In the middle ages 187

IV

Scholastic intellectualism is quite evident, not

only in the remaining branches of psychology, but

also in logic, in metaphysics, in aesthetics, and in

morals.

Abstraction, which is the fundamental operation

of the intellect, establishes the spirituality of the

soul ; for a being capable of producing thoughts, the

content of which is free from the chains of matter,

is itself above matter." It justifies the natural

union of soul and body, because the normal func-

tion of the organism cannot be dissociated from the

act of thinking. It furnishes an argument in fa-

vour of a new union of the soul with the body in

the resurrection, because the body is the indispen-

sable instrument of intellectual activity.

Is it necessary to observe that every theory of

science, or scientific logic, is incomprehensible with-

out intellectualism? Scientific judgments are

necessary judgments, laws; and they are not of

necessity without abstraction and generalization.

On abstraction is based the theory of the syllogism,

the value of first principles, of definitions, of di-

visions, and of everything which enters into con-

structive procedure. Before Henry Poincare, the

scholastics had said, "Science will be intellectual or

it will cease to be."

The perception of a work of art, and of its beauty,

1,0 Thomas Aquinas, De Anima, lib. Ill, lect. vii.

188 PHILOSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION

is also an act of the intellect. Beauty ought to be

resplendent, claritas pulchri, it ought to reveal, and

in a striking way, the internal order that governs

в– ^ beauty. It speaks to the faculty of knowing, and

above all to the intellect.

What is true of the perception of a work of art

is true also of its production. Man's artistic fac-

ulty, — by virtue of which the carpenter and the

sculptor achieve their results — consists in a right

use of reason; for the reason alone can subordi-

nate the means to the end. Ars 7iihil aliud est quam

ratio recta aliquorum operum faciendoruin. The

"virtue of art," virtus artis, — for the humble artisan

as for the gifted artist — consists far more in a per-

fection of the spirit than in any virtuosity or muscu-

lar dexterity.^""

A like sovereignty obtains in the moral realm.

Reason teaches us our duties and guides our con-

science. Reason gives a characteristic significance

to destiny and happiness. To be happy is above

all to know, because happiness consists in the high-

est activities of our highest psychical power, which

is understanding." Even in this life, knowledge is

a great consolation. Beatitude, or the perfect

^o-" Swmma Theol., Ia2ae, q. LVII, art. 3: Utrum habitus intel-

lectualis qui est ars, sit virtus. Read all of arts. 3, 4, and 5, for in-

teresting suggestions on the intellectualistic theory of art. Cf. my

study, L'Oeuvre d'art et la Beatite, Louvaln, 1920, ch. VI.

11 Oportet quod (beatitude) sit optima operatio hominis. Optima

autcm operatio hominis est quae est optimae potentiae respectu

optimi oljjecti. Optima autem potentia est intellectus, etc. Svmvma

Theol, lagae, q. HI, art. 5.