Friday, May 08, 2015

Three Laws of Real Being

387. The law governing the operation of real being, considered simply as such, is that of causality, which is expressed thus: "If anything begins to exist, there must have been an entity which has made it begin" (a cause).

388. The law governing the operation of real being, in so far as it is intellectual, is that of sufficient reason, which is expressed thus: "The intellectual being does not act without an end proportionate to its action" (a reason).

389. The law governing the operation of real being, in so far as it is moral, is that of moral liberty, which may be expressed thus: "Moral being tends to unite itself to all the entity known, without being impeded therein by any partial entity."

Antonio Rosmini, Theodicy, vol. 1, pp. 382-383. In each case the reduplication is important, which is why Rosmini emphasizes it. The point of the third, which might seem a little obscure, is that what we call moral life is concerned with a tendency to total good, insofar as it is known.