Philosophy the Handmaid of Theology · §31

Whether faith can coexist with science of the same proposition in the same intellect

Article IV. Whether faith can coexist with science of the same proposition in the same intellect.

1. The question is whether one and the same person can at once believe and know the proposition to which he assents, or whether faith and science so repugn that they cannot coexist in one intellect. Opinions diverge so widely that two celebrated men scarcely agree. Scotus holds that neither act nor habit of faith and of science can coexist in the same intellect about the same subject.

2. Durandus holds the contrary: faith and science can coexist about the same proposition in the same intellect, as to both act and habit. Fonseca: the habits can coexist about the same subject, yet the act produced is not an act of faith but a certain supernatural science, because faith concurs in producing it. Estius: (1) the habits can coexist about the same object; (2) each can exercise its act at different times; (3) the act the habit of faith then elicits is not faith in the full amplitude of its meaning — not according to all required conditions — because it is not inevident knowledge of the thing.

3. The fifth and truest view is Antonio Rubio's: (1) these habits can be together in the same intellect about the same object; (2) each can exercise its act at different times, but not at the same time; (3) acts elicited at different times are true and proper acts of those habits, and the habit of knowing derogates nothing from the act of believing. Rubio speaks there of science and opinion, but the same reason holds for science and faith.

4. Against Scotus: the habits can coexist. What would impede them is chiefly repugnance of their acts — but that does not impede. Habits are easy potencies for acts; we can have at once potencies for repugnant acts exercised at different times (weeping and laughing, walking and sitting) though not both acts at once. Further: one who by faith knows God created the world can later acquire demonstrative science of creation without destroying that faith — else a Christian could not study metaphysics and physics, from which such demonstrations are gathered, and one may not do what destroys or diminishes faith.

5. Against Durandus: the intellect cannot in one and the same instant elicit both faith's inevident assent and science's evident assent. As sight cannot see the same thing at once distinctly and confusedly, so the intellect (the soul's eye) cannot perceive the same thing at once evidently and inevidently.

6. Against Fonseca and Estius: even while coexisting with the habit of science, the habit of faith can elicit a true and proper act of faith with all conditions required for believing — so faith and science can be in the same intellect about the same proposition as to acts, but elicited at different times. A believer, even after acquiring science of creation, can resolve: I so firmly assent that God created the world because of God's testifying authority that even if reason did not show it — even if corrupt reason said the contrary — I would still assent without fear.

7. That judgment comes from faith alone, not from science and faith together, and is a true act of faith. Neither science nor any natural habit can dictate such a resolve. The assent rests on the testifier's authority alone and is inevident: a foundation that yields certainty but not evidence makes the assent inevident; God's authority convinces by certainty and irrefragability, not by the thing's clarity. As the medium is, so is the assent — certain or uncertain, evident or inevident.

