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    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
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    42
    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

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

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 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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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.The creature's happiness is valuable only insofar as it constitutes God's self-communication returning to its source, making it structurally instrumental.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.A thing that derives its entire normative weight from its relation to another end cannot be ultimate in any non-trivial sense.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 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.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 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.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.God takes both his own glory and the creature's good as ultimate aims
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 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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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.What is part of an ultimate end is itself an ultimate end, not a means to it
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

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    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.