Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Philosophical Review
St. Thomas' Doctrine of Necessary Being
Author(s): Patterson Brown
Source: The Philosophical Review, Vol. 73, No. 1 (Jan., 1964), pp. 76-90
Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of Philosophical Review
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2183203
Accessed: 28-10-2015 19:07 UTC
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Duke University Press and Philosophical Review are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The
Philosophical Review.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 130.238.7.178 on Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:07:58 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
THE
PURPOSE of this paper is to clear up several longstanding misinterpretations of St. Thomas Aquinas' views
on necessary being.' I shall begin by quoting from the works of
several reputable philosophers who claim to be expounding
and/or criticizing St. Thomas' theory of necessary and contingent
existence, but who appear to have misunderstood his writings
on this topic. For example, J.J.C. Smart offers the following
summary and demolition of what he takes to be Aquinas' socalled cosmological argument:
Everything in the world around us is contingent.That is, with regard
to any particular thing, it is quite conceivable that it might not have
existed. ... For a really satisfying explanation of why anything
contingent (such as you or me or this table) exists you must eventually
begin with something which is not itself contingent, that is, with something of which we cannot say that it might not have existed, that is
we must begin with a necessary being. So the first part of the argument
boils down to this. If anythingexistsan absolutelynecessarybeingmustexist.
Somethingexists. Therefore
an absolutelynecessary
beingmustexist.
The second part of the argument is to prove that a necessarily
existing being must be an infinitely perfect being, that is, God. ...
The cosmological argument is radically unsound. ... For the
first stage of the argument purports to argue to the existence of a
necessary being. And by "a necessary being" the cosmological
argument means "a logically necessary being," i.e. "a being whose
non-existence is inconceivable in the sort of way that a triangle's
having four sides is inconceivable." The trouble is, however, that the
concept of a logically necessary being is a self-contradictory concept.
... The demand that the existence of God should be logicallynecessary
1 I am indebtedto Mr. P. T. Geachfor suggestingto me the generalinterpretationof St. Thomas'thoughtwhich I have attemptedto followout in this
essay. My thanksare also due to ProfessorWilliamE. Kennickfor a number
of helpfulsuggestionsconcerningan earlierversionof this paper.
76
This content downloaded from 130.238.7.178 on Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:07:58 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
PA TTERSON BROWN
to say that it is possible that God should not exist. But, surely, we can
what it would be like for God not to exist. What we can
understand
understand is a possibility.5
As a final example, we may note that Father Copleston has
ascribed to the Angelic Doctor the view that "there can be but
one necessary being."6
A large number of commentators have, like Smart, interpreted
the first part of Aquinas' Third Way according to the following
schema:
(i) If anything exists, then there must exist a logically
necessary being.
(2) Something exists.
(3) Therefore: there must exist a logically necessary being.
St. Thomas would have to have been rather artless to defend such
an argument. For the most obvious point about it is that the two
premises are entirely superfluous. That is to say, if God's existence
is supposed to be logically necessary, then surely the conclusion
will stand on its own. Step (3), in short, itself constitutes the
rationalistic version of the ontological argument. So, if this
interpretation of Aquinas' demonstration were correct, the Third
Way would really be an a prior proof merely masquerading as
a posterior (cf. n. 42, infra).
The foregoing shows a complete misunderstanding of St.
Thomas' thought, however. For, to begin with, he writes about
necessary beings other than God so often in his works that it is
hard to imagine how anyone who bothered to check could overlook the point. The most obvious passage on this matter is in the
last part of the Third Way itself:
Therefore, not all beings are merely possible, but there must exist
something the existence of which is necessary. But every necessary
thing either has its necessity caused by another or not. Now it is
impossible to go on to infinity in necessary things which have their
necessity caused by another. ... Therefore we cannot but admit the
existence of some being having of itself its own necessity, and not
receiving it from another. This all men speak of as God.7
5
6
7
This content downloaded from 130.238.7.178 on Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:07:58 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
This, the very passage which Smart and the others are claiming
to expound and discuss, both admits the possibility of a plurality
of necessary beings, and also explicitly states that a being's
necessity can be causedby another being. This latter point, one
would have thought, conclusively rules out the possibility that by
"necessary being" Aquinas meant "being whose existence is
logically necessary." For it would be naive to think that there
could be an efficient cause for what is logically necessary. And
St. Thomas' admission that there might in principle be many
necessary beings should lead one to doubt whether he thought
that "x exists necessarily" entails "x is an infinitely perfect being;
that is, God"-Kant to the contrary notwithstanding.
