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THE ACT OF BEING (ESSE AS ACTUS ESSENDI)

Paul Gerard Horrigan, Ph.D., 2014.

Esse as Actus Essendi

Being (ens) is that which is or that which has esse,1 and the principal element of a

being (ens) is its act of being (esse).2 If essence (essentia) is that which makes a thing to be what it is (e.g., a dog, a horse, a tree, a fish), the act of being (esse) is that which makes a thing to be.3

1 Summa Contra Gentiles, I, 22: Amplius. Omnis res est per hoc quod habet esse ; Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 26, a. 4: ens simpliciter est quod habet esse(Leon. 6.190). 2 Studies on, or giving extensive treatment to, the act of being (esse): R. J. HENLE, Existentialism and the Judgment, Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, 21 (1946), pp. 40-52 ; H. RENARD, The Metaphysics of the Existential Judgment, The New Scholasticism, 23 (1949), pp. 387-394 ; M. PONTIFEX, The Meaning of Esse: A Thomistic View Examined, The Downside Review, 67 (1949), pp. 395-405 ; E. A. SILLEM, Saint Thomas Aquinas on the Meaning of Esse, The Downside Review, 68 (1950), pp. 414-428 ; M. PONTIFEX, The Meaning of Esse: A Reply, The Downside Review, 68 (1950), pp. 429-438 ; E. NICOLETTI, Existentia e actus essendi in S. Tommaso, Aquinas, 1 (1958), pp. 241-267 ; C. FABRO, La problematica dellesse Tomistico, Aquinas, 2 (1959), pp. 194-225 ; H. J. JOHN, The Emergence of the Act of Existing in Recent Thomism, International Philosophical Quarterly, 2 (1962), pp. 595-620 ; C. FABRO, Per la determinazione dellessere Tomistico, Aquinas, 5 (1962), pp. 170-205 ; D. OGRADY, Further Notes on Being, Esse, and Essence in an Existential Metaphysics, International Philosophical Quarterly, 3 (1963), pp. 610-616 ; D. OGRADY, Esse and Metaphysics, The New Scholasticism, 39 (1965), pp. 283-294 ; C. FABRO, The Transcendentality of Ens-Esse and the Ground of Metaphysics, International Philosophical Quarterly, 6 (1966), pp. 389-487 ; C. FABRO, Notes pour la fondation mtaphysique de ltre, Revuew Thomiste, 66 (1966), pp. 214-237 ; J. MARITAIN, Rflexions sur la nature blesse et sur lintuition de ltre, Revue Thomiste, 68 (1968), pp. 5-40 ; F. D. WILHELMSEN, The Triplex Via and the Transcendence of Esse, The New Scholasticism, 44 (1970), pp. 223-235 ; E. GILSON, Propos sur ltre et sa notion, in Studi tomistici (III): San Tommaso e il pensiero moderno, Rome, 1974, pp. 7-17 ; C. GIACON, Il contributo originale di S. Tommaso allontologia classica, in Tommaso dAquino nel suo VII centenario. Congresso internazionale, Rome-Naples, 1974, pp. 281-294 ; J. OWENS, Aquinas on Knowing Existence, Review of Metaphysics, 29 (1976), pp. 670-690 ; F. D. WILHELMSEN, The Concept of Existence and the Structure of Judgment: A Thomistic Paradox, The Thomist, 41 (1977), pp. 317-349 ; F. D. WILHELMSEN, Existence and Esse, The New Scholasticism, 50 (1976), pp. 20-45 ; A. DALLEDONNE, Lautentico esse Tomistico e lequivoco neoscolastico sulla esistenza come atto in Carlo Giacon, Divus Thomas, (1978), pp. 68-82 ; J. R. CATAN, Aristotele e San Tommaso intorno allactus essendi, Rivista di Filosofia Neo-scolastica, 73 (1981), pp. 639-655 ; J. C. MALONEY, Esse in the Metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas, The New Scholasticism, 55 (1981), pp. 159-177 ; M. GIGANTE, Actus essendi e atto libero nel pensiero di S. Tommaso, in Atti del VIII Congresso Tomistico Internazionale, vol. 5, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City, 1982, pp. 249-282 ; J. NIJENHUIS, To Be or To Exist: That is the Question, The Thomist, 50 (1986), pp. 353-394 ; R. DIODATO, Tra Esse e Deissi: Note per una conferma linguistica dellontologia gilsoniana, Rivista di Filosofia Neo-Scolastica, 78 (1986), pp. 3-33 ; O. J. GONZALEZ, The Apprehension of the Act of Being in Aquinas, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 68.4 (1995), pp. 475-500 ; P. P. RUFFINENGO, Lipsum esse non ancora lactus essendi di S. Tommaso, Aquinas, 38 (1995), pp. 631-635 ; L. DEWAN, St. Thomas and the Distinction Between Form and Esse in Caused Things, Gregorianum, 80.2 (1999), pp. 353-370 ; T. MELENDO, Metafisica del concreto, Edtirice Leonardo da Vinci, Rome, 2005, pp. 135-213 ; S. L. BROCK, On Whether Aquinass Ipsum Esse is Platonism, Review of Metaphysics, 60 (2006), pp. 723-757 ; S. L. BROCK, Harmonizing Plato and Aristotle on Esse: Thomas Aquinas and the De hebdomadibus, Nova et Vetera, English Edition, 5.3 (2007), pp. 465-494 ; M. PAOLINI PAOLETTI, Esse ut actus e giudizio desistenza: sulla riflessione metafisica di . Gilson, Euntes Docete, 63.1 (2010), pp. 191-215 ; M. PAOLINI PAOLETTI, Conoscere lessere: Fabro, Gilson e la conoscenza dellactus essendi, in Crisi e destino della filosofia: Studi su Cornelio Fabro, edited by A. Acerbi, EDUSC, Rome, 2012, pp. 157-172 ; J. MITCHELL, Being and Participation:

