Authors/Thomas Aquinas/metaphysics/liber4/lect12

Lecture 12

Latin	English
lib. 4 l. 12 n. 1 Ostendit causam praedictae positionis. Et primo ex parte sensus. Secundo ex parte sensibilium, ibi, huius autem opinionis causa et cetera. Circa primum tria facit. Primo ponit causam praedictae positionis ex parte sensus. Secundo recitat diversorum opiniones, quae in hanc causam concordaverunt, ibi, ex his Empedocles et cetera. Tertio invehit contra eos, ibi, quare gravissimum. Dicit ergo primo, quod antiqui hoc opinabantur, quod prudentia sive sapientia vel scientia non esset nisi sensus. Non enim ponebant differentiam inter sensum et intellectum. Cognitio autem sensus fit per quamdam alterationem sensus ad sensibilia: et ita quod sensus aliquid sentiat, provenit ex impressione rei sensibilis in sensum. Et sic semper cognitio sensus respondet naturae rei sensibilis, ut videtur. Oportet igitur, secundum eos, quod illud, quod videtur secundum sensum, sit de necessitate verum. Cum autem coniunxerimus quod omnis cognitio est sensitiva, sequitur quod omne quod alicui apparet quocumque modo, sit verum.	672. He gives the reason why these philosophers adopted the foregoing position. First (358)C 672), he shows how sensory perception provided one reason for adopting this position; and second (361:C 681), how sensible objects provided another (“Now the reason”). In regard to the first part he does three things. First, he explains how sensory perception provided one reason for adopting this position. Second (359:C 674), he recounts the opinions of different men which have this reason as their common basis (“For it is”). Third (360:C 680), he attacks these opinions (“Hence their conclusion”). He accordingly says, first (358), that the ancients were of the opinion that discretion, i.e., wisdom or science, is merely sensory perception; for they did not make any distinction between sense and intellect. Now sensory perception comes about through a certain alteration of a sense with reference to sensible objects. And so the fact that a sense perceives something results from the impression which a sensible thing makes on the sense. Thus a sensory perception always corresponds to the nature of the sensible object as it appears. Hence, according to these thinkers, whatever appears to the senses is necessarily true; and since we must add that all knowing is sensory, it follows that whatever appears in any way at all to anyone is true.,
lib. 4 l. 12 n. 2 Haec autem ratio non solum deficit in hoc, quod ponit sensum et intellectum idem, sed et in hoc quod ponit iudicium sensus nunquam falli de sensibilibus. Fallitur enim de sensibilibus communibus et per accidens, licet non de sensibilibus propriis, nisi forte ex indispositione organi. Nec oportet, quamvis sensus alteretur a sensibilibus, quod iudicium sensus sit verum ex conditionibus rei sensibilis. Non enim oportet quod actio agentis recipiatur in patiente secundum modum agentis, sed secundum modum patientis et recipientis. Et inde est quod sensus non est quandoque dispositus ad recipiendum formam sensibilis secundum quod est in ipso sensibili; quare aliter aliquando iudicat quam rei veritas se habeat.	673. But this argument fails, not only because it holds that sense and intellect are the same, but also because it maintains that the judgment which a sense makes about sensible objects is never false. For while a sense may make a mistake about common and accidental sensible objects, it does not do this with regard to its proper sensible object, except perhaps when the sensory organ is indisposed. And even though a sense is altered by its sensible object, the judgment of a sense does not have to conform to the conditions of the sensible object; for it is not necessary that the action of an agent be received in the patient according to the mode of being of the agent but only according to that of the patient or subject. This is why a sense sometimes is not disposed to receive the form of a sensible object according to the mode of being which the form has in the sensible object, and it therefore sometimes judges a thing to be otherwise than it really is.
lib. 4 l. 12 n. 3 Deinde cum dicit ex his enim recitat diversorum opiniones assentientium causis praedictis. Omnia autem dicta eorum, quae inducit, tendunt ad duo. Quorum primum est, quod intellectus sit idem cum sensu. Aliud est, quod omne quod videtur sit verum. Dicit ergo, quod ex praedictis rationibus Empedocles et Democritus et singuli aliorum sunt facti rei talibus opinionibus, ut est dicere verisimile, idest sicut verisimiliter coniecturare possumus ex eorum dictis.	674. For it is (359). He presents the opinions which different men held for the reasons stated above. Now all of the statements of these men which he adduces imply two things: first, that intellect is the same as sense, and, second, that every appearance is true. Thus he says that it is for the reasons mentioned above that Empedocles and Democritus and each of the other philosophers became involved in such opinions about reality “we may probably say,” i.e., we can conjecture on the basis of their statements.
