The following is a quodlibetal-type question that I recently received. Such questions are always welcome, just email them to me here.
If God is all knowing and all powerful then does that mean He knew creating this specific universe with its physical laws would inevitably lead to them interacting in such a way as to create unpleasant events (like earthquakes)? While it can be argued these are part of a larger system that is good (e.g., plate tectonics indirectly help sustain us) couldn’t God being all knowing and all powerful have created such fundamentally and radically different laws of physics that creation doesn’t depend indirectly or directly on these conflicting processes to achieve progress?
The point about plate tectonics is fascinating and points to one of the necessary conditions for the existence of life. That is, the destruction of parts of the Earth’s surface and attendant geological upheaval (an ontological evil) is, from another respect, a good.
Not only does Earth lie in the ‘Goldilocks zone’ that allows water to exist in the liquid form that life requires. It is also the only rocky planet we know of that constantly renovates its surface as its tectonic plates dive into the mantle in some places and re-emerge as molten lava in others. Many astrobiologists now think this constant renewal is just as important as liquid water for the flourishing of life as we know it. (Cosmos, 27 Dec 2017)
The question posed is an interesting one for several reasons. First, it generally has to do with God’s wisdom, power, and the problem of evil; so it is speculatively rewarding to consider. Second, it brings to mind the possibility of “alternate universes” in the sense that it seems possible for God to have created the entire universe (from angels to atoms) in a completely different way; this is also a speculatively fascinating topic. Third, the question is posed in a precise way that adds something to its difficulty: the question immediately focuses upon physical processes and not the existence of intelligent, free beings. In this respect, it is a special case of the problem of evil.
To propose an answer to the question, I will need to break the question down into three parts. First, since the question concerns what is possible for God with respect to the object of His creative act, namely, the universe, we must first ask: 1. Could God have created the universe differently? With these principles in mind, we should then ask if there are reasons for the existence of ontological evils in the universe: 2. Why did God create a universe with ontological evils? Finally, we will be in a position to propose an answer to the question: 3. Can a universe exist that does not contain ontological evils? We shall see that this question is closely bound up with the following question: Is a universe possible that does not directly or indirectly depend upon contrariety to achieve the end of the universe?
1. Could God have created the universe differently? (Preliminary clarifications and some definitions)
We can answer this question by considering how St. Thomas answers the following question in In I Sent., d. 44, q. 1, a. 2: Utrum Deus potuerit facere universum melius—Whether God could have made a better universe (a translation of this article is at the end of this post). His answer is “In some ways yes, and in other ways no.” However, before diving into this question, we should propose some initial clarifications about certain terms.
The universe, according to St. Thomas, consists in all created substances. The form of the universe is its intrinsic order, namely, the relationships of diverse kinds of beings, their hierarchy, and their causal interactions. This intrinsic order is the common good of the universe and hence the greatest of all created goods, but the whole universe is nonetheless ordered to God as to its ultimate end.
St. Thomas, as many philosophers also do, distinguishes between real possibility and logical possibility. This latter is also called absolute possibility. Something is really possible (and action, an individual being, an event) in virtue of the relationship of that thing to the existing power or potentiality to bring it about. In this sense of possibility, nothing in impossible to God. Real possibility is also rooted in actual being. Logical possibility is rooted in being insofar as being includes what is true. Thus, logical or absolute possibility includes both God and existing creatures in its notion, such that something that is logically impossible is also impossible for God to bring about. Here is how St. Thomas defines this type of possibility/impossibility:
And they are said to be such [impossible] not because of the privation of some potency but because of the opposition existing between the terms in propositions. For since potency is referred to being, then just as being is predicated not only of things that exist in reality but also of the composition of a proposition inasmuch as it contains truth and falsity, in a similar fashion the terms possible and impossible are predicated not only of real potency and incapacity but also of the truth and falsity found in the combining or separating of terms in propositions. Hence the term impossible means that of which the contrary is necessarily true. For example, it is impossible that the diagonal of a square should be commensurable with a side, because such a statement is false whose contrary is not only true but necessarily so, namely, that it is not commensurable. Hence the statement that it is commensurable is necessarily false, and this is impossible. (St. Thomas, In Meta., lib. 5, lect. 14, n. 971)
This allows us to distinguish between the possible that is opposed to the impossible (as above) and the possible which is opposed to the necessary. This latter type of possibility is also called contingency. What is necessary is unable to be otherwise, whereas what is contingent can either be or not be—it is possible for such a being not to be. However, both necessary beings and possible (i.e., contingent) beings are absolutely speaking possible. That is, neither are impossible. These distinctions are important so as to help us think about what it would mean for God to make another universe. For instance, it is absolutely possible for God to make a universe in which I do not exist, but it is impossible for God to make a universe wherein the diagonal of a square is commensurable with its side (or a universe where √2 is a rational number).
