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…