In the middle ages 199

the nature of the soul. The second misconception

above mentioned, may be readily disposed of. To

imagine that something lies behind or underneath

the accidents, as the door underlies the painted

color, is simply a misinterpretation of the scholastic

theory. Locke especially was here in error; of

course he had no difficulty in criticizing this concep-

tion as ridiculous. But this interpretation is totally

wrong. In the scholastic view, substance and ac-

cidents are really one and the same concrete exist-

ing thing. Indeed, substance is that which confers

individuality upon the particular determinations, or

accidents. It is therefore the substance of the oak-

tree which constitutes the foundation of its individ-

uality, and which thus confers individuality upon

its qualities, the dimensions of the oak and all the

train of accidental determinations which belong to

its concrete individuality.

This "tout ensemble" of substance and accidental

determinations, both taken together, exists by vir-

tue of one existence alone, the existence of the con-

crete oak-tree which we have considered as fixed

and motionless in the static instant above described.

Ill

But such a picture of the world is not a possible

picture; for nothin g is 7notionless. Reality is in-

volved in change and in evolution. Chemical bod-

ies are in constant change, in all stages of their ex-

istence, be it liquid or gaseous or solid; living or-

200 PHILOSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION

ganisms are changing; our globe as a whole is

ceaselessly borne along in a twofold movement ; the

sun with its train of planets is subject to the law of

change, and the same is true of the stars scattered

throughout the immensity of space. Substance

and accident: all is becoming. The oak springs

from the acorn, it becomes tall and massive, its

vital activities are forever changing, and the tree

itself will disappear. In order to understand the

full meaning of metaphysics, it is necessary to

throw being into the melting pot of change.

Thus the static point of view, or the world con-

sidered in the state of repose, must be supple-

mented by the dynamic point of view, or that of

the world drawn into becoming. Here appears a

further scholastic conception; namely, the well-

known theory of act and potency, which forms, in

my opinion, the key-stone in the vault of the meta-

physical structure. This theory is a general analy-

sis of what change implies. The scholastics get it

from Aristotle, but give to it a breadth and exten-

sion unknown to the Greek philosopher. What

is change, any change? It is the real passage from

one state to another. Now, they observe, when one

being passes from state A to state B, it must al-

ready possess in A the germs of its future determi-

nation in B. It has the power, the potency, to be-

come B before it actually does so. This is

demanded by the principle of sufficient reason — an

absolute principle to which all that is must be obed-