4 SIN 



thing that is not (°v* ov) } but something that ought 

 not to exist (m w). In other words, it has no 

 substance of its own, but is a privation or corrup- 

 tion of goodness (privatio boni) ; not, of course, 

 a pure privation, but merely "an act deprived of 

 its due order." 12 "Evil," the Angelic Doctor 

 says, ", . . is nothing else than a privation of 

 that which a man is naturally apt to have and 

 ought to have; . . . but a privation is not an es- 

 sence; it is a negation in a substance." 13 



Aristotle regarded sin as a necessary stage on 

 the way to goodness, or as goodness itself in so 

 far as it has not yet proceeded from potency to 

 act, and consequently is a mere imperfection or 

 minus bonum. 14 This is a false view, for while 

 it cannot be denied that both in the life of indi- 



12 Summa Theol., ia 2ae, qu. 72, (P. L., XLII, 201). — Cfr. Saint 

 art. I, ad 2: "Peccatum non est Thomas, Summa Theol., ia, qu. 63, 

 pura privatio, sed est actus debito art. 1 : "Peccare nihil est aliud 

 ordine privatus." quam declinare a rectitudine actus, 



13 Summa contra Gentiles, III, c. quam debet habere, five accipiatur 

 7: "Malum . . . nihil est aliud peccatum in naturalibus sive in arti- 

 quam privatio eius quod quis natus ficialibus sive in moralibus." — 

 est et debet habere. . . . Privatio Idem, Summa Theol., ia 2ae, qu. 21, 

 autem non est aliqua essentia, sed art. 1: "Peccatum proprie consistit 

 est negatio in substantia." — Cfr. St. in actu, qui agitur propter finem ali- 

 Augustine, De Civ. Dei, XI, c. 9: quern, quum non habet debitum ordi- 

 "Mali nulla natura est, sed amissio nem ad Unern ilium." — Ibid., qu. 71, 

 boni malt nomen accepit." (Migne, art. 1: "Peccatum proprie nominat 

 P. L., XLI, 325). — Ibid., XII, c. 9 actum inordinatum, sicut actus vir- 

 (P. L., XLI, 355). — Idem, Contra tutis est actus ordinatus et debitus." 

 Epist. Manich. Fundam., c. 35, n. — Cfr. J. Nirschl, Ursprung und 

 30: "Quis dubitet totum illud, quod Wesen des Bosen, Ratisbon 1854, 

 dicitur malum, nihil esse aliud quam pp. 29 sqq. 



corruptionemf . . . Quodsi non in- 1* Aristotle, Metaphysica, I. XIV, 



venitur in rebus malum nisi corrup- c. 4: rb naKOv avrb rb bwa^ei 



tio. et corruptio non est natura, dya06t>. 

 nulla utique natura malum est." 



