Kind, generation, and operation’s dependence on substance

Use in the book

A dog does not generate a sheep, still less a human being. Ficino uses this assumed boundedness of natural generation to argue that a body cannot produce indiscriminately across kinds or above its own nature. A bodily intellect would therefore have two difficulties: receiving a form it already has and conceiving a form unlike itself. Complete understanding, however, requires reception followed by the conception of an account or definition.

Even a granted bodily reception would conform its object to the recipient's particular nature. It could not explain the mind's broad apprehension of bodies or its invention of varied possible forms. Still less could a body explain cognition of incorporeals. An operation cannot be more elevated than the substance that causes it; a merely bodily substance cannot therefore have a properly suprabodily intellectual operation.

A form mixed with body also acquires bodily determination, just as sight is limited through the eye to colours. The argument is attributed to Aristotle and accepted by Platonists; Ficino then distinguishes additions he attributes specifically to Platonists. In VIII.14, the principle is applied to composites: matter and form together have the composite's being and operation, whereas intellect analyzes the composite into independently considered constituents.

The argument's dependence on form and causal likeness should remain explicit. Its natural examples serve that historical metaphysics; they are not a modern account of heredity or evolutionary change.

Places to read

1. VIII.10.1Dogs, sheep, fire, reception and conception establish the limits of a hypothesized bodily knower.
2. VIII.10.2The mixed form and colour-bound sight extend the argument, with explicit Aristotelian and Platonic attributions.
3. VIII.14.1The operation of a composite is contrasted with intellectual analysis of matter and form.

Translation in this edition

The apparatus takes aut quodlibet corpus aut incorporalia climactically: no unrestricted production of bodies, still less incorporeals. This avoids suggesting that a body could produce no bodily effect whatsoever. Species and genus should not both be rendered by an undifferentiated “kind.”

agere / operari

agere / operari. Printed forms: agendi; agit; operandi; operantur; operaretur; operari; operatur; operentur; operetur.

Acting or operating from a principle, with the agent's form determining the activity's mode. The substance-operation arguments move from the breadth and inward character of intellectual activity toward the nature of the mind that acts. References: VIII.8.1, VIII.10.1, VIII.14.1, VIII.15.1, VIII.15.2, VIII.15.3. See Kind, generation, and operation’s dependence on substance.

Aristoteles / Platonici

Aristoteles / Platonici. Printed forms: Aristotelis; Platonici; Platonicis.

Aristotle and the Platonists, whose agreement and additions are explicitly differentiated. Ficino attributes the bodily-restriction argument to Aristotle, then marks further claims as Platonic additions rather than a single undifferentiated consensus. References: VIII.10.2. See Kind, generation, and operation’s dependence on substance.

cognoscere (additional forms)

cognoscere (additional forms). Printed forms: cognoscat; cognoscendi; cognoscendo; cognoscendum; cognosceret; Cognoscimus; cognoscimus.

Knowing, stated in different temporal, hypothetical and purposive constructions. Counterfactual clauses describe what a bodily mind could not know; they should not be quoted as positive limits on the actual intellect. References: VIII.1.1, VIII.3.1, VIII.4.3, VIII.4.9, VIII.4.13, VIII.5.1, VIII.6.1, VIII.8.1, VIII.10.2, VIII.16.1. See Kind, generation, and operation’s dependence on substance.

concludere / inferre / sequi

concludere / inferre / sequi. Printed forms: concludendum; concludit; inferemus; sequerentur; sequeretur; sequitur.

Concluding, inferring and following as a consequence. These markers distinguish a provisional hypothesis from the result claimed against it; the consequence may be an absurdity rather than Ficino's positive doctrine. References: VIII.1.3, VIII.4.3, VIII.4.5, VIII.4.13, VIII.10.1. See Kind, generation, and operation’s dependence on substance.

corpus / corporalis (further forms)

corpus / corporalis (further forms). Printed forms: corporale; corporalem; corporales; corporalia; corporalium; corpori; Corporum; corporum.

Bodily or belonging to bodies; the noun forms retain the same bodily reference. The proof distinguishes bodies known by mind from the proposed bodily constitution of the knowing subject; they must not be inferred to share one reception mode. References: VIII.1.1, VIII.1.2, VIII.1.4, VIII.2.1, VIII.2.5, VIII.2.6, VIII.2.7, VIII.3.1, VIII.3.8, VIII.4.4, VIII.4.6, VIII.5.1, VIII.6.1, VIII.7.1, VIII.10.1, VIII.10.2, VIII.13.1, VIII.13.2, VIII.16.1, VIII.16.4. See Kind, generation, and operation’s dependence on substance.

mixtus / sincerus

mixtus / sincerus. Printed forms: mixta; mixtum; separatum; sincera.

Mixed and pure or separate, describing different modes of reception. A form bound to a bodily quality would be restricted like sight through an eye and could not explain grasp of pure incorporeal objects. References: VIII.10.2. See Kind, generation, and operation’s dependence on substance.

ovis / ignis

ovis / ignis. Printed forms: ignis; ovem.

Sheep and fire in two distinct examples concerning specific form. A dog does not beget a sheep; fire already possesses its own form and cannot receive that same determination as something lacking. References: VIII.10.1. See Kind, generation, and operation’s dependence on substance.

sublimior

sublimior. Printed forms: sublimior; sublimiorem.

More elevated in explanatory or ontological rank, not merely higher in place. An operation cannot surpass its own producing substance in the way universal incorporeal cognition would surpass a merely bodily mind. References: VIII.10.1, VIII.10.2. See Kind, generation, and operation’s dependence on substance.

substantia

substantia. Printed forms: Substantia; substantia; substantiae; substantiam; Substantiam; substantiarum; substantias; substantiis.

Substance or subsisting nature, contrasted locally with its operations and accidents. Soul remains in substance while operating successively; in creatures operative power is distinct from substance. References: V.1.5, V.2.1, V.12.2, V.13.13, V.15.6, V.15.10. See Motion and substantial stability.

Substance or the underlying nature whose form and operation are being explained. Phantasy conjectures it without its account; definition seeks what it is; operation is not allowed to outrank its producing substance. References: VIII.1.1, VIII.4.4, VIII.10.1, VIII.10.2. See Kind, generation, and operation’s dependence on substance.

Aristotle (authorities and interlocutors)

Aristotle. Ficino places Aristotle largely, rather than without qualification, with the ancient theologians. Elsewhere the owl-eye comparison and arguments concerning cognitive activity and bodily restriction enter particular proofs. These uses do not by themselves establish complete agreement between Aristotle and Ficino. References: VI.1.6, VI.2.9, VII.12.1, VIII.10.2. See Divine production and the third essence; Intellectual objects and the owl’s eye; Proportion, health, strength and beauty; Kind, generation, and operation’s dependence on substance.