Ramon Llull Ars Inventiua Veritatis (1515)

Second Figure. Folio VI.

[...of magni]tude and so forth. Just as understanding is greater than hearing, and hearing is greater than seeing, and so forth of this kind. ¶ Concerning the majority of these, one must ascend step-by-step into that immense Majority original: "maioritas"; in this context, it refers to greatness, superiority, or the state of being "more" in quality or essence. upon which all other majorities depend. These other majorities necessarily have their being so that "majority" is not greater in the proportion of substance than it is in existence, nor is it greater simply in accident than in substance—which would be false. Moreover, since this supreme substance is infinite by reason of its infinite goodness and so forth, it stands above all created beings; it is not subject to anything, but all things outside of it are subject to it. By this supreme substantial majority, therefore, all other majorities are ruled, existing as images and likenesses in which the human intellect contemplates the highest greatness. For this reason, it is necessary for Majority to be a principle in this Art, so that once knowledge of its conditions is obtained, the Artist The "Artist" refers to a practitioner of the Lullian Art, a system of logic designed to discover truth through the combination of philosophical principles. may discourse with it through all the terms of this Art. By investigating, the Artist may conclude in which things a judgment should be made of each of them according to "more" or "less"—that is, according to difference, concord, and contrariety. Let the Artist attribute greater goodness, magnitude, and so forth to the beginning, middle, and end, and to majority, equality, and minority. Hence, through the aforementioned principles, that which is "greater" is discovered, whether it be the subject of a question or an investigation, and whether it be substantial or accidental; for in each of these principles, the conditions of majority and of every other principle are preserved. Indeed, instruction on this will be given in the solutions to the questions.

¶ Concerning Equality. (I.)

Equality original: "Equalitas" is that same thing in which the goal of the concord of goodness, magnitude, and so forth is attained. In one way, equality is divided against majority and minority. It must, therefore, be either substantial or accidental, just like its opposites. In both existing and acting, it balances original: "coequat" "making greater" and "making lesser" as much as it can. There is indeed a substantial equality, such as exists between goodness, magnitude, and so forth, which, when coming to the constitution of a suppositum A "suppositum" is an individual, self-subsisting thing or person., are made equal in their very essence of equality. Or, it is like the equality between form and matter; the former is equal in action and the latter in "passion" In medieval philosophy, "passion" is the capacity of matter to be acted upon by a form., and vice versa, so that both—from their own entity, which is substantial—constitute the existence of the substantial suppositum through equal action and passion. Or even as it is among the elements, according to the nature of each; for fire, by its nature, is equal in "firing" original: "igniendo"; the act of fire performing its essence. to air in "airing," or water in "watering," and so forth. Or even as it is among individuals of the same species by reason of that species, such as between one human and another. For a human generating a human makes himself equal to the other under the nature of "human," and so it is with others of this kind. There is also substantial and accidental equality as seen in the "balancing" original: "coequatio" which fire performs, equalizing as much as it can its heat and its dryness (which it has from the earth) within the object it has ignited. It is also like the balancing between the power of sight and the act of seeing, where the sight equalizes itself as much as it can to its seeing; or between the vision of a near visible object and a distant one. The same follows for the intellect and the intelligible, the will and the volible, and such like. Accidental equality can be considered similarly, as in the balancing that occurs among accidents; for as much as fire

can, it equalizes its dryness to its heat, and in air, its heat to its moisture, and so on for others. In these matters, substantial equality is simply greater than accidental equality. And among substantial equalities, some are greater than others, ascending by degrees until one reaches that supreme Equality where "majority" or "minority" is entirely impossible. It is necessary that this supreme Equality exists, lest the highest equality and the highest proportion fail to accord, or lest accidental equality be simply greater than substantial equality, or lest form in action and matter in passion fail to match one another in their balancing—and so for any other things that equalize themselves. Such a failure is utterly impossible or a contradiction. This supreme Equality, however, is of its own essence and nature; so that in its very essence, existing and acting are equal, as are goodness and the "be-gooder," the "good-able," the "act of gooding," and that which can be made good original: "bonitas et bonificans, bonificativum, bonificare et bonificabile"; Lull often created these active/passive/verbal forms of principles to show how they function within themselves.. This essence belongs to goodness, magnitude, eternity, and so forth. And what is said of goodness is the same for magnitude, eternity, etc. Also, if this supreme Equality is considered in the essence of the other supreme principles, they must exist in the essence of supreme equality, and vice versa, since they are also one and the same. Supreme Equality exists, therefore, in the essence of supreme concord, and in the essence of the supreme beginning, middle, and end, and consequently in the essence of supreme distinction. And all equality of lower things—in whatever lower principles it may be, whether majority is descending toward minority or minority is ascending toward majority—is subject to that supreme Equality, which exists as the continuous principle for the balancing of its effects. This principle, namely Equality, is very necessary in this Art: so that the Artist, knowing its conditions, may know how to balance the abstracted species in the imagination and the intellect, and to find the "middle" of the conclusion he seeks, balancing the acts of his powers to their objects by assuming the form and exemplar in the conditions of the aforementioned Equality, and by applying Equality through all the terms of this Art and vice-versa, as is declared in the First Figure.

¶ Concerning Minority. (K.)

Minority original: "Minoritas"; the state of being lesser, smaller, or inferior. is a being "around nothingness" Lull defines "Minority" as the state of being closest to non-existence or nothingness.. Hence, Minority is directly divided against Majority. It must, therefore, exist substantially or accidentally, or in both ways, just as Majority does. There is indeed a substantial minority, as in the form of fire existing throughout a whole ignited body; in the essence of minority, that ignited body has a "minority" of goodness and so forth, out of which the ignited body itself is constituted. This minority occurs in the ignited body by reason of the quantity of its goodness, its magnitude, and its duration. For by reason of the quantity of its goodness and magnitude, it does not stand as far from malice and smallness as that Infinite Being does, whose magnitude is not a "quantity" because of its very infinity. And by reason of the quantity of its duration, it is corruptible. This same thing applies similarly to the minority of the vegetative and sensitive souls, since they have been led from non-being into being, and from potentiality into habit, and from habit into act. Similarly, Minority exists in the rational soul; for it can think that the false is true, and vice versa, and can love evil and hate good. It is also constituted of a minority of goodness, magnitude, and so forth, and not of that Majority of goodness which is the Supreme Being existing in [the highest] majority...