Now we find the following, rather unambiguous, assertion
in the Summa Theologica:"there are many necessary things in
existence."8 Again, Aquinas speaks of "those necessary things
that are created."9 Further, he mentions "all that is in things
created by God, whether it be contingent or necessary. "10 Nor
does St. Thomas fail to particularize: "heavenly bodies, with
;
"in
their movements and dispositions, are necessary beings";"
the heavenly bodies, the substantial being ... is unchangeable" ;12
"the heavenly bodies ... are incorruptible."113 Further: "the
intellectual principle which we call the human soul is incorruptible" ;14 "of all creatures, the rational creature chiefly is
ordained for the good of the universe, being per se incorruptible."'5
Further: "matter ... is incorruptible, since it is the subject of
generation and corruption."16 And lastly: "it must necessarily
be maintained that the angels are incorruptible of their own
8 S. T., I,
Q.44, Art. i, Obj. 2 (although the passage quoted actually occurs
in an Objection, St. Thomas' Reply implicitly accepts its truth); see also
Q. ig, Art. 8 and Q. 22, Art. 4.
9 S. i., I-II, Q. 93, Art. 4, Reply Obj. 3.
10 S. T., I-II, Q. 93, Art. 4.
1 S. T., I, Q. I15, Art. 6, Obj. i (again, the Reply does not dispute the
quoted statement).
12 S.T., I, Q. io, Art. 5; cf. also Q. 66, Art. 2.
13 S. T., I,
QI 75, Art. 6.
14 Ibid.
15
S.T., I,
I,
16 S.T.,
Q. 23, Art. 7.
Q. 104, Art.
4.
79
This content downloaded from 130.238.7.178 on Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:07:58 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
PA TTERSON BROWN
18
S.T., I,
Q.
iO,
Art. 5.
19 S.T., I, Q. 9, Art.
20
21
2.
A6o6-607, B634-635.
S.T., I, Q.44, Art. i.
80
This content downloaded from 130.238.7.178 on Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:07:58 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
what is necessary has no cause. But [St. Thomas replies] this is manifestly false. ... There are some necessary things which have a cause
of their necessity. But the reason why an efficient cause is required
is not merely because the effect can not-be, but because the effect
would not be if the cause were not.22
So St. Thomas quite openly asserts that necessary things can
not-exist, and moreover can have a cause of their (necessary)
being. This is just faithful Aristotelianism, since the Philosopher
had written that "some things owe their necessity to something
other than themselves; others do not, but are themselves the
source of necessity in other things."23 Accordingly, Aquinas states
that "to create belongs to God alone; and hence whatever can
be caused only by creation [ex nihilo] is caused by God alone-viz.,
all those things which are not subject to generation and corruption."24 But all creatures, necessary and contingent, began to
exist a finite time ago; "God is the Creator of the world in such
a way that the world began to be."25 So the necessary creatures
not only can not-be, but in addition they have not everlastingly
been. Therefore, it cannot possibly have been St. Thomas' view
that "x exists necessarily" is equivalent to "it is logically impossible
that x should not exist." This is stated with clarity by Aquinas
in his reply to Aristotle's argument26 that the presence of necessary
beings in the world proves that the world never began to exist:
Whatever has the power always to be, from the fact of that power
cannot sometimes be and sometimes not-be. However, before it received
that power [from its creator], it did not exist. Hence this argument
[of Aristotle's] . . . does not prove absolutely that incorruptible beings
never began to be; it proves that they did not begin according to the
natural process by which generable and corruptible beings begin
to be.27
S.T., I, Q. 44, Art. i, Reply Obj. 2.
Metaphysica,bk. V, ch. 5.
S. T., I, Q.47, Art. i.
25 S. T., I, QA46, Art. 2.
26 De Caelo,
bk. I, ch. I 2.
27S.T.,
I, Q. 46, Art, i, Reply Obj. 2.
22
23
24
8I
6
This content downloaded from 130.238.7.178 on Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:07:58 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
PATTERSON BROWN
We must conclude, then, that Aquinas did not hold either that
everything in the natural world is contingent, or that a necessary
being is one which cannot possibly not-exist, or that any being
which is necessary must be the ens realissimumor perfectissimum.
