Saturday, June 29, 2013

Essay on Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson, published 1803-1882

Page 176
natura naturans vs. natura naturata
In Aristotelian terms natura naturans would be form and activity, and natura naturata would be matter. These terms were probably first used by Averroës, the Arabian commentator on Aristotle; later, Nicolas Cusanus, Giordano Bruno and Spinoza employed the same distinction. Natura naturata, or nature passive, is used by pantheistic philosophers to distinguish the universe in its ultimate, unitary significance from the universe as aggregate of objects.


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