lib. 4 l. 12 n. 4 Dicit enim Empedocles quod illi, qui permutant habitum, idest dispositionem corporis, permutant etiam prudentiam; quasi intellectus cuius est prudentia, sequatur habitudinem corporis, sicut et sensus. Nam prudentia crescit in hominibus ad apparens, idest per hoc quod aliquid de novo incipit apparere homini, profectus scientiae fit in homine: sed hoc fit per hoc quod dispositio corporis variatur. Alia translatio habet melius: ad praesens enim voluntas vel consilium augetur hominibus, quasi dicat: secundum dispositiones diversas praesentes, nova consilia, sive novae voluntates, sive novae prudentiae hominibus augentur; quasi consilium sive voluntas non sequatur aliquam vim intellectivam in homine, quae sit praeter sensum, sed solam dispositionem corporis quae variatur secundum praesentiam diversarum rerum. In aliis autem libris suis dicit Empedocles quod quantum ad alterationem transformat, idest secundum quantitatem qua homo transformatur in alteram dispositionem corporis, tanta eis est semper cura inquit, id est quod tot curae sive sollicitudines seu prudentiae hominibus adveniunt. Quod quidem est difficile. Alia translatio melius sic habet. Quia quantumcumque mutati fiant, intantum secundum ipsas semper sapere alia statutum est sive stultum. Vel ipsis affuit secundum aliam literam: quasi dicat, quod quantumcumque homo mutatur in dispositione corporis, intantum semper alia sapientia, quasi alium intellectum et aliam sapientiam habens.	675. For Empedocles said that those who change “their condition,” i.e., some bodily disposition, also change their understanding; implying that the intellect, to which knowledge belongs, depends on a condition of the body, just as a sense does. For understanding increases in men “in relation to what is seen”; that is, an increase in knowledge takes place in a man by reason of the fact that something new begins to appear to him, and this comes about as a result of some change in a bodily disposition. Another translation states this more clearly, saying, “For purpose or decision develops in man in relation to what is at hand”; as if to say, according to the different dispositions which are actually present in men, new decisions or new purposes or new judgmerits develop in them. And the implication is that decision or purpose does not, depend on any intellective power in man over and above the senses but only on a disposition of the body, which is changed with the presence of different things. But in other works ‘ of his Empedocles says that, to the extent that alteration occurs, that is, to the extent that men are changed to another bodily disposition, to that extent, he says, there is always thoughtfulness in them; that is, thought, concern, or planning arises in them proportionately. This translation is a difficult one to understand, but another states this notion more clearly, saying, “to the extent that men have been changed, to that extent they are always determined to think other thoughts or even foolish ones.” Or according to another text, “It is proper for them [always to think other thoughts],” as if to say that, insofar as a man is changed in some bodily disposition, to that extent his basic outlook is different-implying that he has a different understanding and a different outlook.
lib. 4 l. 12 n. 5 Deinde ponit opinionem Parmenidis ad idem; dicens, quod Parmenides de rerum veritate enuntiat eodem modo sicut Empedocles. Dicit enim quod sicut unusquisque habet dispositionem membrorum valde circumflexorum, vel multae flexionis, secundum aliam literam, ita intellectus hominibus: quasi dicat, quod in membris hominis est multa varietas et circumvolutio ad hoc quod talis membrorum dispositio adaptetur ad operationem intellectus, qui sequitur membrorum complexionem, secundum eum. Ipse enim dicit quod idem est quod curavit, idest quod curam habet sive prudentiam de membris ex natura membrorum: et quod est in omnibus, idest in singulis partibus universi, et quod est in omni, idest in toto universo. Sed tamen aliter nominatur in toto universo, et in singulis partibus universi et etiam in homine. Et hoc in toto universo, dicitur Deus. In singulis autem partibus universi, dicitur natura. In homine autem, dicitur intellectus. Et sic hoc habet plus in homine quam in aliis partibus universi, quia in homine illa virtus intelligit propter complexionem determinatam membrorum, non autem in aliis rebus. In quo etiam datur intelligi quod intellectus sequitur complexionem corporis, et per consequens non differt a sensu. Alia translatio planius habet sic. Idem enim quod quidam sapit membrorum, non est in hominibus et omnibus et omnium. Plus enim est intellectus.	676. Then he gives Parmenides’ opinion in this matter. He says that Parmenides speaks about the truth of things in the same way that Empedocles does, for Parmenides says ‘ that, just as each man has an arrangement of jointed members, or “of many-jointed limbs,” according to another text, so intellect is present in men; implying that there is a great deal of variety and circumvolution in the members of man in order that such an arrangement of members may be adjusted for the operation of the intellect, which depends on the way in which the members are combined, according to him. For he says that it is the same thing “which cares for,” i.e., which has the care or supervision of the members because of the nature of the members, and which is “in each,” i.e., in the individual parts of the universe, and “in all,” i.e., in the whole universe. Yet insofar as it is present in the whole universe and in its individual parts and in men, it is designated by different names. In the whole universe it is called God, in the individual parts it is called nature, and in men it is called thought. Thus it is present to a greater degree in man than it is in the other parts of the universe; for in man this power thinks as a result of the determinate way in which his members are combined, but this does not apply in the case of other things. In this statement he also wants it understood that thought is a result of the way in which the body is composed, and thus does not differ from sensory perception. Another translation states this more clearly, saying, “For it is the same thing, the nature of the limbs, which exercises discretion in men-in all and in each; for that which is more is intellect.”
