Whether the Angels Understand by Composing and Dividing?
Objection 1: It would seem that the angels understand by composing and
dividing. For, where there is multiplicity of things understood, there
is composition of the same, as is said in _De Anima_ iii, text. 21. But
there is a multitude of things understood in the angelic mind; because
angels apprehend different things by various species, and not all at
one time. Therefore there is composition and division in the angel's
mind.
Obj. 2: Further, negation is far more remote from affirmation than
any two opposite natures are; because the first of distinctions is
that of affirmation and negation. But the angel knows certain distant
natures not by one, but by diverse species, as is evident from what
was said (A. 2). Therefore he must know affirmation and negation by
diverse species. And so it seems that he understands by composing and
dividing.
Obj. 3: Further, speech is a sign of the intellect. But in speaking
to men, angels use affirmative and negative expressions, which are
signs of composition and of division in the intellect; as is manifest
from many passages of Sacred Scripture. Therefore it seems that the
angel understands by composing and dividing.
_On the contrary,_ Dionysius says (Div. Nom. vii) that "the
intellectual power of the angel shines forth with the clear
simplicity of divine concepts." But a simple intelligence is without
composition and division. Therefore the angel understands without
composition or division.
_I answer that,_ As in the intellect, when reasoning, the conclusion
is compared with the principle, so in the intellect composing and
dividing, the predicate is compared with the subject. For if our
intellect were to see at once the truth of the conclusion in the
principle, it would never understand by discursion and reasoning. In
like manner, if the intellect in apprehending the quiddity of the
subject were at once to have knowledge of all that can be attributed
to, or removed from, the subject, it would never understand by
composing and dividing, but only by understanding the essence. Thus it
is evident that for the self-same reason our intellect understands by
discursion, and by composing and dividing, namely, that in the first
apprehension of anything newly apprehended it does not at once grasp
all that is virtually contained in it. And this comes from the
weakness of the intellectual light within us, as has been said
(A. 3). Hence, since the intellectual light is perfect in the
angel, for he is a pure and most clear mirror, as Dionysius says
(Div. Nom. iv), it follows that as the angel does not understand by
reasoning, so neither does he by composing and dividing.
Nevertheless, he understands the composition and the division of
enunciations, just as he apprehends the reasoning of syllogisms: for
he understands simply, such things as are composite, things movable
immovably, and material things immaterially.
Reply Obj. 1: Not every multitude of things understood causes
composition, but a multitude of such things understood that one of
them is attributed to, or denied of, another. When an angel apprehends
the nature of anything, he at the same time understands whatever can
be either attributed to it, or denied of it. Hence, in apprehending a
nature, he by one simple perception grasps all that we can learn by
composing and dividing.
Reply Obj. 2: The various natures of things differ less as to their
mode of existing than do affirmation and negation. Yet, as to the way
in which they are known, affirmation and negation have something more
in common; because directly the truth of an affirmation is known, the
falsehood of the opposite negation is known also.
Reply Obj. 3: The fact that angels use affirmative and negative forms
of speech, shows that they know both composition and division: yet
not that they know by composing and dividing, but by knowing simply
the nature of a thing.
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