e is
incorruptible.

Reply Obj. 1: Solomon reasons thus in the person of the foolish, as
expressed in the words of Wisdom 2. Therefore the saying that man and
animals have a like beginning in generation is true of the body; for
all animals alike are made of earth. But it is not true of the soul.
For the souls of brutes are produced by some power of the body;
whereas the human soul is produced by God. To signify this it is
written as to other animals: "Let the earth bring forth the living
soul" (Gen. 1:24): while of man it is written (Gen. 2:7) that "He
breathed into his face the breath of life." And so in the last
chapter of Ecclesiastes (12:7) it is concluded: "(Before) the dust
return into its earth from whence it was; and the spirit return to
God Who gave it." Again the process of life is alike as to the body,
concerning which it is written (Eccles. 3:19): "All things breathe
alike," and (Wis. 2:2), "The breath in our nostrils is smoke." But
the process is not alike of the soul; for man is intelligent, whereas
animals are not. Hence it is false to say: "Man has nothing more than
beasts." Thus death comes to both alike as to the body, by not as to
the soul.

Reply Obj. 2: As a thing can be created by reason, not of a passive
potentiality, but only of the active potentiality of the Creator, Who
can produce something out of nothing, so when we say that a thing can
be reduced to nothing, we do not imply in the creature a potentiality
to non-existence, but in the Creator the power of ceasing to sustain
existence. But a thing is said to be corruptible because there is in
it a potentiality to non-existence.

Reply Obj. 3: To understand through a phantasm is the proper
operation of the soul by virtue of its union with the body. After
separation from the body it will have another mode of understanding,
similar to other substances separated from bodies, as will appear
later on (Q. 89, A. 1).
_______________________

SEVENTH ARTICLE [I, Q. 75, Art. 7]

Whether the Soul Is of the Same Species As an Angel?

Objection 1: It would seem that the soul is of the same species as an
angel. For each thing is ordained to its proper end by the nature of
its species, whence is derived its inclination for that end. But the
end of the soul is the same as that of an angel--namely, eternal
happiness. Therefore they are of the same species.

Obj. 2: Further, the ultimate specific difference is the noblest,
because it completes the nat