6. It may perhaps be objected that we have here indicated the
properties of "being," but we have not described its nature. Such a
request amounts to asking to see what sense-being is; now sense-being
is, and "being" is not something which can be seen.
What then? Are fire and water not beings? Doubtless, they are. But are
they beings merely because they are visible? No. Is it because they
contain matter? No. Is it because they have a form? No. Is it because
they are combinations? No. They are "beings," because they "are."
But one can also say that quantity, as well as that quality "is!" Yes,
doubtless, but if we speak thus about quantity and quality, it is only
by a figure of speech.[343],[361], [366]
Then, in what consists the being of earth, fire, and other similar
things? What is the difference between the being of these things and
of others? The essence of the earth, of the fire, and so forth, exists
in an absolute manner, while the essence of other things (is relative)
and for instance, means merely being white. "Is" added to white is not
the same thing as "essence" taken absolutely; is it? Certainly not.
Essence taken absolutely is essence in the first degree; "to be" added
to white, is essence by participation, essence in the second degree;
for "to be," added to white, makes white an essence; and white added
to essence makes the being white; that is why white is an accident for
essence, and "to be" an accident to white. It is not the same thing as
if we said, Socrates is white, and, the White is Socrates; for in both
cases Socrates is the same being; but it is not thus with whiteness;
for, in the second case, Socrates is contained in the white, and in
the first case, white is a pure accident. When we say, the being is
white, the white is an accident of being; but when we say, the White
is essence, the white contains essence. In short, white possesses
existence only because it refers to "being," and is in "being." It
is therefore from "being" that it receives its existence. On the
contrary, essence draws its existence from itself; and from white it
receives whiteness, not because it is in the white, but because the
white is within it.[366] As the essence which is in the sense-world is
not Essence by itself, we must say that it draws its existence from
the veritable Essence, in itself; and, finally, the White in itself
possesses essence because it participates in the intelligible Essence.
BEING CANNOT BE ASCRIBED TO MATTER, WHICH DERIVES ITS BEING FROM THE
INTELLIGIBLE.
7. If somebody should object that material things derive their essence
from matter, we should have to ask from whence matter itself draws its
essence and existence; for we have elsewhere demonstrated that matter
does not hold the first rank.[367]
If, however, it be further objected, that the other things could not
exist without being in matter, we will answer that that is true only
for sense-things. But if matter be anterior to sense-things, that does
not hinder itself being posterior to many other things, and to all
intelligible things; for the existence of matter is far more obscure
than the things in matter, if these things be ("seminal) reasons,"
which participate deeper in essence, while matter is completely
irrational, being an adumbration, and a decay of reason.[368]
It may further be objected that matter gives essence to material
things, as Socrates gives essence to the white that is in him. We will
answer that what possesses a superior degree of Essence may well confer
a lesser degree of essence to what possesses a still inferior degree
thereof, but that the reciprocal or converse condition is impossible.
Now, as form is more essence than matter,[369] essence cannot be
predicated equally of matter and form, and "being" is not a genus whose
species is matter, form and the combination.[370] These three things
have several common characteristics, as we have already said, but
they differ in respect to essence; for when something which possesses
a superior degree of essence approaches something which possesses an
inferior degree (as when form approaches matter), this thing, although
anterior in (the ontological) order, is posterior in respect to being;
consequently, if matter, form and the combination be not "beings"
equally, no longer is being for them something common, like a genus.
Nevertheless, "being" will be in a less narrow relation with things
which are posterior to matter, to form, and to the combination, though
it gives each of them the property of belonging to themselves. It is
thus that life has different degrees, one stronger, the other weaker,
and that the images of a same object are some more lively, others more
obscure.[371] If essence be measured by a lower degree of essence, and
if the superior degree which exists in other things be omitted, essence
thus considered will be a common element. But that is not a good way of
procedure. Indeed, each whole differs from the others, and the lesser
degree of essence does not constitute something that was common to all;
just as, for life, there is not something common to vegetative life, to
sensitive life, and rational life.[371]