WORD

Most broadly considered, a word is an expression of thought. Even for pre-Christian philosophers, and most emphatically with Christians, the term "word" had three main applications: (1) the external sound that communicates an idea, (2) the internal thought or concept itself, (3) supramundane reason (see word, the).

Heraclitus's all-inclusive fire, the universal reason, is called Λόγος. The Stoics posited a reason-containing-the-germ-of-all-things (λόγος σπερματικός) which was the primal fire, the origin of all processes of condensation and rarefaction. The logos of Philo is both an aggregate of ideas in the Divine Mind and an all-pervading world soul [cf. F. C. Copleston, History of Philosophy (Westminster, Md. 1946–1975) 1:43, 389, 459]. Christian philosophers were always keenly aware that the logos of the prologue to St. John's Gospel was the Second Person of the Trinity.

From aristotle we have a succinct statement regarding the relation between exterior and interior words: "Spoken words are the symbols of mental experience and written words are the symbols of spoken words" (Interp. 16a 3). St. thomas aquinas further observes that since the exterior word is better known to us because of its sensibility, it is called a word "according to the imposition of the name." However, the interior word is prior in nature, because it is the "efficient and final cause of the exterior word" (De vet. 4.1).

With regard to the interior word or concept there is a slight but typical difference between St. augustine and St. Thomas. St. Augustine's psychology can no more be cut off from its theological roots than his theology can be cut off from its psychological roots. Augustine starts from the premise that man is an image of God; God is triune and consubstantial, hence man must be in some way a reflection of that trinity and consubstantiality. Therefore he holds that when the mind, prompted by desire, conceives a word in knowledge, love embraces this mental offspring and unites it to its begetter. The word, for Augustine, is not only knowledge but knowledge which is linked inseparably with love (verbum est igitur… cum amore notitia ). Thus he can see in man an image of the Trinity [Trin. 9.10–12; Patrologia Latina, ed. J. P. Migne, 2217 v. indexes 4 v. (Paris 1878–90) 42:969–970].

Aquinas's psychology is less intertwined with his theology. He holds that just as we convey our thoughts of objects to others by exterior words, so we express knowledge to ourselves by means of interior words or concepts (De pot. 9.5). The exterior word is an instrumental and conventional sign of the interior word. The interior word is not an instrumental but a formal sign of the object known. As such, it is not itself known as an object but fulfills a purely mediatorial role. It leads directly and immediately to a knowledge of what it signifies.

See Also: term (logic).

Bibliography: j. maritain, Distinguish to Unite or the Degrees of Knowledge, tr. g. b. phelan from 4th French ed. (New York 1959). e. h. gilson, The Christian Philosophy of Saint Augustine, tr. l. e. m. lynch (New York 1960). b. j. f. lonergan, "The Concept of Verbum in the Writings of St. Thomas Aquinas," Theological Studies 7 (1946) 349–392; 8 (1947) 35–79, 404–444; 10 (1949) 3–40, 359–393.

[j. f. peifer]