Norman Kretzmann
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199246540
- eISBN:
- 9780191597879
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199246548.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
The Metaphysics of Creation is a continuation of the project begun in The Metaphysics of Theism, moving the focus to the second book of Aquinas's Summa contra gentiles. Building upon his ...
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The Metaphysics of Creation is a continuation of the project begun in The Metaphysics of Theism, moving the focus to the second book of Aquinas's Summa contra gentiles. Building upon his account of God's existence and nature, Aquinas argues that the existence of things other than God must be explained by divine creation out of nothing. Arguments follow to identify God's motivation for creating, to defend the possibility of a beginningless universe, and to explain the origin of species. Aquinas focuses exclusively on creatures with intellects, with the result that more than half of his natural theology of creation constitutes a philosophy of mind.Less
The Metaphysics of Creation is a continuation of the project begun in The Metaphysics of Theism, moving the focus to the second book of Aquinas's Summa contra gentiles. Building upon his account of God's existence and nature, Aquinas argues that the existence of things other than God must be explained by divine creation out of nothing. Arguments follow to identify God's motivation for creating, to defend the possibility of a beginningless universe, and to explain the origin of species. Aquinas focuses exclusively on creatures with intellects, with the result that more than half of his natural theology of creation constitutes a philosophy of mind.
Norman Kretzmann
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199246533
- eISBN:
- 9780191597886
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019924653X.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
The Metaphysics of Theism presents an explanation and evaluation of Aquinas's natural theology, the paradigm of which is the first book of the Summa contra gentiles. Natural theology ...
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The Metaphysics of Theism presents an explanation and evaluation of Aquinas's natural theology, the paradigm of which is the first book of the Summa contra gentiles. Natural theology provides the traditional and still central means of integrating philosophy with (some of) theology. What makes this enterprise natural theology is its forgoing of appeals to revelation as evidence for the truth of propositions. What makes it natural theology is its agenda to investigate, by means of analysis and argument, not only the existence and nature of God but also the relation of everything else—especially human nature and behaviour—to God, considered as reality's first principle. Natural theology still offers the best route by which philosophers can, as philosophers, approach theological propositions. The one presented in this book undertakes to show that there must be a necessary being that constitutes the ultimate explanation of the universe.Less
The Metaphysics of Theism presents an explanation and evaluation of Aquinas's natural theology, the paradigm of which is the first book of the Summa contra gentiles. Natural theology provides the traditional and still central means of integrating philosophy with (some of) theology. What makes this enterprise natural theology is its forgoing of appeals to revelation as evidence for the truth of propositions. What makes it natural theology is its agenda to investigate, by means of analysis and argument, not only the existence and nature of God but also the relation of everything else—especially human nature and behaviour—to God, considered as reality's first principle. Natural theology still offers the best route by which philosophers can, as philosophers, approach theological propositions. The one presented in this book undertakes to show that there must be a necessary being that constitutes the ultimate explanation of the universe.
William Rowe
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199603718
- eISBN:
- 9780191729287
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199603718.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter argues that the requirements for absolute moral perfection and freedom that theists traditionally ascribe to God cannot be met, and hence that traditional theism should be rejected. ...
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This chapter argues that the requirements for absolute moral perfection and freedom that theists traditionally ascribe to God cannot be met, and hence that traditional theism should be rejected. Robert Adams’ contention that God need not create the best world God can is explored and rejected, as is the claim by Norman Kretzmann (following Aquinas) that the fact that God cannot create the best possible world (because there is no such world) does not threaten God’s moral perfection. On the contrary, this chapter argues that if God creates a world but could create a better one, then it is possible for there to be a being greater than God; and so the fact that there is no best possible world and that for any possible world there is a better one means that we should conclude that God does not exist.Less
This chapter argues that the requirements for absolute moral perfection and freedom that theists traditionally ascribe to God cannot be met, and hence that traditional theism should be rejected. Robert Adams’ contention that God need not create the best world God can is explored and rejected, as is the claim by Norman Kretzmann (following Aquinas) that the fact that God cannot create the best possible world (because there is no such world) does not threaten God’s moral perfection. On the contrary, this chapter argues that if God creates a world but could create a better one, then it is possible for there to be a being greater than God; and so the fact that there is no best possible world and that for any possible world there is a better one means that we should conclude that God does not exist.
William E. Mann
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199370764
- eISBN:
- 9780199373635
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199370764.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Moral Philosophy
A variation on Plato’s Euthyphro dilemma asks whether God loves right actions because they are right or whether right actions are right because God loves them. Theological objectivism chooses the ...
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A variation on Plato’s Euthyphro dilemma asks whether God loves right actions because they are right or whether right actions are right because God loves them. Theological objectivism chooses the first alternative; theological subjectivism chooses the second. There is a parallel dilemma concerning the status of necessary truths: does God affirm them because they are necessarily true, or are they necessarily true because God affirms them? Call the first alternative platonism and the second cartesianism. Norman Kretzmann argued that it follows from God’s simplicity that the difference between objectivism and subjectivism vanishes. This chapter examines the two dilemmas, arguing that Kretzmann has not dissolved the dispute between objectivism and subjectivism and that similar maneuvers applied to the platonism-cartesianism dispute will not dispel it. The chapter suggests that inasmuch as the doctrine of God’s simplicity identifies God’s knowledge with God’s will, it casts the dilemmas in a different light.Less
A variation on Plato’s Euthyphro dilemma asks whether God loves right actions because they are right or whether right actions are right because God loves them. Theological objectivism chooses the first alternative; theological subjectivism chooses the second. There is a parallel dilemma concerning the status of necessary truths: does God affirm them because they are necessarily true, or are they necessarily true because God affirms them? Call the first alternative platonism and the second cartesianism. Norman Kretzmann argued that it follows from God’s simplicity that the difference between objectivism and subjectivism vanishes. This chapter examines the two dilemmas, arguing that Kretzmann has not dissolved the dispute between objectivism and subjectivism and that similar maneuvers applied to the platonism-cartesianism dispute will not dispel it. The chapter suggests that inasmuch as the doctrine of God’s simplicity identifies God’s knowledge with God’s will, it casts the dilemmas in a different light.