion
• This explains why even substantial causes (form) come to be described through the language of making/moving
• Modern philosophy tends to emphasize motion (Hegel, Marx, Heraclitus), perhaps because motion is most evident to sense

On Divine Providence and Sweetness #

• God disposes all things suaviter (sweetly) because He moves creatures toward what accords with their nature and powers
• Example: A cat naturally pounces on moving things; God gives the creature inclinations matching its powers
• Similarly, grace gives the soul inclinations toward supernatural acts so they are performed sweetly and promptly

Important Definitions #

• Accidental form (forma accidentalis): A quality existing in a subject but not essential to what that subject is; contrasted with substantial form
• Substantial form (forma substantialis): The form that makes a thing what it is (e.g., soul as form of body)
• Habitus (ἕξις): A habit or stable disposition; the first species of quality in Aristotle’s Categories
• Imperfecte participat: Imperfectly partakes; indicates partial sharing in something that belongs more perfectly to another
• Simpliciter vs. Secundum quid: Simply/absolutely vs. in a certain respect; God loves rational creatures simpliciter (absolutely) but other things secundum quid
• Suaviter: Sweetly; God’s mode of disposing creatures to act according to their nature and inclination
• Forma (as efficient/formal cause): Distinguished from motion; form makes a thing what it is rather than moving it to action
• Arkhē (ἀρχή - Beginning vs. αἰτία - Cause): Beginning is more general than cause; point is beginning of line but not cause of line
• Genus, Differentia, Species, Proprium, Accidens: The five predicables

Examples & Illustrations #

The Five Dollar Bill #

• Berquist uses a five dollar bill as a concrete example to illustrate the five predicables (genus, difference, species, property, accident) from Porphyry’s Isagoge
• This makes the abstract logical framework tangible for understanding how predicables apply to grace

Opening the Church Door #

• Opening the door for someone behind him and saying “be my guest”—gratis—illustrates the second sense of grace as a gift given freely
• Their response “thank you” illustrates the third sense of grace as gratitude
• Shows the ordering: free gift → gratitude

The Squirrels and Natural Inclination #

• Squirrels running around a tree, wrapping it and jumping with adeptness—illustrates how creatures act according to their nature with ease and promptness
• This exemplifies how God disposes all things sweetly: creatures naturally incline toward their proper actions

The Kitten and the Striated Belt #

• A rescued kitten played with a belt until shown a striated belt, then responded with cat-like hunting instinct, jumping and pouncing unnaturally for a kitten
• Illustrates instinctual natural inclination (the snake is a natural enemy of cats)
• Shows that powers follow from nature and are exercised according to the creature’s capacities

The Carpenter’s Wooden Chairs at Assumption #

• A craftsman who couldn’t afford to send his children to Assumption but made beautiful wooden chairs for the school
• The carpenter gave wood a form (formal causality) that lasts indefinitely
• Illustrates the maker/form-giver as cause of act-as-form, distinct from motion

Natural and Unnatural Motion #

• A body falling from a window goes down naturally (due to matter); helium rises naturally (due to matter)
• Walking up church steps can be natural (form/reason) or unnatural (matter)
• Man’s large discourse (rational reflection—looking before and after) is natural to his form, not matter

Questions Addressed #

Is grace a quality? #

• Answer: Yes, grace is a quality in the first species of Aristotle’s categories (habit or disposition), though not identical to habit but having a likeness to it
• It is accidental, not substantial
• It acts formally (giving form to the soul) not efficiently

How can grace be an accident if it is more noble than nature? #

• Answer: Grace is more noble than human nature as a participation in divine goodness, but participation is necessarily accidental to the participated
• What is substantially in God comes accidentally to creatures
• The soul imperfectly partakes of divine goodness; if it participated perfectly, it would be identical, which is impossible for creatures

What is the relation between the five predicables and understanding grace? #

• Answer: The predicables help classify how grace relates to the soul and its powers
• Grace is to the powers (virtues) as the soul’s essence is to the soul’s natural powers
• Grace functions as a principle (ἀρχή) from which supernatural operations flow through virtues

Why does Porphyry write about the five predicables? #

• Answer: To introduce logic and make it useful not only for understanding categories but also for division, definition, and demonstration
• The Isagoge serves as introduction to Aristotle’s Categories, addressing questions about genus, species, difference, etc.
• This logical framework is necessary for theology as well as philosophy