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    Carmelics

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

    It is not the case that Aquinas, Maimonides, and Avicenna converge on simplicity as the only coherent account of an uncaused first cause.

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

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Simplicity may be incoherent: how can a simple being possess distinct divine attributes (justice, mercy, knowledge) without composition?
      ?

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    • 2.These thinkers disagree significantly on simplicity's scope—Avicenna's essence-existence distinction suggests composition Aquinas rejects.
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    • 3.A simple, unchanging being cannot have knowledge of changing contingent facts without composition or potentiality, contradicting simplicity doctrine.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Composition requires explanation: any entity with parts needs a cause explaining why those parts unite rather than remain separate.
      ?

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    • 2.An uncaused cause cannot depend on external explanation, so internal composition would require self-explanation, creating infinite regress.
      ?

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    • 3.Aquinas, Maimonides, and Avicenna explicitly identify simplicity as necessary to avoid the first cause being contingent on its own components.
      ?

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