If it be demonstrated that St. Thomas did not understand
by "necessary existence" what he is commonly thought to have
understood, then it is incumbent upon me to explain what he did
mean by that phrase. And our previous quotations suggest that
Aquinas meant by the term "necessary," as applied to beings,
that they be neither generable nor corruptible.28 That is to say,
a necessary being is defined as one which cannot come into
existence via conglomeration, construction, or reformationo, and
which cannot pass out of existence via deterioration, destruction,
or deformation. This notion is obviously derived from Aristotle
(see De Caelo, Bk. I, Chs. 9-I2; De Generationeet Corruptione,Bk. II,
Ch. i i; Metaphysica,Bk. II, Ch. 2, Bk. V, Ch. 5, Bk. VI, Chs. I-4,
and Bk. XII, Chs. i-io). In short, for both Aristotle and Aquinas,
a necessarybeing is one which cannotundergoany essentialchangein any
of the ways permitted by the Aristotelian theories of matter and
form, potentiality and actuality, and simplicity and complexity.
So, as we have already seen (notes 23 and 26), Aristotle thought
that a necessary being can have a cause but nonetheless cannot
possibly come into or pass out of existence, since to do either
would involve a change in the above-mentioned sense. And St.
Thomas followed Aristotle in holding that a necessary being
could not begin or cease existing by any "natural" process allowed
by the Aristotelian physics; but Aquinas added that such beings
can come into existence via creation ex nihilo, as well as pass out
of existence via total annihilation.29 A necessary being, then,
is one which cannot undergo any essential alteration-though
all of them but God can undergo accidental change (cf. n. 33).
With regard to the angels, for instance, St. Thomas says the
following:
28 It must be borne in mind that "necessary" was for St. Thomas an alethic
modality de re, not de dicto; by "x necessarily exists" he did not mean "N(x
exists)." Cf. G. H. von Wright, An Essay in Modal Logic (Amsterdam, I951).
29 See nn. 24 and 27, and S. T., I, Qs. 44-46, 65-66, and 104, as well as
Q.s o, Art. 5, Q. 6i, Art. i, and Q. go, Art. 2.
82
This content downloaded from 130.238.7.178 on Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:07:58 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
83
This content downloaded from 130.238.7.178 on Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:07:58 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
PA TTERSON
BR O WN
33 S.
84
This content downloaded from 130.238.7.178 on Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:07:58 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
This content downloaded from 130.238.7.178 on Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:07:58 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
PATTERSON BROWN
sequently, it is possible for them to be and not to be. But it is impossible for these always to exist, for that which can not-be at some time
is not. Therefore, if everything can not-be, then at one time there
was nothing [left] in existence. Now, if this were true, even now there
would be nothing in existence, because that which does not exist
begins to exist only through [the agency of] something already existing.
Therefore, if at one time nothing was in existence, it would have been
impossible for anything [subsequently] to have begun to exist; and
thus even now nothing would be in existence-which is absurd.
Therefore, not all beings are merely possible [or contingent], but there
must exist something [i.e., at least one thing] the existence of which
is necessary [and so forth].36
I think that St. Thomas' reasoning here can be paraphrased as
follows. Some (but not all) of the things that we find around us
in the world are seen to be either generating or perishing, and are
thus shown to be inherently corruptible. Thus, mountains are thrust
up only to erode away, animals are born only to grow old and die
whereupon their bodies decompose, clouds gather and disperse,
metal is hammered into one or another shape but subsequently
rusts and disintegrates, and so on. This is really the crux of the
Third Way, but unfortunately it is very often misunderstood. The
point is not that contingent beings in principle can not-be; rather
it is that they have a built-in process of corruption, an actual
progress toward non-being. A typical misconstruction of this
point, for example, has been made by C. B. Martin, who writes
that "it is hard to see how St. Thomas came to assert" that "if a
thing is possible to be and not to be, then at some time that thing
is not."37 What Aquinas was in fact contending was that when
we see certain things in the world actually being generated,
surviving awhile, and finally succumbing to deterioration,
we thereby know that such things are naturally corruptible
or contingent. And anything which is inherently corruptible
must in fact corrupt, and thus eventually cease to exist. Again,
part of the source is Aristotle:
It is impossible that the destructible should not at some time be
destroyed. For otherwise it will always be at once destructible and in
36
S.T., I, Q.
37 Op. Cit., p.
2,
Art. 3.
I5I.
86
This content downloaded from 130.238.7.178 on Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:07:58 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
De Caelo,bk. I, ch. I 2.
