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    Carmelics

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
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    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Duns Scotus argued that formal distinctions obtain within a simple being, meaning causal and essential attributes can be formally distinct without introducing composition.

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

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.If formal distinctions obtain in reality, they must ground actual differences; but denying real composition leaves unclear what grounds the distinction.
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    • 2.The notion of 'formal distinction' appears to equivocate between conceptual distinctions and ontological ones, obscuring rather than resolving the problem.
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    • 3.If attributes are truly distinct formally, causation between them becomes unintelligible; simple identity avoids this problem more parsimoniously.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.God's simplicity requires distinguishing attributes (justice, mercy) without real composition; formal distinction enables this coherently.
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    • 2.Our concepts carve reality at joints without those joints requiring physical separation; formal distinctions respect conceptual divisions in simple beings.
      ?

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    • 3.Causal powers in simple substances differ formally (gravity vs. electromagnetism in fundamental particles) yet remain genuinely unified entities.
      ?

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