THE SCHOLASTIC POSITION 47 



A further advance is made when we come 

 to the anjynal form or_spul (anima sensitive), 

 where we come to a higher unity the unity 

 of sense-consciousness. This form or soul is 

 " totally immersed in matter," to use the 

 scholastic phrase, and disappears with the 



But it is a synthesis of 



the body and makes a morphological and 

 physiological unity of what would otherwise 

 be a group of united but un-coordinated 

 factors. 



Finally, we arrive at the highest^Jorm, * * 

 the soul ofjnan (anima rationalis), by virtue 

 of which man not only perceives but conceives ; 

 through which things have to him a meaning. 

 Of this it need only here be said in order to 

 complete the present synopsis, that this kind 

 of soul is simple and unextended like the 

 animal soul, but is also spiritual and unlike 

 any other kind of " form " -capable nf iridf- 

 pendent existence, since its essence (esse) is 

 independent of matter. Thus it is held to be 

 closely similar to the forma subsistens attri- 

 buted to Angelic beings but not absolutely 

 identical, since there is in the human soul an The 

 inclination or aptitude for its body. But, in human 

 comparison with the animal soul, the human 

 is not " completely immersed in matter," but 

 to put things very crudely somewhat pro- 



