Meaning | Adaequatio of causes (NOT of
ideas cf.
{2d04 idea (cognitia) adaequata})
There are two ways in which a thing can be said to cause another thing: 1. Causa adaequata {3d01}. Equivalent terms: producere (produce) and sequere (follow logically). Be the sufficient condition of a change of some thing (res). Not every causa adaequata is, apart from sufficient, a necessary condition as well, for something can be caused adequately in more that one way. The general case is: causing a change in the way something operates, e.g a lense causes the incoming light to travel in a different direction that is, it changes the movement of light in duration. Abstracting from continuous time yields the special case of state change analysis, e.g. the lense causes a change of the point of arrival on the wall of the light beam. A very important example of state change in Ethica: the state of the human body before and after an "affectio" by an external body causes a scar or imago, a state change of the affected human body. Abstracting in turn even from states reduces us to the logically simplest form of causation: from the mere existence to the mere non-existence and back, that is: causing the creation or destruction of something, for instance when we restrict ourselves to analysing an imago-scar in isolation, we can only say such things as that it was, was not, or can be, "created", "come into existence", or "disappears", "gets destroyed". 2. Causa partiale {3d01}. Res r is a partial cause for some effect, if subsumption of r is necessary to turn a set A of things into an adequate cause of the effect (even, it seems in Ethica, if there is another adequate cause B for the same effect and r is not necessary in B. In such cases r is a special case of causa partiale: causa per accidens). Man unfortunately often is not, but can be "causa adaequata" of something (by means of the action of "intelligere"). N.B. Only God = natura-sense 2 = substance is causa sui (1p25s). The truth (veritas) of an adequate idea is caused by the idea itself (internally) An inadequate idea can (by a stroke of luck during its imagination) be true (vera), but this is caused externally. The falsity of a false idea is always caused externally. |
Related concepts | pp1a03 causa effectus {2d04 idea (cognitia) adaequata} causa adaequata means the same as causa efficiens |
Occurrence | [geomap] |
{3d01 (causa) adaequata^inadaequata, partiale} ...the criterion: whether or not it is possible per ipsam solam intelligere... | |
...By an adequate cause, I mean a cause through which its effect can be clearly and distinctly perceived. By an inadequate or partial cause, I mean a cause through which, by itself, its effect cannot be understood... | ...Causam adaequatam appello eam cujus effectus potest clare et distincte per eandem percipi. Inadaequatam autem seu [mng-eqv] partialem illam voco cujus effectus per ipsam solam intelligi nequit. |
{3d02 agere^patere, actio^passio NOT actu} ...causa adaequata/inadequata used to define actio/passio... | |
...I say that we act when anything takes place, either within us or externally to us, whereof we are the adequate cause; that is ...when through our nature something takes place within us or externally to us, which can through our nature alone be clearly and distinctly understood. On the other hand, I say that we are passive as regards something when that something takes place within us, or follows from our nature externally, we being only the partial cause. | ...Nos tum agere dico cum aliquid in nobis aut [excl exh] extra nos fit cujus adaequata sumus causa hoc est ... cum ex nostra natura aliquid in nobis aut [excl exh] extra nos sequitur quod per eandem solam potest clare et distincte intelligi. At contra nos pati dico cum in nobis aliquid fit vel [mng-eqv] ex nostra natura aliquid sequitur cujus nos non nisi partialis sumus causa. |
{3d03 affectus} ...quasi definition of actio and passio in definition of affectus... | |
...If we can be the adequate cause of any ... modifications [Lat: affectiones], I then call the emotion an activity, otherwise I call it a passion, or state wherein the mind is passive. | ...Si itaque alicujus ... affectionum adaequata possimus esse causa, tum per affectum actionem intelligo, alias passionem. |
{3p01 mens agit patitur ideas} ...the linchpin holding Ethica together...why our mind can be active...proven from the relation between idea adaequata and causa adaequata... | |
...Our mind is in certain cases active, and in certain cases passive. In so far as it has adequate ideas it is necessarily active, and in so far as it has inadequate ideas, it is necessarily passive... | ...Mens nostra quaedam agit, quaedam vero patitur nempe quatenus adaequatas habet ideas eatenus quaedam necessario agit et quatenus ideas habet inadaequatas eatenus necessario quaedam patitur. .. |
