Page:Theory of Mind of Roger Bacon.djvu/37

 his eduction theory. On the other hand, he thinks of it as a reproduction of the Agent, without possessing in full the character of the Agent. In which character its raison d’etre is that of representation. Here the incomplete effect is identical with the Species. And so it is applicable in his modified emission theory. Or, to put it briefly, it allowed him to think of the Species at the same time as that which is essentially definable by reference to the Effect, and also as the incomplete reproduction of the Agent.

But this is not the only concept which Bacon failed to get outlined for himself without uncertain associations. The concept of “potentia” suffered a similar fate. Thus, he takes it at the outset of his treatise as that which is essentially identical with the “virtus” of that in which it is, differing from this “virtus” only in aspect. Where then that aspect is lost for the moment, the identity becomes a complete one, and so the mere potentiality of the Matter of the Patient becomes a virtue of the Patient as Matter and Form. It is thus that he is able to think readily of the “potentia” in the matter of the Patient as also active; so making the Matter to have something more than a merely passive character. And in this sense the Matter of the Patient has an active potentiality; here “potentia” is convertible with “virtus.” But, in its other sense, of mere possibility, it is wholly inactive and only potentially that which is about to act upon it. At a point so subtle and intricate we need not wonder that he fell short of greater clearness. And yet to omit to be clear, was serious for his theory. For on this point his advance over Aristotle in the largest measure turned. He definitely seeks to explain, in detail be it remembered, the conception of eduction from the potentiality of the Matter of the Patient. And in part he succeeds. But he falls short of consistency in just this critical conception of the meaning of potentiality. The identical Matter cannot readily be conceived as passive and active at the same time. But if it is not the identical Matter, the change as affecting that part is no better explained with than without reference to Matter. Aristotle is also unclear at this point; but Bacon in aiming to elaborate upon his master proves hardly less so.

And the shortcoming is the more vital for Bacon, because he seeks to explain the production of equivocal effects precisely by reference to the Matter of the various objects acted upon. He makes intelligible the production of like out of like, by the detailed explanation in which Species is taken as “pars prima” of the Patient. But how like can produce unlike, or something essentially different, he wholly fails to say. And yet these, the equivocal effects, are the ones found for the most part in Nature. He seems