ABSTRACT
The real distinction between existence and essence, plus the priority of existence over essence, yields both the determination of existence by essence and hence the act-potency couplet in the order of being. By denying the "existence" in the sense of esse signifies directly as would a proper concept, the metaphysician avoids freezing being into a subsisting nature which could be held in front of the intelligence awaiting affirmation or negation. Esse consists in an active composing of the principles of nature. The theory is by no means common to medieval scholasticism. Esse is the act of essence and in being the act of essence esse composes the principles constituting essence; esse is their here-and-now-being-together, being one. The multiplicity of essential principles making up the real is not annealed into unity thanks to one or more of them but encounters its unity in the synthesizing function of existential act.
