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singular represented by the phantasm. And thus it forms the proposition "Socrates is a man." Wherefore the reply to the first objection is clear.
Reply Obj. 2: The choice of a particular thing to be done is as the conclusion of a syllogism formed by the practical intellect, as is said _Ethic._ vii, 3. But a singular proposition cannot be directly concluded from a universal proposition, except through the medium of a singular proposition. Therefore the universal principle of the practical intellect does not move save through the medium of the particular apprehension of the sensitive part, as is said _De Anima_ iii, 11.
Reply Obj. 3: Intelligibility is incompatible with the singular not as such, but as material, for nothing can be understood otherwise than immaterially. Therefore if there be an immaterial singular such as the intellect, there is no reason why it should not be intelligible.
Reply Obj. 4: The higher power can do what the lower power can, but in a more eminent way. Wherefore what the sense knows materially and concretely, which is to know the singular directly, the intellect knows immaterially and in the abstract, which is to know the universal.
SECOND ARTICLE [I, Q. 86, Art. 2]
Whether Our Intellect Can Know the Infinite?
Objection 1: It would seem that our intellect can know the infinite. For God excels all infinite things. But our intellect can know God, as we have said above (Q. 12, A. 1). Much more, therefore, can our intellect know all other infinite things.
Obj. 2: Further, our intellect can naturally know genera and species. But there is an infinity of species in some genera, as in number, proportion, and figure. Therefore our intellect can know the infinite.
Obj. 3: Further, if one body can coexist with another in the same place, there is nothing to prevent an infinite number of bodies being in one