But we cannot say this about God , whom we have seen to be the first cause . Neither then can we say that God's existence is other than his nature . Secondly , forms and natures are realized by existing : thus , we express actual ...
Author: Saint Thomas (Aquinas)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521029100
Category: Religion
Page: 272
View: 608
Paperback reissue of one volume of the English Dominicans' Latin/English edition of Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae.The argument is used a number of times in the commentary on the Sentences to show that God alone is existence while all other things are composed of their nature and of the existence they acquired from him , again with occasional ...
Author: Joseph Owens
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 0873954017
Category: Religion
Page: 312
View: 785
This book puts before the reader a succinct and philosophically valid interpretation of St. Thomas Aquinas' arguments for the existence of God by a modern, historically grounded interpreter of his thought. Father Joseph Owens is well known for the exacting care with which he prepares his articles and the solid scholarly apparatus with which he supports them. His knowledge of Greek, Latin, Aristotelian, as well as the Thomistic corpus is profound, and he is conversant with the various interpretative traditions within Aristotelianism and Thomism in ancient, medieval, and modern times in their appropriate languages. This volume will challenge the reader, yet it includes everything to help comprehend the position of St. Thomas Aquinas on this central issue." Reference Reviews "All of these essays show sophistication and deserve wide attention. Common objections to the theistic arguments are considered and logical proofs are helpfully provided when appropriate.
Author: William Lane Craig
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1444308343
Category: Philosophy
Page: 704
View: 187
With the help of in-depth essays from some of the world's leadingphilosophers, The Blackwell Companion to NaturalTheology explores the nature and existence of God through humanreason and evidence from the natural world. Provides in-depth and cutting-edge treatment of naturaltheology's main arguments Includes contributions from first-rate philosophers well knownfor their work on the relevant topics Updates relevant arguments in light of the most current,state-of-the-art philosophical and scientific discussions Stands in useful contrast and opposition to the arguments ofthe 'new atheists'And that will conclude the argument of Part One . Part Two will , then , be concerned with the nature of the divine unknowability , for what reason could know about God is principally that if it is indeed God that it knows , then what ...
Author: Denys Turner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521602564
Category: History
Page: 296
View: 607
The proposition that the existence of God is demonstrable by rational argument is doubted by nearly all philosophical opinion today and is thought by most Christian theologians to be incompatible with Christian faith. This book argues that, on the contrary, there are reasons of faith why in principle the existence of God should be thought rationally demonstrable and that it is worthwhile revisiting the theology of Thomas Aquinas to see why this is so. The book further suggests that philosophical objections to proofs of God's existence rely upon an attenuated and impoverished conception of reason which theologians of all monotheistic traditions might wish to reject. Denys Turner proposes that on a broader and deeper conception of it, human rationality is open to the 'sacramental shape' of creation as such and in its exercise of rational proof of God it in some way participates in that sacramentality of all things.They saw their science as a means of uncovering traces of God's handiwork in the universe. ... However, even the most atheistic scientist accepts as an act of faith the existence of a lawlike order in nature that is at least in part ...
Author: A. Driessen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9789401154284
Category: Science
Page: 227
View: 829
On January 22, 1990, the late John Bell held at CERN (European Laboratory for Particle Physics), Geneva a seminar organized by the Center of Quantum Philosophy, that at this time was an association of scientists interested in the interpretation of quantum mechanics. In this seminar Bell presented once again his famous theorem. Thereafter a discussion took place in which not only physical but also highly speculative epistemological and philosophical questions were vividly debated. The list of topics included: assumption of free will in Bell's theorem, the understanding of mind, the relationship between the mathematical and the physical world, the existence of unobservable causes and the limits of human knowledge in mathematics and physics. Encouraged by this stimulating discussion some of the participants decided to found an Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (lIS) to promote philosoph ical and interdisciplinary reflection on the advances of science. Meanwhile the lIS has associated its activities with the Swiss foundation, Fondation du Leman, and the Dutch foundation, Stichting Instudo, registered in Geneva and Amsterdam, respectively. With its activities the lIS intends to strengthen the unity between the professional activities in science and the reflection on fun damental philosophical questions. In addition the interdisciplinary approach is expected to give a contribution to the progress of science and the socio economic development. At present three working groups are active within the lIS, i. e. : - the Center for Quantum Philosophy, - the Wealth Creation and Sustainable Development Group, - the Neural Science Group.... arguments for God's existence , favouring that from design to that from innate knowledge . In Acronius , this process is carried still further and the natural knowledge of God is drawn entirely from the order discernible in nature ...
Author: John Platt
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004477018
Category: History
Page: 259
View: 635
to God's Nature The previous chapters in this volume have been concerned with a matter of fact : whether God exists . In dealing with this , they have addressed either the metaphysical buttressing of proofs for God's existence ...
Author: Gaven Kerr
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 9783868382716
Category: Philosophy
Page: 290
View: 997
The twentieth century witnessed an explosion of scholarly interest in the philosophical thought of St Thomas Aquinas. One of the fruits of that Thomistic revival was an uncovering of St Thomas’s original contributions to many areas of philosophy, not least metaphysics. In the twenty first century, there has been renewed interest in Aquinas’s argumentation for the existence of God. This interest flows from an engagement with the work of the twentieth century scholars in presenting Aquinas’s own characteristic metaphysics. What we have seen is an interpretation and presentation of Aquinas’s proofs for God’s existence in terms of Thomas’s unique insights into the nature of being and the metaphysical structure of reality. Gaven Kerr has been one such author who has contributed in numerous ways to the revival of interest in Aquinas’s argumentation for the existence of God and its metaphysical buttressing. Over the last ten years Kerr has published articles on Aquinas’s various proofs for God’s existence and the metaphysics standing behind those proofs; this volume draws together those articles. Herein are included Kerr’s articles on per se ordered series, existential inertia, the proof in De Ente et Essentia, the argument from motion in the Summa Contra Gentiles, and the five ways themselves. Kerr has also written two new articles for this volume: one on the possibility of demonstrating God’s existence, and the other on how to move from God’s existence to God’s nature. This volume offers an overview of Kerr’s thinking over the last decade on Aquinas’s thought on the existence of God.Hence, to say that possibilities and necessities are grounded in ideas in the divine intellect entails that they are grounded in God's nature. Now, Leftow is willing to allow that necessary truths of pure logic and mathematics are ...
Author: Edward Feser
Publisher: Ignatius Press
ISBN: 9781681497808
Category: Religion
Page: 336
View: 939
Five Proofs of the Existence of GodÊprovides a detailed, updated exposition and defense of five of the historically most important (but in recent years largely neglected) philosophical proofs of God's existence: the Aristotelian proof, the Neo-Platonic proof, the Augustinian proof, the Thomistic proof, and the Rationalist proof. Ê This book also offers a detailed treatment of each of the key divine attributes -- unity, simplicity, eternity, omnipotence, omniscience, perfect goodness, and so forth -- showing that they must be possessed by the God whose existence is demonstrated by the proofs.Ê Finally, it answers at length all of the objections that have been leveled against these proofs. Ê This book offers as ambitious and complete a defense of traditional natural theology as is currently in print.Ê Its aim is to vindicate the view of the greatest philosophers of the past -- thinkers like Aristotle, Plotinus, Augustine, Aquinas, Leibniz, and many others -- that the existence of God can be established with certainty by way of purely rational arguments.Ê It thereby serves as a refutation both of atheism and of the fideism which gives aid and comfort to atheism. ÊThis is not so much a matter for treatises on God as it is for a treatise on human action. ... final that an inquiry into the existence of God advises discussion on the question taken up in tracts studying the nature of the human person ...
Author: Robert Geis
Publisher: University Press of America
ISBN: 9780761849131
Category: Philosophy
Page: 238
View: 627
The existence of God raises many questions. Geis' work addresses queries that arise from the gratuitous claims of empiricism in Hume, unfounded assumptions in Kant, presumptions of science, and the improbabilities it identifies in Darwinism. By focusing on number and proportion as intrinsic to material and atomic constituency, any argument from chance as instrumental to the cosmos' emergence and sustainability becomes invalidated. The arguments from contingency and the nature of intellection provide more clarity than the ratio Anselmi for acknowledging a transcendent causality, taking the reader to the problem of evil and present-day nihilism. These concepts present great, but not insuperable, difficulty for theism. Geis argues that evil, when one uses it as a means to the betterment of oneself and the world, takes on the rTle commensurate with the doctrine of an omnibenevolent deity. Accordingly, one can use evil as a means to a greater understanding of God, Providence, and eternal destiny.