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    God is the simplest kind of person there can be. — Carmelics
    Home/Natural Theology
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    God is the simplest kind of person there can be.

    Natural Theology
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.A person is a being with power, knowledge, and freedom.
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    • 2.In God these properties are infinite.
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    • 3.Having infinite properties is simpler than having properties with limits.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Simplicity in scientific theory applies to postulated entities within a framework of natural law, not to foundational ontological posits.
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    • 2.Swinburne's inference from 'infinite is simpler than finite' borrows Occam's razor from empirical methodology and misapplies it to metaphysical theology.
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    • 3.A being with literally unlimited power, knowledge, and freedom is not a limiting case of personhood but a qualitative departure from it, making simplicity comparisons category-inappropriate.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Aquinas's doctrine of divine simplicity entails that God has no parts, properties, or distinctions, making 'infinite properties' an incoherent description of God.
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    • 2.If God genuinely has infinite power, knowledge, and freedom as distinct attributes, God is metaphysically complex in precisely the sense classical theists like Aquinas sought to deny.
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    Topics

    Natural Theology

    Related

    A being with literally unlimited power, knowledge, and freedom is not a limiting...A person is a being with power, knowledge, and freedom.Aquinas's doctrine of divine simplicity entails that God has no parts, propertie...Having infinite properties is simpler than having properties with limits.
    +5 moreShow less
    If God genuinely has infinite power, knowledge, and freedom as distinct attribut...In God these properties are infinite.It is always simpler to postulate infinite or zero degrees of some property than...Simplicity in scientific theory applies to postulated entities within a framewor...Swinburne's inference from 'infinite is simpler than finite' borrows Occam's raz...

    Similar

    Philosophy can prove the simplicity of God.77%The First is simple, and its simplicity constrains the only possible w...76%A person is a being with power, knowledge, and freedom.76%The essence of the simple being is simple and indivisible76%

    Source

    AI-extracted3/3 agreementValid
    SEP: cosmological-argument
    Swinburne 1983: 385
    View source passageHide passage
    Moreover, God is the simplest kind of person there can be because a person is a being with power (to do intentional actions), knowledge, and freedom (to choose, uncaused, which actions to do), and in God these properties are infinite, and having infinite properties is simpler than having properties with limits, as humans do. “It is always simpler to postulate infinite or zero degrees of some property than a certain precise finite value of it” (Swinburne 1983: 385). Furthermore, God engages in simple causation, that is, causation by simple intention. Swinburne concludes that although the prior ...
    Extraction notes

    Validity: The passage explicitly presents Swinburne's argument that God is the simplest kind of person because a person has power, knowledge, and freedom, these are infinite in God, and infinite properties are simpler than finite limited ones, directly supporting the conclusion with the stated premises.

    Confidence: Clearly stated argument by Swinburne.

    Details

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