295. Wisdom, Discourse, and the Divine Attributes

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Wisdom and the Power of Reason #

• Reason is defined as “the ability for large discourse, looking before and after” (Shakespeare)
• Wisdom is the highest perfection of reason, concerned with being as such and the first cause (God)
• The discourse of the wise man is largest in five of six possible senses because:
  • It concerns the most universal things (being, which is said of all things)
  • It concerns the greatest things (the first cause, God)
  • It has the most universal applications and extends to all things through God’s causality
• Reason comes from the Latin discursus (running), metaphorically describing the mind’s swift movement from one thing to another

Six Senses of “Large” Discourse #

1. About the large: Either about universals (covering many things) or about great things (important things vs. “small talk”)
2. Large beginning or end: Either from many premises (large induction) or principles with many applications (like F = ma)
3. Long in steps: Passing through many intermediates or covering great distances between first principles and conclusions

The wise man’s discourse is largest in the first two senses and in the breadth of application, but not necessarily in the number of steps.

God as Pure Act and the Categories of Being #

• God is pure act (actus purus) with no composition or potency
• If God were composed of parts (matter-form, substance-being), one part would be to another as act to potency
• Act is prior to potency in three ways: in knowledge, in perfection, and in causation
• God’s perfections correspond remotely to all ten categories, though God transcends all genera:
  • Substance: God’s being itself (not distinct from essence like creatures)
  • Quality: God’s wisdom, justice, mercy (in creatures these are accidents; in God, identical with substance)
  • Relation: Relations in God (father-son, creator-creature) exist as relations of reason, not real relations; creatures have real relations to God
  • Quantity (Discrete): One (discrete quantity) has a remote analogy to God’s unity through proportion
  • Quantity (Continuous): Infinity (immensitas) has a remote analogy through the concept of “spiritual magnitude”

The Two Orders of Divine Attributes #

Summa Contra Gentiles order (following natural reason from motion):

1. God is unchanging (negates motion)
2. God is simple (no composition)
3. God is perfect (act is better than potency)
4. There is only one God (unity)
5. God is infinite (endless perfection)

Summa Theologiae order (pedagogical, addressing faith and Islamic concerns):

1. God is simple (foundation)
2. God is perfect (follows from simplicity)
3. God is infinite (extends perfection)
4. God is unchanging (consequence of eternity)
5. God is one (addressed last for theological emphasis)

Berquist proposes reducing these five to three main attributes by:

• Attaching unity to simplicity (as shown in Thomas’s Compendium Theologiae)
• Attaching infinity to perfection (as an endless, limitless perfection)
• Leaving unchanging as a third attribute

The difference in ordering reflects different audiences and purposes: the Summa Contra Gentiles emphasizes natural reason and motion; the Summa Theologiae emphasizes faith and addresses particular theological concerns.

Eternity as Related to Unchanging #

• As time relates to motion, eternity relates to unchanging things
• Eternity is defined as totius simul et perfecta possessio vitae interminabilis (the all-at-once and perfect possession of an ending life)
• God’s eternity has no beginning, no end, and no before-and-after

Key Arguments #

On God’s Simplicity #

• Premise: Anything composed of parts has one part as act and another as potency (passive ability to be actualized)
• Premise: If God is pure act, He cannot have any potency or passive ability
• Conclusion: God must be completely simple with no composition whatsoever

On God’s Perfection #

• Premise: Act is better and more perfect than potency
• Premise: God is pure act (not in potency to any further actuality)
• Conclusion: God’s being itself contains all the perfection of being
• The Greek word teleos (perfect) comes from telos (end/goal); act is the end of potency (Aristotle, Metaphysics IX)

On God Transcending All Genera #

• Premise: Whatever is in a genus is confined to that genus (a dog is substance, not quality)
• Premise: God is not confined to any genus
• Conclusion: God possesses the perfections of all genera in a simple way, unified in His substance
• Creatures have these perfections as accidents; God has them as His very being

On Discrete and Continuous Quantity in God #

• There is no continuous quantity in God (He is not a body, surface, or line)
• There is no number in God (number arises from division of the continuous)
• However, one has a remote analogy to discrete quantity through proportion: just as 1:2 :: 3:6, so one can be proportionally like a number
• Infinity has a remote analogy through “spiritual magnitude” (magnitudinis spiritualis)

