RE: Thomism: Then & Now
October 26, 2021 at 9:10 pm
(This post was last modified: October 26, 2021 at 9:13 pm by Neo-Scholastic.)
Maybe to keep the conversation going, I could start with this little chunk:
"First, it equivocates between logical and causal dependence, as Sir David Ross points out in his commentary on Physics 242a 38: ‘the motion of the whole logically implies the motion of the part, but is not necessarily causally dependent on it’. (Ross, p. 669).
Whether or not the above works as a defeater depends, again, on the definition of motion. If he means physical motion, then yes, parts, like steering wheels, move with the rest of a car. But if motion, in the Scholastic sense means “substantial change” then no, he isn’t presenting a defeater. For example, a substantial change occurs when a chair breaks into a heap wood. The substance “chair” was a composite of causes, such as 1) material cause of wood + 2)formal cause of traditional design + 3) final cause of functional seating, 4) efficient cause of Chippendale. As such a composite, if one of these causes ceases so does the chair as a chair. When one of the essential causes of being a particular substance, in this example a chair, disappears the substance ceases to exist as well.
"First, it equivocates between logical and causal dependence, as Sir David Ross points out in his commentary on Physics 242a 38: ‘the motion of the whole logically implies the motion of the part, but is not necessarily causally dependent on it’. (Ross, p. 669).
Whether or not the above works as a defeater depends, again, on the definition of motion. If he means physical motion, then yes, parts, like steering wheels, move with the rest of a car. But if motion, in the Scholastic sense means “substantial change” then no, he isn’t presenting a defeater. For example, a substantial change occurs when a chair breaks into a heap wood. The substance “chair” was a composite of causes, such as 1) material cause of wood + 2)formal cause of traditional design + 3) final cause of functional seating, 4) efficient cause of Chippendale. As such a composite, if one of these causes ceases so does the chair as a chair. When one of the essential causes of being a particular substance, in this example a chair, disappears the substance ceases to exist as well.
<insert profound quote here>