Preface

...an equality in humors must be established according to a proper balance original: "secundum justitiam"; in this context, "justice" refers to a proportional balance of the four bodily humors—blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile—rather than legal justice., but it is not possible to grant an equality according to the quantity of the matter, because earth always predominates in most mixtures. Stated another way: even supposing that such a mixture were so perfectly weighted in every quality of the elements, it would still be subject to decay from the outside, namely by celestial power. For it could be cooled by means of cold water, and thus return to a state of imbalance—leaving that equality of humors—and in this way be destroyed.

Note that the text says humans are like God in mind; this is evident because a person becomes divine through knowledge. Seneca Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 BC – AD 65), a Stoic philosopher. says a contemplative man is like God and most beloved by Him. This is also clear from the second book of the Metaphysics A foundational work by Aristotle on the nature of reality. where Aristotle says that in humans there is pleasure for a short time, through which, by their intelligence, they perfect the whole inner self. And he understands by this the knowledge of God, in which there is the greatest pleasure.

Note that all pleasure happens through a certain likeness or assimilation of the knower to the thing known, by means of the "exemplary form" A mental pattern or blueprint that allows the mind to recognize and connect with an object. of the knower. Therefore, the more a human knows about God, the more or more greatly he is made like Him.

The text says that among all movements, generation The process of coming into being or being born. is the most noble. Taking this to mean the drawing forth of the soul or the formation of the fetus in the womb—how this may be a movement will be seen.

Regarding this, note that movement is twofold. One is a movement that casts something off from the substance, just as the heating of water casts off coldness, or as a color moves from white to blackness. The other is a movement that does not cast off any perfection from the substance of the movement; such is the motion of the heavens, which does not cause anything to be destroyed from the substance of the sky.

Now, generation is a movement that casts something off from the substance of a thing, because the menstrual material original: "menstruum"; in medieval embryology, based on Aristotle, the mother was thought to provide the physical matter for the fetus from menstrual blood, while the father provided the "form" or life-force. which is moved toward the formation of a human is transformed. Hence Averroes The Latinized name of Ibn Rushd, a 12th-century Islamic philosopher famous for his commentaries on Aristotle. says in the first book of the Physics: "In the generation of a human, part of the seed original: "spermatis"; used here generally for the reproductive matter. does not cease being destroyed, and part of the human is generated, until the whole form is completed."