The Perfection of Being

Article 2. The Perfection of Being

a) Meaning of Perfection　　b) Classification of Perfections　　c) Phases of Perfection

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a) Meaning of Perfection

We have seen that a being is necessarily good with transcendental goodness. Actual being (that is, existent being) has actual goodness; potential being (that is, possible being) has potential goodness. The goodness of actual being is present according to the measure of actuality or existence. The more a thing is actual, the more it exists in its fulness and completeness, the more good it is in itself. And when a thing is actually all that it should be, when it exists as something thoroughly complete, when it is “made or done through and through,” when it is “all there,” we say that it is perfect or that it has perfection.

The terms perfect and perfection are from the Latin per “through,” and factum “made.” Thus the words suggest something made throughly or thoroughly, completed, finished, rounded out, no element lacking. So we define a perfect thing as an actuality which is lacking in none of the requirements for its complete and rounded nature. And we define perfection as the fulness of being required by the rounded nature of an existing reality.

b) Classification of Perfections

1. Absolute—Relative. Absolute perfection (term derived from the Latin absolutum “freed from” or “loosed from” limitations) is the unhampered and unlimited fulness of being in every respect. Manifestly such perfection belongs only to Infinite Being, that is, to God alone. The term absolute perfection is, in a way, a self-contradictory expression; for perfection suggests, as we have seen, something made, something actualized, something thoroughly completed. Of course, God is not made, nor actualized, nor completed; He is Pure Actuality; He is Necessary Being. Therefore, while we may surely follow long usage in employing the expression absolute perfection and in applying it to God, we must notice the limitations of the term itself, and clearly exclude these from the concept which we express by it.—Relative perfection (that is, perfection viewed in relation to special natures) is the fulness of being required for the rounded completeness of any existing creature.

2. Entire—Partial. A relative perfection is entire when it embraces the whole nature of the object of which it is predicated. Thus, using the term perfect in an entire sense, “a perfect man” is a man who is physically, mentally, and morally all that he should be.—A relative perfection is partial when it is predicable, not of a whole nature, but of some element or elements of a nature. Thus, using the term perfect in a partial sense, “a perfect man” may mean a man who is physically perfect. Thus again, “perfect eyesight” indicates a partial perfection.

3. Pure—Mixed. A perfection is pure or unmixed when it involves no concomitant or admixed imperfection. Life is a pure perfection; so is knowledge. The scholastic term for a pure perfection is perfectio simpliciter simplex, that is, “a perfection taken simply,” “a perfection without qualification.”—A perfection is mixed or non-pure when it involves imperfection. Thus the power to walk is a perfection, but it involves inability to move from place to place without slow and laborious steps. That I am able to walk is a perfection; that I must walk to reach a desired destination and cannot be there at once without walking, is an imperfection. Again: that I can reason, that I can work out a problem and find the answer, is a perfection; but it is an imperfection in me that I cannot clearly see the answer at once without having to work it out. Thus walking and reasoning are mixed perfections. The scholastic name for a mixed perfection is perfectio secundum quid, that is, “a perfection of sorts,” “a perfection after a fashion,” “a perfection from a certain viewpoint.”

4. Formally present — Virtually present — Eminently present. A perfection is present in its subject formally when it is there according to its literal definition and in literal fact. Thus the perfection of reasoning, of being able to study out a problem or “think out” a situation, is formally present in a normal human adult. But this perfection is not formally present in an angel, for the angelic intellect knows all that it can know directly and clearly without having the need to unravel complexities or study things out. The angelic mind has the result, the fruit, the value or the virtue (that is, the force, power, effectiveness) of reasoning without the effort of reasoning; it has the virtue of the process without having to go through the process. Therefore we say that the perfection of reasoning is present in an angel, not formally, but virtually.

Let us illustrate by another example. The life-principle (or soul) of a plant is formally vegetal, that is, it is the principle which directly and literally renders the plant a living thing of the vegetable order. Now, the spiritual soul of a man is not formally vegetal, but formally rational. Still, the spiritual soul of a man is his only soul; it is his only life-principle; it is the only substantial source of all the vital operations exercised in and by a man. And a man has vegetal operations; he has plant-life; he is nourished, he grows, he reproduces his kind. Therefore the one soul in man is the source of his vegetal operations, even though it be not formally vegetal itself; though it be a superior life-principle, it has all the force, power, excellence, and effectiveness (that is, the virtue) of lower life-forms or life-principles. Hence we say that man’s soul is formally rational, but virtually vegetal. So also, man’s soul (which is formally rational) is virtually sentient, for it is the root-source in man of the animal-operations of sensing, appetizing, and moving locally.

