Comets and defining accounts

Use in the book

V.72 gives a comet as dry vapor kindled in upper air and moving around in order. What matters to the proof is the distinction between this account and an actual shining comet. A true account need not become false when no such object appears today. The account therefore differs from the current presence that constitutes a particular comet’s esse.

Ficino adds a counterfactual test. If “here today” were part of the common definition, all instances sharing the definition would be constrained to those coordinates. The essential rational capacity common to humans makes clear what inclusion in a definition would entail. Humanity can be instantiated in different centuries and in East or West; Plato and Socrates cannot avoid particular conditions in order to live.

The example does not by itself show that a personal soul’s definition guarantees that individual’s immortality. Ficino must still distinguish forms contracted to bodies from self-subsistent forms. The comet is an explanatory tool for that next step, not a counterexample he overlooks.

At V.14.6 the comet returns in a different function. Its streaming hair follows it as light follows the sun, illustrating life as the soul’s attendant. The same natural object thus serves first definition versus occurrence, then inseparable accompaniment.

Places to read

1. V.7.1The comet, human definition and named individuals distinguish essence from actual presence.
2. V.14.6The comet’s hair is an attendant image in the life argument.

Translation in this edition

The apparatus expressly retains Ficino’s definition rather than silently modernizing crinita into a modern astronomical theory. The Latin’s ferme in its generalization about times and places gives “almost”; the argument should not lose that qualification.

accendere / effulgere

accendere / effulgere. Printed forms: accendere; accensus; effulgeat.

To kindle and to shine forth. A fiery vapor belongs to Ficino's comet account, while actual shining distinguishes an existing comet from its definition. References: V.7.1, V.13.5. See Comets and defining accounts.

coma

coma. Printed forms: comam.

Hair or streaming tail, the visible attendant of a comet. The comet/hair analogy parallels sun/light in the claim that life follows soul. References: V.14.6. See Comets and defining accounts.

crinita

crinita. Printed forms: crinita; crinitae; crinitis.

A comet, literally the hairy celestial appearance. Its historical definition distinguishes essence from current existence; its hair later illustrates an inseparable attendant. References: V.7.1, V.14.6. See Comets and defining accounts.

hic / ibi

hic / ibi. Printed forms: hic; ibi.

Here and there, deictic indications of a particular place. If a common definition included one such coordinate, every instance would be confined to the same place. References: V.7.1. See Comets and defining accounts.

hodie / cras

hodie / cras. Printed forms: cras; hodie.

Today and tomorrow, examples of particular temporal coordinates. They specify an occurrence rather than the unrestricted defining account of a comet. References: V.7.1. See Comets and defining accounts.

oriens / occidens

oriens / occidens. Printed forms: occidente; oriente.

East and West, paired regions illustrating a common nature's geographic nonrestriction. Humanity can occur in either; the pair supports a claim about definition rather than a travel description. References: V.7.1. See Comets and defining accounts.

Plato / Socrates

Plato / Socrates. Printed forms: Plato; Platonem; Platonis; Socrates; Socratici; Socratico; Socratis.

Named individual humans whose existence requires particular temporal and local conditions. Their individuality contrasts with common humanity; Plato later serves as Ariston's determinate offspring. References: V.7.1, V.8.1, V.13.5. See Comets and defining accounts.

Named persons serving as perceived object and perceiver in the optical thought experiment. Socrates judges Plato through an image; the dimensions of that image are compared with Socrates’ organs and body. References: VII.1.1. See Receiving images: wax, seals and mirrors.

ratio / definitio

ratio / definitio. Printed forms: definitio; definitione; definitionem; ratio; ratione; rationem; rationes; rationibus; rationis; rationum.

Ratio can name an argument or reason, a defining account, or an intelligible principle; definitio specifically supplies the defining account. These senses are not interchangeable. V.7.1 uses ratio with definitio for the comet’s defining account. The additional exact attestations in the earlier proofs use reason or argument, while later rationes can name stable intelligible principles. The context, not the shared spelling, controls the sense. References: V.1.1, V.5.5, V.7.1, V.13.18, V.15.15. See Comets and defining accounts.

vapor / fumus

vapor / fumus. Printed forms: fumos; vapor.

Vapor or fumes, products or constituents within Ficino's historical natural philosophy. Solar thinning produces vapors; a dry upper-air vapor belongs to the comet's defining account. References: V.4.1, V.7.1. See Comets and defining accounts.