Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J.F.

Buch: The Trinune God: Systematics

Titel: The Triune God: Systematics

Stichwort: Vollkommenheit; Ordnung der Einheit (perfectio): formal (3 Grade) - material; nicht Größeres kann gedacht werden

Kurzinhalt: ASSERTION 14/5 - Perfection has two formalities ... The third degree is the perfection of order that is found within intellectual consciousness per se and consists in the fact that

Textausschnitt: 429a
Fifth, so great is this perfection based on the unity of order that no greater can be thought of.

The kind of perfection that is based on the unity of order can be considered either formally as a certain unity or materially as the many that are to be ordered. But under both aspects the perfection of order in God is supremely great. Therefore, this perfection is so great that no greater can be thought of. (Fs)

For under the formal aspect, three degrees of perfection can be distinguished. The first degree is the perfection of order that is imposed from without [eg: Lat. klarer: ab extrinsceo imponitur] upon what is to be ordered. This sort of perfection is found in artifacts such as stones and wood that are so ordered as to constitute one house. The second degree is the perfection of order that is found in a society, where the good of order is constituted by what is understood, evaluated, and chosen by several persons. The third degree is the perfection of order that is found within intellectual consciousness per se and consists in the fact that the good of a well-ordered consciousness is attained because it is understood and therefore affirmed as good and hence responsibly chosen. (Fs) (notabene)

429b Now, the second degree is more perfect than the first, both because the first is imposed from without while the second emerges from the ordered individuals themselves as intellectual, and because the first exists dividedly in each individual while the second is found intentionally in its entirety in each one. The third degree is more perfect than the second because not only does it emerge from within and exist intentionally in its entirety in what is ordered, but also this total perfection that is intended is achieved in reality by the very fact that, having been understood, it is justly affirmed, and having been affirmed, it is responsibly chosen. (Fs) (notabene)

429c Besides, among intellectual creatures the perfection of order as it occurs between such persons is found only in the second and less perfect way; and the third way is attained only inasmuch as accidental acts within a finite consciousness are ordered among themselves on the side of the rational subject. In God, however, the persons are ordered among themselves in the third and most perfect way, so that the divine society of the three persons is not only understood, affirmed, and loved on the side of the object, but is also, on the side of the subject, and according to the intellectual emanations through the truth of the Word and the holiness of proceeding Love, constituted as that understood, affirmed, and loved society of three. Consequently, under its formal aspect the perfection of the divine order must be said to be so great that no greater can be thought of, especially since this perfection cannot be naturally understood by a created intellect. (Fs)

429d Next, under the material aspect, insofar as there are several to be ordered among themselves, this perfection is again so great that no greater can be thought of. For these individuals are not constituted as several individuals inasmuch as the same note of perfection is affirmed of one and denied to another, but inasmuch as they are mutually opposed relations; nor are some of them these relations while others are subjects that are ordered by the relations, but these relations themselves are subsistent. There are not many accidental acts of understanding, of affirmation, and of love, but one and the same infinite act. What is understood is not some being by participation but being by essence, what is affirmed is not something true by participation but what is true by essence, and what is loved is not some good by participation but the good by essence. There is no real distinction between being and truth and goodness and understanding and affirmation and love. Accordingly, there is a most perfect unity of the one consciousness that is so ordered that three persons are each in their own way conscious through the same consciousness. (Fs)