Divine Simplicity and the Multiplicity of Divine Names

A summary of Sent.I.D2.Q1.A3

Primo quid sit ratio secundum quam dicimus attributa ratione differre. (p. 2)

A *ratio* is that which the intellect apprehends in the signification of a name.

 Secundo quomodo dicatur aliqua ratio in aliqua re esse vel non esse. (p. 3-6)

A *ratio* is in the soul as in a subject. It is in the thing insofar the name corresponds to something which is in the thing. This can come in three kinds.

1. Immediate foundation in reality insofar as there is conformity between the intellectual conception and the thing immediately (e.g., “man”)

2. Mediate foundation in reality insofar as there is conformity between the intellectual conception and the thing which follows upon our mode of understanding the thing, i.e., remote foundation in reality with a proximate foundation in the intellect (e.g., “genus”)

3. The conception of a chimera, which is false in reality.

It is only in the first case where the *ratio* can properly be said to be in the thing, i.e., when the proximate foundation is in the thing, not merely when it follows upon our mode of understanding.