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95 Article 10 The tenth thing to be asked is whether the rational soul is created in the body or apart from the body. And it seems that it is created apart from the body.1 obj. 1. Things which are of the same species come into being in the same way. But our souls are of the same species as the soul of Adam, and his soul was created apart from the body when the angels were created, as Augustine says in On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis VII.2 Therefore other human souls are also created apart from the body. obj. 2. Any whole which lacks a part pertaining to its perfection is imperfect. But the rational soul pertains to the perfection of the universe more than corporeal substance does, since intellectual substance is more noble than corporeal substance. Therefore, if rational souls were not all created from the beginning, but are created day by day when bodies are generated, it would follow that the universe is imperfect because it lacks its most noble parts. But this seems unreasonable . Therefore rational souls are created from the beginning apart from the body. obj. 3. It seems like theatrics to say that the universe is to be destroyed when it attains its ultimate perfection. But the world will come to an end when the generation of men ceases, and at that point the universe will be most completely perfect, if souls are created simultaneously with the generation of bodies. Therefore, according to this view, the divine governance which rules the world will be like a play, which seems absurd. obj. 4. But one might reply that the perfection of the universe does not require each individual, since it is nevertheless complete in that it has all of its species. On the contrary, species of things, having in themselves a certain perpetuity, pertain to the essential perfection 1. For parallel discussions of this question, see ST I Q. 90, a. 4, and SCG II 83. 2. Augustine, De Genesi ad litteram libri XII, VII 24. 96 On Creation of the universe, inasmuch as they are themselves intended by the author of the universe. But individuals, which do not have perpetual being, pertain to a certain accidental perfection of the universe, inasmuch as they are not intended in themselves but for the preservation of their species. Now rational souls have perpetuity not only in species but also as single individuals. Therefore, if not all rational souls existed from the beginning, then the universe was as imperfect as if some species were absent from it. obj. 5. In his Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, Macrobius placed two gates in heaven: one for the gods and the other for souls, in Cancer and Capricorn, through one of which souls descended to bodies.3 But this could not be unless souls were created in heaven apart from the body. Therefore souls are created apart from the body. obj. 6. The efficient cause precedes its effect in time. But the soul is the efficient cause of the body, as is said in On the Soul II.4 Therefore it exists before the body, and thus is not created in the body. obj. 7. In the book On Spirit and Soul, it is said that before it is united to the body, soul has irascibility and concupiscence.5 But these cannot be in the soul before the soul exists. Therefore the soul exists before it is united with the body and thus is not created in the body. obj. 8. The substance of rational souls is not measured by time because, as is said in the Book of Causes, it is above time.6 Neither again is it measured by eternity, since this belongs to God alone. Indeed , in the Book of Causes the soul is said to be beneath eternity.7 Therefore it is measured by eviternity,8 as angels are, and thus angels and souls have the same measure of duration. Therefore, since angels were created at the beginning of the world, it seems that souls also were created then and not in bodies. obj. 9. There is no before and after in eviternity; otherwise it would not differ from time, as some think. But if angels were cre3 . Macrobius, Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, I 12. 4. Aristotle, On the Soul, II 4, 415b11, 22–27. 5. Augustine, De Spiritu et Anima, 13. 6. Book of Causes, Prop. 2. 7. Book of...

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