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St. Thomas' Principle of Individuation, Materia Quantitate Signata

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St. Thomas' Principle of Individuation, Materia Quantitate Signata Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1951 St. Thomas' Principle of Individuation, Materia Quantitate Signata Joseph M. Loftus Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Loftus, Joseph M., "St. Thomas' Principle of Individuation, Materia Quantitate Signata " (1951). Master's Theses. 1418. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/1418 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1951 Joseph M. Loftus " ST. THCllAS' PRINCIPLE OF INDIVIDUAfiClf MATERIA QUANTITA'lE SIGNATA Joseph M. Loftus, O.S.U. A 1b,esis SUbmitted to the Faculty ot the Graduate School of La,yola University in Partial Fultillment ot thl Re~iremsnt8 tar the Degree ot Master of .A:rts June 1951 Father Joseph ~. Lof'tus, O.S.M. waS born in Chicago, Illinois, November 9, 1921 • .... - He was graduated f'rom st. Philip High School, Chicago, Illinois, June, 1939. In September of' the same '. year he entered the Servite Order as a postulant at HillSide, Illinois. The f'ollowing September he entered . the novitiate at Granville, Wisoonsin. From September, 1941 to June, 194.3, he studied philosophy at HillSide, Illinois. During, the remainder of' 1943 and until June, 1944, he taught English at St. Philip High Sohool and attended Loyola University. In September, 1944, he started his theologioal studies at Stonebridge Priory, Lake Bluff, Illinois i he oontinued stuctring theology in Rome in 1946 and f'inished in 1948. In December, 1947, he was ordained. Sinoe september, 1948, he has been engaged in teaohing at Stonebridge Priory, Lake Bluff', Illinois. He be~an his graduate studies in philosophy at Lo,yola Universit,y in June, 1949. iil .~ ... PREFACE " Throughout the thesia translations trom Latin works are the author'a" unless name of the translator ia given. Very special thanks are due to '.~ Professor George Drur.Y for his kind interest and his sagacious guidance. Thanlal are due 'too to stephen Ryan" O.S.U. for his diligent copy-reading and helpful suggestions. iv TABIE OF CON'lENTS Chapter Page I. ST. 'IHWAS' PRINCIPIE OF DmIVIDUATICIl .AND THE VIEWS OF OTHER PHILOSOPHERS:.............................. 1 st. Thomas: Yattar of the principle of individua­ tion of corporeal substances -- -Purpose -- Method - Procedure -- Summa.r;y of texts shows uniformity of thought -- Authenticity of De Natura Materiae and ~ Principio Individuation Ii questioned - Matter as principle of individuation not original: taken from Aristotle -- Not universal among scholastics, e.g. Scotus, Suarez -- Not unique, e.g. Bonaventure and Albert held matter in some way. II. THE PROBLEM OF THE INDIVIDUA'l'ION OF CORPOREAL SUBSTANCES 12 . , Presentation of the problem: principle of individua­ tion of corporeal substances of a species -- Closing in on the problem: . Spiritual substances eliminated - Formal or proximate principle of individuation excluded -- Individuating notes that merely manifest individual substance deleted -- Distinction between individuation and individuali ty -- Thesis concerned only 'Wi th radical or remote principle -- quanti tate signata. III. THE MEANING OF PRIME MATTER......................... 23 Pure potency -- Ens a quo -- Real -- Attributes. IV. CONFLICTING INTERPRETATIONS OF QUANTITATE SIGNATA... 29 Formula used expressly in De Ente et Essentia and In Librum Boatii de Trini tate - Interpreted OIff'erently -- cajetan: "a capacity for this quantity" and not that" -- Ferrara: "matter actually informed by quantity" - Which is correct. V. HISTORICAL DETERMINATION OF nIE MEANING OF gUANTITATE 44 SIGNATA. v vi St. Bonaventure's corruption ot prime matter by' endowing it with some act - Manifest in his ' spiritual matter - Also in his eduction o~ material torms and plurality ot torms - Logical result of st. Bonaventure's theory' matter can exist without form :0:..- Held by" his disciples - St. Thomas' rejection of St. Bonaventure - ' Similarity between Ferrara and St. Bonaventure - Rejection of F~rrara - :bplanation ot Cajetan. VI. DIMENSIONS: DETERMINED OR UNDETERMINED.............. 67 Quantity under determined or undetermined dimensions - De Ente et Essentia: "detemined" II Sentences ancr 'I'ii"Librum Boetii de Trinitate:_ "undetermined" - mder scholasticsunconcerned - Most modern Thomists agreed on undetermined dimensions - No incongruity in determined quan- . ti ty of und~term.ined dimensions • .. ~ VII. SUMMARy.............................................. 