ORIGINS OF THE PROBLEM OF UNITY OF FORM 145 



vegetative and the sensitive in man are not distinct souls, but 

 powers of the rational soul.^^ 



Assuredly the development of the problem is as yet at its 

 first stage. The discussion turns on the unity or plurality of 

 souls in man. The solution gives the impression that it is merely 

 outlined and unfinished; it is none the less clear and categorical, 

 and the treatment of the whole question is extremely instruc- 

 tive, Roland based his reasoning on the Aristotelian definition 

 of the soul, regarded as axiomatic. Constat autem quod 

 anima est perfectio corporis organici potentia vitarn habentis. 

 The argument brought forward is the same one that Aquinas 

 will urge and develop to its utmost value in upholding the unity 

 of form not only in man, but in all composites: unius rei 

 unica est perfectio prima, unius rei urdcum est esse, si prima 

 perficit, pro nihilo venit secunda vel tertia. There can be no 

 doubt that the first reaction of the Schoolmen in both faculties 

 of Theology and of Arts was in favor of the unity thesis: the 

 vegetative and the sensitive are not distinct souls in man, but 

 powers of the rational soul. 



On the other hand, the same argument from the vital opera- 

 tions of the embryo was constantly adduced by the pluralists as 

 the most cogent in stressing their view. It is found wherever 

 the problem is discussed, often with the biblical text. Exodus, 

 21:22, and always with the same physiological reflection. It 

 was later corroborated with the authority of Aristotle, De 

 generatione animalium, II. 3 {De animalibus XVT. 3, 736 b 

 1 ff.) .^" To refute this argument William of Auvergne dedi- 

 cated a full chapter to it in his De anima,^^ and in St. Thomas' 

 Quaestio disputata De anima, a. 11, to cite one more instance, 

 no less than nine objections out of twenty are drawn from the 

 embryo-genesis theory. When, however, Roland, trying to 

 argue against this view contends that the embryo grows vege- 



^^ " Sensibilis et vegetabilis sunt vires animae rationalis in homine." Ibid. On 

 Roland of Cremona, see E. Filthaut, Roland von Cremona O.P. und die Anfange 

 der Scholastik in Predigerorden (Vechta i. 0., 1936) . 



^' See the discussion of this point in Albertus Magnus, De animalibus, ad locum. 



" De anima, cap. 4, P. II (ed. Orleans, 1674) , fol. 105 b-106 b. 



