Perhaps, instead of saying that the one is the cause of the other
things, we would have to admit that these things are as parts and
elements of the one; and that all things form a single nature in
which only our thought establishes divisions; so that, by virtue of
its admirable power, this nature be unity distributed in all things,
appearing and becoming manifold, as if it were in movement, and that
the one should cease being unity as a result of the fruitfulness of
its nature. If we were to enumerate successively the parts of such a
nature, we would grant to each of them a separate existence, ignoring
that we had not seen the whole together. But after thus having
separated the parts, we would soon reapproximate them, not for long
being able to keep apart the isolated elements which tend to reunite.
That is why we could not help making a whole out of them, letting
them once more become unity, or rather, be unity. Besides, this will
be easier to understand when we shall know what these essences are,
and how many are the genera of essences; for we shall then be able to
conceive their mode of existence. And as, in these matters, it is not
well to limit oneself to negations, but to aim at positive knowledge,
and at the full intelligence of the subject here treated, we shall have
to make this inquiry.
THE GENERA OF ESSENCE WILL BE DETERMINED BY AN EXAMINATION OF THE
PROBLEM OF THE ONE AND MANY.
4. If, on occupying ourselves with this sense-world, we wished to
determine the nature of bodies, would we not begin by studying some
part thereof, such as a stone? We could then distinguish therein
substance, quantity--such as dimension--and quality, such as color;
and after having discovered these same elements in other bodies,
we could say that the elements of the corporeal nature are being,
quantity, and quality; but that these three coexist; and that, though
thought distinguish them, all three form but one and the same body.
If, besides, we were to recognize that movement is proper to this
same organization, would we not add it to the three elements already
distinguished? These four elements, however, would form but a single
one, and the body, though one, would, in its nature, be the reunion
of all four. We shall have to take the same course with our present
subject, intelligible Being, and its genera and principles. Only,
in this comparison, we shall have to make abstraction of all that
is peculiar to bodies, such as generation, sense-perception, and
extension. After having established this separation, and having thus
distinguished essentially different things, we shall arrive at the
conception of a certain intelligible existence, which possesses real
essence, and unity in a still higher degree. From this standpoint,
one might be surprised how the (substance which is thus) one can be
both one and many. In respect to bodies, it is generally recognized
that the same thing is both one and many; the body can indeed be
divided infinitely; color and appearance, for instance, are therein
very differing properties, since they are separated here below. But
in respect to the soul, if she be conceived as one, without extent,
dimension and absolutely simple, as it appears at first sight, how
could we, after that, believe that the soul were manifold? We should
have here expected to reach unity, all the more as, after having
divided the animal in body and soul, and after having demonstrated that
the body is multiform, composite and diverse, one might well, on the
contrary, have expected to find the soul simple; and to have accepted
this conclusion as final, as the end of our researches. We would thus
have taken the soul as a sample of the intelligible world, just as the
body represents the sense-world. Having thus considered this soul,
let us examine how this unity can be manifold; how, in its turn, the
manifold can be unity; not indeed a composite formed of separable
parts, but a single nature simultaneously one and manifold. For, as
we have already said, it is only by starting from this point and
demonstrating it, that we will establish solidly the truth about the
genera of essence.