Necessity

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Necessity, in a general way, denotes a strict connection between different beings, or the different elements of a being, or between a being and its existence. It is therefore a primary and fundamental notion, and it is important to determine its various meanings and applications inphilosophy andtheology.

InLogic, theSchoolmen, studying the mutual relations of concepts which form the matter of our judgments, divided the judgments or propositions into judgments in necessary matter (in materia necessaria), and judgments in contingent matter (in materia contingenti). (Cf. S. Thom., I Perihermen, lect. xiii.) The judgments in necessary matter were known aspropositiones per se; they are called by modernphilosophers "analytic", "rational", "pure", or "a priori" judgments. Thepropositio per se is defined by theSchoolmen as one the predicate of which is either a constitutive element or a naturalproperty of the subject. Such is the case with primarytruths, metaphysical, and mathematical principles. (Cf. S. Thom., "in I Anal.", lect. x and xxxv; "de Anima", II, lect. xiv.) It is by ignoring the last part of this definition and arbitrarily restricting the concept of analytic judgments to those of which the predicate is a constitutive element of the subject, thatKant invented thefalse notion of synthetic-a priori judgments.

Considered under its metaphysical aspect, being in its relation to existence is divided into necessary and contingent. A necessary being is one of which the existence is included in and identical with its very essence. The different beings which we observe in our daily experience are subject to beginning, to change, to perfection, and to destruction; existence is not essential to them and they have not in themselves the reason of their existence; they are contingent. Their existence comes to them from an external efficient cause. It is from the real existence of contingent beings that we arrive at the notion and prove the existence of a necessary being-one that produces them but is not produced, one whose existence is its own essence and nature, that is at the same time eternal, all-perfect,infinite, viz.,God (see CONTINGENCY). And so in relation to existence,God alone is absolutely necessary, all others are contingent.

When we consider the divers beings, not from the point of view of existence, but in relation to their constitution and activity, necessity may be classified asmetaphysical, physical, andmoral.

Metaphysical necessity implies that a thing is what it is, viz., it has the elements essential to its specific nature. It is a metaphysical necessity forGod to beinfinite, man rational, an animal a living being. Metaphysical necessity is absolute.
Physical necessity exists in connection with the activity of the material beings which constitute theuniverse. While they are contingent as to their existence, contingent also as to their actual relations (forGod could have created another order than the present one), they are, however, necessarily determined in their activity, both as to its exercises and its specific character. But this determination is dependent upon certain conditions, the presence of which is required, the absence of one or the other of them preventing altogether the exercise or normal exercise of this activity. Thelaws of nature should always be understood with that limitation: all conditions being realized. Thelaws of nature, therefore, being subject to physical necessity are neither absolutely necessary, as materialistic Mechanism asserts, nor merely contingent, as the partisans of the philosophy of contingency declare; but they are conditionally or hypothetically necessary. This hypothetical necessity is also called by someconsequent necessity.
Moral necessity is necessity as applied to the activity of free beings. Weknow that men under certain circumstances, although they are free, will act in such and such a way. It is morally necessary that such a man in such circumstances act honestly; it is morally necessary that several historians, relating certain facts, should tell thetruth concerning them. This moral necessity is the basis of moral certitude in historical and moralsciences. The term is also used with reference to freedom of the will to denote any undue physical or moral influence that might prevent the will from freely choosing to act or not act, to choose one thing in preference to another. The derivatives, necessitation and necessarianism, in theirphilosophical signification express thedoctrine that the will in all its activity is invariably determined by physical or psychical antecedent conditions (seeDETERMINISM;FREE WILL).

Intheology the notion of necessity is sometimes applied with special meaning.Theologians divide necessity intoabsolute andmoral. A thing is said to be absolutely necessary when without it a certain end cannot possibly be reached. Thus revelation is absolutely necessary for man toknow the mysteries offaith, and grace to perform anysupernatural act. Something is said to be morally necessary when a certain end could, absolutely speaking, be reached without it, but cannot actually and properly be reached without it, under existing conditions. Thus, we may say that, absolutely speaking, man as such is able toknow all thetruths of the natural order or to observe all theprecepts of thenatural law; but considering the concrete circumstances ofhuman life in the present order, men as a whole cannot actually do so without revelation or grace. Revelation and grace are morally necessary to man toknow sufficiently all thetruths of thenatural law (cf.Summa Theologica, I:1:1; "Contra Gentil.", I, iv).

Again, in relation to the means necessary tosalvation theologians divide necessity intonecessity of means andnecessity of precept. In the first case the means is so necessary tosalvation that without it (absolute necessity) or its substitute (relative necessity), even if the omission is guiltless, the end cannot be reached. Thusfaith andbaptism of water are necessary by a necessity of means, the former absolutely, the latter relatively, forsalvation. In the second case, necessity is based on a positive precept, commanding something the omission of which, unless culpable, does not absolutely prevent the reaching of the end.

Sources

MERCIER, Ontologie (Louvain, 1902), ii, 3; RICKABY, First Principles of Knowledge (London, 1902), I, v; IDEM, General Metaphysics (London, 1901), I, iv.

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APA citation.Sauvage, G.(1911).Necessity. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10733a.htm

MLA citation.Sauvage, George."Necessity."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 10.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1911.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10733a.htm>.

Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael T. Barrett.Dedicated to Carmen Schmitz.

Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

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Necessity

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