Furthermore, this distinction between real and logical possibility helps us to understand, insofar as we are able, God’s power. What is crucial to note is that logical possibility does not follow upon God’s omnipotence considered formally in itself—that is, God’s power does not measure logical possibility. Rather, logical possibility is presupposed to God’s omnipotence, for His power is the power to do all that is able to be done, i.e., all that is possible absolutely. (This notion plays a central role in Pope Benedict XVI’s lecture at Regensburg.) This leads us to a distinction between God’s power considered absolutely and His ordered power. These are not two distinct kinds of power in God, but differ only in our mode of conceiving. His ordered power is God’s power insofar as it acts according to His wisdom—that is, it is divine omnipotency not considered in abstraction from the other Divine attributes. Hence, Pope Benedict XVI can say “Not to act ‘with logos’ is contrary to God’s nature.” God’s absolute power is His power considered in itself and thus formally distinct from the other attributes. St. Thomas states the difference as follows:
The absolute and the conditional are ascribed to the divine power solely from our point of view. To this power considered in itself and which we describe as God’s absolute power, we ascribe something that we do not ascribe to it when we compare it with his ordered wisdom. (St. Thomas, Q. Disp. de Potentia, q. 1, a. 5, ad 5um)
Thus, in notion, these are not coextensive. Something that is possible to God’s absolute power but not to His ordered power is a hypothetical possibility. In the order of creation ad extra, what God has actually done, one Thomistic commentator notes: “Divine omnipotence works only as an ordered power. It produces nothing which is not determined according to the dispositions of His wisdom.” (L. Vachon, “Les preuves naturelles de l’existence des substances separees,” 26)
Now we can answer our first question, namely, is it possible for God to have made the universe differently? By answering the question above—whether God could have made the universe better—at least partly the affirmative, St. Thomas implicitly answers this first question also. God could have made the universe differently. In the body of the article, however, St. Thomas distinguishes various ways in which God could make this universe better, and these are always accidental modes of being. Were God to make the essences of things better by creating more kinds of creatures and “filling in” the hierarchy of being, this would essentially change the universe insofar as a new unity of order, a new form of universe, would obtain. Thus, making a different universe is within God’s absolute power, it is logically possible. The reason why He did not do so much be found by considering His ordered power.
The article in question from the Sentences commentary also echoes the opening quodlibet question. Indeed, St. Thomas virtually answers the quodlibet question in the first sed contra, and does not outright deny the answer in the reply to the sed contra (to qualify its assertion somewhat):
On the contrary: According to the Philosopher, what is whiter is intermingled with less black. So also, what is better is intermingled with less evil. Yet God could have made a universe in which no evil existed. Thus, since many things are evil in this universe, it seems that God could have made the universe better.
Reply to On the Contrary 1: A universe in which there was no evil would not be as good as this universe, because there would not be as many natural goods in such a universe as in this one, in which there are certain natural goods which are not attached to evil and certain ones which are. It is better that both kinds exist than only one of them. (St. Thomas, In I Sent., d. 44, q. 1, a. 2)
That is, while it is absolutely possible for God to have made a universe without evil in it, such a universe would not be better than this universe! The reasoning for this is that those natural good which are adjoined to evils in this universe would not exist in the alternate universe.
This leads us naturally to our second question.
2. Why did God create a universe with ontological evils?
To prepare to answer this question, let us consider—at some length—how St. Thomas answers a similar question in Summa contra Gentiles, Book III, ch. 71: Quod divina providentia non excludit totaliter malum a rebus—“That divine providence does not wholly exclude evil from things.” We will look at a few of the arguments from this chapter.
