Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J.F.

Buch: Verbum: Word and Idea in Aquinas

Titel: Verbum: Word and Idea in Aquinas

Stichwort: Potentia activa (Unterschied zur Def. von Natur), passiva

Kurzinhalt: ... in the writings of Aquinas there are two distinct definitions of potentia activa. There is an Aristotelian definition, ... an Avicennist definition, ... it will be convenient to translate potentia activa, used in an Aristotelian sense, by ...

Textausschnitt: 4. Potentia Activa

190 The ambiguity we have just noted in connection with operatio and actio becomes clear and systematic when we turn to the parallel ambiguity of the term 'potentia activa.' Fr Stufler has remarked that, while early works make the forma gravitatis an active principle, later works make the same form with the same functions in the context of the same theory a passive principle.1 The shift observed by Fr Stufler is but a particular case in a far more fundamental ambiguity. For in the writings of Aquinas there are two distinct definitions of potentia activa. There is an Aristotelian definition, 'principium transmutationis in aliud inquantum aliud,' which attains a certain dominance in later works. There is what may be called, though with diffidence, an Avicennist definition, 'principium operationis' or 'principium actionis,' which is dominant in earlier works and far from disappears in later ones. Since these definitions are not equivalent, it will be convenient to translate potentia activa, used in an Aristotelian sense, by 'efficient potency,' with the corresponding potentia passiva translated by 'receptive potency'; further, it will be convenient to translate potentia activa, used in the Avicennist sense, by 'active potency,' with the corresponding potentia passiva translated by 'passive potency.' Finally, there is to be noted a 'principium effectus,' which is concomitant with Avicennist active potency, is distinguished from it, and amounts to a generalization of Aristotelian efficient potency. These distinctions have now to be verified. (121; Fs)