A perfection is said to be present in its subject eminently when it is there (formally or virtually) in a manner superior to that which marks its presence in limited natures. Thus we say that life is present in God formally and eminently, and that reasoning is present in God virtually and eminently. The term eminently or eminent perfection is used only with reference to Infinite Perfection, that is, to God. Of course, all that God has, He is; all the attributes or perfections of God are identified in the undivided Divine Essence.

c) Phases of Perfection

The absolutely perfect Being is without lack or flaw or limitation, no matter what our point of view in studying it. It suffers no defects; it is subjected to no limits or boundaries, such as are imposed on less perfect beings by space, time, quantity, dependency, change. We say, therefore, that the absolutely perfect Being, viewed under distinct aspects or seen in logically distinct phases, is infinite, eternal, necessary, uncompounded (simple), unalterable. But creatural things are not absolutely perfect but only relatively so. Contrasting them with Absolute Perfection, we notice their deficiencies and we find that they are finite, temporal, contingent, compounded, changeable. This contrasting of the Absolute Perfection and the relative perfections of creatures gives us the following series of views or phases of perfection.

1. The Finite and the Infinite. A finite being has boundaries or limits or limitations. It is called finite from the Latin finis “end”; and the term “end” here means “boundary,” “finishing-line,” “point of breaking off.” A finite being is capable of measurement of one kind or another, and such measurement is expressible in terms of quantity (literally or by analogy), or in terms of limited power, capacity, or activity. All creatures are finite.—The Infinite Being is (as the term in-finite or non-finite indicates) a Being with no boundaries or limitations whatever. It is the fulness of being; it is measureless perfection in every direction and in boundless degree. It is not only a Perfection which actually exists or has actuality; It is Pure Actuality Itself, so that there is nothing conceivable which It might still achieve in growth, existence, or activity; no advance or retrogression; no maturing or aging; no change or alteration. That there exists one, and only one, Infinite Being, whom we call God, is proved in the philosophical science of Theodicy or Natural Theology.

A thing which has no determined limits is properly called indefinite, although it is often called potentially infinite. But it is never actually infinite. The One Actual Infinity is boundless in all directions or under all points of view. The potentially infinite offers an unbounded (but not determinately boundless) view in a single direction only. Thus a number is called indefinite or potentially infinite (in the direction of abstract quantity) in so far as there is no determined limit to the possibility of adding to it, multiplying it, dividing it.

2. The Temporal and the Eternal. A temporal being is subject to the measurement of time. A temporal being has a beginning, and it endures through a succession of moments or intervals of time.—Eternal Being is wholly outside time, having neither beginning, successive duration, nor ending. Only the Infinite Being is eternal in this complete sense. A qualified eternity (called by the Latin name aevum or aeviternitas) is ascribed to those beings which have a beginning but which will not have an end of their existence; such a qualified eternity may be called immortality or deathlessness; it belongs to angels and to human souls.

3. The Contingent and the Necessary. A contingent being is a being which involves in itself no necessity for existence, but is dependent upon, or contingent upon, the operation of causes sufficient to produce it. A contingent being is a caused being; it is an effect; it requires a cause to bring it into existence and to keep or maintain it in existence; it is never self-sufficient. All finite beings, all creatures, are contingent beings.—Necessary Being is that which must exist and cannot be non-existent; it is a Being of boundless perfection, the very nature of which includes the perfection called existence; it is identified with boundless existence; it is Pure Actuality.—A hypothetical necessity attaches to a result which necessarily comes from the fulfillment of a condition. Thus, if a cause operates to produce an effect, the effect is there, and cannot be denied; it is there necessarily. Hence, though creatures are, in themselves, contingent beings, existing or actual creatures are necessary by the necessity of fact. It is manifest to the thinking mind that the existence of contingent beings is proof positive of the existence of an Infinite and Uncaused Necessary Being, which is the First Cause of every contingent existence.

