notional distinction

In my gift-ontology, notional distinction refers to distinctions made by the intellect’s conceptual approach, not necessarily by separable items in reality. In God, notional distinction is useful when it names how multiple predicates can be true of the one simple act under different aspects, or how “active spiration” can be a notional term referring to the one spirating principle without implying multiple substances. Notional distinction must not be used to weaken real personal distinction. It is not a retreat into mere conceptualism. Used correctly, it names the difference between the way the one simple reality is and the way finite intellects must approach that reality: diverse true ways of speaking without adding constituents.