Types of Union of Existence The union of two or more entified existences...

Types of Union of Existence The union of two or more entified existences, in the sense of a kind of dependence or interdependence between them, is possible, and may occur in several ways. a. The union of substance and accident, in view of the fact that an accident is dependent on a substance and cannot be independent of its subject. This union may be more firmly established on the basis the position of those who hold that an accident is an aspect or level of the existence of the substance. b.

The union of matter and form, for the form cannot be separated from its locus and continue independently with its own existence. This kind of union is sometimes generalized to body and soul, given that it is not possible for the soul to come about without a body, although it may survive independently. c. The union of several matters in the shadow of a unitary form to which they are attached, such as the union of the elements which compose a plant or animal.

This kind of union is really an accidental union, and a true union would only be obtained with the union of each element with the form. d. The union of prime matter, assumed to lack any sort of actuality, with the form which grants it actuality. Sometimes this kind of union is considered to be a real union. However, with the rejection of prime matter as a entified substance lacking actuality, there is no room left for this kind of union. e.

Another kind of union can be held to occur between two effects of a single emanating cause, considering each of them to be united with the cause, such that separation between them is not possible, although calling such relations ‘union’ is not without imprecision. f. The union between the existence-granting cause and its effect which is the relation itself and dependence on it. There is a specific sort of gradation between such a cause and its effects.

This sort of union, according to the fundamentality of existence and its gradation, is called the ‘union of the real with the diluted’ ( ittiḥād ḥaqīqah wa raqīqah ). It must be noted that the union under discussion is a union obtained as a result of perception, and this is the union of the knower with the existence of the known-in-itself ( ma’lūm bi al-dhāt ), that is, the very perceptual form which occurs in the mind, not union with an objective existent.

Therefore, the union of matter and form, or objective substance and accident is irrelevant to this problem.