30. The Six Fundamental Questions of Metaphysics

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Problem of Skipping the Middle Position #

Berquist argues that ancient philosophers (Socrates, Plato, Timaeus) correctly identified mind as superior to matter, but failed to recognize that mind must first be understood as immaterial and independent of matter before one can ask whether mind is responsible for matter’s existence. Without establishing mind’s immateriality, the question itself cannot be raised. The gap between materialism (matter is the beginning of all things) and idealism (mind is the beginning of all things) requires an intermediate step: recognizing that immaterial intellect exists and doesn’t depend on matter.

The One and Being as Fundamental Principles #

The lecture addresses the distinction between:

• The one as principle of number: Every number is composed of ones; two contains two ones, three contains three ones
• The one convertible with being: Everything that is must be one (either simple or composed into unity)

The Pythagoreans and Platonists conflated these, believing the abstract “one” (not one point, one line, one circle, etc., but just one) is the substance of all things. This mirrors the theological insight: God says “I am who I am”—being itself, not being something.

Competing Accounts of Unity #

Empedocles and others: Unity is not the one itself, but something that produces unity—love unites things, hate separates them. The four elements (earth, air, fire, water) are unified by love, diversified by hate.

Materialists (Thales, Heraclitus): All things are made of one matter (water, fire). This material unity explains why things are fundamentally one.

Key insight: Things resist division because division destroys them. A church requires unity of leadership; a divided house cannot stand. Unity and being are intimately connected—the Pope represents the church’s unity, which is the church’s very being.

The Analogy of Being #

The word “being” has multiple meanings, but these meanings are connected by reason (ἐξ ἀναλογίας), not by chance. This is called equivocation by reason or analogy. Example: “political” is said of city, government, law, and revolution—not arbitrarily, but because government rules the city by laws, and revolution is a change of government. Similarly, one science (wisdom/metaphysics) can study all things called “being” because their meanings are rationally connected.

Contrast: The word “bat” (animal and sports equipment) is purely equivocal by chance—there’s no reason one knowledge should study both.

The Difficulty of Distinguishing One Senses #

The human mind struggles to separate:

• The one that begins number from the one convertible with being
• Substance from body (which is why Greek philosophers thought everything must be somewhere)
• What is said of all (universal predication) from what causes all (universal causation)

This confusion has plagued philosophy throughout history and is especially difficult because we always think with images, and immaterial realities cannot be imagined.

Key Arguments #

The Bridge Argument #

Problem: Leaving out the intermediate position (mind is immaterial) makes it philosophically impossible to ascend from materialism to idealism.

Solution: One must first establish that immaterial mind exists and doesn’t depend on matter, then ask whether such a mind could be responsible for matter’s existence.

The Unity Argument #

Things that are divided cease to exist (a shredded hat is no longer a hat; a table cut in half is no longer a table). Therefore, things preserve their being by preserving their unity. Since unity is connected to being, and the one seems involved in the very substance of things, the Platonists concluded that numbers (built from the one) are the key to understanding all things.

The Immateriality of Mind Argument #

If understanding grasps continuous things in an uncontinuous way (e.g., the definition of square is not continuous, though the square is), then understanding itself is not continuous—hence not material. Therefore, the soul cannot have come to be by transformation of matter, which would suggest creation rather than mere evolution.

The Universal Cause Problem #

The mind struggles with the concept of an individual that is a universal cause:

• Universals extend to all things but don’t seem real
• Individuals are real but their causality is limited
• The sun is an individual body yet causes all life on Earth
• A general commands an entire army (individual universal cause)

People confuse universal predication (what is said of many) with universal causation (what causes many)—but they are not the same.

Important Definitions #

Equivocation by Reason (Ἀναλογία / Analogia) #

A word has multiple meanings, but those meanings are connected by reason (there is a rational explanation for why they share one word), unlike purely chance equivocations. One science can study all equivocal-by-reason things because their meanings are rationally related.

The One (Τὸ Ἕν / Unum) #

Not a particular one (one point, one line, one circle, one man), but abstract unity itself—the principle by which all numbers are composed and all things resist division.

Substance (Οὐσία / Essentia) #

What a thing fundamentally is. NOT to be identified with its size, quantity, or extension. A cat remains the same substance whether it grows or remains small.

Examples & Illustrations #

Wine and Tea Fermentation #

The same grapes produce red, rosé, and white wine by varying the fermentation and skin contact. The same tea leaves produce green, oolong, and black tea by different fermentation levels. These demonstrate material unity underlying diversity—all share the same fundamental matter, but differ in form and treatment.

The General and the Soldier #

MacArthur is an individual who commands an entire army. “Soldier” is a universal said of all soldiers. But MacArthur’s causality is individual—it’s not the universal “soldier” that causes the army’s movement, but MacArthur’s individual commands. This shows the distinction between universal predication and universal causation.

The Church’s Unity #

The Pope represents the church’s unity, and adhering to that unity is adhering to the church’s very being. A divided church cannot stand (as Christ and Lincoln both noted).

Substance vs. Extension (Cartesian Error) #

Descartes identifies the substance of material things with their extension (res extensa). But a dog’s substance is not its size—a growing dog changes size but remains the same dog. If substance were quantity, the dog “never grew up.” This error creates philosophical problems for understanding transubstantiation in the Eucharist.

Notable Quotes #

“It’s very hard to go from the almost inevitable first position of our mind that matter is the beginning of all things, to the truth, without at first coming to that middle position… Until you see that [mind is immaterial], you wouldn’t even raise the question whether there could be a mind responsible for the existence of matter.”

“If you leave out that middle position, I think you make it impossible, for a human reason, to go from… matter is the beginning of all things, to what is a truth, that there is some mind that is the beginning of all things.”

“It’s very hard for our mind to separate the one that is the beginning of number from the one that’s convertible with being. That’s caused people difficulty all the way down through history.”

“The human mind has a hard time understanding that kind of a cause… an individual that is a universal cause. It’s very hard for our mind to… understand that.”

“Just like the supreme confusion… is to confuse the being said of all things with the cause who said I am who am. Very hard for the mind to separate those things.”

Questions Addressed #

Is there any cause besides matter? #

Yes, and this requires recognizing mind’s immateriality as prior to this question.

What is the relationship between the one (principle of number) and being itself? #

They are distinct but intimately connected. The Platonists conflated them, but they are not identical—the one that begins number is limited to the genus of quantity, while the one convertible with being applies to all substances.

Can one science study all things called “being” despite the word’s multiple meanings? #

Yes, because being is equivocal by reason—its meanings are rationally connected through a common reference, unlike chance equivocations.

How can an individual be a universal cause? #

This remains a profound difficulty for the mind. The analogy of universal predication (what is said of many) with universal causation (what causes many) breaks down—they operate differently.