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78 Article 9 The ninth thing to be asked is whether the rational soul is brought into being by creation or by the transmission of semen. And it seems that it is propagated with semen.1 obj. 1. For Genesis XLVI says, All the souls that went into Egypt with Jacob and came out of his thigh, except his sons’ wives, sixty-six.2 But nothing comes out of the thigh of a father except by the transmission of semen. Therefore the rational soul is transmitted with the semen. obj. 2. But one might reply that the part stands for the whole there, that is, the soul for the man. On the contrary, a human being is composed of soul and body. If, therefore, the whole man came from his father’s thigh, not only the body but also the soul will be transmitted, as before. obj. 3. An accident cannot be transmitted unless the subject is transmitted, because an accident does not pass from subject to subject . But the rational soul is the subject of original sin. Therefore since original sin is transmitted from parent to child, it seems that the rational soul of the child is also transmitted by the parent. obj. 4. But one might reply that although original sin is in the soul as its subject, it is nevertheless in the flesh as its cause, and so it is transmitted through the transmission of the flesh. On the contrary , according to Romans V, sin came into this world through one man, and through sin death, and so death passed to all, in which all have sinned.3 Now a Gloss points out that “in which” could mean in which sinner or in which sin.4 But all would not have sinned in that sin had that same sin not been transmitted to all. Therefore that 1. For parallel discussions of how the rational soul comes to be and comes to be the form of a particular human body, see ST I QQ. 90, 91, and 118, and SCG II 83–90. On the particular question of whether the rational soul of a new human being is transmitted via his or her father’s semen, see ST I Q. 118, a. 2, and SCG II 86–89. 2. Genesis 46:26. 3. Peccatum per unum hominem in hunc mundum intravit et per peccatum mors, et ita mors in omnes pertransiit, in quo omnes peccauerunt (Romans 5:12). 4. Fr. Shapcote notes that Augustine makes this observation in his De Peccatorum Meritis et Remissione et de Baptismo Parvulorum ad Marcellinum, I 10. Article 9 79 same sin which was in Adam is transmitted to all, and so the soul which was the subject of that sin is transmitted to all. obj. 5. Every agent produces its like,5 but every agent acts by virtue of form.6 Therefore what an agent produces is the form of the thing made. But to generate is to produce. Therefore the form of the generated thing is [made] by the action of the generator. Therefore, since man generates man and the rational soul is the form of man, it seems that the rational soul is generated and not created. obj. 6. According to the Philosopher in Physics II, an efficient cause is of the same species as its effect.7 But man receives his species through the rational soul.8 Therefore it seems that what the generator makes in the generated is the rational soul. obj. 7. Children are like their parents because they are propagated by their parents. And they are like their parents not only in corporeal dispositions but also in dispositions of the soul. Therefore, just as body is from body, so is soul transmitted by soul. obj. 8. In Leviticus XVII, Moses says, The soul of all flesh is in the blood.9 But blood is transmitted with semen, especially since sperm is nothing other than concentrated blood.10 Therefore the soul also is transmitted with semen. obj. 9. Before it is perfected by the rational soul, an embryo has some operations of soul, since it grows and takes in nutrition and feels. But there can be no operation of soul without life. Therefore it lives. But the principle of corporeal life is the soul, and so it has soul. But we cannot say that it receives another soul, since there would be two souls in one body. Therefore the very soul which was in the semen at...

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