Whether the Intellect Is a Passive Power?
Objection 1: It would seem that the intellect is not a passive power.
For everything is passive by its matter, and acts by its form. But the
intellectual power results from the immateriality of the intelligent
substance. Therefore it seems that the intellect is not a passive
power.
Obj. 2: Further, the intellectual power is incorruptible, as we have
said above (Q. 79, A. 6). But "if the intellect is passive, it is
corruptible" (De Anima iii, 5). Therefore the intellectual power is
not passive.
Obj. 3: Further, the "agent is nobler than the patient," as Augustine
(Gen. ad lit. xii, 16) and Aristotle (De Anima iii, 5) says. But all
the powers of the vegetative part are active; yet they are the lowest
among the powers of the soul. Much more, therefore, all the
intellectual powers, which are the highest, are active.
_On the contrary,_ The Philosopher says (De Anima iii, 4) that "to
understand is in a way to be passive."
_I answer that,_ To be passive may be taken in three ways. Firstly,
in its most strict sense, when from a thing is taken something which
belongs to it by virtue either of its nature, or of its proper
inclination: as when water loses coolness by heating, and as when a
man becomes ill or sad. Secondly, less strictly, a thing is said to
be passive, when something, whether suitable or unsuitable, is taken
away from it. And in this way not only he who is ill is said to be
passive, but also he who is healed; not only he that is sad, but also
he that is joyful; or whatever way he be altered or moved. Thirdly,
in a wide sense a thing is said to be passive, from the very fact
that what is in potentiality to something receives that to which it
was in potentiality, without being deprived of anything. And
accordingly, whatever passes from potentiality to act, may be said to
be passive, even when it is perfected. And thus with us to understand
is to be passive. This is clear from the following reason. For the
intellect, as we have seen above (Q. 78, A. 1), has an operation
extending to universal being. We may therefore see whether the
intellect be in act or potentiality by observing first of all the
nature of the relation of the intellect to universal being. For we
find an intellect whose relation to universal being is that of the
act of all being: and such is the Divine intellect, which is the
Essence of God, in which originally and virtually, all being
pre-exists as in its first cause. And therefore the Divine intellect
is not in potentiality, but is pure act. But no created intellect can
be an act in relation to the whole universal being; otherwise it
would needs be an infinite being. Wherefore every created intellect
is not the act of all things intelligible, by reason of its very
existence; but is compared to these intelligible things as a
potentiality to act.
Now, potentiality has a double relation to act. There is a
potentiality which is always perfected by its act: as the matter of
the heavenly bodies (Q. 58, A. 1). And there is another potentiality
which is not always in act, but proceeds from potentiality to act; as
we observe in things that are corrupted and generated. Wherefore the
angelic intellect is always in act as regards those things which it
can understand, by reason of its proximity to the first intellect,
which is pure act, as we have said above. But the human intellect,
which is the lowest in the order of intelligence and most remote
from the perfection of the Divine intellect, is in potentiality with
regard to things intelligible, and is at first "like a clean tablet
on which nothing is written," as the Philosopher says (De Anima iii,
4). This is made clear from the fact, that at first we are only in
potentiality to understand, and afterwards we are made to understand
actually. And so it is evident that with us to understand is "in a
way to be passive"; taking passion in the third sense. And
consequently the intellect is a passive power.
Reply Obj. 1: This objection is verified of passion in the first and
second senses, which belong to primary matter. But in the third sense
passion is in anything which is reduced from potentiality to act.
Reply Obj. 2: "Passive intellect" is the name given by some to the
sensitive appetite, in which are the passions of the soul; which
appetite is also called "rational by participation," because it
"obeys the reason" (Ethic. i, 13). Others give the name of passive
intellect to the cogitative power, which is called the "particular
reason." And in each case "passive" may be taken in the two first
senses; forasmuch as this so-called intellect is the act of a
corporeal organ. But the intellect which is in potentiality to things
intelligible, and which for this reason Aristotle calls the
"possible" intellect (De Anima iii, 4) is not passive except in the
third sense: for it is not an act of a corporeal organ. Hence it is
incorruptible.
Reply Obj. 3: The agent is nobler than the patient, if the action and
the passion are referred to the same thing: but not always, if they
refer to different things. Now the intellect is a passive power in
regard to the whole universal being: while the vegetative power is
active in regard to some particular thing, namely, the body as united
to the soul. Wherefore nothing prevents such a passive force being
nobler than such an active one.
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