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In this article, as is clear from the title, we are asking whether there is anything really distinct from the will of God that is its cause.
He begins by forming an analogy between the intellect knowing and the will willing. As limited creatures, we need to reason step by step. We understand certain judgments, e.g., "man is rational" and "Socrates is a man." Then, we are able to discursively reason from these premises in order to bring out what is *virtually* contained in those premises.