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RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE AND THE INSTRUMENTAL CAUSE |
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PRINCIPAL CAUSE |
INSTRUMENTAL CAUSE |
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In regard to the
activity performed |
Active and mover of
the instrumental cause |
Passive and moved
by the principal cause |
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In regard to the
duration of the power exercises |
Possesses the power
in a permanent and intrinsic way |
Power is not
possessed intrinsically but passes through it in a transitory way |
|
In regard to the
effect |
The effect is
proportionate to the capability of the principal cause |
The effect
surpasses the capacity of the instrumental cause |
. . .
We define an instrumental cause
as a cause which is elevated by a principal agent so as to produce an effect
that is superior to its natural powers. There are two essential traits that
must be noted:
1. an instrumental cause has to cooperate in producing an
effect that is nobler than itself
2. an instrumental cause receives a temporary influence from
the agent, which elevates it and applies it.
It is easy to understand these
two characteristics. If the effect were not superior to the instrument, then
the effect would fall within the sphere of the instrument's activity. Then, we wold
be dealing with a principal cause, a cause which is able to bring about its
effects by its own proper power. Thus, it is necessary that the instrument
collaborate in the production of an effect that is beyond itself.
But this is not enough. A
piece of iron which has been reddened produces results that are beyond the activity
of a piece of iron that has been left to itself. Nevertheless, the heated iron
is the principal cause of its radiation, since its heat has become natural to
it. The iron has taken on the properties of the fire in a lasting manner, and
one can rightly say that it is the iron itself which heats things. Instruments,
on the other hand, are incapable of realizing the (higher) effect. Their native
powers are never capable of rising to that level. They have need of a borrowed power,
a power which is lent to them in a way that is always precarious and dependent.
The causality of the instrument is only ever a communicated influence,
as opposed to being a proper power. (Édouard Hugon, God’s Use of Instrumental
Causality: A Philosophical and Theological Treatise [trans. Paul Robinson;
Saint Mary’s, Kans.: Angelus Press, 2024], 26, 27-28)
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