Latin

ART. IV. An fides possit esse simul cum scientia de eadem propositione, & in eodem intellectu. 1. Quaeritur solet de scientia & fide, utrum unus & idem homo possit simul credere & scire eam propositionem cui assentitur esse veram, an vero tanta sit repugnantia fidei & scientiae, ut simul in eodem intellectu existere nequeant. In hac controversia, tanta est opinionum varietas, ut vix invenias duos celebres viros de ea idem sentientes: primo enim Scotus, in 3. Sent. Dist. 24. quaestione unica dicit, Neque actus, neque habitus fidei & scientiae posse simul in eodem intellectu existere circa idem subjectum. 2. Secundo, Durandus, quaest. 1. prologi Sent. & lib. 3. Sent. dist. 24. quaest.4. plane contrarium statuit, dicens fidem & scientiam circa eandem propositionem & in eodem intellectu simul existere posse, tam secundum actum, quam secundum habitum. Tertio, Petrus Fonseca, in lib.6. Metaph. cont. qu.1. Sect. 5. asserit habitus fidei & scientiae posse existere in eodem intellectu, & de eodem subjecto, ita tamen ut actus ab iis productus non sit actus fidei, sed scientia quaedam, eaque supernaturalis, propter concursum fidei ad eum producendum. Quarto: Guilielmus Estius, Duacensis Theologus, in 3. Sent. dist. 24. Art. 3. tria asserit: 1. habitus fidei & scientiae posse simul existere in eodem intellectu, & de eodem objecto. 2. Utrumque habitum diversis temporibus posse suum actum exercere. 3. Actum quem tunc elicit habitus fidei, non esse fidem consideratam secundum totam amplitudinem suae significationis: hoc est, secundum omnes conditiones in ea requisitas, quia videlicet non est inevidens rei notitia. 3. Quinta sententia, eaque verissima, est acutissimi Doctoris Antonii Ruvii Rhodensis, in suo opusculo de habitibus, tractatu 3. quaest. 3. ubi etiam tria innuit: primo, hos habitus posse simul esse in eodem intellectu, & de eodem objecto. 2. Utrumque habitum diversis temporibus posse suum actum exercere, sed non eodem tempore. 3. Actus ab illis habitibus, diversis temporibus elicitos, esse veros & proprie dictos illorum habituum actus, & per praesentiam habitus sciendi nihil derogari de proprietate actus credendi. Dico Ruvium haec tantum innuere, quia expresse & directe ibi loquitur solummodo de scientia & opinione; eadem autem ratio est scientiae et fidei, quoad possibilitatem & impossibilitatem coexistendi, ut cuivis manifestum est. 4. Primo igitur probatur contra Scotum; habitus fidei & scientiae posse simul esse in eodem subjecto, et circa idem objectum, idque hac ratione: Si quid impedit quo minus hi habitus in eodem intellectu coexistant, illud maxime est repugnantia actuum ad quos referuntur: Sed hoc non impedit: Ergo &c. Probatur assumptio; Habitus nihil sunt aliud, nisi faciles & expeditae potentiae ad actus: sed non est absurdum, aliqua habere simul potentias ad repugnantes actus, quos potest diversis temporibus exercere, licet simul non possit exercere utrumque: nam simul habemus potentiam ad flendum, et potentiam ad ridendum: item potentiam ambulandi, et potentiam sedendi; quamvis harum potentiarum actus adeo repugnantes sint, ut non possint uni subjecto simul inesse. Secundo, potest aliquis, qui per fidem novit mundum a DEO fuisse creatum, postea per Demonstrationem acquirere scientiam de Creatione Mundi, qua producta & acquisita non destruitur fides de illo articulo; sic enim non liceret homini Christiano, Metaphysicae & Physicae operam dare, ex quibus colliguntur Demonstrationes de creatione Mundi: non enim licet ea facere quae fidem aut destruunt, aut imminuunt. 5. Secundo: probatur contra Durandum, non esse possibile, ut intellectus eodem tempore, hoc est, uno et eodem instanti eliciat, et inevidentem assensum fidei, et evidentem assensum scientiae, quia sicut impossibile est, ut homo per sensum visus eandem rem eodem tempore distincte & confuse videat, ita etiam impossibile est, ut homo per intellectum, qui est animi oculus, eandem rem eodem instanti evidenter et inevidenter percipiat; ideoque impossibile est, ut simul habeat duos actus; unum evidentem, scientiae, alterum inevidentem, fidei. 6. Tertio: probatur contra Fonsecam et Estium; habitum fidei, quamvis in eodem intellectu coexistentem habeat habitum scientiae, posse elicere verum et proprie dictum actum fidei, idque secundum omnes conditiones in actu credendi requisitas: et proinde fidem et scientiam posse esse in eodem intellectu, & de eadem propositione, hoc etiam quoad actus; sed diversis temporibus elicitos: ratio est haec: potest aliquis fidelis, etiam post acquisitam scientiam de creatione mundi, ita apud se statuere: Ego tam firmiter assentior huic propositioni, DEUS creavit mundum; propter DEI testantis authoritatem, ut quamvis per rationem aliquam non perciperem mundum esse a DEO creatum; imo quamvis corrupta ratio contrarium dictitaret, assentirer tamen isti propositioni sine ulla formidine aut metu. 7. Hoc judicium mentis sine controversia provenit a sola fide, non scientia & fide simul, estque verus & proprie dictus fidei actus; hoc est, non deest ei ulla conditio in actu credendi requisita: prius probatur contra Fonsecam; quia neque scientia, neque aliquis alius naturalis habitus potest aliquid tale dictitare. Posterius etiam probatur, tum contra Fonsecam, tum contra Estium; quia assensus iste nititur sola authoritate testantis: est inevidens: consequentiae ratio est, quod assensus iste sit inevidens, cujus fundamentum quo nititur non valet parere evidentiam, sed certitudinem tantum; at hic assensus est talis; nam authoritas testantis non convincit intellectum nostrum per evidentiam & claritatem rei, sed per suam certitudinem & irrefragabilitatem. Ratio probabilis majoris est haec: talis est assensus, quale est medium & fundamentum quo nititur: Si enim medium sit certum, possitque intellectum nostrum certificare, & ut tale cognoscatur ab assentiente, noster assensus est certus: Si vero non ita se habet, est incertus: Ergo pari ratione, si medium valeat parere evidentiam intelligendi, assensus est evidens: si vero non valeat, est inevidens.

