and insofar as it is known, it has existence in knowledge. Negating this existence in knowledge means the absence of that existence. Thus, this does not refute our statement that the contradictory of nonexistence is positive existence. Love, however, is an attribute subsisting in the one who loves. You point to an externally existing individual and say: ‘This living being has become loving after not having been loving.’ You are thus speaking about external existence. If the contradictory of this attribute is external nonexistence, then the attribute itself must have external existence.

“In short, that love and hatred are positive, existent attributes is self-evident. No dispute over this can be entertained, and anyone who disputes it can only be debated as one debates the Sophists.”

I say: Since love, hatred, and similar attributes that relate to something else have positive existence, the distinction becomes clear between attributes that are themselves relations or connections and attributes that bear a relation or connection to something else. Praise and gratitude belong to the second category. Praise is something positively existent that relates to that for which praise is given. Likewise, gratitude is something positively existent that relates to that for which gratitude is expressed. Their true nature cannot therefore be fully understood without understanding their positive attribute that relates to something else. That attribute is part of their true nature. If, then, the object of one is more extensive than the object of the other, while that relation merely attaches to a positive attribute they possess, that positive attribute must be mentioned when explaining their true nature.

The proof of this is that someone who does not understand beneficence cannot understand gratitude.