POTENCY AND ACT


POTENCY AND ACT
It is a division of being which is analogical. It is a metaphysical analogy of being which is not based on sensible but on the division of being into perfect and imperfect, bringing a new understanding of being. Change or motion is from imperfect to perfect, from potency to act and it leads us to the first principal cause which is purely actuality and it is infinite since it has no motion.
Universal motion of potency is in metaphysics is drawn from the following;
1.      Active principle really existing in things, the ability to effect change in others
2.      Passive potency known through the active since the change in subject with passive potency is due to active principle.


ACT
Act is a correlative principle of being with potency which refers to the perfection that comes to things in a state of potency. Act is related to perfection while potency to imperfection.
Act according to Aquinas is the greatest of all perfections or the actuality of all things.
There are two analogous terms of act;
a.       Act as perfection
b.      Act as movement

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