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Concerning the act of being (esse as actus essendi), Cornelio Fabro writes in his Partecipazione e causalit (1960): Esse ut actus essendi is the principium subsistendi of the substance, thanks to which both the essence of the substance as well as that of the accidents are in act esse in the proper sense is only actus essendi which gives subsistence to the substance. There is, therefore, esse essentiae and esse which is actus essendi; the actualizing esse which is non-divisible actus essendi, is so because it indicates the quality of absolute act that makes the first discrimination of the real and the first foundation of truth, since it is inseparable and most simple affirmation of its act and only has non-being for its contrary.4

Esse in the proper sense is actus essendi. In its intensive meaning esse as actus essendi

emerges over all other acts, formalities and perfections, it being the actuality of all acts and the perfection of all perfections.5

The Method and Structure of Metaphysical Reflection According to Cornelio Fabro, 2 vols, Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, Rome, 2012. 3 Explaining certain features of the act of being (esse) as act, Alvira, Clavell and Melendo state: a) Above all, esse is an act, that is, a perfection of all reality. The term act is used in metaphysics to designate any perfection or property of a thing; therefore, it is not to be used exclusively to refer to actions or operations (the act of seeing or walking, for instance). In this sense, a white rose is a flower that has whiteness as an act which gives the rose a specific perfection. Similarly, that is which is applied to things indicates a perfection as real as the perfection of life in living things. In the case of esse, however, we are obviously dealing with a special perfection. b) Esse is a universal act, that is, it belongs to all things. Esse is not exclusive to some particular kind of reality, since without esse, there would be nothing at all. Whenever we talk about anything, we have to acknowledge, first of all, that it is: the bird is, gold is, the clouds are. c) Esse is also a total act: it encompasses all that a thing is. While other acts only refer to some part or aspects of being, esse is a perfection which includes everything that a thing has, without any exception. Thus, the act of reading does not express the entirety of the perfection of the person reading, but esse is the act of each and of all the parts of a thing. If a tree is, then the whole tree is, with all its aspects and parts its color, shape, life and growth in short, everything in it shares in its esse. Thus, esse encompasses the totality of a thing. Esse is a constituent act, and the most radical or basic of all perfections because it is that by which things are. As essence is that which makes a thing to be this or that (chair, lion, man), esse is that which makes things to be. This can be seen from various angles: (i) Esse is the most common of all acts. What makes all things to be cannot reside in their principles of diversity (their essence), but precisely in that act whereby they are all alike, namely, the act of being. (ii) Esse is by nature prior to any other act. Any action or property presupposes a subsisting subject in which it inheres, but esse is presupposed by all actions and all subjects, for without it, nothing would be. Hence esse is not an act derived from what things are; rather it is precisely what makes them to be. (iii) We have to conclude, by exclusion, that esse is the constituent act. No physical or biological property of beings their energy, molecular or atomic structure can make things be, since all of these characteristics, in order to produce their effects, must, first of all, be. In short, esse is the first and innermost act of a being which confers on the subject, from within, all of its perfections. By analogy, just as the soul is the form of the body by giving life to it, esse intrinsically actualizes every single thing. The soul is the principle of life, but esse is the principle of entity or reality of all things(T. ALVIRA, L. CLAVELL, T. MELENDO, Metaphysics, Sinag-Tala, Manila, 1991, pp. 20-22). 