4. The Compounded and the Uncompounded. A compound, compounded, or composed being is one that is made of elements or parts. If the elements are real, that is, if they are things in nature outside the mind, the compounding or composition is called real composition. In the union of body and soul in a man, in the union of hydrogen and oxygen in water, in the union of grains of sugar to make up a pound, we have examples of real composition. The first two examples illustrate essential and substantial real composition; the third example illustrates accidental real composition. Essential real composition normally brings with it, at least in the more complex bodily substances, a train of things which are non-essential but which are needed for the rounded completeness and full operation of the composite. The essential elements of a human being are body and soul. But there are many bodily parts without which a human being can exist and function; hence these parts are not strictly essential. Still, they are needed for the complete perfection of a man. These are not, therefore, essential parts of a man, since his essence can exist without them. But they are integral parts of a man’s body, for they belong to the integrity (that is, to the completeness, the “undefective condition”) of the body; their loss means a certain damage, a certain hampering, a certain lack in the perfection or the operations of the body. Inasmuch as a substance is a real composite, we may view it as a union of parts that are essential, substantial, integral, accidental.

When the elements of a being are not real entities in nature, but logical entities in the mind (views, phases, aspects), we call the compounded being a logical composite, or say that it is constituted by logical composition. If the logical composite is a union of ideas or concepts which constitute the understood essence of a thing, we call the composite metaphysical. Thus, the idea or concept of man is composed of six distinct constituent concepts or ideas (being, subsistent being, bodily being, living being, sentient being, rational being). These metaphysical parts are also metaphysical grades, since, in their series, each presupposes the foregoing, like steps in a stairway.—Contrasted with compound being (a composite) we find uncompounded or simple being. A being is simple when it is not made up of parts. Thus the human soul is a simple being. It is not absolutely simple, that is, simple from every point of view, but, like all finite beings, it is relatively simple. Only the Infinite Being is absolutely simple; all creatures, from highest to lowest, are either compounded or they are only relatively simple. The Infinite Being must be absolutely simple, because it is absolutely perfect, and composition is always an imperfection and a limitation. Composition indicates the contingency of a being, for a composite is dependent on the union of its elements or parts; it involves potentiality. But the Infinite Being is Necessary Being; It is Pure Actuality. Hence the Infinite Being is absolutely simple. In the Infinite Being, therefore, essence and existence, substance and powers, nature and faculties, are all one and the same undivided essence.

5. The Changeable and the Changeless. A changeable being is one that can pass from one state of being to another; it is mutable being. Mutation or change may be intrinsic, that is, it may occur right in the thing changed; or it may be extrinsic, that is, it may be a change of aspect, angle, or external circumstance of that which remains in itself (intrinsically) unchanged. Extrinsic change is not really change in the object to which it is referred, but in its standing or relation to something else. Intrinsic change is substantial or accidental (Cf. Book First, Chap. II, Art. 2, d).—A changeless being is one that is in no wise subjected to intrinsic mutation or change. Manifestly, only the Infinite Being is changeless. This changelessness in God must not be conceived of as a kind of frozen fixity, for that would be a hampering thing, a limitation; and God is not subject to any limitation at all. Change in a finite being, a creature, is a necessary consequent of its imperfect state; even to develop and to achieve its full relative perfections, a creature must pass from stage to stage, gaining the newest one only by relinquishing the last. But God has all perfections in boundless measure all at once and eternally; more properly, all perfections in boundless degree are identified with the eternal Divine Essence. Hence, truly, there is with God, “no change nor shadow of alteration.”

Summary of the Article

In this Article we have learned the meaning of perfection and of a perfect being. We have classified perfections as absolute and relative; as entire and partial; as pure (perfectio simpliciter simplex) and mixed (perfectio secundum quid). We have learned that perfections are predicable of their subject either formally or virtually, and have seen that in the Infinite Being perfections are present, whether formally or virtually, in an eminent degree. We have studied phases or aspects of perfection, viewing it in the Infinite Being as infinite, eternal, necessary, simple, changeless (and have seen that such perfection is really identified with the Divine Essence itself), and in creatures as finite, temporal, contingent, compounded, mutable.