Since this thread has failed to die, perhaps it is a sign that it has yet to be answered with satisfaction. Maybe then, people will stop mocking it (probably not though). I’ve always been annoyed when people bring up this question as a way to make fun of philosophy and theology … even if they do it without the intention of criticizing scholasticism! Don’t get me wrong, I make fun of philosophy and theology all the time (and sometimes, according to a lot of uptight Catholics, bordering on irreverence). But whether you’re out to destroy scholasticism or merely getting innocent laughs out of it (which I do), I think that “How many angels can fit on the head of a pin?” thing just makes for a really bad, stupid, inane, ignorant, dumb joke … BUT it makes for a legitimate question.
Perhaps I am the undead spirit of scholasticism trying to wreak vengeance on those who have desecrated its medieval grave, or else maybe I’m just bitter at the really bad rap that scholasticism has gotten from a lot of clueless modernists, and now I want to push the other direction as hard as possible. Maybe I’m saying there’s so much deeper stuff to laugh at in philosophy than this overrated, over-abused question that the scholastics probably never actually asked.
Okay, I’m glad I got that out of my system.
Now, I’m going to take the question seriously, as a couple already have (and some have already basically answered it).
First of all, it was said:
Aquinas would surely have noted that angels, as spiritual beings, do not take up space, so the question is meaningless.
Yes and no. Depends what you mean.
Since angels are non-physical, they are not “in space” at all as we are. So, in that sense of being in space, the answer to “How many angels can fit on the head of a pin?” is
zero.
Nonetheless, as evident from Scripture and cases of angelic encounters,
angels can “act” (that is, do something) on physical matter. Whenever that happens, it is understood that such an angel is present in the space that it is acting on (and Aquinas says this very thing). In that sense, angels can be in space.
What I have said here, has already been said in a previous post:
It only makes sense to talk about an angel being anywhere insofar as the angle is acting on that space.
Examples, of course, of angelic acts in the physical universe includes, of course, instances of demonic possession, where the demoniac causes things to levitate and whatnot. Demonic
infestation is the case where places are possessed or haunted by demons, where phenomena such as mysterious sounds and moving objects are known to occur. When such things happen, it is common to say that demons are “in that place.”
Now, to answer the infamous question, another useful thing to keep in mind, already posted:
According to Aquinas there can only be one angel in any given space (Summa I, Q 52, art 3).
This is where it gets controversial and perhaps unknowable. *First of all, I don’t see how a given space could be limited to one angel acting on it. * I might even contend that statement. For, why could not one angel push something in a given space, while at the same time another push against it in that same given space (as may happen with angels and demons)?
**If a given space was not limited to just one angelic action upon it, then a potentially infinite number of angels could dance on that pin!
**
If, on the other hand, given spaces were limited to just one angelic action, then the prospects of answering this question with any certitude gets really grim.
First of all,
how big is a “given space.” One cubic inch? One cubic picometre? Or perhaps it’s more abstract and perhaps each angel can only affect one particular accident of a given substance at a time. If we answer this particular question (if it’s possible), we will have our answer to the pinhead enigma.
In my opinion, even with the spacial limitation theory,
I believe it would still be a potentially infinite number of angels that could party on that stupid thing. The reason for this is that
angels have full and complete intuition regarding physical matter (Aquinas says this I think), and this would suggest (perhaps not prove) that they would know how to exert the right physical change such that they could exert an
infinitesimal amount of force on that pin … each having a force so small that a potentially infinite amount of those tiny forces could be packed together next to each other to cover even such a tiny area (though not tiny compared to infinitesimally small forces) as the head of a pin.
This of course assumes that
space is continuous and not discrete. If it were discrete (and I don’t blame anyone for not understanding this … because I don’t either) then we would have to measure the discrete units of space to come up with the answer (which would be a job for quantum physics if they ever figure out how to do that), for then it would be only one angel per discrete unit of space. But, really, I think space is continuous, so let me shut up about that.
So, assuming space is continuous, and angels are not limited to the size of space that they can act on, the answer to the infamous question “How many angels can fit on the head of a pin?” is … an INFINITE amount.
Yes, it’s true that there are a finite amount of angels in existence (according to Aquinas), so, if you want, rephrase the answer to: ALL OF THEM (however many there are)
There! There’s your answer! Objections? Maybe I’m crazy. Clearly I am crazy. :whacky: But about this? I don’t think so. I’m getting a drink …
Glad to know I’m not the only one.