ORIGINS OF THE PROBLEM OF UNITY OF FORM 137 



source as Avicebron's Fons vitae, supplied a fresh argument in 

 support of the pluralist view. We have it from Roland of 

 Cremona, that some, to prove that there are three souls in man, 

 based their contention on the authority of the book De pura 

 honitate, proposition I."" (It is well known that in some ancient 

 manuscripts the Liber de causis is entitled De pura honitate.) 

 On the other hand, Albertus Magnus adduces this very same 

 first proposition to demonstrate that such an assumption is 

 untenable. " To admit three souls in man," he argues, " would 

 destroy the order of formal causes, which is against the Phi- 

 losopher's ^* teaching in the De causis, that the causes are dis- 

 posed in a certain order: being, living, sentient, intelligent. For 

 in that case the second cause would in no way be influenced by 

 the first cause, whereas it is by virtue of that influence that a 

 cause is and is a cause." ^^ 



These are the main sources from which the Schoolmen de- 

 rived their knowledge of the problem under consideration and 

 drew their arguments in favor of or against either opinion. 

 Secondary channels, however, concurred to feed the stream. 

 We may mention, for instance, the pseudo-Augustinian De 

 spiritu et anima,^^ utilized by John de la Rochelle,^' St. x41bert 



*^ '' Et probant illud idem per primam propositionem quae est in libro De pura 

 honitate." Text edited by Dom Odon Lottin, 0. S. B., " L'Unite de I'ame humaine 

 avant saint Thomas d'Aquin," Psychologic et Morale aux XIP et XIIP siecles, 

 2nd edition (Gembloux, 1957) , I, p. 465. 



^* The Liber de causis was attributed to Aristotle in the thirteenth century until 

 Aquinas discovered its true origin when William of Moerbeke translated the 

 Elementatio theologica of Proclus from the Greek (Viterbo, 18 March 1268) . 



^^ " Hoc autem dato (quod vegetativum, sensitivum, intellectivum sint per sub- 

 stantiam separata) , sequuntur duo inconvenientia, quorum unum est. . . . Aliud 

 autem est, quod destruitur ordo causarum formalium: quia secunda causa non 

 habebit a primaria quod est, et quod causa est. Sunt enim ordinatae causae for- 

 males, esse, vivum, sensitivum, intellectivum, ut dicit Philosophus in libro De 

 causis." De anima. III, tr. V, c. 4 (ed. Borgnet, V, 418 b) . 



^^ De spiritu et anima, PL 40, 779-832. It was attributed to St. Augustine by 

 many in the thirteenth century, but not by St. Thomas. See G. Thery, " L'authen- 

 ticite du ' De spiritu et anima ' dans saint Tlaomas et Albert le Grand," Revue des 

 Sciences philosophiques et theologiques, X (1921) , 373-377. 



*^ " Dicamus ergo secundum Augustinum in libro De anima et spiritu: ' Una et 

 eadem est animae substantia vegetabilis, sensibilis et rationalis, secundum diversas 



