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Wiki MarkupAccording to Thomas Aquinas, "That which first falls in the intellect is _being_, and therefore everything that we apprehend we consider as being, and consequently as _one_, and as _good_, which are convertible with being." Hence we say, "_essence_ \ [essentia = quidditas (i.e., whatness)\] _is being_ and _one_ and _good_"(_ST_, 12, Q. 55, a. 4).

Commenting on this, Beer says: "Being in any degree implies value, since all things participate, more or less, in God's being. All being is good.... Evil exists, but only as privation of being. That relative privation is necessary for the perfection of the created world, which consists in its comprehension of every order of being from the greatest to the least" (To Make a Nation: 36_)._

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