Cause Principle Unity

Cause, principle and unity
is constituted and does not constitute, is remade but does not remake, he
held it worthless compared to matter, which is stable, eternal, progenitor
and mother. And this happens, inevitably, to those who do not know what
we do.
DICSONO. The point has been very well examined. But it is time to turn
from this digression back to our problem. We now know how to distinguish
matter from form, as much from the accidental form (whatever it may be)
as from the substantial form. We must still look into its nature and its reality.
But first, I would like to know whether, in view of the great union that
this world soul and universal form has with matter, one could not admit
that other mode of philosophizing, belonging to those who do not separate
the act from the essence of matter, and who understand matter as a divine
thing, and not as something so pure and formless that it cannot form and
clothe itself.
TEOFILO. It is not easy, because absolutely nothing operates on itself
alone, and there is always some distinction between an agent and what is
produced or that on which the action and operation work. For that reason,
it is good to distinguish matter from soul in the body of nature, and in the
soul to distinguish the idea of the species. 15 Hence we affirm that in this
body there are three things: first, the universal intellect inherent in things;
second, the soul that vivifies all; and third, the substratum. But we shall not
refuse the name of philosopher to someone who follows his own bent and
takes this formed body, or (as we prefer to call it) this rational animal, and
then begins to take as first principle, in some sense, the constituents of this
body, such as air, earth, fire, or even the ethereal region and the astral
region, or spirit and body, or the void and the plenum (though not the void
in Aristotle’s sense), or yet another convenient way. Such a philosophy, it
seems to me, does not deserve to be repudiated, especially when, no matter
what basis is presupposed or what form of construction is contemplated,
it helps to improve speculative science and knowledge of natural
things, as was, indeed, done by many ancient philosophers. For it is a sign
of an ambitious, presumptuous, envious and vain mind to wish to persuade
others that there is only one way to investigate and to attain knowledge of
nature, and it is the sign of a madman or man without reason to believe that
this way lies within himself alone. So that, although we should always
rather prefer, honour and practise the most resolute and constant, the most
contemplative and dignified way, and the most lofty method of inquiry, we
15 The universal intellect, mentioned in the following sentence.
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