ORDER IN XHE PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE 277 



for distinguishing sciences according to the manner of concep- 

 tualizing the subject {obiectum jormale sub quo) , if the defi- 

 nition of the subject were the terminal point of the science, 

 rather than the starting point. The definition is rather the 

 very light that reveals the necessary connection of the attri- 

 butes with the subject. The definition must be predicated of 

 the subject in the minor premiss of a propter quid demonstra- 

 tion; it must be shown as the proper cause of the attribute in 

 the major premiss. The knowledge of both these premisses is 

 prior to the drawing of the scientific conclusion .^^ Therefore, 

 the study of the principles of natural being must come at the 

 beginning of natural philosophy .^^ 



The order of procedure intrinsic to natural philosophy is set 

 out at the beginning of the Physics and of St. Thomas' com- 

 mentary on it. We must start with the general characteristics 

 of material beings and later proceed to their specific notes.^* 

 A reason of pedagogical convenience is given for this: otherwise 

 it would be necessary to repeat these truths many times while 

 treating the particular manifestations of them.^^ There is also 

 a proper reason for this procedure from general to particular. 

 A thing is knowable according to its separation from matter; 

 this is the principle for the specification of sciences. Even 

 within a science the same principle holds for the division of 

 parts .^"^ We advance in the scale of knowledge insofar as we 

 transcend potency and make manifest more actual notes; in 

 other words, we proceed from confused to distinct concepts. 

 The more general concepts are more potential; the specific are 

 more actual. Therefore, in natural science we must start with 

 the study of mobile being in general, with its principles, causes 

 and properties. Later, by a process of concretion or application, 



^^ Cf. M. Glutz, C.P., The Manner of Demonstrating in Natural Philosophy 

 (River Forest, Illinois: 1956) . 



^^In I Anal. Post., 41, n. 9. Cf. Wm. H. Kane, O. P., "The Nature and Extent 

 of Natural Philosophy," The Neio Scholasticism, XXXI (1957) , 85-97. 



^'In I Phys., I, n. 5. 



^'^ Aristotle, Parts of Animals, 1, 1, 639al5-b7. 



^® In De Sensu et Sensato, 1 ,n. 2. 



