Sentence examples for seminal reason from inspiring English sources

Can he create the seminal reason of a rational soul in matter (Quodl. III, q. 10)?

A seminal reason, according to James, has two characteristics: it is (1) an inchoate state of the form to be, and (2) an active principle.

For this to occur, however, more is required than the mere passive potency of matter: the seminal reason must also be viewed as an active principle.

The upshot of the investigation is that although there are many good reasons (the soul's immortality, its spirituality and its per se existence) to say that God cannot produce the seminal reason of the rational soul in matter, in the end, James decides, with the help of Augustine, that such a possibility must be open to God.

Likewise, although it appears inconceivable that something material could generate something endowed with per se existence, it is not impossible absolutely speaking: if God can confer separate existence upon an accident despite the fact that accidents naturally inhere in their substrates then, in like manner, he can confer separate existence upon a soul, although it has a seminal reason in matter.

The souls of people and animals are emanations from this primordial fire, and are, likewise, subject to Fate: Individual souls are perishable by nature, and can be "transmuted and diffused, assuming a fiery nature by being received into the Seminal Reason (logos spermatikos) of the Universe".

James offers a thorough discussion of seminal reasons in Quodl.

In this section, we present James' arguments in favor of seminal reasons.

One important reason for subscribing to the existence of seminal reasons is that the doctrine enjoys the support of Augustine.

Evidence for spontaneous generation could always be explained by appeal to Augustine's theory of the pre-existent "seminal reasons".

James' doctrine of seminal reasons would elicit considerable criticism in the early fourteenth century and beyond (Phelps 1980).