Do Like Beings Share One Common Essence/nature Or Do They Have Individ

[The Joey-O]

Do like beings share one common essence/nature or do they have individual essences/natures that are similar?

In other words, do all humans share one essence/nature? Or do we all have essences/natures of the same kind (human), but every human being has his/her own unique essence/nature?

[Pio Nono]

JMJ
6/15 - Tenth Friday

The Joey-O,

I suggest you dig your teeth into a copy of St. Thomas Aquinas' [i]De Ente et Essentia[/i].

Basically, each member of a particular species, for instance humans, has the same type of nature, namely, human nature. In that sense, it can be said that we "share" a common nature. This is also known as the "matter" of a being. However, in each member of each species there exists a [i]principal of individuation[/i], or that thing X which makes this particular human different from that particular human. This is also known as the "form" of a being. The human principal of individuation, or form, is the soul. Each soul is unrepeatably unique, though matter is common to all.

There is an easier way to organize this information, which is classically known as the "four causes." They are:

1.) Material cause: This answers the question, "what's it made of?" For the human species, we can say "human DNA" or "human nature."
2.) Formal cause: This answers the question, "what makes [i]this[/i] a [i]this[/i]?" We can say, for humans, "his or her soul." The formal cause is always the principal of individuation.

The other two are motive/agent cause and final cause. If you want to know about those, feel free to ask. Hope this helps.

Yours,
Pio Nono