Note 17:1 — PART I. Pre-Islamic Persian Philosophy.
Reading edition
Thomas Aquinas states and criticises Mānī's contrariety of Primal agents in the following manner:—
(a) What all things seek even a principle of evil would seek. But all things seek their own self-preservation. ⁂ Even a principle of evil would seek its own self-preservation.
(b) What all things seek is good. But self-preservation is what all things seek. ⁂ Self-preservation is good. But a principle of evil would seek its own self-preservation. ⁂ A principle of evil would seek some good—which shows that it is self-contradictory.
God and His Creatures, Book II, p. 105. Rickaby's Tr.