3. (b.) (No aggregation of atoms could form a whole that would be one
and sympathetic with itself.) Others, on the contrary, insist that the
soul is constituted by the union of atoms or indivisibles (as thought
Leucippus, Democritus and Epicurus.[41]) To refute this error, we have
to examine the nature of sympathy (or community of affection, a Stoic
characteristic of a living being,[42]) and juxtaposition.[43] On the
one hand an aggregation of corporeal molecules which are incapable of
being united, and which do not feel cannot form a single sympathetic
whole such as is the soul, which is sympathetic with herself. On
the other hand, how could a body or extension be constituted by (a
juxtaposition of) atoms?
SOUL IS A SIMPLE SUBSTANCE, WHILE EVERY BODY IS COMPOSED OF MATTER AND
FORM.
(c.) (Every body is a composite of matter and form, while the soul is
a simple substance.) Inasmuch as matter possesses no quality,[44] the
matter of no simple body will be said to possess life in itself. That
which imparts life to it must then be its form. If form is a "being,"
the soul cannot simultaneously be matter and form; it will be only
matter or form. Consequently, the soul will not be the body, since
the body is not constituted by matter exclusively, as could be proved
analytically, if necessary.