lib. 4 l. 12 n. 6 Deinde ponit opinionem Anaxagorae qui pronuntiavit ad quosdam suos socios vel amicos reducendo eis ad memoriam, quia talia sunt eis entia, qualia suscipiunt sive opinantur. Et hoc est secundum quod in illis dictis philosophorum tangitur, scilicet quod veritas sequatur opinionem.	677. Then he gives the opinion of Anaxagoras, who expressed it to some of his companions and friends and had them commit it to memory, namely, that things are such to them as they take or believe them to be. This is the second point which is touched on in these statements of the philosophers, namely, that truth depends on opinion.
lib. 4 l. 12 n. 7 Deinde ponit opinionem Homeri, de quo dicunt, quod videbatur eamdem opinionem habere. Fecit enim in sua recitatione Hectorem iacere quasi in extasi a plaga sibi illata aliud cunctantem, idest aliud cogitantem quam prius, vel aliena sapientem, secundum aliam translationem, scilicet ab his quae prius sapuerat, quasi cunctantem quidem et non cunctantem, idest in illo strato, in quo iacebat percussus, esset sapiens et non sapiens: sed non quantum ad eadem; quia quantum ad illa, quae tunc sibi videbantur sapiens erat; quantum autem ad illa quae prius sapuerat et iam sapere desierat, non erat sapiens. Alia translatio sic habet: sapientes quidem et desipientes: quasi dicat, fuit de Hectore qui sapiebat aliena post plagam, ita contingit et de aliis quod sunt simul sapientes et desipientes, non secundum eadem sed secundum diversa.	678. Then he gives the view of Homer, who seemed to be of the same opinion according to what people said of him. For in his story he made Hector lie, as it were, in a trance from the blow which he had been dealt, “lingering in another place,” i.e., to think other thoughts than he had thought before, or, according to another text, to be of a different opinion from the one which he had before; as if in lingering and not lingering, i.e., in the state in which he lay after being struck down, he would both think and not think, although not about the same thing. For he knew those things which then appeared to him, but not those which he had known before, and had then ceased to know. Another translation expresses the idea thus: “Implying that people of sound and unsound mind both think but not the same thoughts”; as if to say that, just as this is true of Hector, who had strange opinions after the blow, so too it is possible for others to have sound and foolish opinions at the same, although not about the same things but about different ones.
lib. 4 l. 12 n. 8 Ex omnibus autem praedictis philosophorum opinionibus concludit conclusionem intentam, scilicet quod si utraeque sint prudentiae, scilicet secundum quas homo existimat contraria mutatus de una dispositione in aliam; quod omne id quod existimatur sit verum. Non enim esset prudentia existimare falsum. Unde sequitur quod entia similiter se habeant sic et non sic.	679. Now from all of the foregoing views of the philosophers he draws his intended conclusion that, if both of these states of mind constitute knowledge, i.e., those states in which a man thinks contrary things when he is changed from one state to another, it follows that whatever anyone thinks is true; for knowing would not consist in thinking what is false. Hence it follows that beings are equally so and not so.
