Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Q90 A4: Whether the human soul was produced before the body

No. Since the soul is the proper act of the body, the soul was produced in the body, because the proper act is produced in its proper potentiality.

Cum ergo anima sit proprius actus corporis, anima producta est in corpore quia actus proprius fit in potentia propria.

The soul is united to the body as its form, and is naturally a part of human nature.

Anima unitur corpori ut forma, et est naturaliter pars humanae naturae.

The soul, as a part of human nature, has its natural perfection only as united to the body. Therefore it would have been unfitting for the soul to be created without the body.

Anima autem, cum sit pars humanae naturae, non habet naturalem perfectionem nisi secundum quod est corpori unita. Unde non fuisset conveniens animam sine corpore creari.