Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J.F.

Buch: The Trinune God: Systematics

Titel: The Triune God: Systematics

Stichwort: Relationen (real geschaffene): bezüglich Wesen (intern - extern), bezüglich Sein (ens quod - ens quo); Terminologie,

Kurzinhalt: Are real created relations appropriately divided into internal and external as regards essence, and into beings-which and beings-by-which as regards existence? ... In terms of existence, the division of relations into beings-which and beings-by-which ...

Textausschnitt: QUESTION 37
Are real created relations appropriately divided into internal and external as regards essence, and into beings-which and beings-by-which as regards existence?
Terminology

729c
relation: the order of one to another.
created: no reference, therefore, to the divine relations.
731a

real: that which is truly affirmed to be.

appropriately: that is, with respect to the final scientific stage in which things are known with certainty through their causes.

division: true negative comparisons; for example, 'This is not that.'

essence: that which is known through the first intellectual operation in answering the question, What is it?

existence: that which is known through the second intellectual operation in answering the question, Is it?

internal: that which is intrinsic to a subject in such a way that it cannot be negated without negating the subject. (Fs)

external: that which is not intrinsic to a subject in such a way that it cannot be negated without negating the subject. (Fs)

being-which (eg: ens quod): that which is; that which is truly affirmed to be. (Fs)

being-by-which (eg: ens quo): that by which that which is is constituted; that which is truly affirmed to be, not, however, as what is, but as that by which something is. (Fs)

Arguments

731b
1 The division into essence and existence is appropriate, for all our knowledge is ultimately reducible to the first and second intellectual operations. (Fs)

2 In terms of essence, the division of relations into internal and external is appropriate. For every relation is an order of a subject to a term; an internal relation is a relation that belongs to the very definition of the subject; an external relation is a relation as objectively determined by a term. (Fs) (notabene)

3 In terms of existence, the division of relations into beings-which and beings-by-which is appropriate. For science is the certain knowledge of things through their causes. But things are beings-which, and the intrinsic causes of things are beings-by-which. Moreover, the reality of a being-which is not the same as the reality of a being-by-which; for beings-which are those things that simply are, and beings-by-which are those things that themselves are not but that by which something is. Finally, since neither a simply absolute nor a simply relative being exists among created things, it is clear that the reality of every real relation is the reality of either some being-which or of some being-by-which. (Fs) (notabene)

731c This division, then, of relations into beings-which and beings-by-which is what is foreshadowed in the intermediate stage of science by the division into predicamental and transcendental relations. (Fs)

Objection

733a It is not proper to divide relations into internal and external, since external relations do not add another reality to the reality of an internal relation. (Fs)

Reply: the appropriateness of the division of relations in terms of essence is not measured according to the reality of that which is divided. Besides, although an external relation adds no further reality intrinsic to the subject, nevertheless it is objectively determined by another reality extrinsic to the subject. (Fs)