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    If divine simplicity requires God to be identical to His ... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→No person is a property instance—not God, not me, not Socrates.

    If divine simplicity requires God to be identical to His own nature, and natures are abstract property-like entities, then God's mode of existence may be sui generis and not governed by the concrete/abstract distinction that applies to creatures like Socrates.

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    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Creatures depend on essences distinct from their existence, but God's aseity requires identity of essence and existence, establishing categorical difference.
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    • 2.Abstract entities (like numbers) cannot causally act or possess will, yet God causally creates. So God cannot be identical to abstract properties in the ordinary sense.
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    • 3.The concrete/abstract distinction presupposes mereological composition and temporal dependence—features inapplicable to a necessary, non-composite being.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.If God transcends the concrete/abstract distinction entirely, the claim becomes metaphysically unintelligible—we lack conceptual resources to understand what 'sui generis existence' means.
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    • 2.Divine simplicity itself relies on the coherence of identity claims (God = His nature), but invoking a special mode of existence to explain this just postpones the problem rather than solving it.
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    • 3.If God's existence is genuinely sui generis, then the premise that 'natures are abstract' may not apply to God's nature, undermining the initial argument's logical structure.
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    Key Terms

    Concrete
    Concrete refers to a building material made by mixing cement, water, sand, and gravel together. When these ingredients combine, they harden into a strong, durable substance that can be shaped into almost any form before it sets. Concrete is one of the most commonly used materials in construction because it's affordable, long-lasting, and can be used for everything from sidewalks and bridges to buildings and dams.
    Creatures(theology and metaphysics)
    In philosophical and theological contexts, living beings—particularly used here to mean individual entities like individual people (Socrates being an example).
    Identical to(philosophical logic)
    Being exactly the same thing, not just similar or equivalent, but literally one and the same entity.
    Nature (in philosophy)(metaphysics and essence)
    The essential characteristics or defining features that make something what it is—for example, having reason is part of human nature.
    Property-like entities(metaphysics)
    Things similar to qualities or characteristics that exist as abstract ideas, like 'redness' or 'justice' as standalone concepts.
    Socrates
    Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher who lived in Athens around 470-399 BCE and is considered one of the most influential thinkers in Western history. He didn't write books himself, but taught by asking people questions to help them discover truth and examine their own beliefs—a method now called the "Socratic method" that's still used in education today. He was eventually put on trial and executed by the Athenian government, becoming a martyr for free thinking and the pursuit of wisdom.
    abstract(in Zalta's definition, contrasted with primitivism)
    Not merely the negation of being concrete; rather, abstract objects are those that could not possibly be concrete (e.g., numbers, sets)
    divine simplicity(Central to both Malebranche's theodicy and his epistemology)
    A divine attribute functioning as a side constraint on God's actions, requiring God to act through simple means.
    mode of existence(Clarke's post-1719 terminology, per Thomas 2018)
    A property that can be ascribed both to God and to God's attributes, unlike an attribute, which cannot be ascribed to another attribute.
    sui generis(Used to characterize goodness if naturalistic definitions all fail.)
    A notion that can only be understood in its own terms — in this context, goodness can only be understood in evaluative, not empirical or naturalistic, terms.

    Connections

    1 topic

    Divine Attributes1 linked

    Related

    Abstract entities (like numbers) cannot causally act or possess will, yet God ca...Creatures depend on essences distinct from their existence, but God's aseity req...Divine simplicity itself relies on the coherence of identity claims (God = His n...If God transcends the concrete/abstract distinction entirely, the claim becomes ...

    Details

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    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
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    +3 moreShow less
    If God's existence is genuinely sui generis, then the premise that 'natures are ...No person is a property instance—not God, not me, not Socrates.The concrete/abstract distinction presupposes mereological composition and tempo...