About this text

Robert Baron — Philosophia theologiae ancillans from the 1658 Oxford Latin. Exercitatio Prima Art. I-XII On Being and Essence; Exercitatio Secunda Art. I-XV On the origin of the soul and the propagation of sin. Later Exercitationes / remainder of 213 pp remain.

English follows locked 1658 Oxford Latin. Prima Art. I-XII from IA PDF leaves ~15-53. Secunda Art. I-XV from PDF leaves 56-107 / printed pp.54-105 (tess+pdftotext+DjVu). No modern English copied. Exercitatio Tertia+ remain.

Catalogue & scope

Wing B887. IA bim_early-english-books-1641-1700_philosophia-theologi-an_baron-robert_1658. Exercitatio Prima Art. I-XII; Exercitatio Secunda Art. I-XV (De origine animae & propagatione peccati). Not whole Philosophia (213 pp). Exercitatio Tertia+ remain.

Witnesses

Copy-text Locked Latin, Exercitatio Prima Art. I-II tip (Oxford 1658) (Latin)
Checked print IA Text PDF tip-page extract of Art. I-II (Latin)
Checked print IA DjVu OCR of the 1658 volume (Latin)
Copy-text Locked Latin, Exercitatio Prima Art. III (Oxford 1658) (Latin)
Checked print IA Text PDF page extract of Art. III (Latin)
Copy-text Locked Latin, Exercitatio Prima Art. IV (Oxford 1658) (Latin)
Copy-text Locked Latin, Exercitatio Prima Art. V (Oxford 1658) (Latin)
Checked print Tesseract OCR of Art. IV PDF pages (Latin)
Checked print Tesseract OCR of Art. V PDF pages (Latin)
Copy-text Locked Latin, Exercitatio Prima Art. VI (Oxford 1658) (Latin)
Checked print Tesseract OCR of Art. VI PDF pages (Latin)
Checked print IA Text PDF page extract of Art. VI (Latin)
Copy-text Locked Latin, Exercitatio Prima Art. VII (Oxford 1658) (Latin)
Checked print Tesseract OCR of Art. VII PDF pages (Latin)
Checked print IA Text PDF page extract of Art. VII (Latin)
Copy-text Locked Latin, Exercitatio Prima Art. VIII (Oxford 1658) (Latin)
Checked print Tesseract OCR of Art. VIII PDF pages (Latin)
Checked print IA Text PDF page extract of Art. VIII (Latin)
Copy-text Locked Latin, Exercitatio Prima Art. IX (Oxford 1658) (Latin)
Checked print Tesseract OCR of Art. IX PDF pages (Latin)
Checked print IA Text PDF page extract of Art. IX (Latin)
Copy-text Locked Latin, Exercitatio Prima Art. X (Oxford 1658) (Latin)
Checked print Tesseract OCR of Art. X PDF pages (Latin)
Checked print IA Text PDF page extract of Art. X (Latin)
Copy-text Locked Latin, Exercitatio Prima Art. XI (Oxford 1658) (Latin)
Checked print Tesseract OCR of Art. XI PDF pages (Latin)
Checked print IA Text PDF page extract of Art. XI (Latin)
Copy-text Locked Latin, Exercitatio Prima Art. XII (Oxford 1658) (Latin)
Checked print Tesseract OCR of Art. XII PDF pages (Latin)
Checked print IA Text PDF page extract of Art. XII (Latin)
Copy-text Locked Latin, Exercitatio Secunda Art. I (Oxford 1658) (Latin)
Checked print Tesseract OCR of Secunda Art. I PDF pages (Latin)
Checked print IA Text PDF page extract of Secunda Art. I (Latin)

This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.