Stichwort: Hoffnung

Autor, Quelle: Lonergan, Verbum

Titel: Hoffnung - actus imperfecti

Index: Hoffnung im Kontext von actus perfecti - imperfecti

Kurzinhalt: ... where also one may read the more cautious statement that the act of hope is 'quasi quidam motus' and 'sicut actus imperfecti.'

Text: 15/3 Such is the substance of what Aquinas meant by actus perfecti and actus imperfecti. But there are also accidental variations; for, so far was Aquinas from the stereotyped terminology that sometimes is attributed to him that he could write 'sapienus enim est non curare de nominibus.'1 A first variation is had inasmuch as the term 'operatio' is suggestive of efficient causality; hence the contrast between operation and movement is taken as ground for denying that divine activity presupposes an uncreated matter.2 A second variation arises by a natural transition from the imperfection of the material continuum with its indefinite divisibility to the imperfection of anything that has not, as yet, attained its end; in this transferred sense the Sentences speak of an actus imperfecti,3 where also one may read the more cautious statement that the act of hope is 'quasi quidam motus' and 'sicut actus imperfecti.'4 A third variation arises from the fact that what exists in act is a ground of efficient causality; thus, an angel moves locally by an application of his virtue to a continuous series of places; this local movement is described as 'motus existentis in actu.'5 I believe that only poor judgment would desire to take such instances as these, not as incidental variations, but as key passages to the meaning of the repeated statement that sensation, understanding, and willing are actus perfecti. (115f; Fs)