creatures are in some way changeable, yet
some of them do not proceed from changeable created causes. And
these, therefore, are not subject to fate, as stated above.
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QUESTION 117

OF THINGS PERTAINING TO THE ACTION OF MAN
(In Four Articles)

We have next to consider those things which pertain to the action of
man, who is composed of a created corporeal and spiritual nature. In
the first place we shall consider that action (in general) and
secondly in regard to the propagation of man from man. As to the
first, there are four points of inquiry:

(1) Whether one man can teach another, as being the cause of his
knowledge?

(2) Whether man can teach an angel?

(3) Whether by the power of his soul man can change corporeal matter?

(4) Whether the separate soul of man can move bodies by local
movement?
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FIRST ARTICLE [I, Q. 117, Art. 1]

Whether One Man Can Teach Another?

Objection 1: It would seem that one man cannot teach another. For the
Lord says (Matt. 22:8): "Be not you called Rabbi": on which the gloss
of Jerome says, "Lest you give to men the honor due to God."
Therefore to be a master is properly an honor due to God. But it
belongs to a master to teach. Therefore man cannot teach, and this is
proper to God.

Obj. 2: Further, if one man teaches another this is only inasmuch as
he acts through his own knowledge, so as to cause knowledge in the
other. But a quality through which anyone acts so as to produce his
like, is an active quality. Therefore it follows that knowledge is an
active quality just as heat is.

Obj. 3: Further, for knowledge we require intellectual light, and the
species of the thing understood. But a man cannot cause either of
these in another man. Therefore a man cannot by teaching cause
knowledge in another man.

Obj. 4: Further, the teacher does nothing in regard to a disciple
save to propose to him certain signs, so as to signify something by
words or gestures. But it is not possible to teach anyone so as to
cause knowledge in him, by putting signs before him. For these are
signs either of things that he knows, or of things he does not know.
If of things that he knows, he to whom these signs are proposed is
already in the possession of knowledge, and does not acquire it from
the master. If they are signs of things that he does not know, he can
learn nothing therefrom: for instance, if one were to speak Greek to
a man who only k