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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
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    Perspectives
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    42
    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that The notion of God as self-subsistent Being (both Being itself and a being) is contradictory to the discursive intellect.

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

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.Aquinas's esse subsistens does not claim Being is a being within a genus, but rather the act of existence itself without limiting essence.
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    • 2.The contradiction only arises if 'being' is univocal across God and creatures, but Aquinas explicitly rejects univocity in favor of analogical predication.
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    • 3.On an analogical account, 'Being itself subsisting' and 'a being' name the same reality under different conceptual modes without logical contradiction.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Neoplatonic henology, from Plotinus through Pseudo-Dionysius, holds that the One transcends the Being/beings distinction entirely, dissolving the dilemma's exhaustiveness.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If the discursive intellect's categories of 'Being' and 'beings' are themselves derivative of a prior principle, then the alleged contradiction is an artifact of finite cognition, not ontological fact.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Either Being is other than beings or it is not.
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    • 2.If Being is other than beings, then Being cannot itself be, which implies that God, who must be Being itself to be absolute, cannot be.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.If Being just is beings taken collectively, then God could only be a being among beings and not the absolute reality.
      ?

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    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.