Important Definitions #

Key Terms #

• Discourse (discursus, from Latin for running): The mind’s swift movement from one thing to another in reasoning; characteristic of human reason
• Wisdom: The highest perfection of reason; concerns being as such and the first cause
• Act (actus): Perfection, completion, the realization of what is possible
• Potency (potentia): Ability, capacity, what is able to be
• Genus: A class into which a being is confined; defines its essential nature
• Perfection (teleos): Completeness; that which has attained its end or goal
• Simple (simplex): Without composition; God has no parts, no matter-form, no substance-existence distinction
• One: Not strictly a number, but proportionally like a number; analogous to discrete quantity
• Infinity (immensitas): Endless, limitless perfection; analogous to continuous quantity through spiritual magnitude
• Eternity (aeternitas): All-at-once and perfect possession of an unending life; has no before-and-after

Examples & Illustrations #

The Lawyer’s Question #

• “Have you stopped beating your wife?” - A question that presupposes a false premise
• Applied to “How many heads do you have?” - The word “many” presupposes number, but one is not strictly a number
• Solution: One is proportionally like a number, so the question can be answered directly (“One”)

The Large Mountain vs. the Great Man #

• “Large mountain” uses large in the sense of quantity (size)
• “Great man” uses large in the sense of excellence or importance (Abraham Lincoln, George Washington)
• “How great is God?” operates in both senses: God is immense in spiritual magnitude

The Boy and the Concept of Quantity #

• When asking about God, we sometimes use language derived from physical quantity inappropriately
• Yet through proportion and analogy, we can speak meaningfully about God’s magnitude and infinity

The Magician’s Observation #

• A magician noted that when asking people to choose a number between 1 and 10, most people choose 3
• This reflects an intuitive human recognition of 3 as the number of perfection (as Aristotle teaches)

Notable Quotes #

“Reason is the ability for large discourse, looking before and after” - Shakespeare (cited by Berquist)

“All is like whole, and whole is like all” - Aristotle, Physics III (on the interconnection of perfection and wholeness)

“Every good giving and every perfect gift is from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of turning” - James 1:17 (Thomas’s favorite text for God’s unchangingness)

“The whole is more perfect than a part” - Aristotle (foundational principle used throughout)

“God is the cause of being as beings” - Thomas Aquinas (on God’s causality extending to all things)

“Endurance has a perfect work in order that you might be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” - James 1:2-4 (Greek: teleion and holoklei, showing perfection and wholeness united)

Questions Addressed #

Why does the wise man’s discourse concern both universals and the greatest things? #

• Because the greatest thing (God as first cause) is the cause of all things, so knowledge of the greatest thing requires knowledge of all things whose cause He is
• God’s causality extends universally, so the two senses of “large” (universal and great) converge in wisdom

How can God have attributes (wisdom, justice, mercy) if God is completely simple? #

• In creatures, these are accidents (qualities) added to substance
• In God, they are identical with His substance and being
• We know God through different concepts (wisdom, justice, etc.), but these all refer to the same simple reality
• God transcends all genera and thus possesses their perfections in a unified way

Why does Thomas order the divine attributes differently in the two Summas? #

• The Summa Contra Gentiles follows the order of natural reason: begin with motion (unchanging), then simplicity, perfection, unity, infinity
• The Summa Theologiae follows a pedagogical and theological order addressing faith: simplicity, perfection, infinity, unchanging, unity
• The different audiences (pagans vs. believers) and the need to address Islamic monotheism concerns led to different emphases
• Both can be harmonized by reducing the five attributes to three: simplicity (with unity attached), perfection (with infinity attached), and unchanging

How can one (a single thing) be analogous to a number? #

• Strictly, one is not a number because number is “a multitude composed of units”
• Yet through proportion, one relates to number as 3 relates to 6 (both ratios are 1:2)
• Therefore, one has an analogy to discrete quantity, permitting us to speak meaningfully about God’s unity

How can infinity apply to God if infinity usually means endless extension in space? #

• When applied to God, infinity means not endless spatial extension but rather endless, limitless perfection
• Infinity is not an extension in length, depth, or breadth, but a property of God’s perfection
• This is called “spiritual magnitude,” corresponding remotely to continuous quantity

Pedagogical Insights #

• Berquist emphasizes that understanding how God relates to the categories of being is crucial for theological knowledge
• The rule that “a whole is more perfect than a part” provides a key to understanding both Aristotle and Scripture
• The use of proportion and analogy is essential for speaking meaningfully about God while maintaining His transcendence
• The harmonization of natural reason (Aristotle) with revealed truth (Scripture and Thomas) demonstrates the compatibility of faith and reason