Simplicity of human and numerical species · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordSpecies can name a determinate nature as well as the form representing it in mind.
In the Platonic TheologyFicino diagnoses a mistake prompted by knowledge of composites.
In this editionThe compressed Talis autem forma simplex esse simplicis fundamentum species est is retained by the supplied Latin.
A place to readHumanity and ten remain indivisible under their specific accounts despite bodily or numerical partitions.

Meaning

Species can name a determinate nature as well as the form representing it in mind. Simplicity here is often explicitly aspectual: a human being as human or ten as ten is not divided into several objects of that same species. It is not a denial that a human body has organs or ten can be partitioned into numbers.

Use in the book

Ficino diagnoses a mistake prompted by knowledge of composites. Humans have genus and difference, and numbers can be gathered from units; one might infer that the corresponding intellectual species is a bodily composite. He replies that bodily division does not preserve the specific whole. A head, breast or thigh is a body, but none is a human being. Dividing ten yields numbers, not several tens. Under the account that makes each the definite thing it is, the species is one.

Animal and rational are not two separate forms in the human species. “Rationality” is described as animality brought into the act of reason. The distinction of concepts need not imply the coexistence of two spatially separate substantial forms. The species communicates itself whole to individuals; it is not apportioned into diminished shares.

The numerical example makes the absence of degrees exact. Add one to seven and the result is eight, not a more intense seven; subtract one and the result is six. Similarly, Ficino says a species cannot accept addition or subtraction without becoming another. Proper knowledge concerns such stable determinate natures, rather than unstable innumerable individuals or insufficiently differentiated genera.

Words and successive thoughts prepare or accompany knowledge. The achieved intellectual touch is described as one act or habit. This is a claim about the unity of the understood account, not a prohibition on analysing an argument into explanatory sentences.

Places to read

VIII.4.10Humanity and ten remain indivisible under their specific accounts despite bodily or numerical partitions.
VIII.4.11Seven, eight and six illustrate definite species; discursive preparations are distinguished from simple knowledge.

Translation in this edition

The compressed Talis autem forma simplex esse simplicis fundamentum species est is retained by the supplied Latin. The English makes an appositional interpretation explicit. This companion follows the surrounding argument without claiming that the awkward construction has been textually resolved.

caput / pectus / femur

caput / pectus / femur. Printed forms: caput; femur; pectus.

Head, breast and thigh, bodily parts that are not themselves humans. Dividing a human body yields bodies, not multiple humans; the distinction establishes aspectual simplicity of the specific account. References: VIII.4.10. See Simplicity of human and numerical species.

denarius / septenarius / octonarius / senarius

denarius / septenarius / octonarius / senarius. Printed forms: denarios; denarium; denarius; Denarius; octonarium; senarium; septenario; Septenarius.

Ten, seven, eight and six, treated as determinate numerical species. Dividing ten gives numbers but not more tens; adding or subtracting one from seven changes the species rather than intensifying seven. References: VIII.4.10, VIII.4.11. See Simplicity of human and numerical species.

dividere / secare / partiri

dividere / secare / partiri. Printed forms: dividas; dividi; dividimus; dividitur; partiamur; partiri; secabit; secas; secatur.

Dividing, cutting and partitioning, bodily or conceptual according to context. A body can be cut into bodies while humanity is not thereby cut into humans; the difference limits the claim of specific simplicity. References: VIII.4.3, VIII.4.4, VIII.4.6, VIII.4.10, VIII.4.12. See Simplicity of human and numerical species.

homo / humanus

homo / humanus. Printed forms: homine; Hominem; hominem; homines; hominis; hominum; homo; humana; Humana; humanae; humanam; humanus.

A human being, or what belongs to human nature. The opening distinguishes Plato as a particular human from humanity, while the division examples distinguish human bodily parts from a human as such. References: VIII.1.1, VIII.1.2, VIII.1.3, VIII.1.4, VIII.2.3, VIII.2.5, VIII.2.6, VIII.2.7, VIII.3.1, VIII.4.1, VIII.4.4, VIII.4.10, VIII.4.12, VIII.6.1, VIII.8.1, VIII.10.1, VIII.13.1, VIII.14.1, VIII.15.1, VIII.16.2, VIII.16.3, VIII.16.4. See Simplicity of human and numerical species.

magis minusve

magis minusve. Printed forms: addi; demi; magis minusve.

More or less, adding and taking away in the test for a species' fixed account. A determinate species does not gain intensity by acquiring an extra constituent; its defining identity changes, as the numerical examples show. References: VIII.4.11. See Simplicity of human and numerical species.

qua ratione / quatenus

qua ratione / quatenus. Printed forms: qua ratione; quatenus.

Insofar as, or under the particular account specified. Mind as mind, humanity as humanity and a form as universal are aspectual claims; their qualifiers prevent conclusions from being generalized to every respect. References: VIII.2.8, VIII.4.10, VIII.16.1, VIII.16.3, VIII.16.4. See Simplicity of human and numerical species.

rationalitas / animalitas

rationalitas / animalitas. Printed forms: animalitas; rationalitas; Rationalitas.

Rationality and animality, conceptually distinct but united in the human form. Rationality is described as animality actualized in reason, not a second spatial thing attached to a nonrational bodily piece. References: VIII.4.10. See Simplicity of human and numerical species.

simplex / simplicitas

simplex / simplicitas. Printed forms: simplex; simplicem; simplices; simplici; simplicia; simplicis; simplicitas; simplicitate; simplicitatem; simplicitatis; simplicium.

Simplicity or absence of constitutive division, sometimes expressly under a particular aspect. Ten as ten and humanity as humanity are simple in their defining account; the conclusion must not deny bodily or numerical partition in another respect. References: VIII.4.9, VIII.4.10, VIII.4.11, VIII.4.12, VIII.4.13, VIII.5.2. See Simplicity of human and numerical species.

species

species. Printed forms: specie; speciebus; speciei; speciem; species.

Kind, determinate form or intelligible appearance, depending upon context. Form differentiates species; operation takes its species from its object; the meaning is not always the modern biological species. References: V.4.1, V.8.1, V.11.8, V.13.12. See Form and formal being.

A determinate nature or an intelligible representing form, according to context. Human and numerical species remain one under their defining accounts; the species received by mind is not a spatial parcel. References: VIII.4.1, VIII.4.10, VIII.4.11. See Simplicity of human and numerical species.