4 C. FABRO, Partecipazione e causalit, SEI, Turin, 1960, pp. 201, 203-204. 5 Cf. De Potentia Dei, q. 7, a. 2, ad 9: Ad nonum dicendum, quod hoc quod dico esse est inter omnia perfectissimum: quod ex hoc patet quia actus est semper perfectio potentia. Quaelibet autem forma signata non intelligitur in actu nisi per hoc quod esse ponitur. Nam humanitas vel igneitas potest considerari ut in potentia materiae existens, vel ut in virtute agentis, aut etiam ut in intellectu: sed hoc quod habet esse, efficitur actu existens. Unde patet quod hoc quod dico esse est actualitas omnium actuum, et propter hoc est perfectio omnium perfectionum ; Summa Theologiae, I, q. 4, a. 1, ad 3: Ad tertium dicendum quod ipsum esse est perfectissimum omnium, comparatur enim ad omnia ut actus. Nihil enim habet actualitatem, nisi inquantum est, unde ipsum esse est

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Explaining how the act of being (esse) is an act which encompasses all perfections, how it is an act in the fullest sense, and how, in the final analysis, the act of being (esse) is the ultimate act of a being (ens), Alvira, Clavell and Melendo write that the multiplicity of creatures reveals the existence of diverse perfections. But, at the same time, it also reveals a perfection which is common to all beings, namely esse. Esse transcends any other perfection, since it is present in an analogous manner in each one of them. Every act presupposes and reveals esse, although it does so in different ways: life, a color, a virtue, and an action all share in the act of being in different degrees.

This common sharing in the act of being and the accompanying diversity in the way it is

possessed and revealed, are an expression of the fact that all creatures are composed of an act (esse), which eminently encompasses all their perfections, and a potency (essence), which limits esse to a determinate degree.

Esse (the actus essendi) is an act which encompasses all perfections. Just as every

man possesses a substantial form (act on the level of essence), which makes him a man, all things have an act (esse) by which they are all beings. If the human substantial form were to exist isolated from individual men, it would contain to the fullest possible degree all the perfections which individual men have in a limited manner, in terms of number and intensity. If it is, in fact, found to be restricted, this is due to the potency which receives it and limits it. Similarly, the act of being of creatures, which is an image of the divine esse, is found to be restricted by a potency (the essence) which limits the formers degree of perfection.

There is, however, an important difference between esse and the other perfections of a

being (the substantial and accidental forms). If any other act were to exist separated from every potency, it would have the perfection belonging to its own mode of being (a subsistent humanity would be man in his fullness), but would not possess any of the further perfections which belong solely to other species. In contrast, the act of being, of itself, encompasses the perfections, not only of a particular species, but of all real and possible ones.

Esse is an act in the fullest sense. It can be seen then, that the act of being is an act in

the full and proper sense, since it does not of itself include any limitation. The other acts, in contrast, are particular ways of being and, therefore, only potency with respect to the act of being. In this sense, they have being, not absolutely, but only in a specific way. Hence, it can be said that they limit esse as a potency limits its act.6

Since esse possesses most fully the characteristics of act, it can subsist independently of

any potency. Thus, we are able to understand how God can be designated metaphysically as pure

actualitas omnium rerum, et etiam ipsarum formarum. Unde non comparatur ad alia sicut recipiens ad receptum, sed magis sicut receptum ad recipiens. 6 John Duns Scotus gave a formalist slant to metaphysics, thereby destroying the Thomistic doctrine of esse as act. The same trend was followed by Suarez, Leibniz, Wolff, and Kant; these philosophers considered esse not as act, but as effect (being in act): from esse ut actus to esse actu. Hartmann held the same viewWhen Heidegger reproached Western metaphysics for having lost sight of being, he was in fact referring to the kind of metaphysics which he had known, namely, the formalist type. It is quite well known that Heidegger had a scant knowledge of the metaphysics of St. Thomas Aquinas; he had a greater familiarity with Scotus metaphysics.

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Act of Being, who possesses fully and simply all perfections present among creatures. This pure Act of Being infinitely surpasses the entire perfection of the whole universe.

In the final analysis, esse can be fittingly described as the ultimate act of a being (ens),

since all things and each of their perfections or acts are nothing but modes of being or forms which possess, in a limited way (by participation), the radical act, without which, nothing would be.

Esse is the act of all other acts of a being, since it actualizes any other perfection,

making it be. Human activity, for instance, which is second act, has its basis in operative powers, which constitute first act in the accidental order. Along with other accidental perfections, these powers receive their actuality from the substantial form, which is the first act of the essence. The entire perfection of the essence, however, stems in turn from esse, which is therefore quite fittingly called the ultimate act and the act of all the acts of a being (ens).7

In his Appunti di metafisica (2013), Christian Ferraro, Professor of Metaphysics at the

Lateran University, explains, using passages from the works of St. Thomas Aquinas, how esse is the first act, the ultimate act, the most formal act, the most simple act, the most perfect act, the most noble act, the most common act, the strongest act, the most intimate act, the most profound act, as well as the most immediate act: 1) Lesse atto primo: Lesse non dice un atto che sia operazione transitiva in ordine a produrre un qualcosa temporalmente, ma latto come primo.8 Questo primo un primo di costituzione radicale e originaria: la realt stessa trova nellesse il proprio nucleo genetico.

2) Lesse atto ultimo: Lipsum esse latto ultimo che da tutti partecipabile.9

primo in via constitutionis; ultimo in via resolutionis, perch si scopre per ultimo. 3) Lesse latto pi formale: un primo materiale, che la materia prima, e un primo

formale, che lesse.10 il primum formale in virt del suo carattere intensivo: ogni forma altro non che una limitazione dellintensivit formale dellesse, per cui pi formale delle forme stesse. Quello che pi formale di tutto lipsum esse.11

4) Lesse latto pi semplice: Niente () pi semplice dellesse.12 La intensivit

dellesse non nuoce alla sua semplicit: tutto ci che si esprime diviso e distinto nelle diverse forme concentrato e unificato nellipsum esse separato. Ma anche nella cosa stessa composta, latto pi semplice lesse.

7 T. ALVIRA, L. CLAVELL, T. MELENDO, op. cit., pp. 107-109. 8 Esse non dicit actum qui sit operatio transiens in aliquid extrinsecum temporaliter producendum, sed actum quasi primum(De Veritate, q. 23, a. 4, ad 7). 9 Ipsum esse est actus ultimus qui participabilis est ab omnibus; ipsum autem nihil participat; unde si sit aliquid quod sit ipsum esse subsistens, sicut de Deo dicimus, nihil participare dicimus(Q. De Anima, a. 6, ad 2). 10 materiale primum quod est materia prima, et primum formale, quod est esse(In II Sent., d. 1, q. 1, a. 1). 11 Illud autem quod est maxime formale omnium est ipsum esse(Summa Theologiae, I, q, 7, a. 1). 12 Nihil est formalius et simplicius quam esse(Summa Contra Gentiles, I, 23).

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5) Lesse latto pi perfetto: Le perfezioni di tutte le cose appartengono alla perfezione dellessere: infatti una cosa si dice perfetta secondo il modo in cui ha lesse.13 Non solo, dunque, come ipsum esse subsistens, separatum, ma anche come esse inhaerens, participatum, esso sempre e invariabilmente latto pi perfetto, poich mette in atto tutto ci che sotto qualsiasi aspetto in atto.

6) Lesse latto pi nobile: Questo perch tutta la nobilt di qualsiasi cosa

corrisponde secondo il suo esse: infatti, alluomo non verebbe nessuna nobilt dalla sua sapienza se per essa non fosse sapiente.14 Pi nobile vuol dire pi notabile: tutto si rende visibile per lesse.

7) Lesse latto pi comune: Anche se lipsum esse la pi formale di tutte le cose,

esso tuttavia massimamente comunicabile.15 Ci vuol dire che tutti quanti gli enti si assomigliano in questo, che sono. A motivo della sua comunanza di estensione lesse si mostra anche superiore a tutte le cose che sono: lipsum esse fatto superiore a tutte le cose create, perch fra gli altri effetti di Dio quello pi comune.16

8) Lesse latto pi forte: lipsum esse () quello pi comune, ed anche il pi

veementemente unito.17 Questo testo bellissimo, e dichiara decisamente la consistenza originaria del reale in virt della presenza causale di Dio per via dellatto di essere partecipato. Della cosa, poi, si pu distruggere tutto, ma nessuna causa seconda pu annientare nessuna cosa. Lesse latto pi forte e indistruttibile.

9) Lesse latto pi intimo: Lesse il pi intimo a qualsiasi cosa che quelle cose per

le quali lesse determinato, per cui rimane anche una volta tolte quelle.18 Fra tutte le cose e tutti gli aspetti interni e intimi alla cosa stessa, la cosa pi intima e costitutiva lesse, senza del quale nessuna cosa avrebbe nessuna intimit perch sarebbe un nulla.

10) Lesse latto pi profondo: Questo perch latto pi interiore, pi intimo. Lesse

quello che pi intimamente e pi profondamente inerisce a qualsiasi cosa, dal momento che formale rispetto a tutto ci che c nella cosa.19

11) Lesse latto pi immediato: A motivo della sua intimit e profondit, a causa della

sua priorit e radicalit, bisogna dire che lesse quello che pi immediatamente e pi

13 Omnium autem perfectiones pertinent ad perfectionem essendi. Secundum hoc enim aliqua perfecta sunt quod aliquo modo esse habent(Summa Theologiae, I, q. 4, a. 2). 14 Omnis enim nobilitas cuiuscumque rei est sibi secundum suum esse: nulla enim nobilitas esset homini ex sua sapientia nisi per eam sapiens esset(Summa Contra Gentiles, I, 28). 15 Licet ipsum esse sit formalissimum inter omnia, tamen est etiam maxime communicabile(Q. De Anima, a. 1, ad 17). 16 ipsum esse factum est superius omnibus rebus creatis, quia scilicet inter ceteros Dei effectus communius est(In liber De Causis, c. 4, n. 101). 17 ipsum esse communius est, et est etiam vehementius unitum(Ibid.). 18 Esse est magis intimum cuilibet rei quam ea per quae esse determinatur, unde et remanet illis remotis(In II Sent., d. 1, q. 1, a. 4). 19 Esse est id quod est magis intimum cuilibet et profundius inest, cum sit formale respectu omnium quae in re sunt(Summa Theologiae, I, q. 8, a. 1).