lib. 4 l. 12 n. 9 Deinde cum dicit quare et invehit contra praedictos philosophos, dicens, quod gravissimum accidens est quod eis accidit. Nam si illi, qui maxime viderunt verum inquantum contingit ab homine posse videri, scilicet praedicti philosophi, qui etiam sunt maxime quaerentes et amantes verum, tales opiniones et tales sententias proferunt de veritate, quomodo non est dignum praedictos philosophos dolere de hoc, quod eorum studium frustratur, si veritas inveniri non potest? Alia litera habet quomodo non est dignum relinquere vel respuere philosophari conantes? Idest quod homo non adhaereat his, qui volunt philosophari, sed eos contemnat. Nam si nullum verum potest ab homine de veritate sciri, quaerere veritatem est quaerere illud, quod non potest homo habere, sicut ille qui prosequitur vel fugat volatilia. Quanto enim magis prosequitur, tanto magis ab eo elongantur.	680. Hence, their conclusion (360). Here he attacks the above-mentioned philosophers. He says that the conclusion which they drew is the most serious one. For if those who have seen the truth most clearly, insofar as it is possible for man to see it (namely, the foregoing philosophers, who are also the ones that love and seek it most of all) offer such opinions and views about the truth, how is it unfitting that these philosophers should grieve about the ineffectualness of their study if truth cannot be found? Another text reads, “How is it unfitting that those who are trying to philosophize should give up or abandon the attempt?” i.e., that a man should not cling to those who want to philosophize but despise them. For, if a man can know nothing about the truth, to seek the truth is to seek something which he cannot attain. In fact he resembles someone who chases or hunts birds; for the more he pursues them the farther they get away from him.
lib. 4 l. 12 n. 10 Deinde cum dicit huius autem assignat causam praemissae opinionis ex parte sensibilium; scilicet quae causa praedictae opinionis etiam ex parte sensibilium ponebatur. Nam, cum sensibile sit prius sensu naturaliter, oportet quod dispositio sensuum sequatur sensibilium dispositionem. Assignat autem ex parte sensibilium duplicem causam; quarum secunda ponitur, ibi, amplius autem omnium et cetera. Dicit ergo primo, quod causa opinionis praedictorum philosophorum fuit, quia cum ipsi intenderent cognoscere veritatem de entibus, et videretur eis quod sola sensibilia entia essent, totius veritatis doctrinam diiudicaverunt ex natura sensibilium rerum. In rebus autem sensibilibus multum est de natura infiniti sive indeterminati, quia in eis est materia, quae quantum est de se non determinatur ad unum, sed est in potentia ad multas formas: et est in eis natura entis similiter ut diximus, videlicet quod esse rerum sensibilium non est determinatum, sed ad diversa se habens. Unde non est mirum si non determinatam cognitionem ingerit sensibus, sed huic sic, et alteri aliter.	681. Now the reason (361). He indicates how sensible things influenced this opinion, i.e., how they provided a basis for the above-mentioned position. For, since sensible things are naturally prior to the senses, the dispositions of the senses must depend on those of sensible things. He gives two ways in which sensible things provided a basis for this position. The second (362) is treated at the words, “Again, since they.” He accordingly says, first, that the reason why the foregoing philosophers adopted this position is this: since they aimed to know the truth about beings, and it seemed to them that sensible things alone exist, they therefore based their doctrine about truth in general on the nature of sensible things. Now in sensible things much of the nature of the infinite or indeterminate is present, because they contain matter, which is not in itself limited to one form but is in potency to many; and in these the nature of being is also found just as we have pointed out: the being of sensible things is not determinate but is open to various determinations. It is not to be wondered at, then, if he does not assign a definite knowledge to the senses, but one kind of knowledge to one sense, and another kind to another sense.
lib. 4 l. 12 n. 11 Et propter hoc praedicti philosophi decenter sive verisimiliter loquuntur ratione praedicta. Non tamen verum dicunt in hoc quod ponunt nihil determinatum esse in rebus sensibilibus. Nam licet materia quantum est de se indeterminate se habeat ad multas formas, tamen per formam determinatur ad unum modum essendi. Unde cum res cognoscantur per suam formam magis quam per materiam, non est dicendum quod non possit haberi de rebus aliqua determinata cognitio. Et tamen quia verisimilitudinem aliquam habet eorum opinio, magis congruit dicere sicut ipsi dicebant, quam sicut dicit Epicharmus ad Xenophanem, qui forte dicebat omnia immobilia et necessaria esse, et per certitudinem sciri.	682. And for this reason the abovementioned philosophers use the foregoing argument plausibly or fittingly, though they are not right in claiming that there is nothing definite in sensible things; for even though matter in itself is indeterminately disposed for many forms, nevertheless by a form it is, determined to one mode of being. Hence, since things are known by their form rather than by their matter, it is wrong to say that we can have no definite knowledge of them. Yet, since the opinion of these philosophers has some plausibility, it is more fitting to speak as they do than as Epicharmus did to Xenophanes, who seems to have said that all things are immovable, necessary and known with certainty.
