From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Adequate object
adequate object; adequate
An adequate object fully answers the power directed towards it.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAn adequate object fully answers the power directed towards it.
- In TraherneEach person can receive the whole attention of divine love while millions of others receive it too.
- In this editionRead adequate as a strong claim of fullness; the modern sense of barely sufficient weakens both passages.
- A place to beginEach enjoyer is the adequate object of eternal love amid the world’s many inhabitants.
Meaning
An adequate object fully answers the power directed towards it. Adequate here means corresponding to its whole extent, rather than merely good enough for a limited purpose.
Use in the book
Each person can receive the whole attention of divine love while millions of others receive it too. The expression therefore joins personal intimacy to a world whose services reach the enjoyer through other creatures and people. The supplied note explains the technical comparison: all visible things together answer to sight. Traherne applies such fullness to each recipient of God’s love. Elsewhere, adequacy names an apparent equality between souls. He then wonders that one soul can comprehend many others without exhausting its capacity. Exact correspondence is the starting expectation, not the final boundary of understanding.
Places to read
In this edition
Read adequate as a strong claim of fullness; the modern sense of barely sufficient weakens both passages.
Source note
Primary text: II.15, II.71. Supplied 2026 editorial note 97 at II.15 provides the scholastic explanation and the example of sight.
From the book
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Object and adequate object
obiectum; proprium obiectum; absolutum obiectum; adaequatum appetitus obiectum; obiecto; obiectum; quam proxima; rei cognoscendae; externa sequi
Obiectum names what a cognitive or appetitive power is directed toward, whether bodily or not.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordObiectum names what a cognitive or appetitive power is directed toward, whether bodily or not.
- In the Platonic TheologyAn object is what a cognitive or appetitive power is directed toward, not necessarily a physical thing.
- In this editionThe repeated sequi in II.9.9 reverses the proposed dependence: external things follow divine mind in being, rather than mind following them to know.
- A place to readThe intelligible as object forms and perfects a receiving intellectual power
Meaning
Obiectum names what a cognitive or appetitive power is directed toward, whether bodily or not. Proprium marks the object characteristic of that power; absolutum unrestricted adequacy; adaequatum commensurateness. An object is not simply any physical item standing before an observer.
Obiectum is what a power apprehends or is directed toward; proximitas here is closeness of cognitive relation. An adequate object must be commensurate with the power, rather than merely physically near it.
Use in the book
An object is what a cognitive or appetitive power is directed toward, not necessarily a physical thing. Ficino argues that the proper object of divine intelligence cannot be external to God, and calls divine goodness its absolute object. In the analysis of desire, the Good is appetite's adequate object: goodness explains the aspect under which anything is desired. Individual objects can consequently be chosen mistakenly as good without altering that general orientation. The word connects the scope of a power with what fulfills it.
The nearest knowledge is self-knowledge because knower and known are not separated by an external source of completion. Since divine understanding and essence are identical, an external object perfecting that understanding would also perfect divine essence and make God dependent on another. The following rhetorical question reverses the supposed order: external things follow divine mind to exist, so divine mind need not follow external things in order to know. The argument is about causal and cognitive dependence, not neglect of the world.
Further passage references. I.6.12–132; II.9.10–13234; II.12.12; II.13.29
II.9.8, II.9.9: Self-knowledge avoids completion by an external object II.9.10, II.9.11: No externally bounded object can exhaust the unlimited divine power
Places to read
- I.6.13The intelligible as object forms and perfects a receiving intellectual power
- II.9.8Self-knowledge avoids perfection by an external object
- II.9.10An external object cannot bound the proper scope of divine mind
- II.12.12Divine goodness is the absolute object of divine mind and will
- II.13.29Goodness is appetite’s adequate object even when one seeks freedom from desire
Translation in this edition
The repeated sequi in II.9.9 reverses the proposed dependence: external things follow divine mind in being, rather than mind following them to know. At II.13.29 “adequate object” concerns goodness as the aspect under which anything is desired, not the claim that every desired particular is actually beneficial.
“Follows” translates sequi in both directions of II.9.9. The repeated verb sharpens the reversal from knowledge following reality to dependent things following their intelligent cause.
adaequatus
adaequatus. Printed forms: adaequatum.
Adequate or matching the scope of a power. The good is appetite’s adequate object, explaining what it seeks under all particular choices without guaranteeing their correctness. References: II.13.29. See Object and adequate object.
exterior / externus
exterior / externus. Printed forms: externa; externam.
External in relation to an agent, its object, or its source of completion. External matter contrasts with immanent operation; external objects cannot perfect divine self-knowledge. References: II.7.16, II.9.5, II.9.9. See Object and adequate object.
obiectum
obiectum. Printed forms: obiecto; obiectum.
Object of a cognitive or appetitive power. The complete object of perfect intelligence grounds delight; goodness is appetite’s adequate object across particular choices. References: II.11.32, II.13.29. See Object and adequate object.
obiectum / proximus
obiectum / proximus. Printed forms: obiecto; obiectum; proxima.
Object of a cognitive power and closeness to it. Divine self-knowledge avoids dependence on an external object that would perfect both understanding and essence. References: II.9.8, II.9.10. See Object and adequate object.
sequi
sequi. Printed forms: sequi.
To follow, here expressing a dependence relation. The rhetorical reversal says external things follow divine mind to be, rather than divine mind following them to know. References: II.9.9. See Object and adequate object.