Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J.F.

Buch: Verbum: Word and Idea in Aquinas

Titel: Verbum: Word and Idea in Aquinas

Stichwort: actus perfecti (Definition: actus existentis in actu) u. imperfecti; Negation: Essentialismus: die Realität erschöpft sich nicht in Wesenheiten; Hoffnung: 'quasi quidam motus' u. 'sicut actus imperfecti'

Kurzinhalt: There are elements in reality that correspond to what we know by defining; they are called essences; but they are not the whole of reality. There are also elements of reality that are less than essences ...

Textausschnitt: 14/3 What, I may be asked, does this all amount to? In current terminology, then, it is a brilliant and penetrating negation of essentialism. There are elements in reality that correspond to what we know by defining; they are called essences; but they are not the whole of reality. There are also elements of reality that are less than essences, that are, as it were, essences-on-the-way; they are movements, acts that actualize incompletely, acts intrinsically in anticipation of completion and so intrinsically in time. But there also are elements of reality that are over and above essence; sight is an essence, but seeing is more than that essence; still, seeing is not a further essence, for seeing and sight have the same definition, which they share as act and potency; this more-than-essence is act, act of what already is completely in possession of essence, act that does not need or anticipate something further to become what it is to be, act that intrinsically stands outside time. (115; Fs) (notabene)

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)