Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T02:50:20.054Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 7 - The Ontology of Bodily Human Acts

from Part III - Act Hylomorphism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2021

Can Laurens Löwe
Affiliation:
Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities ‘Human Abilities’, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin
Get access

Summary

This chapter applies the general hylomorphic theory of the human act to one of the two kinds of human acts that Aquinas countenances, namely, bodily human acts. In keeping with the general hylomorphic framework, it argues that a bodily human act is a composite of a volitional act of use and a bodily commanded act. This chapter investigates each of these two components and considers how they form one unified human act. It argues that while use is an immanent act, any bodily commanded is traunseunt. That is to say, use remains in the agent, while the bodily commanded act, which is an exercise of the “motive power” (vis motiva), comes to inhere in a patient external to the human body. What is more, it argues that use is an intrinsically instantaneous act, whereas any bodily commanded act takes time to be completed. On this basis, it concludes that use and the bodily commanded act are inherentially as well as durationally heterogeneous. The last section of the chapter examines whether this dual heterogeneity prevents use and the bodily commanded act from constituting a unified hylomorphic whole. It argue that this is not the case.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×