Question 5. Can an irrational animal be blessed?

A living entity who is devoid of reason is also devoid of knowledge. And no living creature devoid of knowledge can be blessed. Thus, it is not characteristic of animals that are not involved in reason to be blessed.

Question 6. On Evil

Everything that exists is either corporeal or incorporeal. The corporeal consists in the sensible form, and the incorporeal in the intelligible. So, everything that is does not exist without any kind. And where there is a species, there is necessarily a certain way [of being], and the way [of being] is something that partakes of good. Therefore the supreme evil has no way [of being], because it is devoid of all good. This means that it does not exist, since it is not contained in any form; and this very name of evil comes entirely from the absence of a species.

Question 7. What is properly called a soul in an animate being?

The soul is sometimes said to be thought mente with the mind, as when we say that man consists of soul and body; sometimes they speak of it without excluding the mind. But if they speak by excluding the intellect, then by such actions they know the soul which we have in common with the animals. For animals are devoid of thinking, which is an inherent property of the mind.

Question 8. Does the soul move on its own?

He who is aware of the presence of will in himself knows that the soul moves by itself; for when we will, no one else wills in us. And this movement of the soul in us is arbitrary, for God has granted it to be so. But it is not a movement from one place to another, like the motion of a body; for to move spatially is inherent in the body. And if the soul, by means of the will, that is, of that motion which is not spatial, nevertheless moves its body in space, then for this reason it is not itself spatially moving. For in the same way we see something rotating by means of an axis for a great distance, and the axis itself not moving spatially.

Question 9. Can truth be perceived by the bodily senses?

Everything that our bodily sense touches, which is called sensuously perceived, changes without any delay of time, as, for example, when the hair on our head grows, or the body inclines to old age, or blossoms in youth, all this happens constantly and does not cease to do at all. And that which does not abide cannot be perceived, for that which is embraced by knowledge is perceived; However, it is impossible to embrace the constantly changing. Thus, one should not expect pure truth from the bodily senses. But lest any one should say that there is something sensible which is always the same, and should not ask us the question of the sun and the stars, in respect of which it will not be easy to refute it, there is certainly no one who is not compelled to admit that there is nothing sensible which does not admit of a false resemblance. so that it is impossible to distinguish [between true and false]. For, apart from the rest, even if all that we perceive through the body is not present in the senses, we are still affected by the images of it, as if it were really present, as in sleep or in fever. For when we experience [these states], we are generally unable to distinguish whether we are sensing something with our senses, or whether it is only images of what is sensely perceived. If, therefore, there are false images of sensible perceptions, which cannot be recognized by the senses themselves, and nothing can be comprehended except by distinguishing them from the false, then there is no firm judgment of truth in the senses. That is why we are called in the highest degree of salvation to turn away from this world, which is wholly corporeal and sensual, and to turn with all zeal to God, that is, to the Truth perceived by the intellect and the inner mind, which is always the same, and has no false image from which it is impossible to distinguish it.