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    The creature's happiness is an ultimate end, not merely a... — Carmelics
    Home/Divine Attributes
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    The creature's happiness is an ultimate end, not merely a means to God's glory

    Divine Attributes
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.God takes both his own glory and the creature's good as ultimate aims
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    • 2.The creature's happiness is included in God's ultimate end, which is the communication of his internal glory outward ('ad extra')
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    • 3.What is part of an ultimate end is itself an ultimate end, not a means to it
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Edwards explicitly argues in 'End of Creation' that God's ultimate end is singular: the emanation and remanation of divine fullness.
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    • 2.The creature's happiness is valuable only insofar as it constitutes God's self-communication returning to its source, making it structurally instrumental.
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    • 3.A thing that derives its entire normative weight from its relation to another end cannot be ultimate in any non-trivial sense.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Leibniz and classical theists argue that God's goodness is necessarily self-sufficient, precluding any external object—including creaturely welfare—from functioning as a co-ultimate end.
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    • 2.If creaturely happiness were genuinely ultimate for God, God's will would be partly constituted by contingent beings, compromising divine aseity as defended by Aquinas in Summa Theologiae I.19.
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    Divine Attributes

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    Related

    A thing that derives its entire normative weight from its relation to another en...Edwards explicitly argues in 'End of Creation' that God's ultimate end is singul...God takes both his own glory and the creature's good as ultimate aimsIf creaturely happiness were genuinely ultimate for God, God's will would be par...
    +4 moreShow less
    Leibniz and classical theists argue that God's goodness is necessarily self-suff...The creature's happiness is included in God's ultimate end, which is the communi...The creature's happiness is valuable only insofar as it constitutes God's self-c...What is part of an ultimate end is itself an ultimate end, not a means to it

    Similar

    The creature's happiness is included in God's ultimate end, which is t...88%The creature's happiness is part of that communication of glory, not s...88%God takes both his own glory and the creature's good as ultimate aims80%In pursuing his own glory, God also pursues the creature's good as an ...79%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: edwards
    View source passageHide passage
    In pursuing his own glory, God thus takes both himself and the creature's good as ultimate aims. Happiness consists in the knowledge and love of God, and joy in him. The creature's happiness is an ultimate end because it is included in God's ultimate end, namely, the communication of his internal glory “ad extra;” rather than being a means to God's glory, it is part of it.
    Extraction notes

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

    Details

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