1 Objection 1: It would seem that the knowledge of the angels is not exclusively intellectual. For Augustine says De Civ. Dei viii) that in the angels there is life which understands and feels. Therefore there is a sensitive faculty in them as well.
1 Ad quintum sic proceditur. Videtur quod in Angelis non sit sola intellectiva cognitio. Dicit enim Augustinus, VIII de Civ. Dei, quod in Angelis est vita quae intelligit et sentit. Ergo in eis est potentia sensitiva.
2 Objection 2: Further, Isidore says De Summo Bono) that the angels have learnt many things by experience. But experience comes of many remembrances, as stated in Metaph. i, 1. Consequently they have likewise a power of memory.
2 Praeterea, Isidorus dicit quod Angeli multa noverunt per experientiam. Experientia autem fit ex multis memoriis, ut dicitur in I Metaphys. Ergo in eis est etiam memorativa potentia.
3 Objection 3: Further, Dionysius says Div. Nom. iv) that there is a sort of perverted phantasy in the demons. But phantasy belongs to the imaginative faculty. Therefore the power of the imagination is in the demons; and for the same reason it is in the angels, since they are of the same nature.
3 Praeterea, Dionysius dicit, IV cap. de Div. Nom., quod in Daemonibus est phantasia proterva. Phantasia autem ad vim imaginativam pertinet. Ergo in Daemonibus est vis imaginativa. Et eadem ratione in Angelis, quia sunt eiusdem naturae.
4 On the contrary, Gregory says Hom. 29 in Ev.), that man senses in common with the brutes, and understands with the angels.
4 Sed contra est quod Gregorius dicit, in homilia de ascensione, quod homo sentit cum pecoribus, et intelligit cum Angelis.
5 I answer that, In our soul there are certain powers whose operations are exercised by corporeal organs; such powers are acts of sundry parts of the body, as sight of the eye, and hearing of the ear. There are some other powers of the soul whose operations are not performed through bodily organs, as intellect and will: these are not acts of any parts of the body. Now the angels have no bodies naturally joined to them, as is manifest from what has been said already Question 51, Article 1).
Hence of the soul's powers only intellect and will can belong to them. The Commentator Metaph. xii) says the same thing, namely, that the separated substances are divided into intellect and will. And it is in keeping with the order of the universe for the highest intellectual creature to be entirely intelligent; and not in part, as is our soul. For this reason the angels are called intellects and minds, as was said above Article 3, ad 1). A twofold answer can be returned to the contrary objections.
First, it may be replied that those authorities are speaking according to the opinion of such men as contended that angels and demons have bodies naturally united to them. Augustine often makes use of this opinion in his books, although he does not mean to assert it; hence he says De Civ. Dei xxi) that such an inquiry does not call for much labor. Secondly, it may be said that such authorities and the like are to be understood by way of similitude.
Because, since sense has a sure apprehension of its proper sensible object, it is a common usage of speech, when he understands something for certain, to say that we sense it. And hence it is that we use the word sentence. Experience can be attributed to the angels according to the likeness of the things known, although not by likeness of the faculty knowing them. We have experience when we know single objects through the senses: the angels likewise know single objects, as we shall show Question 57, Article 2), yet not through the senses.
But memory can be allowed in the angels, according as Augustine De Trin. x) puts it in the mind; although it cannot belong to them in so far as it is a part of the sensitive soul. In like fashion a perverted phantasy' is attributed to demons, since they have a false practical estimate of what is the true good; while deception in us comes properly from the phantasy, whereby we sometimes hold fast to images of things as to the things themselves, as is manifest in sleepers and lunatics.
5 Respondeo dicendum quod in anima nostra sunt quaedam vires, quarum operationes per organa corporea exercentur, et huiusmodi vires sunt actus quarundam partium corporis, sicut est visus in oculo, et auditus in aure. Quaedam vero vires animae nostrae sunt, quarum operationes per organa corporea non exercentur, ut intellectus et voluntas, et huiusmodi non sunt actus aliquarum partium corporis. Angeli autem non habent corpora sibi naturaliter unita, ut ex supra dictis patet. Unde de viribus animae non possunt eis competere nisi intellectus et voluntas.
Et hoc etiam Commentator dicit, XII Metaphys., quod substantiae separatae dividuntur in intellectum et voluntatem. Et hoc convenit ordini universi, ut suprema creatura intellectualis sit totaliter intellectiva; et non secundum partem, ut anima nostra. Et propter hoc etiam Angeli vocantur intellectus et mentes, ut supra dictum est. Ad ea vero quae in contrarium obiiciuntur, potest dupliciter responderi. Uno modo, quod auctoritates illae loquuntur secundum opinionem illorum qui posuerunt Angelos et Daemones habere corpora naturaliter sibi unita. Qua opinione frequenter Augustinus in libris suis utitur, licet eam asserere non intendat, unde dicit, XXI de Civ.
Dei, quod super hac inquisitione non est multum laborandum. Alio modo potest dici, quod auctoritates illae, et consimiles, sunt intelligendae per quandam similitudinem. Quia cum sensus certam apprehensionem habeat de proprio sensibili, est in usu loquentium ut etiam secundum certam apprehensionem intellectus aliquid sentire dicamur. Unde etiam sententia nominatur. Experientia vero Angelis attribui potest per similitudinem cognitorum, etsi non per similitudinem virtutis cognoscitivae. Est enim in nobis experientia, dum singularia per sensum cognoscimus, Angeli autem singularia cognoscunt, ut infra patebit, sed non per sensum.
Sed tamen memoria in Angelis potest poni, secundum quod ab Augustino ponitur in mente; licet non possit eis competere secundum quod ponitur pars animae sensitivae. Similiter dicendum quod phantasia proterva attribuitur Daemonibus, ex eo quod habent falsam practicam existimationem de vero bono, deceptio autem in nobis proprie fit secundum phantasiam, per quam interdum similitudinibus rerum inhaeremus sicut rebus ipsis, ut patet in dormientibus et amentibus.