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  • Chapter 7 - Suárez on Distinctions

  • from Part II - Being, Its Properties, and Ancillary Notions
  • Edited by Shane Duarte, Sydney Penner, Asbury University, Kentucky
  • Book:
    Suárez's <i>Metaphysical Disputations</i>
    Published online:
    13 October 2025
    Print publication:
    30 October 2025, pp 123-142

  • Summary

    Suárez offered a rich analysis of three types of distinction, which continued to be important in early modern philosophy: the conceptual distinction (distinction of reason), the real distinction, and the modal distinction. They are commonly understood in terms of separability, but for Suárez, separability was merely a sign of specific types of distinctions. And he argued that mutual separability is neither necessary nor sufficient for a real distinction. Furthermore, he required knowledge of actual cases of mutual separation as a sign of real distinction. This chapter examines the real distinction and modal distinction in early modern philosophy. Descartes inherited Suárez’s view that separability is a mere sign and examination of Suárez’s theory results in elegant solutions to thorny problems in Descartes’s theory of body. Finally, the notion of a mode played an important role in arguments for immaterial beings in Descartes and various other early modern philosophers, including Leibniz.