lib. 4 l. 12 n. 12 Deinde cum dicit amplius autem ponit secundam causam ex parte sensibilium sumptam; dicens quod philosophi viderunt omnem hanc naturam, scilicet sensibilem, in motu esse. Viderunt etiam de permutante, idest de eo quod movetur, quod nihil verum dicitur inquantum mutatur. Quod enim mutatur de albedine in nigredinem, non est album nec nigrum inquantum mutatur. Et ideo si natura rerum sensibilium semper permutatur, et omnino, idest quantum ad omnia, ita quod nihil in ea est fixum, non est aliquid determinate verum dicere de ipsa. Et ita sequitur quod veritas opinionis vel propositionis non sequatur modum determinatum essendi in rebus, sed potius id quod apparet cognoscendi; ut hoc sit esse verum unumquodque quod est alicui apparere.	683. Again, since they (362). He gives the second way in which sensible things provided a basis for this opinion. He says that the philosophers saw that the whole of the natural world, i.e., the sensible world, is in motion, and they also saw that no attribute can be predicated of anything that is being changed insofar as it is being changed; for whatever is being changed insofar as it is being changed is neither white nor black. Hence, if the nature of sensible things is being changed always and “altogether,” i.e., in all respects, so that there is nothing fixed in reality, it is impossible to make any statement about them that is definitely true. Thus it follows that the truth of an opinion or proposition does not depend on some determinate mode of being in reality but rather on what appears to the knower; so that it is what appears to each individual that is true for him.
lib. 4 l. 12 n. 13 Et quod ista fuerit eorum ratio, ex hoc patet. Nam ex hac susceptione sive opinione pullulavit opinio dictorum philosophorum summa vel extrema, idest quae invenit quid summum vel extremum huius sententiae, quae dicebat heraclizare, idest sequi opinionem Heracliti, vel sequentium Heraclitum secundum aliam literam, idest qui dicebant se opinionem Heracliti sequi qui posuit omnia moveri, et per hoc nihil esse verum determinate. Et hanc opinionem habuit Cratylus, qui ad ultimum ad hanc dementiam devenit, quod opinatus est quod non oportebat aliquid verbo dicere, sed ad exprimendum quod volebat, movebat solum digitum. Et hoc ideo, quia credebat quod veritas rei quam volebat enuntiare, primo transibat, quam oratio finiretur. Breviori autem spatio digitum movebat. Iste autem Cratylus reprehendit vel increpavit Heraclitum. Heraclitus enim dixit quod non potest homo bis intrare in eodem flumine, quia antequam intret secundo, aqua quae erat fluminis iam defluxerat. Ipse autem existimavit, quod nec semel potest homo intrare in eumdem fluvium, quia ante etiam quam semel intret, aqua fluminis defluit et supervenit alia. Et ita non solum etiam non potest homo bis loqui de re aliqua antequam dispositio mutetur, sed etiam nec semel.	684. That such was their argument becomes clear as follows. For from this assumption or opinion there sprouted “the most serious or extreme” opinion of the philosophers of whom we have spoken, i.e., the opinion which is found to be the most serious or extreme in this class. And this is the one which he called “Heraclitizing,” i.e., following the opinion of Heraclitus, or the opinion of those who were disciples of Heraclitus, according to another text, or of those who professed to follow the opinion of Heraclitus, who claimed that all things are in motion and consequently that nothing is definitely true. This opinion also was maintained by Cratylus, who finally arrived at such a pitch of madness that he thought that he should not express anything in words, but in order to express what he wanted he would only move his finger. He did this because he believed that the truth of the thing which he wanted to express would pass away before he had finished speaking. But he could move his finger in a shorter space of time. This same Cratylus also reprimanded or rebuked Heraclitus. For Heraclitus said that a man cannot step into the same river twice, because before he steps in a second time the water of the river already has flowed by. But Cratylus thought that a man cannot step into the same river even once, because even before he steps in once the water then in the river flows by and other water replaces it. Thus a man is incapable not only of speaking twice about anything before his disposition is changed but even of speaking once.