The second argument that St. Thomas gives (out of seven) appeals to the definition of what makes a universe:
Moreover, perfect goodness would not be found in created things unless there were an order of goodness in them, in the sense that some of them are better than others. Otherwise, all possible grades of goodness would not be realized, nor would any creature be like God by virtue of holding a higher place than another. The highest beauty would be taken away from things, too, if the order of distinct and unequal things were removed. And what is more, multiplicity would be taken away from things if inequality of goodness were removed, since through the differences by which things are distinguished from each other one thing stands out as better than another; for instance, the animate in relation to the inanimate, and the rational in regard to the irrational. And so, if complete equality were present in things, there would be but one created good, which clearly disparages the perfection of the creature. Now, it is a higher grade of goodness for a thing to be good because it cannot fall from goodness; lower than that is the thing which can fall from goodness. So, the perfection of the universe requires both grades of goodness. But it pertains to the providence of the governor to preserve perfection in the things governed, and not to decrease it. Therefore, it does not pertain to divine goodness, entirely to exclude from things the power of falling from the good. But evil is the consequence of this power, because what is able to fall does fall at times. And this defection of the good is evil, as we showed above. Therefore, it does not pertain to divine providence to prohibit evil entirely from things. (Ibid., n. 3)
The first part of the argument is ordered to manifesting the various ways in which the universe, in order to be a perfect imitation of the divine goodness (insofar as this is possible), requires an order or hierarchy of diverse kinds of beings. The perfection, beauty, and even multiplicity of things follows from this principle. Then St. Thomas specifies that this hierarchy implies beings that infallibly achieve their good and beings that can fail to achieve their good. The reason that both types of beings make the universe better will be found below: the presence of failure allows for types of goodness that otherwise would not exist.
We should carefully ponder what it required in a being such that it can fail to attain its good, that is, it is defectible. The reason for defectibility is to be found in a quasi-contrariety within the essence of things, namely contingent beings, and in particular in human beings. Charles De Koninck describes this as follows:
An angel cannot by itself fail to attain the end of its person or the common good proper to its nature. But the good of the angelic nature is not the highest good which is God as He is in Himself. But God commanded that the angels should order themselves to this highest good. Since the proper end of the angelic nature bears in this respect the character of an end which is to be ordered to a higher end, which ordering is not assured by the nature of the agent, its will can fail to attain to the higher end, and, by way of consequence, it can fail also to attain its proper end.
If the angel is not per se fallible except in regard to its supernatural end, man on the contrary is able per se to lose even his natural end. “There is this difference between man and the separated substances, that the same individual has several appetitive powers, of which some are subordinated to others; this does not occur at all in the separated substances, although the separated substances are subordinated one to another. But sin occurs in the will whenever the inferior appetite deviates in any way. Therefore just as sin in separated substances would occur if one deviated from the Divine order, or if an inferior deviated from the order of a superior while the latter remained in the Divine order; thus also in one man there are two ways in which sin may occur. First man may sin when the human will does not order its proper good to God; this way man has in common with the separated substances. In another way man may sin if the good of the inferior appetite is not ruled according to the superior; as when the pleasures of the flesh, which are the object of the concupiscible appetite, are not sought observing the order of reason. This latter kind of sin does not occur in separated substances.” (SCG III.109) Even within man, there is a superiority of the good of the intellect over the good of the senses. The union of intellectual nature and sensible nature makes man subject to a certain contrariety. Sensible nature carries us towards the sensible and private good; intellectual nature has for its object the universal and the good understood according to its very character of goodness, which character is found principally in the common good. The good of the intellect, from which man receives his dignity as man, is not assured by man’s own nature. The sensitive life is first in us; we cannot attain to acts of reason except by passing through the senses which, considered in this way, are a principle. As long as man is not rectified by the cardinal virtues which must be acquired, he is drawn principally towards the private good against the good of the intellect. For man there exists, even in the purely natural order, a liberty of contrariety which makes him fallible per se in relation to the attainment of his end. To achieve his dignity, he must submit his private good to the common good. (Charles De Koninck, The Primacy of the Common Good)
This helps us to understand more deeply the great good that fallibility or defectibility entails, at least per accidens. It also allows us to see that it is logically possible, on God’s absolute power, to make a universe free of evil—as St. Thomas claims in the article from his Sentences commentary. That is, if God were to make a universe consisting entirely of angels, they would by their nature infallibly achieve their natural ends. However, while such a universe is possible, it is not best—thus in God’s ordered power, creating the universe in wisdom, He ordains otherwise.
The third argument appeals to a type of Divine subsidiarity and—like the first argument, which was skipped—appeals also to the notion of secondary causality.
