Sacramentum Mundi Online

1. The notion and the discussion. For the word “unbelief’ (ἁחίστία incredulitas) see, for example, Mt 13:58; Mk 9:24; Rom 3:3; 4:20; 11:20, 23; Heb 3:11, 19. Unbelief is the deliberate rejection of faith. It is presupposed that faith and unbelief (in the case of men capable of a decision) are not two possibilities among others, but that everyone either believes or refuses to believe and that there is no way of avoiding this choice. When the concept is so defined, the question at once arises as to whe…

1. Concept and nature. Unity is usually defined as the state by which a being is not divided in itself but divided from everything else ( indivisio in se et divisio a quolibet alio). Scholastic philosophy then distinguishes between transcendental unity, which is a property of being as such and numerical unity which is limited to corporeal, beings. The above definition, however, reflects certain presuppositions: it comes from the comparison of two or more different beings. To arrive at the full and original concept of unity (transcendental unity), we must go back furth…

The universal is what all have in common, the general denomination which fits all things or many things (i.e., all of a certain type or group). 1. History of the problem: the controversy. The existence of the universal or general is undeniable, and was not called in question even in the controversy on universals. For language uses the same word for several situations or to designate a multitude of particulars and it can only convey meaning on this supposition. The question is whether there is anything universal apart from the …