ORIGINS OF THE PROBLEM OF UNITY OF FORM 123 



essential perfections and virtues, remain actually and simul- 

 taneously in a composite, which is essentially one, whether in 

 juxtaposition, in co-ordination, disposed hierarchically, or in 

 any other way implying actual persistence? 



(b) Or must all previous forms pass away with the coming 

 in of the more perfect substantial form, in such a wise that 

 they are in the crvvoXov only virtually as implied, synthetized, 

 and comprised in the higher form, each essential perfection 

 being gathered up into the unity of a single form, which alone 

 gives to the individual its ultimate and specific determination? 



The problem may be, and in fact had been, approached from 

 two angles: the psychological and the metaphysical. Regarded 

 psychologically, the problem was restricted to living beings, 

 especially to man. Considered metaphysically, it was raised 

 from as many aspects as there are things composed of matter 

 and form, whether living or lifeless bodies (mixta) , or simply 

 from simple logical relations, such as genus and species viewed 

 as matter and form, and their mutual predication. 



The question was not fully elaborated all at once, but slowly 

 and by degrees. The starting-point was whether the nutritive, 

 the sensitive and the rational principles in man are one soul, 

 one substance, or three distinct souls or substances. 



To avoid confusion, it is important to bear in mind that the 

 problem of the unity or plurality of the human soul is a dif- 

 ferent question from that of the unity or plurality of substan- 

 tial form, whether in man or in any composite. Naturally 

 enough, if there is plurality of souls, a jortiori there must be 

 plurality of substances or forms. Substance, philosophically 

 speaking, is equivalent to form. But the latter question is a 

 more complex one; that is, assuming that there is in man one 

 soul only, and even that the soul is the form of the body so as 

 to constitute one essence, it still remains undecided whether the 

 determining principle is one only or whether there are required 

 as many principles, or forms, as there are perfections and 

 powers. 



There is a general consensus among scholars that it was St. 