Again, the best thing in any government is to provide for the things governed according to their own mode, for the justice of a regime consists in this. Therefore, as it would be contrary to the rational character of a human regime for men to be prevented by the governor from acting in accord with their own duties—except, perhaps, on occasion, due to the need of the moment—so, too, would it be contrary to the rational character of the divine regime to refuse permission for created things to act according to the mode of their nature. Now, as a result of this fact, that creatures do act in this way, corruption and evil result in things, because, due to the contrariety and incompatibility present in things, one may be a source of corruption for another. Therefore, it does not pertain to divine providence to exclude evil entirely from the things that are governed. (St. Thomas, ScG II.71, n. 4)
This argument makes more explicit what was only implied by the role of defectible creatures in the previous argument: namely, the principle of contrariety and incompatibility in things. This principle will occupy us in what follows. Apart from the quasi-contrariety within human nature, what are examples of the principle of contrariety in the created order? St. Thomas provides examples in the following arguments.
The fourth and fifth arguments should be considered together:
Besides, it is impossible for an agent to do something evil, unless by virtue of the fact that the agent intends something good, as is evident from the foregoing. But to prohibit universally the intending of the good for the individual on the part of created things is not the function of the providence of Him Who is the cause of every good thing. For, in that way, many goods would be taken away from the whole of things. For example, if the inclination to generate its like were taken away from fire (from which inclination there results this particular evil which is the burning up of combustible things), there would also be taken away this particular good which is the generation of fire and the preservation of the same according to its species. Therefore, it is not the function of divine providence totally to exclude evil from things. (Ibid., n. 5)
Furthermore, many goods are present in things which would not occur unless there were evils. For instance, there would not be the patience of the just if there were not the malice of their persecutors; there would not be a place for the justice of vindication if there were no offenses; and in the order of nature, there would not be the generation of one thing unless there were the corruption of another. So, if evil were totally excluded from the whole of things by divine providence, a multitude of good things would have to be diminished. And this is as it should be, for the good is stronger in its goodness than evil is in its malice, as is clear from earlier sections. Therefore, evil should not be totally excluded from things by divine providence. (Ibid., n. 6)
The example in the fourth argument is useful for the quodlibetal question because it uses an example of a natural or ontological evil: fire’s destructive capacity. Likewise, the fifth argument gives the example of the natural evil of corruption, or the ceasing-to-be of an individual substance, which is the condition for the generation or coming-into-being of a new substance. The biological order is replete with examples of this. Thus, in these two paradigmatic examples of physical and chemical forces and biological conditions, St. Thomas swiftly draws our attention to the entire order of what we would now call the operations of the laws of nature.
What is crucial (but unstated) in these examples is the aforementioned principle of contrariety. This principle is present in two ways in the natural order: first, in change itself, and second, in the relationship between agents and patients. Thus, first, in any change, something is first in a state contrary to what it will be in at the end of the change (first it is here, then there, an object is first hot then cold, etc.). This means that any change where one object suffers a change to a worse state (and this is especially evident in living things) implicates the principle of contrariety. Second, apart from contrariety in changes, there is also contrariety in the agent causes bringing about change. An agent must act on a patient, and this is not always a good thing for the patient. Again, this is especially clear in the biosphere—food is only a fruit of death.
This allows us to understand what St. Thomas meant by the “incompatibility” in things in the third argument. Thus, we can hypothesize at this point—and consider more fully when we answer the third question—that a universe without natural evils would be a universe without change and without organic life. It remains to be seen if this hypothesis is true.
Now, the sixth argument takes this principle of contrariety and places it back in the schema of the universe taken as a whole, of which contrary agencies are parts:
Moreover, the good of the whole takes precedence over the good of a part. It is proper for a governor with foresight to neglect some lack of goodness in a part, so that there may be an increase of goodness in the whole. Thus, an artisan bides the foundations beneath earth, so that the whole house may have stability. But, if evil were removed from some parts of the universe, much perfection would perish from the universe, whose beauty arises from an ordered unification of evil and good things. In fact, while evil things originate from good things that are defective, still, certain good things also result from them, as a consequence of the providence of the governor. Thus, even a silent pause makes a hymn appealing. Therefore, evil should not have been excluded from things by divine providence. (Ibid., n. 7)
Note how the principle of defectibility enters into the picture. Evil originates from what defect soever, the old adage goes. Thus, any aesthetic blemish whatsoever, or any physical weakness, or any unfortunate chance event—however minor—are natural evils. What is the root cause of this defectibility?
