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058 - Lviii That God Does Not Understand By Composition And Division · Summa Contra Gentiles, First Book (On God)

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifty eight of Summa Contragentilees, First Book on God
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  Speaker 1: by Saint Thomas aquinas translated by the fathers of the
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  Speaker 1: English Dominican Province. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifty eight. That God does not understand by composition
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  Speaker 1: and division. It may also be shown from the same
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  Speaker 1: principles that the divine intellect does not understand after the
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  Speaker 1: manner of composing and dividing intellect. For he knows all
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  Speaker 1: things by knowing his essence. Now he does not know
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  Speaker 1: his essence by composition and division, since he knows himself
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  Speaker 1: as he is, and in him there is no composition. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: he does not understand by way of a composing and
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  Speaker 1: dividing intellect. Again, things composed and divided by the intellect
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  Speaker 1: are by nature such as to be considered by the
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  Speaker 1: intellect apart from one another, For there would be no
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  Speaker 1: need of composition and division if from the very fact
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  Speaker 1: that one understood what a particular thing is, one knew
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  Speaker 1: what it is or is not in that thing. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: if God understands by way of a composing and dividing intellect,
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  Speaker 1: it follows that he sees all things not at one glance,
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  Speaker 1: but each one separately. And yet we have proved the
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  Speaker 1: contrary above. Further, in God, there cannot be before and after. Now,
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  Speaker 1: composition and division come after the consideration of what a
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  Speaker 1: thing is, for this consideration is their foundation. Therefore composition
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  Speaker 1: and division are impossible in the divine intellect. Again, the
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  Speaker 1: proper object of the intellect is what a thing is. Wherefore,
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  Speaker 1: about this the intellect is not deceived except accidentally, whereas
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  Speaker 1: it is deceived about composition and division, even as the
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  Speaker 1: senses are always true about their proper objects but may
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  Speaker 1: be deceived about others. Now, in the divine intellect there
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  Speaker 1: is nothing accidental, and only what is essential. Wherefore, in
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  Speaker 1: the Divine intellect there is no composition and a vision,
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  Speaker 1: but only simple apprehension of a thing. Moreover, the composition
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  Speaker 1: of a proposition formed by a composing and dividing intellect
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  Speaker 1: exists in the intellect itself, not in the thing that
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  Speaker 1: is outside the mind. Wherefore, if the divine intellect were
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  Speaker 1: to judge after the manner of a composing and dividing intellect,
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  Speaker 1: his intellect would be composite. But this is impossible. As
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  Speaker 1: shown above. Again, a composing and dividing. Intellect judges of
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  Speaker 1: various things by various cops compositions, because the composition of
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  Speaker 1: the intellect does not go beyond the limits of composition. Wherefore,
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  Speaker 1: the intellect does not judge that a triangle is a
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  Speaker 1: figure by the same composition, whereby it judges that man
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  Speaker 1: is an animal. Hence, if God considers things by composing
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  Speaker 1: and dividing, it follows that his act of understanding is
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  Speaker 1: not one only, but manifold. And thus again his essence
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  Speaker 1: will not be one only, since his intellectual operation is
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  Speaker 1: his essence, as we proved above. Yet we must not
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  Speaker 1: therefore say that he is ignorant of enunciations, for his essence,
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  Speaker 1: since it is one and simple, is the type of
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  Speaker 1: all things, multiple and composite, so that thereby God knows
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  Speaker 1: every multitude and composition, both of nature and of reason.
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  Speaker 1: Holy writ is in agreement with this, for it is
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  Speaker 1: said in Isaiahs chapter fifty five, verse eight, for my
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  Speaker 1: thoughts are not your thoughts. And yet it is said
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  Speaker 1: in the Psalm, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of men,
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  Speaker 1: which manifestly proceed from composition and division of the intellect. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: Dionysius says in on the Divine Names, Book seven. Wherefore
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  Speaker 1: Divine wisdom, by knowing itself, knows all things, the material,
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  Speaker 1: immaterially divisible, things indivisibly multitude unitedly. End of Chapter fifty eight,
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  Speaker 1: read by Michael Shane, Craig Lambert l C.