74 Harmony in st. Thomas' principle of individuation, eduction of material forms, and unicity of substantial form. VIII. BIBLIOORAPHY...... ••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••• 79 " i l P CHAP'lER I ST. THOMAS' PRINCIPLE OF IHDIVIDUATI(Il AND 'llJE VIEWS OF OTHER PHIIreOPHERS This thesis atteupt8 to present St. Thomas I explanation ot the principle of individuation of corporeal substances of the same species. Identifying this principle as matter does not constitute a problem, but the interpretation of this principle has given rise to a number ot conflicting opinions. The effort to ~cover the authentic doctrine ot st. Thomas will '.~ require a caretul reconstruction ot the problem and an exact setting forth of his concept of prime matter. To these preparatory labors the second and third chapters of this thesis are respectively devoted. In chapter four the ! division of the commentators over the meaning of the qualifying phrase in .1 St. Thomas t tuller expression of the principle of individuation as materia quantitate signata is presented. Chapter five proposes as a method for I deciding between the views of Cajetan and Ferrara a reconstruction ot the :1., his torical context to throw light on the meaning ot the problem. The interpretation that quantity tigures as a oondition ot matter in executing the function ot individuation having been adopted, chapter six deals with the COITolary question of whether quantity is detel"lQ,ined or undetermined in its dimensions. Chapter seven shows the harmol1Y' between st. Thomas I theory ot individuation and his thought on prime matter, the unicity of the substantial 1 2 f'orm, and the eduction ot material torms trom prime matter. The rest or the present chapter giVes a summary account ot the sources ot st. Thomas t teaching • on the principle ot individuation and, the views which betore, during or since his time agree or disagree with his teaching. ,No one acquainted with Thomism seriously contests the tact that St. Thomas held matter as the principle of' individuation. He says it plainly' " in all his works, first and last, and in a variety ot contexts whenever the question arises. So that no one make capital ot an isolated phrase and misinterpret st. Thomas as Godfrey de Fontaines did Aristotle's nactus est qui diStinguitft,l let us examine the continuity ot St. Thornaa' th~ught. In ~ Natura Materiae the title ot the second chapter enunciates that "matter is the prinCiple ot individuation.n2 The opusculum ~ Principio Individuationis declares that "it is easy to see how matter is the principle of individuation.") There is some doubt that the works just mentioned are actually st. Thomas'. Dr. Bourke lists them as rejected by Mandonnet, who incorporates them into the IIOpuscula spuria.n4 According to Mandonnet ~ Natura Materiae 1 Henri Renard, S.J., l!!! Philosophy ~ Being, Bruce, 2nd ad., Milwaukee, 1946, 226. , 2 St. Thomas Aquinas, ~U8cula Omnia, ad. Pater Yandonnat, O.P., Lethielleux, Paris, 1927, V, Op. II, II, 199. ) st. Thomas, QPuscula Omnia, V, Op. LI, 19,. 4 Vernon J. Bourke, Thomistic Bibliograp!1z, ad. '!he Modern Schoolman, St. Louis, 1945, 19. ,3 is absent trom the so called ofticial c&talogue.S, Roland..Qosselln doubts its genuineness because ot the doctrinal content.6 Mandonnet doubts too the authenticity or ~ Principio Individuation1a, despite 1nletact that Cajetan identities it as a part ot st. 1homas' originall2! Potentiis COgnoscitivis, preserved in the Vatican Librar,y Collection.7 In OPPosition to Mandonnet, Grabmann credits both ot these works to 8 st. Thomas. He and Michelitsch point out that ~ Natura uaWriae can be tound in the book catalogue ot Ptolcmv or Luca and has been declared ge1lU.iUe in manuscripts ot Bruges, Avignon, Bordeaux, Paris, and Oxford. There are manuscripts in the Vatican, in Bruges, Paris, and other libraries that actually name st. Thomas as the author or De Principio Individuationis.9 Dubious authenticity ot these opuscula does not shake st. Thomas' teaching of the radical basis of individuation. In other opuscula he states categorically that this is matter's function. .!!l Librum Boetii ~ ...:rr_i .... ni.--.t_a .... te.. he says "through the matter is caused a numerical diversity in the same species.nlO In a different context,. speaking ot essence as tound in composite substances, he says in ~ ~ !! Essential "matter is the prinCiple ot ----'-5 Robert Joseph Slavin, O.P., The Philosophical Basis tor " Individual Differences Accordini to St. ThoiUas Aquinas, lioetor81 i5ISsertatial, The Cat-horic uIiIversity of America, washington, n.c., 1936, 23. 6 Ibid. 1 -Thomas de Vio, cajetan, De Ehte et Essentia, M. H. Laurent, O.p., Yarietti, Turin, 1934, II,
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