Cause Principle Unity

More documents

Recommendations

Info

<strong>Cause</strong>, principle and unity POLIINNIO. Non entia sed entium. [Not entities, but of entities.] DICSONO. Certainly, if something of the substances were annihilated, the world would be emptied. TEOFILO. Thus, we have an intrinsic formal principle, eternal and subsistent, incomparably superior to that imagined by the Sophists 9 who, ignoring the substance of things, treat only of the accidents, and arrive at positing corruptible substances from the fact that what they call essentially, fundamentally and principally substance is what results from composition, which is only an accident, not containing in itself either stability or truth, and reduced to nothing. They say that what is truly man is the result of composition, and that what is truly soul is no more than the perfection and act of a living body, or even something that is the result of a certain symmetry in its constitution and members. Hence, it is not surprising that they make so much, and are so greatly afraid, of death and dissolution, since they believe the loss of being is imminent. Nature cries out against such madness, assuring us that neither the body nor the soul need fear death, because both matter and form are absolutely unalterable principles: O genus attonitum gelidae formidine mortis, quid Styga, quid tenebras et nomina vana timetis, materiam vatum falsique pericula mundi? Corpora sive rogus flamma seu tabe vetustas abstulerit, mala posse pati non ulla putetis: morte carent animae domibus habitantque receptae. Omnia mutantur, nihil interit. [You people, dismayed by fear of icy death, why are you terrified by the Styx, by shadows and empty names, the stuff of poets’ tales, by the dangers of a world that doesn’t exist? Our bodies, whether destroyed by the flames of the funeral pyre, or by slow decay, do not feel any suffering. Our souls are immortal and are ever received into new homes, where they live and dwell, when they have left their previous abode. All things change, but nothing dies.] 10 DICSONO. I believe Solomon, esteemed the wisest among Hebrews, says something comparable: ‘Quod est quod est? Ipsum quod fuit. Quid est quod fuit? Ipsum quod est. Nihil sub sole novum’ [What is that which is? That which was. What is the thing that was? That which is. There is nothing new under the sun]. 11 And, thus, this form which you posit is not something 9 For Bruno, the followers of Aristotle. 10 Ovid, Metamorphoses, XV, 153–9 and 165, cited from memory. 11 Ecclesiastes, 1, 9, cited from memory. 46
Second dialogue that exists only in matter and is fixed to it according to its being, and does not depend on the body or matter for its existence? TEOFILO. Indeed. What is more, I leave open the possibility of a form existing without matter, though I firmly assert that no part of matter exists without form, except when it is considered logically, as it is by Aristotle, who never tires of dividing by reason what in nature and in truth is indivisible. DICSONO. Do you not admit any other form than this eternal associate of matter? TEOFILO. Yes, and a still more natural form than the material form, of which we shall treat later. For now, note this distinction of forms: first, there is a sort of form which informs, and which is extended and dependent. Since it informs everything, it is in everything; since it is extended, it communicates the perfection of the whole to the parts; since it is dependent and has no operation through itself, it communicates the operation of the whole to the parts; similarly it communicates the name and the being to them. Such is the material form, like that of fire: because every part of fire warms, is called fire, and is fire. Secondly, there is another sort of form, which informs and is dependent, but which is not extended. Since it perfects and activates the whole, it is in the whole and in each of its parts. Since it is not extended, the result is that it cannot attribute the action of the whole to the parts. Since it is dependent, it communicates the action of the whole to the parts. Such is the vegetative and sensitive soul, since no part of the animal is animal, yet each part nonetheless lives and feels. Thirdly, there is another kind of form, which actuates and makes perfect the whole but is not extended nor dependent as regards its operation. Since it perfects and actuates, it is in the whole, in its totality and in each of its parts. Since it is not extended, it does not attribute the perfection of the whole to the parts. Since it is not dependent, it does not communicate its action to them. Such is the soul, in so far as it can exercise intellectual power, and it is called intellective: it does not cause any part of man to be called man, or to be man, nor to be described as intelligent. Of these three kinds, the first is material, for it cannot be conceived, nor can it exist, without matter. The two other kinds (which, in fact, come together as one, according to their substance and being, and are distinguished in the fashion we have indicated above) express the formal principle, as distinct from the material principle. DICSONO. I understand. TEOFILO. Furthermore, I would like to point out that if, using common terms, we say there are five grades of form, namely, the elemental, the 47
Page 2 and 3:
This page intentionally left blank
Page 4 and 5:
CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE HISTORY OF P
Page 6 and 7:
PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF
Page 9 and 10:
Introduction Giordano Bruno was bor
Page 11 and 12:
Introduction existence of such a sp
Page 13 and 14:
Introduction metaphysics which is i
Page 15 and 16:
Introduction traditional cosmology.
Page 17 and 18:
Introduction it be contracted, as i
Page 19 and 20:
Introduction these are only appeara
Page 21 and 22:
Introduction substance, which Bruno
Page 23 and 24:
Introduction nature of his presence
Page 25 and 26:
Introduction All this throws light
Page 27 and 28:
Introduction (whose link with our i
Page 29 and 30:
Introduction servitude of their own
Page 31 and 32:
Introduction constituent moments, o
Page 33 and 34: Chronology his Italian dialogues, L
Page 35 and 36: Chronology 21 December, he said he
Page 37 and 38: Further reading Heroic Frenzies, tr
Page 39: Cause, Principle and Unity
Page 42 and 43: Cause, principle and unity gainsayi
Page 44 and 45: Cause, principle and unity so that
Page 46 and 47: Cause, principle and unity however,
Page 48 and 49: Cause, principle and unity permanen
Page 50 and 51: Cause, principle and unity and gloo
Page 52 and 53: Cause, principle and unity when you
Page 54 and 55: Cause, principle and unity you in w
Page 56 and 57: Cause, principle and unity and subl
Page 58 and 59: Cause, principle and unity FILOTEO.
Page 60 and 61: Cause, principle and unity FILOTEO.
Page 62 and 63: Cause, principle and unity instead
Page 64 and 65: Cause, principle and unity most par
Page 66 and 67: Cause, principle and unity the susp
Page 68 and 69: Cause, principle and unity Calepino
Page 70 and 71: Cause, principle and unity Silenes,
Page 72 and 73: Cause, principle and unity TEOFILO.
Page 74 and 75: Cause, principle and unity token of
Page 76 and 77: Cause, principle and unity things w
Page 78 and 79: Cause, principle and unity execute
Page 80 and 81: Cause, principle and unity the form
Page 86 and 87: Cause, principle and unity mixed, t
Page 88 and 89: Cause, principle and unity it every
Page 90 and 91: Cause, principle and unity POLIINNI
Page 92 and 93: Cause, principle and unity POLIINNI
Page 94 and 95: Cause, principle and unity to the t
Page 96 and 97: Cause, principle and unity nature,
Page 98 and 99: Cause, principle and unity horsenes
Page 100 and 101: Cause, principle and unity is const
Page 102 and 103: Cause, principle and unity them, no
Page 104 and 105: Cause, principle and unity before t
Page 106 and 107: Cause, principle and unity numerous
Page 108 and 109: Cause, principle and unity does not
Page 110 and 111: Cause, principle and unity Oh! I se
Page 112 and 113: Cause, principle and unity in her,
Page 114 and 115: Cause, principle and unity incorpor
Page 116 and 117: Cause, principle and unity of being
Page 122 and 123: Cause, principle and unity unfolds
Page 124 and 125: Cause, principle and unity the head
Page 126 and 127: Cause, principle and unity breadth
Page 128 and 129: Cause, principle and unity totally,
Page 130 and 131: Cause, principle and unity (althoug
Page 132 and 133: Cause, principle and unity Secondly
Page 134 and 135:
Cause, principle and unity gather c
Page 136 and 137:
Cause, principle and unity triangle
Page 138 and 139:
Cause, principle and unity There wa
Page 141:
On Magic
Page 144 and 145:
On magic incensings, sacrifices, re
Page 146 and 147:
On magic usually mentioned fields o
Page 148 and 149:
On magic subject rather than anothe
Page 150 and 151:
On magic While bronze is more simil
Page 152 and 153:
On magic apprehends all things, how
Page 154 and 155:
On magic parts of another body, but
Page 156 and 157:
On magic This philosophy is supreme
Page 158 and 159:
On magic How a magnet attracts iron
Page 160 and 161:
On magic there are many large magne
Page 162 and 163:
On magic It is easy for demons to p
Page 164 and 165:
On magic This is what alteration, m
Page 166 and 167:
On magic are expelled and replaced
Page 168 and 169:
On magic Let us now turn our attent
Page 170 and 171:
On magic On the bondings of spirits
Page 172 and 173:
On magic is due sometimes to the la
Page 174 and 175:
On magic Further, one should note t
Page 176 and 177:
On magic disturbed by things which
Page 178 and 179:
On magic readily to where the seed
Page 180 and 181:
On magic Thus, someone who is less
Page 183 and 184:
A general account of bonding Anyone
Page 185 and 186:
A general account of bonding and fo
Page 187 and 188:
A general account of bonding 12. No
Page 189 and 190:
A general account of bonding the mo
Page 191 and 192:
A general account of bonding person
Page 193 and 194:
he does not move unless he is attra
Page 195 and 196:
A general account of bonding 2. The
Page 197 and 198:
A general account of bonding such a
Page 199 and 200:
A general account of bonding in old
Page 201 and 202:
A general account of bonding it tha
Page 203 and 204:
A general account of bonding bound
Page 205 and 206:
A general account of bonding adoles
Page 207 and 208:
A general account of bonding to foo
Page 209 and 210:
A general account of bonding Mercur
Page 211 and 212:
A general account of bonding chaos
Page 213 and 214:
A general account of bonding beauty
Page 215 and 216:
Index accident and substance 6, 9,
Page 217 and 218:
Index measurement 169 motion 158-9
Page 219 and 220:
Index ubiquitous 49-50 see also div
Page 221 and 222:
Index doctorates 26-7 natural viii-
Page 223 and 224:
Index world-soul (anima mundi) xi-x
show all

Cause Principle Unity

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?