f thus (De Anima iii,
9)--that "the will is in the reason." Now whatever is intelligibly in
an intelligent subject, is understood by that subject. Therefore the
act of the will is understood by the intellect, both inasmuch as one
knows that one wills; and inasmuch as one knows the nature of this
act, and consequently, the nature of its principle which is the habit
or power.
Reply Obj. 1: This argument would hold good if the will and the
intellect were in different subjects, as they are distinct powers;
for then whatever was in the will would not be in the intellect. But
as both are rooted in the same substance of the soul, and since one
is in a certain way the principle of the other, consequently what is
in the will is, in a certain way, also in the intellect.
Reply Obj. 2: The "good" and the "true" which are the objects of the
will and of the intellect, differ logically, but one is contained in
the other, as we have said above (Q. 82, A. 4, ad 1; Q. 16, A. 4, ad
1); for the true is good and the good is true. Therefore the objects
of the will fall under the intellect, and those of the intellect can
fall under the will.
Reply Obj. 3: The affections of the soul are in the intellect not by
similitude only, like bodies; nor by being present in their subject,
as the arts; but as the thing caused is in its principle, which
contains some notion of the thing caused. And so Augustine says that
the soul's affections are in the memory by certain notions.
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QUESTION 88
HOW THE HUMAN SOUL KNOWS WHAT IS ABOVE ITSELF
(In Three Articles)
We must now consider how the human soul knows what is above itself,
viz. immaterial substances. Under this head there are three points of
inquiry:
(1) Whether the human soul in the present state of life can understand
the immaterial substances called angels, in themselves?
(2) Whether it can arrive at the knowledge thereof by the knowledge of
material things?
(3) Whether God is the first object of our knowledge?
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FIRST ARTICLE [I, Q. 88, Art. 1]
Whether the Human Soul in the Present State of Life Can Understand
Immaterial Substances in Themselves?
Objection 1: It would seem that the human soul in the present state of
life can understand immaterial substances in themselves. For Augustine
(De Trin. ix, 3) says: "As the mind itself acquires the knowledge of
corporeal things by means of the corporeal senses, so it gains from
itself
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