60. Act, Knowability, and Truth in Being

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Act as More Knowable Than Ability #

• Aristotle’s principle: something is knowable insofar as it is in act
• Ability is knowable only through its actualization
• The knower and the known become one in knowing; therefore the known must be actual for the knower to be actualized
• This principle applies across all fields of knowledge, from geometry to natural philosophy

Two Sources of Difficulty in Knowing #

• Difficulty can arise from defect in the knower (weakness of mind)
• Difficulty can arise from defect in the known (lack of being)
• God presents the opposite problem: infinite knowability makes Him difficult for finite minds
• Matter, motion, and time are difficult to know because they “hardly are” (are highly potential)
• Geometry is more accessible than natural philosophy and wisdom for different reasons

The Order of Goodness Before Truth #

• Aristotle examines goodness before truth as attributes of being
• This reflects a deeper metaphysical order: goodness connects more closely to perfection of being
• Truth and falsity are primarily in the mind; good and bad are primarily in things
• Therefore, Thomas Aquinas treats God’s goodness in the treatise on God’s substance, but truth only later in the treatise on God’s operations (understanding)

Truth in Being According to Categories (Predicates) #

• Being and non-being are understood according to the ten categories (predicamenta)
• Each category can be predicated of something in ability or in act
• The distinction of act and ability is more universal than the categorical distinction of being
• Act can apply to God, who is not contained within the ten categories

Key Arguments #

Why We Must Actualize Ability to Know It #

• In geometry, the theorem about the angles of a triangle is not immediately knowable
• The relationship becomes knowable only when one draws a line parallel to the base, actualizing what was in ability
• Similarly, one does not know one has the ability to see until one actually sees
• If someone goes blind during the night, the loss of ability is discovered only upon attempting to see
• Knowledge of faculties and abilities depends on their manifestation in act

The Hierarchy of Knowability #

• What is most knowable absolutely (God) is least knowable to us
• What is least knowable absolutely (matter, motion, time) presents difficulty primarily in the thing itself
• Berquist compares us to the bat: God’s light is too bright for our limited minds
• Scripture captures this: “God dwells in light inaccessible”
• Geometry is easier than natural philosophy because geometric objects are more determinate

Knowledge, Investigation, and What Is Known in Some Way #

• A questioner must know in some imperfect way what he seeks to know
• If one knew it simply and without qualification, there would be no need to ask
• A researcher investigating cancer must know in some way what a disease is and what it means to seek its cause
• This imperfect knowing allows investigation; perfect knowing would make investigation unnecessary

Important Definitions #

Act (Actus) #

• The realization or actualization of potential
• More perfect than ability in three ways: in time (what comes later in generation is more perfect), in causality (ability exists for the sake of act), and in being (act is simply speaking before ability)
• God is pure act with no potentiality

Ability/Potency (Potentia) #

• Capacity to be actualized
• Known only through its actualization
• Has affinity with badness because the same ability can be directed toward contrary states
• In corruptible things: the ability to be and not to be
• In simple substances (angels, God): absent entirely

Categories/Predicates (Predicamenta) #

• The ten genera into which all being is divided
• Corresponds to the Greek κατηγορίαι (katēgoriai)
• Latin term: predicamenta
• Each allows for predication in ability or in act

Examples & Illustrations #

The Geometry of the Triangle #

• Setup: Why are the angles of a triangle equal to two right angles?
• The Construction: One must draw a line parallel to the base through the opposite vertex
• The Insight: By alternate angles, the two angles at the base of the triangle equal the two angles formed by the parallel line
• The Point: The geometric truth becomes clear only when the parallel line is actually drawn, actualizing what was in potential
• Berquist’s Application: “The construction is the genius of the theorem”

The Angle in a Semicircle (Thales’ Theorem) #

• The Theorem: Any angle inscribed in a semicircle is a right angle
• The Proof: Draw radii from the center to points on the circle; isosceles triangles created have equal base angles; the configuration of these angles yields right angles
• The Lesson: Again, actualization through construction makes the invisible relationship visible

Retirement and Knowing the Best Thing #

• Berquist’s humorous personal example: when asked what he will do in retirement, he responds: “think about the best thing”
• Why? Because knowledge of a better thing is better knowledge, and God is the best thing
• If one truly grasped this principle, one would find it irrational to think about anything else
• Yet in practice, other things prove more engaging—which reveals something about the weakness of our minds in relation to infinite knowability

Going Blind and the Ability to See #

• One does not truly know one has the ability to see until one actually exercises it
• Before opening one’s eyes tomorrow, one might have gone blind during the night
• The loss of an ability is discovered only in the attempt to actualize it
• This illustrates that potencies are known only through their acts

Poetry, Portraiture, and Intelligibility #

• Shakespeare and Greek drama: The plot has a beginning, middle, and end—an order events in real life do not have
• The portrait painter (e.g., Titian): Captures a whole character in a single expression, giving more meaning to that expression than any real expression possesses
• Mozart: Gives intelligibility and meaning to emotions that real emotions may not have
• The Contrast: Poets raise things up by giving them more order than they have in life; Scripture does the reverse, bringing infinite realities down to human comprehension

Boring Things and the Defect #

• The Mass as boring: If one finds the Mass boring, the defect is not in the Mass but in the person—the problem is in the heart
• Rock and roll: If one finds rock and roll unlovable, the defect may be in the thing itself
• The Buddhist temple: A priest in Indonesia saw a flat-topped Buddhist temple representing nirvana (nothing), and remarked that he didn’t need to come all that way for nirvana—he could stay home and turn on TV
• The Principle: Difficulty in loving something reveals whether the defect is in the thing (not very lovable) or in oneself (weak heart)

Questions Addressed #

How is ability knowable if it is not actual? #

• Ability is not knowable in itself but only through its actualization
• We know a faculty exists only by observing its operation
• In mathematics, we must construct the relationship (draw the line) to see the truth

Why is God most knowable yet hardest to know? #

• God is pure act and therefore supremely knowable absolutely
• Yet our minds are weak and finite; we are like the bat dazzled by light
• The difficulty lies not in God’s deficiency but in our incapacity
• As Scripture says, God dwells in light inaccessible

What is the difference between what is more known to us and what is more knowable? #

• What is more known to us: things closer to our experience (particular, sensible things)
• What is more knowable absolutely: things that are more actual and intelligible in themselves
• Geometry mediates between these: it deals with universal forms that are determinate and thus more knowable than motion, matter, and time

How do investigations begin if one doesn’t know what is sought? #

• The investigator must know imperfectly what he seeks
• This imperfect knowledge motivates the investigation
• Perfect knowledge would terminate the inquiry; imperfect knowledge propels it forward
• This principle explains why we can investigate cancer, God, or truth without yet possessing full knowledge

Connections to Prior Lectures #

• Builds on the principle that act is more perfect than ability established in earlier readings
• Applies the act-ability distinction across multiple domains: metaphysics, epistemology, mathematics, natural philosophy
• Continues the exploration of how the perfection of being underlies the perfection of knowledge
• Introduces the epistemic asymmetry: what is most knowable in itself is least knowable to us, and vice versa

Connections to Thomistic Framework #

• Thomas’s order in the Summa: God’s simplicity → perfection → infinity → unchangeability → unity (substance questions) → goodness (following perfection), then later → truth (following understanding)
• Why this order matters: Goodness attaches to being itself; truth attaches to intellection
• This lecture explains the metaphysical foundation for why Thomas separates the treatment of God’s goodness from God’s truth