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are composites of various things
combinations of form and matter (also known as hylomorphism |
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depends on form
things are actual due to their forms |
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capacity that substance has for change
whether it is substantially or accidentally capable of changing |
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| Aristotle on Forms: Aquinas uses Aristotle as reference for own perspective; forms are not on some superior eternal separate realm; forms are part of objects; physical objects are combination of both form and matter |
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essence is determined by form
existence determines if essence exists
God's essence is to exist, which makes him a necessary being |
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| Accidental & Substantial Change |
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substance-- what it is physically
accident-- attributes assigned in order to create "positive intelligibility" |
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| God is Simple... Therefore God is not These 4 Things |
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1. God is not a body
2. God is not a composite of form and matter
3. God is not a composite of nature/essence and suppositum (individual thing)
4. God is not a composite of essence and existence |
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| 4 Types of Cause according to Aristotle |
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Material cause- made of marble
Formal cause- shape of David
Efficient cause- Michelangelo sculpted it
Final cause- wanted to depict David in form of statue |
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| Downward causation with God as First Cause |
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| Active and Passive Intellects |
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Aquinas does not believe in innate knowledge
Even the idea of God is not written on the mind
Our physical senses provide the intellect with its content – Sensory Cognition
Passive: It is acted upon
Intellect receives raw materials
Active: It acts upon things
World is intelligible to human mind
Active intellect shines light on sense impression
Shines light on things that are intelligible
Intelligible qualities are universal in that kind of thing
After we recognize intelligible qualities, we store it in passive intellect
Because active intellect is always active, so cannot store it |
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--not separate parts, just different types of soul--
*Rational (rational animals) contains sensitive [and thus vegetative as well]
Intellect
Free will
*Sensitive (non-rational animals) includes vegetative
Locomotion
Exterior senses
Imagination
Memory
*Vegetative
Grow
Nourished
Sensitive and vegetative only have bodily powers |
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| Indeterminism/ Libertarianism |
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Claim that freedom is power or ability to do something
Freedom – there are no impediments or constraints preventing free choice
E.g. writing a paper and free choice
No constraints and adverse options (although grades are constraints) |
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| Determinists and Compatibilists |
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I can do otherwise if I want to do otherwise
This is hypothetical analysis of the word “can”
Being able to do what we want to do without coercion
E.g. little girl scarred as a child by yellow lab and psychological trauma
Later, her father gives her a yellow and a black lab and she chooses black
Could she have chosen yellow lab?
Comp/Det: Yes, had free will to, but did not have freedom to want yellow |
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Newton is assumed to be determinist
But quantum (atomic and subatomic) level, movement is chaotic – indeterminism |
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| Accidents are modifications of the aforementioned substances. Such modifications can only exist in the substance; they cannot exist on their own. Think of something like a red vase or a car going 70 mph. Both redness and velocity are accidents. Neither the color red nor the velocity of a car are by themselves substances. |
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| Substance is a thing which can exist on its own. Examples of substances are people, cats, dogs, houses, etc. Substance is a tricky word used from the ancient period through contemporary philosophy. There is a lot of disagreement about its meaning, but for our purposes, it is best to just think of it as a particular physical object, again, such as a cat or dog. |
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| Act is things as they are (things are actual by virtue of their form), e.g. a cow. |
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| Potency is the capacity a thing has for change (or to be acted upon) whether substantially (i.e., a thing of one kind becoming a thing of another kind) or accidentally (i.e., a thing of one kind altering without becoming a thing of another kind). |
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| Accidental changes are changes that a substance can undergo without turning into another substance. For instance, think of a cow. If a cow that is in a field moves into the barn, it has undergone an accidental change. This means that a cow that is actually in a field is potentially in the barn. If the cow moves into the barn, it is now actually in the barn and has undergone accidental change. The key feature of this analysis is that whether the cow is in the barn or the field its nature does not change. It is still a cow in each place. |
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| Substantial changes are changes which a thing can undergo by turning into a thing of a different kind (i.e. a change in essence or nature). If the cow in the field dies, it undergoes substantial change (it looses its substantial form). The beef at the butcher shop is not a cow, but is something which once was a cow. |
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| Form is that by which a thing actually is what it is, whether substantially or accidentally. Substantial form is what brings about substantial existence, whereas accidental form is what brings about accidental existence. A couple examples of this would be: cow, which is a substantial form and brown which is an accidental form. Form gives things their positive intelligibility (nature and qualities). We have form whenever we have a definite thing, property, or attribute which we can predicate of things. |
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| Matter is that which allows us to speak of things which have the capacity for a change in substance. Think about the change from a cow to beef at the butcher. What is it that allows us to speak of the beef being made out of the cow? Matter, for Thomas, explains this historically connected sequence. Matter exists only potentially; ‘it achieves its actual existence through the form which determines it’. On page 48 of Davies book he sums this up quite nicely. He says, "Matter, for Aquinas, is opposed to form. Form is that by which something actually is (e.g., cow), while matter is that by which what is might not be (that by which a cow can become a corpse)." Matter is the opposite of actuality; it is pure potentiality and said by Aquinas to be “being potentially.” Also, matter is the principle of individuation within a species which means the following. Suppose you have a cat and a human. We know the difference between these two by their form, but when we have two humans this does not work. In this situation, it is necessary to distinguish between the two humans based upon their matter. This is what Thomas calls designated matter. We refer to each of these humans as an individual based upon this notion of matter as a principle of individuation within a species (in this instance, the human species) |
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| Essence is what a thing is. This is the things nature (e.g. humanness) and is determined by its form. |
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| Existence pertains to whether a particular essence exists. In other words, the nature of cat does not guarantee that there will be actual cats. Suppose all cats die off. It is possible; other species are certainly in danger of this. |
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