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CLASSICAL ESSAY |
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by St. Thomas Aquinas
Now, whatever belongs to a being is either caused by the principles of its nature, as the capability of laughter in man, or it comes to it from some extrinsic principle, as light in the air from the sun's influence. But it is impossible that the act of existing be caused by a thing's form or its quiddity [essence] (I say caused as by an efficient cause); for then something would be the cause of itself and would bring itself into existence -- which is impossible. Everything, then, which is such that its act of existing is other than its nature must needs have its act of existing from something else. And since every being which exists through another is reduced, as to its first cause, to one existing in virtue of itself, there must be some being which is the cause of the existing of all things because it itself is the act of existing alone. If that were not so, we would proceed to infinity among causes, since, as we have said, every being which is not the act of existing alone has a cause of its existence. Evidently, then, an intelligence is form and act of existing, and it has its act of existing from the First Being which is simply the act of existing. This is the First Cause, God.... There is a being, God, whose essence is His very act of existing. That explains why we find some philosophers asserting that God does not have a quiddity or essence, because His essence is not other than His act of existing. From this it follows that He is not in a genus, for the quiddity of anything in a genus must be other than its act of existing, since the different beings within a genus or species have the same generic or specific quiddity or nature, whereas their act of existing is different. If we say, moreover, that God is purely and simply the act of existing, we need not fall into the mistake of those who assert that God is that universal existence whereby each thing formally exists. The act of existing which is God is such that no addition can be made to it. Consequently, in virtue of its very purity it is the act of existing distinct from every act of existing.... Similarly, although God is simply the act of existing, it is not necessary that He lack the other perfections or excellencies. On the contrary, He possesses all perfections of all genera of beings; so He is said to be unqualifiedly perfect, as the Philosopher and Commentator [Aristotle] assert in the fifth book of the Metaphysics. But He possesses these perfections in a more excellent way than other things, for in Him they are one, while in other things they are diversified. The reason for this is that all these perfections are His according to His simple act of existing. So, too, if someone through one quality could perform the operations of all the qualities, he would in that one quality possess all the qualities. In the same way, God possesses all perfections to His very act of existing.
Excerpted from On Being and Essence, by St. Thomas Aquinas |
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