Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J.F.

Buch: The Trinune God: Systematics

Titel: The Triune God: Systematics

Stichwort: Akt, Potenz: A. dessen, was vollständig - unvollständig ist; unvollständiger Akt der Existenz, Bewegung

Kurzinhalt: ... the reality of things can either exceed the perfection of an essence or fall short of it ... Aristotle has shown that an act of the incomplete is present in every motion in the strict sense of the word.

Textausschnitt: 3 Act of What Is Complete and Act of What Is Incomplete

537b Every definition per se and directly regards an essence, either simply so called (substantial) or with some qualification (accidental). (Fs)

But the reality of things can either exceed the perfection of an essence or fall short of it. Thus, in the case of substances the act of existence adds a perfection beyond that of the essence. Likewise in the case of accidents there is a qualified essence inasmuch as the eye is informed by eyesight or the ear by the faculty of hearing or the intellect by a species or by a habit. But actual seeing is a further perfection added to the eye and eyesight; actual hearing is a further perfection added to the ear and the faculty of hearing; actual understanding is a further perfection added to the possible intellect and to a species or a habit. These added perfections are called acts of what is complete. (Fs)

537c On the other hand, the perfection of a thing can fall short of the perfection of an essence. You see this especially in the generation of living beings. The eye in a fetus cannot see but one day will be able to. In such an eye there is in addition to mere potency to vision an act and perfection which, however, still falls short of the perfection of vision. This act is called an act of what is incomplete. It is an act of what exists in potency insofar as it is in potency. It is an incomplete act of existence, that is, it possesses the reality of vision, not completely so as to be able to see, but incompletely in such a way that it will eventually be able to see. (Fs)

539a Aristotle has shown that an act of the incomplete is present in every motion in the strict sense of the word. See [St Thomas] In V Phys., lect. 2-4; In VI Phys., lect. 5, lect. 8, f 5, §1621, and lect. 12; In VIII Phys., lect. 4-6. Passages in St Thomas on these points will be found in Theological Studies 8:3 (1947) 408-13 [Verbum 110-16]. (Fs)