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intimamente conviene alle cose.20 Immediatamente vuol dire senza intermediari: tutte le altre cose che appartengono ad un ente vengono mediate dallesse, ma lesse non arriva alla cosa tramite nessun intermediario efficiente predicamentale.21

In De Potentia Dei, St. Thomas writes: The act of being (esse) is the most perfect of

allthe act of being (esse)is the actuality of all acts, and therefore the perfection of all perfections(esse est inter omnia perfectissimumesse est actualitas omnium actuum, et propter hoc est perfectio omnium perfectionum).22 In Summa Theologiae I, q. 4, a. 1, ad 3 Aquinas states of the act of being (esse): The act of being (esse) is the most perfect of all things, for it is compared to all things as that by which they are made actual; for nothing has actuality except so far as it is. Hence the act of being (esse) is that which actuates all things, even their forms. Therefore it is not compared to other things as the receiver is to the received; but rather as the received to the receiver(Ipsum esse est perfectissimum omnium: comparatur enim ad omnia ut actus. Nihil enim habet actualitatem, nisi in quantum est: unde ipsum esse est actualitas omnium rerum, et etiam ipsarum formarum. Unde non comparatur ad alia sicut recipiens ad receptum, sed magis sicut receptum ad recipiens).23

tienne Gilson points out that Aquinass teaching of the positing of the act of being

(esse) above form was nothing less than a revolution. He had precisely to achieve the dissociation of the two notions of form and act. This is precisely what he has done and what probably remains, even today, the greatest contribution ever made by any single man to the science of being.24 Therefore, continues Gilson, supreme in their own order, substantial forms remain the prime acts of their substances, but, though there be no form of the form, there is an act of the form. In other words, the form is such an act as still remains in potency to another act, namely, the act of being (esse).25

As supreme and ultimate act in order of substance or essence, the form makes a thing to

be what it will be if it is to be, but supreme and ultimate as it is, form cannot make this thing to be a being. This is the case, since there is needed from another order an act which is still more supreme and still more ultimate: the act of being (esse): The act of being (esse) itself is the highest act in which all things are capable of participating, but the act of being (esse) itself does not participate in anything (ipsum esse est actus ultimus qui participabilis est ab omnibus, ipsum autem nihil participat).26

Of the fundamental and primary doctrine of the act of being (esse) that is at the heart of

the metaphysics of the Angelic Doctor, Gilson states: This doctrine is situated at the center of ThomismTo say that esse is related as an act, even to the form itself ad ipsam etiam formam comparatur esse ut actus is to assert the radical primacy of esse over essenceUnderstood in

20 Inter omnia, esse est illud quod immediatius et intimius convenit rebus(Q. De Anima, a. 9). 21 C. FERRARO, Appunti di metafisica, Lateran University Press, Vatican City, 2013, pp. 182-184. 22 De Potentia Dei, q. 7, a. 2, ad 9. 23 Summa Theologiae, I, q. 4, a. 1, ad 3. 24 . GILSON, Being and Some Philosophers, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto, 1952, p. 174. 25 Ibid. 26 Q. D. De Anima, a. 6, ad 2.

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this way, the act of being (esse) is put at the heart, or, if one prefers, at the very root of reality. It is therefore the principle of the principles of reality.27