Cf. S.T., I, Q. 46, passim.
87
This content downloaded from 130.238.7.178 on Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:07:58 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
PATTERSON BROWN
human souls, the heavenly bodies, and prime matter (a contemporary St. Thomas might suggest, in place of the latter pair, the
subatomic particles and/or energy quanta, which are necessary
in the Aristotelian sense).
Now, the Third Way continues, not all of the incorruptible
beings need be creators; but at least one of them must be, as
otherwise the continually renewed supply of deteriorating and
expiring things cannot be accounted for. Some of the necessary
beings, then, may themselves be created (cf. n. 22); and we know
that at least one of them must be a creator. The question now
arises: can there be an infinite regress of these subsisting beings,
each having been created by another? Aquinas' answer to this
is no. I pick up the quotation of the Third Way at the point
where we left it earlier:
Therefore, not all beings are merely possible, but there must exist
something [i.e. at least one thing] the existence of which is necessary.
But every necessary thing either has its necessity caused by another,
or not. Now it is impossible to go on [regressing] to infinity in necessary
things which have their necessity caused by another, as has been
proved already [in the Second Way] in regard to efficient causes.
Therefore we cannot but admit the existence of some being having
of itself its own necessity, and not receiving it from another, but rather
causing in others their necessity. This all men speak of as God.40
At first sight, the suggestion of uniqueness in the next-to-last
sentence here seems to be a non sequitur, since it has not been
demonstrated that there is only one uncreated necessary being.
St. Thomas goes on to try to prove this point, however (I, Q. 3,
Arts. 3 and 4, Q. ii, Art. 3, Q. 44, Art. i, and Q. 45, Art. 5).
So perhaps the disputed sentence could be restated in the following
way: "Therefore we cannot but admit the existence of at least
one being having of itself its own necessity, not receiving it from
another, and which may cause in others their necessity." This
seems especially likely in light of the fact that, in the first sentence
of the above quotation, Aquinas uses "something" to mean "at
least one thing," as we previously noted. It is thus plausible to
believe that, in the next-to-last sentence, he employs "some
40
S.T., I, Q. 2, Art 3.
88
This content downloaded from 130.238.7.178 on Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:07:58 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
being" to mean "at least one being." Admittedly, this interpretation is prima facie difficult to square with the concluding
sentence of the demonstration: "This all men speak of as God."
I can only suggest that St. Thomas was, in the last two sentences
of his Third Way, tacitly presupposing his own subsequent proof
regarding uniqueness. Otherwise, I cannot understand why he
should have felt obliged to offer that proof at all.
The gist of Aquinas' uniqueness argument, in short, is that
the concept "uncreated creator" involves the notion of an identity
of suppositum,essence, and being; and this triple identity, in turn,
involves the notion of uniqueness. A first being's suppositumand
essence must be identical because a creator must as such be
a form without matter, and forms are individuated of themselves.
And to add that a first being's existence is the same as its suppositumcum-essence is just to say that it exists of itself, that is, is untreated.
The mistake is often made of thinking that St. Thomas' doctrine
of identical essence and being is the same as his doctrine of necessary existence; but this is emphatically not so. Only a being which
is both necessary and also uncreated is supposed by Aquinas to
have an identity of essence and being. This crucial aspect of the
Angelic Doctor's thought comes out in statements like "God
alone is Being by virtue of His own essence (since His essence is
His being), whereas every creature has being by participation,
so that its essence is not its being."'41 In other words, to be a
creature (to exist "by participation") is to owe one's existence
to another being; whereas to be uncreated (to exist "of oneself")
is to own one's own existence, to have it as part of one's own
essence. So the identity of God's essence and being by no means
implies that he actually exists, but only that his existence would
be underived. After all, Aquinas explicitly rejected the idea of
basing an ontological argument on the unity of God's essence
and being.42 Since "x is both necessary and uncreated" entails
"the suppositumof x is identical with the essence of x," it follows
that all beings which are both necessary and uncreated must
share one and the same suppositum-which is to say, must be the
41 S.T., I,
Q. I04, Art. i.
See the third argument which he entertains in the SummaContraGentiles,
I, ch. i O, together with his reply in ch. I I.
42
89
This content downloaded from 130.238.7.178 on Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:07:58 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
PA TTERSON BROWN
90
This content downloaded from 130.238.7.178 on Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:07:58 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions