aid simply that God is not the first object of our
knowledge. Rather do we know God through creatures, according to the
Apostle (Rom. 1:20), "the invisible things of God are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made": while the first object
of our knowledge in this life is the "quiddity of a material thing,"
which is the proper object of our intellect, as appears above in many
passages (Q. 84, A. 7; Q. 85, A. 8; Q. 87, A. 2, ad 2)

Reply Obj. 1: We see and judge of all things in the light of the
first truth, forasmuch as the light itself of our mind, whether
natural or gratuitous, is nothing else than the impression of the
first truth upon it, as stated above (Q. 12, A. 2). Hence, as the
light itself of our intellect is not the object it understands, much
less can it be said that God is the first object known by our
intellect.

Reply Obj. 2: The axiom, "Whatever causes a thing to be such is more
so," must be understood of things belonging to one and the same
order, as explained above (Q. 81, A. 2, ad 3). Other things than God
are known because of God; not as if He were the first known object,
but because He is the first cause of our faculty of knowledge.

Reply Obj. 3: If there existed in our souls a perfect image of God,
as the Son is the perfect image of the Father, our mind would know
God at once. But the image in our mind is imperfect; hence the
argument does not prove.
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QUESTION 89

OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SEPARATED SOUL
(In Eight Articles)

We must now consider the knowledge of the separated soul. Under this
head there are eight points of inquiry:

(1) Whether the soul separated from the body can understand?

(2) Whether it understands separate substances?

(3) Whether it understands all natural things?

(4) Whether it understands individuals and singulars?

(5) Whether the habits of knowledge acquired in this life remain?

(6) Whether the soul can use the habit of knowledge here acquired?

(7) Whether local distance impedes the separated soul's knowledge?

(8) Whether souls separated from the body know what happens here?
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FIRST ARTICLE [I, Q. 89, Art. 1]

Whether the Separated Soul Can Understand Anything?

Objection 1: It would seem that the soul separated from the body can
understand nothing at all. For the Philosopher says (De Anima i, 4)
that "the understanding is corrupted together with its interior
principle." But by dea