The Doctrine Of Divine Simplicity In Thomas Aquinas And A Contemporary Defense

1987 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter S. Twetten
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Divine Simplicity

Thomas Aquinas’ Divine Simplicity as Biblical Hermeneutic

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 496-507
Author(s):  
D. Stephen Long
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Divine Simplicity

scholarly journals An Anselmian Approach to Divine Simplicity

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 308-322
Author(s):  
Katherin A. Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Difficult Problem ◽  
Divine Simplicity ◽  
Classical Theism ◽  
Libertarian Free Will

The doctrine of divine simplicity (DDS) is an important aspect of the classical theism of philosophers like Augustine, Anselm, and Thomas Aquinas. Recently the doctrine has been defended in a Thomist mode using the intrinsic/extrinsic distinction. I argue that this approach entails problems which can be avoided by taking Anselm’s more Neoplatonic line. This does involve accepting some controversial claims: for example, that time is isotemporal and that God inevitably does the best. The most difficult problem involves trying to reconcile created libertarian free will with the Anselmian DDS. But for those attracted to DDS the Anselmian approach is worth considering.

scholarly journals The Complexity of a Simple God

Axis Mundi ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Morris
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Philosophical Argument ◽  
Divine Simplicity ◽  
Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion is a recent popular attack on theism.  Rather than rely on empirical evidence, Dawkins attempts to disprove the existence of all supernatural entities through a philosophical argument: anything complex enough to create an organism must itself have been designed.  The validity of this argument rests on Dawkins’ use of Thomas Aquinas’ First Way.  This paper will explore Aquinas’ First Way and the Doctrine of Divine Simplicity in order to better assess Dawkins’ argument. 

scholarly journals Sobre la simplicidad divina y la predicación de múltiples atributos en Avicena y Tomás de Aquino / On Divine Simplicity and the Predication of Multiple Attributes in Avicenna and Thomas Aquinas

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 147
Author(s):  
Luis Xavier LÓPEZ-FARJEAT
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Divine Simplicity ◽  
Summa Theologiae ◽  
Divine Attributes ◽  
Multiple Attributes ◽  
The Way

In In I Sent., d. 2, q. 1, aa. 1-3 Thomas Aquinas deals with divine simplicity and the predication of the divine attributes. There, he seems to take some distance from Avicenna, specifically when Avicenna avers that God lacks a quiddity. However, in the Summa theologiae Aquinas assumes, as he previously does both in In I Sent., d. 8, q. 1, a. 1 and in De ente et essentia, that there is an identity between the essentia/quiddity and the esse in God, while this statement would also be held by Avicenna. I will show how back to the Commentary on the Sentences Aquinas has detected the existing tension between the two thesis held by Avicenna, and I will also analyze the way in which he addresses both these theses.

Divine Simplicity and the Grammar of God-talk: Comments on Hughes, Tapp, and Schärtl

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-104
Author(s):  
Otto Muck SJ
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Divine Simplicity ◽  
Divine Attributes ◽  
Adequate Understanding ◽  
First Cause ◽  
Different Parts ◽  
Simplicity Of God

Different opinions about the simplicity of God may be connected with different understandings of how abstract terms are used to name the properties which are affirmed of a being. If these terms are taken to signify parts of that being, this being is not a simple one. Thomas Aquinas, who attributes essence, existence and perfections to God, nevertheless thinks that these are not different parts of God. When essence, existence and perfections are attributed to God, they all denominate the same, the Being of the first cause. For Aquinas, this is a consequence of his way of introducing the language about God by basing it upon the philosophical ways leading to God as first cause. Awareness of this connection between Divine attributes and the arguments for God’s existence is crucial for an adequate understanding of Aquinas’ position.

‘Counsel, Comfort, and Conscience’ in More’s Letters to Fellow Prisoner Nicholas Wilson

Moreana ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (Number 176) (1) ◽  
pp. 49-64
Author(s):  
John F. Boyle
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Summa Theologiae ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
Tower Of London

This is a study of the two letters of Thomas More to Nicholas Wilson writ-ten while the two men were imprisoned in the Tower of London. The Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation illuminates the role of comfort and counsel in the two letters. An article of Thomas Aquinas’ Summa theologiae is used to probe More’s understanding of conscience in the letters.

The Ethics of Natural Law according to Thomas Aquinas

Verbum ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-368
Author(s):  
Dalia Marija Stancienė
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
Thomas Aquinas
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document