Contradiction and possibility · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordContradictio is contradiction; repugnare and adversari oppose or conflict with something.
In the Platonic TheologyFicino argues that whatever does not conflict with being’s character lies within its possibility.
In this edition“Conflicts with” and “opposite” must be interpreted through the next unit’s explicit contradictio.
A place to readThe argument moves from corporeal possibility to the character of being.

Meaning

Contradictio is contradiction; repugnare and adversari oppose or conflict with something. Ratio entis is the intelligible character of being, while potentia entis concerns what can be. The logical exclusion is narrower than ordinary difference or contrary qualities.

Use in the book

Ficino argues that whatever does not conflict with being’s character lies within its possibility. Contradiction alone includes the character of nonbeing, and he attributes to the Peripatetics the inclusion of noncontradictory things within the potency of being. The mind’s ability to range over that breadth supports a corresponding scope for divine productive power. The next paragraph is essential: possible changes in number, magnitude, and stellar distances need never occur in the actual order. God’s ability therefore exceeds what God makes. This does not say that any arbitrary collection of words identifies a coherent possibility. Nor does the presence of physical contraries, such as heat and cold, amount to the contradiction excluded from possible being. Contraries are elsewhere reconciled and ordered in one world.

Selected annotated passages.

Places to read

II.12.16The argument moves from corporeal possibility to the character of being.
II.12.17Contradiction is excluded; the Peripatetic attribution is explicit.
II.12.18Unactualized possibilities ground the distinction between power and choice.

Translation in this edition

“Conflicts with” and “opposite” must be interpreted through the next unit’s explicit contradictio. The text does not enumerate a modern formal logic or prove that every mentally pictured object is possible. The examples of stars concern Ficino’s modal argument, not observations of alternative universes.

adversari / repugnare

adversari / repugnare. Printed forms: adversatur; repugnet.

Conflict with or oppose. The object is the intelligible character of being, so the argument concerns impossibility rather than ordinary physical opposition. References: II.12.16. See Contradiction and possibility.

contradictio

contradictio. Printed forms: Contradictio; contradictionem.

Contradiction. It alone includes the character of nonbeing in the modal argument; noncontradictory possibilities can exceed the actual order. References: II.12.17, II.12.18. See Contradiction and possibility.

intervallum

intervallum. Printed forms: intervallaque.

Interval or distance. Alternative distances between stars exemplify possibilities beyond the existing order; the passage does not claim they are actual. References: II.12.18. See Contradiction and possibility.

qui / quod — scope of a condition

qui / quod — scope of a condition. Printed forms: quaecumque; Quaecumque; quicquid.

Whatever or whoever, with generalizing scope. The modal statement quantifies over whatever excludes contradiction; its scope is constrained by that condition, not by arbitrary imagination. References: II.12.17, II.12.18. See Contradiction and possibility.