Summa Theologiae · I, q. 106
Question 106. How One Creature Moves Another
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, First Part. 4 articles.
Text: Summa Theologiae, Project Gutenberg #17611, First Part (Prima Pars), translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. The First Part of the Summa in the English Dominican translation (first printed 1911 to 1925; second and revised edition from 1920). A sample check on 2026-11-09 against pre-1931 printings at the Internet Archive (first printings of 1915 and 1916 and the second and revised edition of the 1920s) found that the article text matches, with no 1947 introduction, synopsis, or index. The phrase “From the Complete American Edition” in Gutenberg's catalog title is a provenance note only. Question and article numbers were added by the transcriber. Rights: Public domain (US)
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We next consider how one creature moves another. This consideration will be threefold:
(1) How the angels move, who are purely spiritual creatures;
(2) How bodies move;
(3) How man moves, who is composed of a spiritual and a corporeal nature.
Concerning the first point, there are three things to be considered:
(1) How an angel acts on an angel;
(2) How an angel acts on a corporeal nature;
(3) How an angel acts on man.
The first of these raises the question of the enlightenment and speech of the angels; and of their mutual coordination, both of the good and of the bad angels.
Concerning their enlightenment there are four points of inquiry:
(1) Whether one angel moves the intellect of another by enlightenment?
(2) Whether one angel moves the will of another?
(3) Whether an inferior angel can enlighten a superior angel?
(4) Whether a superior angel enlightens an inferior angel in all that he knows himself?