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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
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    Topics
    42
    Angels possess a conceptual — not real — composition of p... — Carmelics
    Home/Divine Attributes
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Angels possess a conceptual — not real — composition of potency and act.

    Divine Attributes
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Angels possess an intermediary nature, falling between purely potential beings and the purely actual First Being (God).
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    • 2.Because angels are assimilated to something higher and more actual and to something lower and more potential, actuality and potentiality are present in them.
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    • 3.This presence of actuality and potentiality is grounded in relational standing — being related to what is higher and what is lower — not in any real internal composition.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Aquinas argues angels are composed of act and potency really, not merely conceptually, since their essence is really distinct from their esse.
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    • 2.A merely conceptual composition cannot ground the genuine metaphysical finitude and contingency that distinguishes angels from God in se.
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    • 3.If potency and act differ only conceptually in angels, angels would be immune to genuine accidental change, which contradicts their capacity for intellectual development and free choice.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Relational standing to higher and lower beings is an extrinsic denomination and cannot by itself constitute an intrinsic metaphysical structure within a substance.
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    • 2.Aristotle's hylomorphic framework requires that act and potency designate real, intrinsic principles of a thing, not merely its position in an ontological hierarchy.
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    • 3.A being whose composition is only conceptual lacks a real internal ground for its limitation, making its distinction from God arbitrary rather than metaphysically necessary.
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    Divine Attributes

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    Related

    A being whose composition is only conceptual lacks a real internal ground for it...A merely conceptual composition cannot ground the genuine metaphysical finitude ...Angels possess an intermediary nature, falling between purely potential beings a...Aquinas argues angels are composed of act and potency really, not merely concept...
    +5 moreShow less
    Aristotle's hylomorphic framework requires that act and potency designate real, ...Because angels are assimilated to something higher and more actual and to someth...If potency and act differ only conceptually in angels, angels would be immune to...Relational standing to higher and lower beings is an extrinsic denomination and ...This presence of actuality and potentiality is grounded in relational standing —...

    Similar

    There is no act-potency distinction in God; God is actus purus, pure a...78%God is free of matter-form composition, potency-act composition, and e...76%Angels are not composed of essence and existence in a real sense, nor ...75%Things or substances must be ideas in a divine, non-human mind.74%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: godfrey
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    Godfrey proposes a different kind of act-potency “composition” in order to meet one argument in support of real distinction between essence and existence. If, as Aquinas, Giles, and Godfrey all hold, the angels of Christianity are purely spiritual and not composed of (spiritual) matter and form, then it seems that they must be composed of essence and existence. Otherwise they would be perfectly simple and equal to God. Godfrey responds that one and the same being, even if purely spiritual, may b
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit