Necessary predication and the fire objection

Use in the book

V.9234 contrasts the circle, intrinsically round, with wood made round by an artisan. Wood can survive the loss of roundness; a circle cannot remain a circle without it. The examples of fire’s heat, water’s moisture and the sun’s light then lead into the claim that being belongs to form through itself.

The objection in V.9.3 correctly targets an additional step: fire is always hot while it exists, but it can cease to exist. Why should a self-subsistent form’s possession of being imply more than being while it exists? Ficino first attacks the objector’s repeated “is” and the proposed infinite series of conditions. A first root of being must eventually be reached. The lexicon reports that argumentative move without presenting its accusation of contradiction as an independently settled logical verdict.

V.9.4 gives the fuller metaphysical reply. Heat and being are different: otherwise everything existent would be hot and every cooling would be annihilation. For fire the order is essence, materially conditioned being, then heat. Its dependence upon matter permits the condition to fail. For a separate soul, being is the first proper act of essence without an intervening bodily bond that could be loosened.

Thus the contrast concerns the ontological source and conditions of predication, not merely the grammatical difference between nouns and verbs. The proof still requires the earlier premise that soul really is a separate form. V.1023 makes clear that it does not claim exemption from God as efficient source.

Places to read

1. V.9.1Circle and wooden circle distinguish intrinsic and acquired roundness.
2. V.9.3The fire objection and Ficino’s repetition/regress reply.
3. V.9.4, V.10.1Being is distinguished from being hot and material conditions from divine dependence.

Translation in this edition

The edition keeps the deliberately repetitive est/semper est/dum est sequence instead of replacing it with a paraphrased victory. V.9.4 applies the correction primo ponatur, preserving the ordered placement of essence, being and heat.

absurdus / repugnare

absurdus / repugnare. Printed forms: absurdissimum; absurdius; absurdum; repugnans; repugnantia; repugnat.

Absurd or incompatible, a verdict supported locally by a contradiction or failed causal condition. The repeated objections test whether a hypothesis can preserve the nature it describes; the label is Ficino's argumentative assessment. References: V.4.9, V.8.4, V.9.3, V.12.2, V.12.13, V.13.15. See Necessary predication and the fire objection.

calere

calere. Printed forms: calere; Calere; calerent; calet.

To be hot, distinct from simply being. If hotness and existence were identical, everything existent would be hot; the absurd consequence blocks a simple transfer of the fire analogy. References: V.9.4. See Necessary predication and the fire objection.

dum est

dum est. Printed forms: dum est; Dum scilicet est; dum scilicet est.

While it exists, the condition attached to fire's always being hot. The objector proposes the same qualification for soul's being; Ficino replies by distinguishing being from hotness and excluding material mediation. References: V.9.3, V.9.4. See Necessary predication and the fire objection.

ignis

ignis. Printed forms: ignem; igneum; igni; ignis; Ignis.

Fire, the elemental substance used repeatedly to distinguish intrinsic heat, material support and loss of form. Fire cannot become cold while remaining fire but may perish; soul's argument therefore needs more than the mere exclusion of a contrary predicate. References: V.8.2, V.9.1, V.9.4, V.14.4, V.14.5. See Necessary predication and the fire objection.

lignum

lignum. Printed forms: Ligno; lignum.

Wood, a material that may acquire and lose circular shape. Its continued existence after losing roundness demonstrates that the property is not intrinsic to wood as wood. References: V.9.1. See Necessary predication and the fire objection.

progressio in infinitum

progressio in infinitum. Printed forms: in infinitum; progressio.

An endless explanatory regress. Ficino refuses an infinite sequence of further forms or conditional acts of being without a first ground. References: V.9.1, V.9.3. See Necessary predication and the fire objection.

radix essendi

radix essendi. Printed forms: essendi radicem; radicem essendi.

A root or first ground of being. The repeated conditional 'while it is' cannot, Ficino argues, replace an actual explanatory ground with endless qualification. References: V.9.3. See Necessary predication and the fire objection.

rotunditas

rotunditas. Printed forms: rotunditas; Rotunditas; rotunditate; rotunditatem.

Roundness, an intrinsic feature of a circle but an acquired feature of shaped wood. The example distinguishes a subject surviving a property loss from a form whose identity includes that property. References: V.9.1. See Necessary predication and the fire objection.