From the book
Candida Phoenix Philosophica
Anonymous · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordCommon opinion means an accepted view supported by the agreement of many people or writers.
- In the CandidaThe author refuses to let a majority decide whether the spirit over the waters is created.
- TranslationThe expression concerns argumentative authority, rather than a statistical survey of readers.
- A place to readI.050.1–I.051.1, pp. 50–52.
Meaning
Common opinion appears near the end of the First Part as an argument the author must answer. The issue is whether the great spirit hovering over the waters should be identified with God the Holy Spirit or regarded as created. The author argues for a created spirit and refuses to regard widespread assent to the opposing view as decisive.
His position does not reject every inherited interpretation. He relies on Scripture, named philosophical sources and a legal injunction. The target is a particular way of using inheritance: counting supporters in place of considering what their reasons establish. The famous contrast between weighing and counting opinions summarizes this demand.
Use in the book
At I.050.1, the author invokes the prohibition on following the multitude to evil and the admonition to test all things and keep the good. These scriptural appeals give a Christian justification for examining an accepted view. He then adds the Latin maxim that a multitude of people in error provides no defence for error. Agreement can coexist with mistake.
At I.051.1, Justinian's instruction makes the point in a different register. The opinion of one, even a less eminent person, may surpass many greater authorities in some respect. The author concludes that opinions must be weighed rather than counted. He then restates his own conclusion about the created spirit and closes with an explicit confession of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.113
That final confession prevents a misleading reading of the dispute. Rejecting the identification of this created spirit with the Holy Spirit is not presented as a rejection of the Trinity. The author takes pains to distinguish his natural interpretation of the Genesis passage from his Christian confession. A summary that suppresses the confession would make the polemic appear more sweeping than the source permits.
The rule is also useful elsewhere in the book. A famous alchemical name does not receive universal assent: Theophrastus is praised for some instruction and criticized on homunculi. The two Latin correspondents on light likewise must be distinguished rather than combined into an authoritative consensus. Common opinion is therefore a local entry with a wider reading consequence: attributed arguments remain arguments even when they arrive surrounded by prestigious names.
Places to read
- Part I · I.050.1Scriptural and proverbial grounds for refusing a majority argument.
- Part I · I.051.1Justinian, the weighing of opinions and the concluding Trinitarian confession.
- Part II · II.192.1; II.194.12Selective approval and criticism of Theophrastus.
Translation
Common opinion preserves the sense of communem opinionem. Ponderandæ is represented by to be weighed in the maxim about opinions. The metaphor calls for assessment of reasons and relative merit; it does not prescribe a numerical weighting system.
Cautions
The author's refusal of majority authority does not itself prove his interpretation of Genesis. It states a rule for assessing the dispute, after which the substantive reasons still need examination.
communem opinionem
communem opinionem — common opinion in an inflected Latin phrase. I.050.1.
ponderandæ
ponderandæ — to be weighed. I.051.1.
Source note
The legal reference at I.051.1 is given in the source as the Code’s title on elucidating the old law, with the opening Sed neque ex multitudine. Its function here is to reject counting authorities. The natural and theological conclusion that follows still depends on the preceding argument.