Incorporeal human differences

Since form is universal, all differences between particulars are material. And in human beings, all differences between persons are caused by their bodily nature.

But it is not true that all differences between human beings are themselves bodily. Although the fact is caused entirely by their having different bodies, human beings do nevertheless have different minds.

The differences between their bodies are well-known and, well, visible – height, weight, shape, color, sex, and so on. But I have never seen an enumeration of the differences between their minds, which is why I came up with this one.

I believe that they are exactly these three: knowledge, tastes, and habits; all of which are taken in a broad sense. They are explained as follows:

• Knowledge here includes not only universal knowledge, but also different memories and sense experiences.

• Tastes are likes and dislikes of any kind, generally; which is to say, desires.

• Habits, or attitudes, are any enduring dispositions to act in a certain way. When they are good, they are called virtues, and when they are bad, vices.

They may be divided according to the personal differences in human actions, taken generally:

• Human beings seek different ends with their actions, because, having their bodies in different locations, they have knowledge or awareness of different things.

• Human beings assign different priorities to their ends, which is because their bodies have different objective affinities, or tastes.

• Human beings are disposed to seek their ends through different means, which differences constitute their habits.

Since this division is clearly exhaustive, I believe that my enumeration was sound.