“ Wherefore the intellect naturally knows natures which exist only in individual matter ”
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (1274). copy citation
Author | Thomas Aquinas |
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Source | Summa Theologica |
Topic | intellect |
Date | 1274 |
Language | English |
Reference | |
Note | Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province |
Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/17611/pg17611-images.html |
Context
“one is the act of a corporeal organ, which naturally knows things existing in individual matter; hence sense knows only the singular. But there is another kind of cognitive power in the soul, called the intellect; and this is not the act of any corporeal organ. Wherefore the intellect naturally knows natures which exist only in individual matter; not as they are in such individual matter, but according as they are abstracted therefrom by the considering act of the intellect; hence it follows that through the intellect we can understand these objects as universal;”
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