...In every human mind there are some adequate ideas, and some ideas that are fragmentary and confused ...Those ideas which are adequate in the mind are adequate also in God, inasmuch as he constitutes the essence of the mind ... and those which are inadequate in the mind are likewise ... adequate in God, not inasmuch as he contains in himself the essence of the given mind alone, but as he, at the same time, ... | ...Cujuscunque humanae mentis ideae ali adaequatae sunt, ali autem mutilatae et confusae... Ideae autem quae in alicujus mente sunt adaequatae, sunt in Deo adaequatae quatenus ejusdem mentis essentiam constituit ... et quae deinde inadaequatae sunt in mente, sunt etiam in Deo ... adaequatae non quatenus ejusdem solummodo mentis essentiam sed etiam quatenus... |
... {3p01 continued... ...N.B. the curious: ...minds of other things....aliarum rerum mentes... | |
...contains the minds of other things... | ...aliarum rerum mentes in se simul continet... |
...Again, from any given idea some effect must necessarily follow ... God is the adequate cause ... not inasmuch as he is infinite, but inasmuch as he is conceived as affected by the given idea ... | ...Deinde ex data quacunque idea aliquis effectus sequi necessario debet ...cujus ... Deus causa est adaequata ... non quatenus infinitus est sed quatenus data illa idea affectus consideratur ... |
...But of that effect whereof God is the cause, inasmuch as he is affected by an idea which is adequate in a given mind, of that effect ... the mind in question is the adequate cause... | ...At ejus effectus cujus Deus est causa quatenus affectus est idea quae in alicujus mente est adaequata, illa eadem mens est causa adaequata ... |
...Therefore our mind, in so far as it has adequate ideas ... is in certain cases necessarily active; this was our first point... | ... Ergo mens nostra ...quatenus ideas habet adaequatas, quaedam necessario agit, quod erat primum... |
... whatsoever necessarily follows from the idea which is adequate in God, not by virtue of his possessing in himself the mind of one man only, but by virtue of his containing, together with the mind of that one man, the minds of other things also, of such an effect ... the mind of the given man is not an adequate, but only a partial cause... | ... quicquid necessario sequitur ex idea quae in Deo est adaequata, non quatenus mentem unius hominis tantum sed quatenus aliarum rerum mentes simul cum ejusdem hominis mente in se habet, ejus ... illius hominis mens non est causa adaequata sed partialis ... |
... the mind, inasmuch as it has inadequate ideas, is in certain cases necessarily passive; this was our second point... | ... mens quatenus ideas inadaequatas habet, quaedam necessario patitur. Quod erat secundum... |
{5p31 Tertium mente aeterna} ..."formal cause" means the same as "adequate cause"... | |
...is the adequate or formal cause of such knowledge... | .... causa est adaequata seu [mng-eqv] formalis... |
Equivalence claims involving causa adaequata ^ partiale | ||
{3d01} [notes] | [About causes] 1. adequate 2. through which its effect can be clearly and distinctly perceived. | [De causis] 1. adaequatam 2. cujus effectus potest clare et distincte per eandem percipi. |
{3d01} [notes] | [About causes] 1. inadequate 2. partial 3. through which, by itself, its effect cannot be understood. | [De causis] 1. Inadaequatam 2. partialem 3. illam cujus effectus per ipsam solam intelligi nequit. |
{3d02} [notes] | 1. acting 2. anything takes place, either within us or externally to us, whereof we are the adequate cause 3. through our nature something takes place within us or externally to us, which can through our nature alone be clearly and distinctly understood. | 1. agere 2. aliquid in nobis aut [excl exh] extra nos fit cujus adaequata sumus causa 3. ex nostra natura aliquid in nobis aut [excl exh] extra nos sequitur quod per eandem solam potest clare et distincte intelligi. |
{3d02} [notes] | 1. Being passive as regards something 2. something takes place within us, or follows from our nature externally of which we are only the partial cause. | 1. pati aliquid 2. in nobis aliquid fit vel [non-excl non-exh] ex nostra natura aliquid sequitur cujus nos non nisi partialis sumus causa. |
{3d03} [notes] | [About mental and corporeal emotions] 1. Action 2. An affection of ours of which we are the adequate cause. | [De
affectuum-mentis
et affectuum-corpus]
1.
actio 2.
|
{3d03} [notes] | [About mental and corporeal emotions] 1. Passion 2. An affection of ours of which we are not the adequate cause. | [De
affectuum-mentis
et affectuum-corpus]
1.
passionem 2.
|