XV. And if, when we admit that in respect of
being the Cause the Father is greater than the Son, they should assume
the premiss that He is the Cause by Nature, and then deduce the
conclusion that He is greater by Nature also, it is difficult to say
whether they mislead most themselves or those with whom they are
arguing. For it does not absolutely follow that all that is
predicated of a class can also be predicated of all the individuals
composing it; for the different particulars may belong to different
individuals. For what hinders me, if I assume the same premiss,
namely, that the Father is greater by Nature, and then add this other,
Yet not by nature in every respect greater nor yet Father—from
concluding, Therefore the Greater is not in every respect greater, nor
the Father in every respect Father? Or, if you prefer it, let us
put it in this way: God is an Essence: But an Essence is
not in every case God; and draw the conclusion for
yourself—Therefore God is not in every case God. I think
the fallacy here is the arguing from a conditioned to an unconditioned
use of a term, Or as the schoolmen
say the fallacy is, A dicto secundum quid ad dictum simpliciter, one of
the many forms of Undistributed Middle Term. Petavius, however
(De Trin.. II., v., 12), pronounces the argument of this section
unsatisfactory. to use the
technical expression of the logicians. For while we assign this
word Greater to His Nature viewed as a Cause, they infer it of His
Nature viewed in itself. It is just as if when we said that such
a one was a dead man they were to infer simply that he was a
Man.