Dodi Ve-Nechdi (Quaestiones Naturales)

this power of self-movement, it must receive the impulse from an external cause. Its life is the work of a special spirit which gives it activity and renders the substance capable of development. Matter obtains its form in accordance with divine ideas; and hence the Universe becomes a creation of the Omnipotence, Wisdom, and Goodness of God.

Mathematical order and unity—the soul of the Universe or Nature—are God's creations, subject to Him and dependent upon Him, yet, in regard to the world of matter, exercising their power and dominion over it. They are the principle giving soul to the upper spheres of the Universe; not only, therefore, are the constellations under their guidance, but also matters of earth, including man, are determined by them.

And as for the constellations themselves, they not only exercise purely physical functions, but they also possess secret, spiritual powers, by virtue of which they influence all the events and fortunes of man. They are living substances of divine nature, after whose pattern all else is created, spiritual existences intermediary between God and man, placed over creatures of the material world. Hence, from the knowledge of the movements and attributes of the stars, inferences may be drawn regarding the past, present, and future forms of the sublunary world.

The soul is not divisible; it is not material; it is absolutely one, knowing neither increase or diminution. She alone gives movement to the body; through her arise sensations and perceptions, and also spiritual knowledge. The senses are but the instruments used by the soul to grasp that which can be perceived and retained. In the soul alone—God's creation—is the unity of the human organism established.

Having regard to the perceptive activity of the soul, Adelard distinguishes six faculties—sensus (sensation), imaginatio (imagination), opinio (opinion), memoria (memory), ratio (reason), and mens (intellect). To man the ratio specifically belongs, by which he distinguishes himself from the brute. Relying on Plato, and in agreement with the philosophy of his time, Adelard speaks of a three-fold soul: the rational, animal, and vegetative. The rational soul is located in the head, the functions being distributed among its various portions, imaginatio in the front, memoria in the