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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    God is uniquely unique—unique not as one of a kind, but i... — Carmelics
    Home/Divine Attributes
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    God is uniquely unique—unique not as one of a kind, but in transcending the distinction between kind and member of a kind.

    Divine Attributes
    ?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.God is unique in his mode of property-possession.
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    • 2.God is unique in his mode of existence.
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    • 3.God is unique in his modal status.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Any intelligible claim of uniqueness presupposes a conceptual framework of kinds within which uniqueness is defined.
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    • 2.An entity that genuinely transcends the kind/member distinction cannot coherently be said to be 'unique' in any meaningful sense.
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    • 3.The claim thus collapses into self-referential incoherence, using categorical language to deny the applicability of categorical language.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Aquinas's own doctrine of analogical predication concedes that divine attributes are neither univocal nor equivocal but analogical.
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    • 2.Analogy requires some structural similarity between the divine and creaturely cases, implying God participates in at least a loose common framework of reference.
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    • 3.The assertion that God transcends the kind/member distinction therefore contradicts the very analogical method invoked to make divine-attribute claims intelligible.
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    Divine Attributes

    Related

    An entity that genuinely transcends the kind/member distinction cannot coherentl...Analogy requires some structural similarity between the divine and creaturely ca...Any intelligible claim of uniqueness presupposes a conceptual framework of kinds...Aquinas's own doctrine of analogical predication concedes that divine attributes...
    +6 moreShow less
    God is unique in his modal status.God is unique in his mode of existence.God is unique in his mode of property-possession.God is unique in his very mode of uniqueness.The assertion that God transcends the kind/member distinction therefore contradi...The claim thus collapses into self-referential incoherence, using categorical la...

    Similar

    God is unique in his very mode of uniqueness.86%The First is unique and has no partner or contrary83%Philosophy cannot prove the uniqueness of God.81%God is unique in his mode of existence.81%

    Source

    AI-extracted2/3 agreementValid
    SEP: divine-simplicity
    View source passageHide passage
    DDS is represented not only in classical Christian theology, but also in Jewish, Greek, and Islamic thought. It is to be understood as an affirmation of God’s absolute transcendence of creatures. God is not only radically non-anthropomorphic, but radically unlike creatures in general, not only in respect of the properties he possesses, but also in his manner of possessing them. It is not just that God has properties no creature has; the properties he has he has in a way different from the way any creature has any of its properties. God has his properties by being them. Unique in his mode of pr...
    Extraction notes

    Validity: The passage explicitly states that God is "uniquely unique" and "not unique as one of a kind, but unique in transcending the distinction between kind and member of a kind," and supports this by enumerating God's uniqueness in property-possession, existence, and modal status, culminating in the claim that God is unique in his very mode of uniqueness.

    Confidence: The passage explicitly accumulates these points to reach this conclusion.

    Details

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