{"id":10498,"date":"2026-05-14T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10498"},"modified":"2025-11-08T15:58:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T15:58:46","slug":"looking-at-daniel-novotnys-book-2013-ens-rationis-from-suarez-to-caramuelpart-14-of-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10498","title":{"rendered":"Looking at Daniel Novotny\u2019s Book (2013) “Ens Rationis from Suarez to Caramuel”(Part 14 of 19)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

0172 Novotny\u2019s summaries of Suarez and Hurtado suggest a story.  The story goes like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francisco Suarez S.J. figured that he could construct a comprehensive approach to ens rationis (being of reason)<\/em>.  During the previous centuries, \u2018beings of reason\u2019 had been used in scholastic discussions of various topics.  Three types of \u2018being of reason\u2019 stood out.  These were negation, privation and relation.  Self-contradiction went in there somewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suarez wrote about the natures, causes and divisions of beings of reason<\/em>.  (As it turns out, these fit into a model constructed of category-based nested forms.  The model starts with encountered beings2a<\/sub> and ends with judgment2c<\/sub>.  The same model applies to implicit abstraction [a way of thinking] and hand and hand-speech language [ways of talking].  These features belong to the Lebenswelt that we evolved in<\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suarez proposed a thought experiment.  What happens when an act of speech-alone talk<\/em> becomes the encountered real being2a<\/sub><\/em>?  (This thought experiment becomes apparent with the model.  However, it entails a mind-boggling transition.  \u2018An act of speech-alone talk\u2019 is not the same as either a real encounter or hand talk.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0173 Pedro Hurtado S.J. conducted the experiment.  The answer was unexpected.  The perspective-level actuality changed from judgment2c<\/sub> to definition2c<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Suarez\u2019s set up, judgment2c<\/sub> virtually contextualizes a reckoning2b<\/sub> based on the possibility inherent in realness1b<\/sub><\/em>.  Realness exists in the realm of possibility.  It includes both true versus false<\/em> and true versus deception<\/em>.  Realness1b<\/sub> is thinking about it2a<\/sub> in the manner of being (existence)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Hurtado\u2019s execution, proper definition2c<\/sub> virtually contextualizes a reckoning2b<\/sub> based on the potential of fact versus fiction1b<\/sub><\/em>.  Facts go with true.  Fiction goes with false.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0174 Novotny takes issue with Hurtado\u2019s claim that he is merely following the steps of Suarez.  How can Hurtado come up with different conclusions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer is plain.  Hurtado placed input that belongs to our current Lebenswelt<\/em> into a model that coheres with the Lebenswelt that we evolved in<\/em>.  Speech-alone talk<\/em> does not image or point to its referent, as hand talk<\/em> does.  Explicit abstraction can symbolize one aspect of judgment and place the other aspects under erasure.  Implicit abstraction is holistic.  Explicit abstraction is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0175 Tellingly, in this transition from implicit to explicit abstraction<\/em>, a facet of realness falls into shadow.  The facet is the axis of true versus deception<\/em>.  In this occultation, the Age of Ideas begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0176 Definitions only care about true versus false<\/em>.  Modernism focuses only on facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0177 Daniel Novotny is a detective as well as a philosopher.  He traces the attempt to develop a comprehensive treatment of beings of reason.  There are many clues in the writings of various Baroque scholastics.  Novotny faces the dilemma: Who do I present?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suarez and Hurtado are obvious selections.  Suarez was a Baroque scholastic of great renown.  Hurtado was his understudy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0178 But then what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My analysis relies on Novotny\u2019s genius.  After Suarez (publishing around 1600) and Hurtado (around 1620), Novotny introduces a pair of Franciscans, Bartolomeo Mastri and Bonaventura Belluto (between 1628 and 1646).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0179 The manner in which they discuss the status of the question (concerning beings of reason) shows that they, like Hurtado, are investigating explicit abstraction (within a thought experiment set up for implicit abstraction).  Novotny lists three claims:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MBN1: The term \u2018being of reason\u2019 is defined as \u2018an object of the intellect and nothing else\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MBN2: There are beings of reason.  Beings of reason are actual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MBN3: Beings of reason require actual thought.  They are completely mind-dependent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0180 These claims fit into the interscope for explicit abstraction.  \u2018The being of reason2a<\/sub>\u2019 is a decoded statement2a<\/sub><\/em>.  \u2018Complete mind-dependence\u2019 suggests that the being of reason2a<\/sub> is fiction, not fact1b<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, the fiction1b<\/sub>, emerging from the decoded statement2a<\/sub>, may be regarded as fact1b<\/sub>.  Yet, through reflection, the formal intellect may discern that the being of reason2a<\/sub> is fictional1b<\/sub>.  In doing so, the formal intellect attains truth by properly defining \u2018the being of reason\u2019 as fiction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

0180 Thus, the three claims go with the words colored red<\/em> in the following figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0172 Novotny\u2019s summaries of Suarez and Hurtado suggest a story.  The story goes like this: Francisco Suarez S.J. figured that he could construct a comprehensive approach to ens rationis (being of reason).  During the previous centuries, \u2018beings of reason\u2019 had been used in scholastic discussions of various topics.  Three types of \u2018being of reason\u2019 stood out.  These were negation, privation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[417],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review"],"yoast_head":"\nLooking at Daniel Novotny\u2019s Book (2013) "Ens Rationis from Suarez to Caramuel"(Part 14 of 19) - An Archaeology of the Fall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10498\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Looking at Daniel Novotny\u2019s Book (2013) "Ens Rationis from Suarez to Caramuel"(Part 14 of 19) - 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