Intensive Esse

The act of being (esse) is the most intensive act as it, in its pure state, contains in itself all

perfections. Finite beings have varying degrees of perfections as they participate in the act of being (esse) according to their determinate essences, the essence co-principle limiting the act of being co-principle. Individual beings possess esse in different degrees of intensity. Insects, for example, participate in the act of being in a much less intense way than say, a dog. A human person participates in the act of being in a much more intense way than a horse. God alone is Pure Act of Being, in whom act of being and essence are identified. Only God is All-Perfect, possessing the act of being in all its fullness and intensity, infinitely surpassing all the perfections of the entire created universe. God, Pure Act of Being, without any potentiality (potentiality or potency understood in the strict sense of passive potency), is devoid of any imperfection and limitation, being the Absolute Perfection and Infinite Being. On the other hand, created things, which are finite and limited, possess a limited and less intense act of being (esse as actus essendi), which is a participated esse, and the more imperfect they are, the lesser act of being (esse as actus essendi) do they participate in. The diversity and intensity of degrees of perfections possessed by the finite beings created by God the Esse Divinum, Ipsum Esse Subsistens, have their foundation in the diverse ways of possessing, participating in, the act of being (esse), for the source of an individual beings perfection is its act of being (esse as actus essendi) efficiently produced ex nihilo by the Esse Divinum, Ipsum Esse Subsistens. The Angelic Doctor states in the Summa Contra Gentiles: Every perfection of a thing belongs to it in accordance with its esse. Man would not have any perfection through his wisdom unless he is wise by virtue of the latter, and the same thing applies in other cases. Thus, the perfection of a thing depends on the manner it has esse; for it is said to be more or less perfect in accordance with the way its esse is contracted in a more perfect or less perfect manner. Consequently, there is one to whom all the actuality of esse (tota virtus essendi) belongs, he cannot lack any perfection proper to anything whatsoever. Rather, this reality, which is its own esse, has the act of being in all its fullness (totam essendi potestatem).28

Intensive esse should be understood in an analogous, and not univocal, sense: esse

intensivus can be understood as ipsum esse, the formal plexus of all perfections; esse intensivus can mean the actus essendi, the constitutive principle of the finite beings participated actuating act; or Esse Intensivus can mean Ipsum Esse Subsistens or Esse per essentiam: God.

Intensive esse is esse as act of all acts and perfection of all perfections and is obtained,

according to Fabro, by the process of resolutio.29 Fabro explains his use of the term esse intensivus, writing: By intensive esse I mean esse as first act, ultimate act, as that which is most intimate. [] [I]ntensive act is intensive in the sense that it is the act of all acts, the perfection of all perfections. As act is placed at the base of any capacity or potency which acts, the actuating

27 E. GILSON, Le Thomisme, fifth edition, Vrin, Paris, 1947, p. 50. 28 Summa Contra Gentiles, I, 28. 29 Cf. C. FABRO, Partecipazione e causalit, SEI, Turin, 1960, p. 63.

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act of any act, of any pefection, is intimate to any act, to any perfection.30 In the synthesis that is ens, esse is the more formal principle, or the act par excellence, and this on two distinct levels. In the predicamental sense esse is the activation of essence, which itself is related to esse as potency (De Potentia, q. 7, a. 2, ad 9). In the transcendental sense, to the extent that any other act or perfection presupposes and is founded on esse, the latter is the actualization of every act and the perfection of all perfections (Summa Theologiae, I, q. 4, a. 1, ad 3; I-II, q. 2, a. 5, ad 2). Esse is, therefore, the primary act, the simplest, most formal, most intimate, and most immediate (De Anima, a. 1, ad 17; De Veritate, q. 23, a. 4, ad 7; Summa Theologiae, I, q. 8, a. 1; Summa Contra Gentiles, I, 23).31

Esse intensivus as actus essendi is the source of all the ontological perfection of the

substance (substantia) and is, therefore, constitutive of being (ens) and all its effects. Esse intensivus as actus essendi is that which makes the substance to subsist according to the degree indicated by the essence (essentia). As regards the being of the accidents of the finite being, there is only one esse as actus essendi (which belongs to the substance), this actus essendi is that which actuates the substantial essence, and therefore, which actuates the accidental forms.

30 C. FABRO, Dibatitto congressuale, Sapientia, 26 (1973), pp. 373-374. 31 C. FABRO, Existence, The New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 5, Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 1966, p. 723.