Here we should note that contrary formal principles (such as the form of fire and the form of combustible materials) are not as such principles of defectibility. As we saw above with De Koninck’s discussion of human nature, opposed principles within one being can cause a failure to achieve that being’s end. However, the general notion of defect includes not only a failure to achieve one’s end but also a falling short what is formally within the notion of a given nature. Thus, we recognize birth defects or injuries as privations or failures of what a given nature ought to be, what could have been but was not realized.
This general note of defect must be resolved to material causality. Because material causes are open to many formal realities, and many of these realities are opposed and even incompossible, it follows that matter is the root of defect insofar as the realization of some nature can be interfered with. The reason is simply that matter is capable of more than one realization—of more than one state or mode of being. Thus, the generation and growth of organisms can be interfered with because the material causes of those processes are potent towards other outcomes. (In the ancient cosmology, the heavenly spheres had no potency apart from their ability to move, and even this was unable to be interrupted by natural causes; their matter was fully realized and thus incorruptible. For this reason, there were no chance events in the ancient heavens. Such is far from the case in our modern account!)
The seventh and final argument focuses in on a particular part in the universe, namely, the human being. However, it can be skipped in our discussion. Let us summarize what St. Thomas has taught us before moving on to our final question, and especially with regard to what was just noted about material causality. First, we noted that a universe free of defectible creatures and thus a universe containing no natural evils would have to be a universe of angels. Second, a universe without natural evils would appear to be a universe without change and without organic life. Third, a universe without natural evils (especially those occurring by chance events) would be a non-material universe. At least, these were our suspicions. However, the question at hand does not regard the current order of things, but an alternate universe.
3. Can a universe exist that does not directly or indirectly depend upon contrariety to achieve the good?
We should first note the precisions which we have been able to introduce into our question. When asking about an alternate physical universe, we are asking about what is absolutely or logically possible within God’s absolute power, not within His ordered power. Thus, we are wondering if there is something intrinsically impossible about a universe whose physical order contains no natural evils. So, we should also note that we are not considering those parts of the universe that are angelic. We are only considering the physical cosmos—or, at least, an alternate version of it.
Thus, our question stands at this: Could God make a physical universe free of such natural evils? However, in light of the above discussion, we should be able to rephrase the question. We should rather ask if a physical universe could exist that does not depend in any way upon the principle of contrariety to achieve the good.
To which we can answer that it would seem impossible for such a universe to exist. In order for the negative answer to be true, it must be the case that an indefectible physical universe is a contradiction in terms. Now, a physical universe is one composed of an order of physical substances (the cosmos), and those substances are themselves composed of matter and form. Thus, on the one hand, a physical universe without the principle of contrariety could not achieve the good through agent-patient relationships that involved generation and destruction of individual substances. On the other hand, a physical universe without the principle of contrariety would not contain substances composed of matter and form, insofar as matter is the principle of defectibility in natural substances (one should note, that the indetermination present in form—its inability to completely master matter—is also a co-principle). That is, an indefectible natural order would not be an order of natures in the same sense.
This idea is expressed by Charles De Koninck in this passage:
From a strictly philosophical point of view, “laws of nature” means either the natures as measured by eternal law [the ratio of things in the Divine Mind], or these same natures as measures of the activity by which natural beings achieve and accomplish their end. It is the latter meaning that occupies us now, one in which the laws of nature are called laws only by analogy—unlike the natural or moral law.
. . . As soon as it is a question of the participated laws in the universe which are identified with natures—and note that nature is not law insofar as intrinsic and thus necessary measure, but as measure of the motion distinct from it and of which it is the principle and cause—it is impossible that they necessitate the activities which spring from the nature without nature ceasing to be nature and the laws becoming contradictory. In fact, if these laws necessitate activities, they would no longer be laws, for necessity considered in itself is above the law—necessitas non subditur legi. If natures could infallibly attain their ends only by means of activities entirely predetermined in their causes, they would be forms and matters entirely determined ad unum, they could not be intrinsic causes of motion—motion being taken here in its proper sense. And entirely determined form is not a nature; a totally actuated matter is contradictory. If future activities were perfectly predetermined in nature, they would no longer be ordinanda [ordainable], but ordinata [ordained]. (Charles De Koninck, “The Problem of Indeterminism”)
That is, De Koninck’s contention is that it is of the essence of nature that it be fallible, and not predetermined, because natures are not entirely determined ad unum, to one effect. A physical universe that contains all events in a determined way would not be a physical universe such as we have it now. This is because the principle of contrariety and defectibility is not to be found within it.
