"Convertible with" "Communicated;" What do these mean?

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yawnernonner

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Been reading through the Summa lately. I have a feeling I know what these words mean, but I’m not sure:
“But “one” which is convertible with being is a metaphysical entity and does not depend on matter in its being.”
“For it is manifest that the reason why any singular thing is “this particular thing” is because it cannot be communicated to many: since that whereby Socrates is a man, can be communicated to many; whereas, what makes him this particular man, is only communicable to one.”
 
yawnernonner said:
Been reading through the Summa lately. I have a feeling I know what these words mean, but I’m not sure:
“But “one” which is convertible with being is a metaphysical entity and does not depend on matter in its being.”
“For it is manifest that the reason why any singular thing is “this particular thing” is because it cannot be communicated to many: since that whereby Socrates is a man, can be communicated to many; whereas, what makes him this particular man, is only communicable to one.”
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On the topic of convertibility between being and oneness, Thomas is speaking of oneness as a transcendental property (other transcendental properties are goodness, truth, and some include beauty). Why are they called transcendental? Because some universal concepts such as redness, roundness, and so on, do not belong to all beings, but only certain types of being. However, the properties of goodness, truth, oneness, and beauty belong to all types of being. They transcend all types, even. Insofar as something is, it is good, it has truth, it is one, it is beautiful. The transcendentals are not just something a being may have, they are something any particular thing has by virtue of it being. If something has being, you don’t know just by that it is red. But you do know that it is good, has a unity, true, and so on. So the being of a thing is said to be convertible with these attributes.

Communicable… I read it in a few senses here. “To be said of…” “To be passed on to…” “To be given to…” “To be transmitted to…”

To be a man of can be said of (or given to) many. To be the particular man Socrates can be said of only him, that one.
 
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