71- Is intelligence an attribute of the vital principle?
“No. Plants are alive but they do not think – they only have organic life. Intelligence and matter are independent of each other; a body may be alive yet lack intelligence, but intelligence can only be expressed through material organs. Only the union with spirit endows animalized matter with intelligence.”26
26 See questions nos. 540, 585, 593 and 606. Everything in nature is subject to the law of progress – Tr.
Intelligence is a special faculty possessed by certain classes of organic beings, which it endows with thought, the willpower to act and the awareness of their own existence and individuality. Additionally, it endows them with the means to establish relations with the external world and to provide for their own needs.
We may therefore distinguish the following: first, inanimate beings, formed of matter alone, without vitality or intelligence – these are the solid bodies of minerals; second, animate, nonthinking beings, formed of matter and endowed with vitality but not intelligence; third, animate beings, formed of matter, endowed with vitality and possessed of an intelligent principle that gives them the ability to think.
72- What is the source of intelligence?
“We have already said: the universal intelligence.”
– Could we say that every intelligent being draws and assimilates a portion of intelligence from the universal source in the same way that it draws and assimilates the principle of material life?
“That is only an imprecise comparison because intelligence is a faculty proper to each being and comprises its mental individuality. Besides, you already know that there are matters that humans are not allowed to comprehend; this is one of them – for now.”
73- Is instinct something other than intelligence?
“Not exactly; it is a type of intelligence. Instinct is nonreasoning intelligence, through which all beings provide for their own needs.”
74- Can we draw a line between instinct and intelligence; i.e. can we determine when one ends and the other begins?
“No, for they frequently commingle. However, we can very well distinguish the actions belonging to instinct from those belonging to intelligence.”
75- Is it correct to say that the instinctive faculties decrease as the intellectual faculties increase?
“No, instinct is always present, but humans neglect it.
Instinct can lead us to the good; it almost always guides us – sometimes more surely than our reason. It never errs.”
– Why isn’t reason always an infallible guide?
“It would be if it were not distorted by pride, selfishness and faulty education. Instinct does not reason, whereas reason calls for choice and endows humans with free will.”
Instinct is a rudimentary intelligence. It differs from intelligence per se in that its manifestations are almost always spontaneous, while those of intelligence are the result of thought and deliberate action.
Instinct manifests in various ways according to the different species and their needs. In beings with consciousness and the perception of external things, it allies itself with intelligence, i.e., with will and freedom.
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