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    Made withinDC&Austin
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    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Each divine idea is really infinite. — Carmelics
    Home/Divine Attributes
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    Each divine idea is really infinite.

    Divine Attributes
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Ideas are really identical with the Divine Nature.
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    • 2.The Divine Nature is essentially infinite and incomprehensible.
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    • 3.If X is really identical with Y, X partakes of Y's essential properties.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Divine ideas function as intentional objects of divine cognition, and intentional objects derive their properties from their representational content, not from the mental act that contains them.
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    • 2.The representational content of an idea of a finite creature (e.g., a specific triangle) is determined by the finite nature it represents, not by the infinite medium through which it is known.
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    • 3.Therefore, real identity with an infinite substrate does not entail that the idea qua representational object is itself infinite.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Aquinas establishes in Summa Theologiae I q.15 that divine ideas are properly distinguished by their relations to distinct finite creatures, introducing a real plurality of aspects within the divine intellect.
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    • 2.A genuinely infinite entity cannot be individuated or bounded by relation to finite things without contradiction, since infinity excludes the kind of limitation that permits individuating distinctions.
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    • 3.If each divine idea is really infinite, the plurality of distinct divine ideas becomes incoherent, yielding an unacceptable collapse into a single undifferentiated idea.
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    Topics

    Divine Attributes

    Connections

    2 topics

    Trinity1 linkedModality & Possibility1 linked

    Related

    A genuinely infinite entity cannot be individuated or bounded by relation to fin...Aquinas establishes in Summa Theologiae I q.15 that divine ideas are properly di...Divine ideas function as intentional objects of divine cognition, and intentiona...Ideas are really identical with the Divine Nature.
    +5 moreShow less
    If X is really identical with Y, X partakes of Y's essential properties.If each divine idea is really infinite, the plurality of distinct divine ideas b...The Divine Nature is essentially infinite and incomprehensible.The representational content of an idea of a finite creature (e.g., a specific t...Therefore, real identity with an infinite substrate does not entail that the ide...

    Similar

    A divine idea can be called both infinite and finite without contradic...92%According to its esse reale, a divine idea is infinite, being really i...86%Descartes has an idea of an infinite being.85%The Simple Essences of things are eternal divine ideas84%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: john-norris
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    One objection Norris raises concerns how the infinite can represent the finite. His answer again relies upon the thought of Suarez, whom Norris reread carefully before writing his Theories I and II. Suarez had distinguished two ways of being finite. An item can be finite according to its “esse formale” or its “esse reale” (300). If a thing is positively finite, it is limited in such a way that can never be infinite. If a thing is negatively finite, it is finite “though there be no repugnance in
    Extraction notes

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

    Details

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