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    Carmelics

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
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    42
    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Aquinas argues in Summa Theologiae I.14 that God's intellect and essence are identical, making divine knowledge coextensive with all being itself.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.If God's knowledge is identical to God's essence, then God cannot know counterfactuals (unrealized possibilities) without them being real parts of God.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Identity of intellect and essence seems to conflate epistemology with ontology—knowing X does not require X to literally be part of the knower's being.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.The claim makes God's knowledge of evil identical to God's essence, which contradicts the principle that God's essence is purely good and free of evil.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.If God is absolutely simple (no composition of parts), then God's knowing faculty cannot differ from God's essence without introducing real distinction.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If God is truly infinite and omniscient, divine knowledge must encompass all possible and actual beings without limitation or external dependence.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Being itself is the ultimate ground of intelligibility; God's self-knowledge as infinite being naturally includes knowledge of all derivative beings.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

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