Thus, the root reason for the apparent logical impossibility of God to make a material universe free of natural evils lies, radically, in the nature of matter. This is not because matter itself is evil, but rather because matter is the potentiality for a range of goods, some of which are contrary to each other and in various respects incompatible. In other words, the essence of the physical cosmos consists in an order of substances that are intrinsically composed of parts that of their nature permit contrariety and defect. A physical universe without these principles would really just be a universe full of angels by a different name.
So: do we have a logical impossibility?
We should first qualify this answer somewhat and note that,—and this is implicit in St. Thomas’ principles that answer the question if God could make a better universe—on both the essential and the accidental orders, it is entirely possible that God make a universe in which the physical laws give rise to natural evils of a lesser degree (e.g., fewer diseases could exist, or the ones that exist could be less virulent). However, this is not the same as claiming that a physical universe can exist without the principles of contrariety and defect.
However, we should note a further qualification. Perhaps it were possible that God create the physical universe in a state of achieved perfection. That is, even though the principles of contrariety and defect would still remain, they would not be necessary to achieve further ends or goals. The reason for this would be that the universe would come into being in the state of having achieved the perfection that God intended for such a universe.
Nonetheless, is such a creation also a logical impossibility? As we shall see below, it is not an impossibility that God bring the universe to the state of beatified perfection—this is a proposition of revelation in the Catholic faith. Thus, if it is possible as an end state, why is it impossible for the physical universe to be created in its end-goal state? Why could the universe not begin and always remain an Eden? However, it is at least difficult to conceive how such a logical possibility could be discovered apart from revelation, because it is the essence of a mobile being to begin in its terminus a quo and proceed to its terminus ad quem. A mobile being that does not move—and analogously, a universe that does not undergo a series of motions in its cosmic history to achieve its goal—seems to be contrary to the nature of being a mobile, changing being.
Still—it must be logically possible if it is possible as an end. What can exist as a goal cannot be intrinsically impossible in itself, and there is no necessity on God’s part that He traverse the means that creatures must use so as to achieve the goal. Our knowledge of such an end state of perfection to the universe, philosophically speaking, seems dubious—could it be obtained from an ideal projection or idealized view of universal progress?—but at least the possibility that the universe be created in an end-goal state is logically possible if a mobile being need only be apt so as to move towards its goal and achieve it. Furthermore, there is a kind of motion which is imperfection and the motion of the perfect, which is activity and a sort of rest. The universe’s end lies in the latter, and so nothing prevents it from being created in such a state.
However, this also requires that we answer the quodlibetal question in the negative, simply speaking. A universe which must undergo motion to achieve its end cannot be free of natural evils, insofar as these are bound up in the notion of nature. This is a universe which must move in the sense that motion is an imperfection. Under the qualification that the universe is created in its state of achieved perfection, then there would come into effect a different physical order, and concomitant laws of physics that are different, that maintains this perfection in a state of active rest.
Yet, in the ordered power of God, that is, by His wisdom, it is still better that the universe must undergo motion to achieve perfection: “For we know that every creature groaneth and travaileth in pain, even till now.” (Romans 8:22)
As confirmation of this view, we can look at what St. Thomas claims concerning the end of the physical world (see also Q. Disp. de Potentia, q. 5, aa. 7–10). This is taken from the bodies of his replies to the eighth and ninth articles. We will let the Angelic Doctor have the last word, but notice how his arguments support the thesis just elaborated. It is especially pertinent to note how St. Thomas goes about eliminating various “effective physical laws” from the material bodies insofar as they were explained by the science of his day. What remains are physical bodies operating by natural laws in a state of elevated perfection, adapted to the mode of existence of active-rest or operation that characterizes the beatitude of the saints and angels.
It must be observed however that a body has a twofold action: one according to a property of a body, inasmuch as it acts by movement (for it is proper to a body that it be moved so as to move and act), the other by attaining to the order of separate substances and receiving a share in their mode of operation: thus lower natures are wont to share in a property of a higher nature, for instance certain animals share in a certain likeness to prudence which is proper to man. This latter action of a body does not aim at the transformation of matter, but at communicating a certain likeness to its form to the ‘medium,’ which may be compared to the spiritual ‘intention’ which things impress on the senses or intelligence: thus the air receives the light of the sun, and the ‘medium’ receives a reflection of coloured images. Now both these actions are caused here below by the heavenly bodies. Thus fire by its heat transforms matter by virtue of a heavenly body; and visible bodies reflect their images in the medium by the power of light, the source whereof is in a heavenly body. Hence if both these actions on the part of a heavenly body were to cease, no action would remain in this lower world. But if the heavens were to cease to be in motion, the first action would cease, but not the second: and consequently when the heavenly movement ceases, in this lower world the action whereby the ‘medium’ is illumined and affected by sensible things will continue, but not the action whereby matter is transformed and which results in generation and corruption. (St. Thomas, Q. Disp. de Potentia, q. 5, a. 8, c.)
I answer that in that renewal of the world no mixed body will remain except the human body. In support of this view we shall proceed in the order prescribed by the Philosopher (Physics II) namely by considering first the final cause, then the material and formal principles and lastly the moving causes.
The end of minerals, plants and animals is twofold. One is the completion of the universe, to which end all the parts of the universe are ordained: yet the aforesaid things are not ordained to this end as though by their very nature and essentially they were required for the universe’s perfection, since they contain nothing that is not to be found in the principal parts of the world (namely the heavenly bodies and the elements) as their active and material principles. Consequently the things in question are particular effects of those universal causes which are essential parts of the universe, so that they belong to the perfection of the universe only in the point of their production by their causes, and this is by movement. Hence they belong to the perfection of the universe not absolutely speaking but only as long as the latter is in motion. Wherefore as soon as movement in the universe ceases these things must cease to exist.—The other end is man, because as the Philosopher says (Politics I, 5) things that are imperfect in nature are ordained to those that are perfect, as their end, with the result that as he says (ibid.) since an animal’s life is imperfect as compared with a man’s which is perfect simply, and a plant’s life as compared with an animal’s, it follows that plants are for animals being prepared by nature to be the latter’s food; and animals are for man, to whom they are necessary as food and for other purposes. Now this necessity lasts as long as man’s animal life endures. But this life will cease in that final renewal of the universe, because the body will rise not natural but spiritual (1 Cor. 15:44): hence animals and plants will also cease to exist then.
Again this is consistent with the matter and form of these things: for since they are composed of contrary elements, they contain within themselves an active principle of corruption. Wherefore if they were prevented from corrupting by an external, principle only, this would be in a manner violent and inconsistent with perpetuity, since that which is violent cannot last for ever according to the Philosopher (De Caelo I). Nor have they an internal principle to preserve them from corruption, because their forms are in themselves corruptible through not being self-subsistent but depending on matter for their being. Consequently they cannot remain for ever identically the same; nor specifically the same when generation and corruption cease.
The same conclusion follows from the consideration of the moving cause. In plants and animals to be is to live, and in corporeal things this cannot be without movement. Hence animals die when the heart ceases to beat, and plants when they lack nourishment. Now these things have no moving principle that is not dependent on the first mobile body, since the very souls of animals and plants are wholly subject to the influence of the heavenly bodies. Therefore when the heavenly movement ceases it will be impossible for them to retain movement or life. It is evident then that at the renewal of the world the aforesaid things will be unable to remain. (St. Thomas, Q. Disp. de Potentia, q. 5, a. 9, c.)
St. Thomas Aquinas, In I Sent., d. 44, q. 1, a. 2
Whether God could have made a better universe
Obj. 1: It seems that God could not have made the universe better. Because, according to St. Augustine, the singular things which God established are good; however, all things together are very good. But what is superlatively good cannot be better. Therefore the universe cannot be better.
Obj. 2: The universe includes every good. But nothing can be better than every good. Therefore, God could not have made the universe better.
Obj. 3: According to Dionysius, the good and the better are found in things insofar as certain things participate more in the divine goodness than other things. For instance, living things are given preference in this regard compared to things that merely exist, and so forth. But all the divine perfections communicable to creatures have been communicated to certain creatures. Therefore, it seems that the universe could not have been better.
Obj. 4: Insofar as something is more ordered, it is better. Hence, evil is defined by St. Augustine through the privation of order. But in the universe, nothing is disordered, since even evil itself is ordained by God, as was said above (d. 36, q. 1, a. 2). Therefore, it seems that the universe could not have been better.
On the contrary: According to the Philosopher, what is whiter is intermingled with what is black. Thus, what is better is also intermingled with evil. Yet God could have made a universe in which no evil existed. Thus, since many things are evil in this universe, it seems that God could have made the universe better.
Furthermore: If something equal is added to something greater, the whole will become greater. Likewise, if something better is added to something better, the whole will become better. Thus, two angels are better than an angel and a stone. So, if some single part of the universe were to be an angel, the universe would be much better. However, God could do this. Therefore, etc.
I answer that: According to the Philosopher in Book [12]1 of the Metaphysics, the good of the universe consists in a twofold order, namely (1) in the order of the parts of the universe mutually towards each other, and (2) in the order of the whole universe to the end, which is God Himself—just as in an army there is an order of the parts of the army mutually towards each other, according to their various duties, and there is an order to the good of the general, which is victory. And this second order is the more important, for the sake of which the first order exists.
(1) Thus, taking the good of order which exists in the parts of the universe mutually towards each other, it can be considered either (a) as to the ordered parts themselves, or (b) as to the order of the parts.
(a) If it is considered as to the parts themselves, then it is intelligible that the universe could be better: (i) either through the addition of more parts, namely, were many other species created and the many degrees of goodness were filled which can be filled, since even between the highest creature and God there is an infinite distance. Thus, God could have made and can make the universe better. But that universe would be related to this one as a whole to a part, and thus they would neither be wholly the same nor wholly different, and this additional goodness would be by the mode of discrete quantity.
(ii) Or this could be understood as to the parts becoming better intensively, as it were, by the change of all its parts for the better, because if some parts were bettered and other not, then there would not be a good of order among them, as is clear in the harp. If all of its strings were improved, there would be a better harmony; but is only some were improved, then there would be dissonance. This betterment of all the parts, however, [i] can either be taken according to accidental goodness, and thus it would be possible that this improvement by God take place with the same parts remaining in the same universe; [ii] or it can be taken according to essential goodness, and even this is possible for God, who is able to create an infinity of other species. (But in this case, they would not be the same parts, and consequently not the same universe, as is clear from the aforementioned.)
(b) If, however, it is taken according to the very order of the parts, (i) this cannot become better by the mode of discrete quantity, unless some addition be made to the parts of the universe, because nothing in the universe is disordered. (ii) But intensively there could be something better, while the same parts remain, according to the order that follows upon what is accidentally good, for something redounds to a greater good to the degree that the order is better. (iii) But the order which follows upon what is essentially good cannot be better, unless other parts of the universe and another universe come to be.
(2) Likewise, the order which is for the sake of the end can be considered (a) either on the part of the end itself, and thus it cannot be better, such that the universe be ordered to a better end, since nothing can be better than God. (b) Or as to the order itself, and thus insofar as the good of the parts of the universe and their mutual order towards each other increases, a better order to the end could exist, because the closer to the end are the parts, the greater similitude to the divine goodness, which is the end of all things, accrues to them.
Reply to Obj. 1: St. Augustine speaks of the order of the universe on the supposition of the same nature of such parts, because thus a better order could not exist, as was said above.
Reply to Obj. 2: We are not speaking of the universe as to the very name, but as to the very thing, which is called a universe in a way—in which even though everything which is good in actuality is contained, nonetheless it does not contain every good which God could make.
Reply to Obj. 3: There are many modes of partaking in the same divine perfection, just as divine wisdom is participated by the intellectual substances in one way, and by rational beings, namely human beings, in another, and it even extends to the brute animals which have sensate cognition. Therefore, even though all perfections communicable to creatures have perhaps been communicated to them, nonetheless they have not been according to all the modes in which it is possible for creatures to participate.
Reply to Obj. 4: Even though the order of the universe could not have been better as to the order of the parts of the universe themselves, nonetheless it could have been better if it were ordered to a better good as a proximate end. This would have occurred if better parts of the universe had existed, as was said.
Reply to On the Contrary 1: A universe in which there was no evil would not be as good as this universe, because there would not be as many natural goods in such a universe as in this one, in which there are certain natural goods which are not attached to evil and certain ones which are. It is better that both kinds exist than only one of them.
Reply to On the Contrary 2: Even though an angel is, absolutely speaking, better than a stone, nonetheless both natures are better than one alone, and therefore that universe is better where there are angels and other things than a universe where only angels exist, because the perfection of the universe follows essentially upon the diversity of natures which fill the diverse degrees of goodness, and not the multiplication of individuals in one nature.
1 The text reads Book 11, but the citation is to Book 12 (see Metaphysics, Book 12, ch. 10). Prior to 1271, William of Moerbeke had not translated Books 11, 13, and 14. Thus, St. Thomas’s references to Book 12 prior to this date always number it the eleventh book of Aristotle’s Metaphysics.
John G. Brungardt 