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    The second god is not simple, because the second god cont... — Carmelics
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    Home/Divine Attributes
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    The second god is not simple, because the second god contains the Forms of all entities.

    Divine Attributes
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.The demiurge encompasses all Forms within itself, on the basis of Timaeus 39e7-9.
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    • 2.Containing a multiplicity of Forms entails not being simple.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.A being can contain a multiplicity of Forms while remaining simple if those Forms are identical with its essence rather than distinct parts.
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    • 2.Plotinus and later Neoplatonists argue that Nous thinks Forms not as external contents but as self-thinking thought, preserving unity.
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    • 3.Therefore, containing Forms does not entail compositeness unless Forms are ontologically distinct from the containing intellect.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Timaeus 39e7-9 describes the Demiurge contemplating Forms, not possessing them as internal constituents, leaving containment ambiguous.
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    • 2.Medieval interpreters like Aquinas distinguish between what a simple being knows and what it is, blocking the inference from cognitive content to ontological complexity.
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    Topics

    Divine AttributesTrinity

    Connections

    2 topics

    Modality & Possibility1 linkedNatural Theology1 linked

    Related

    A being can contain a multiplicity of Forms while remaining simple if those Form...Containing a multiplicity of Forms entails not being simple.Medieval interpreters like Aquinas distinguish between what a simple being knows...Plotinus and later Neoplatonists argue that Nous thinks Forms not as external co...
    +3 moreShow less
    The demiurge encompasses all Forms within itself, on the basis of Timaeus 39e7-9...Therefore, containing Forms does not entail compositeness unless Forms are ontol...Timaeus 39e7-9 describes the Demiurge contemplating Forms, not possessing them a...

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    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: numenius
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    Numenius faces two challenges. First, how can the first God be the ultimate cause of everything, as it appears it ought to be (fr. 16.1–2, 9), if it is inert? Second how can it be simple, as Numenius has claimed, if it is, as he has also claimed, an intellect that thinks? Numenius maintains that the first or highest God, or first intellect, brings about a second one (frs. 13, 21.7), in fact the divine demiurge, and uses this second intellect as an instrument of its thinking (fr. 22.1–2). It is
    Extraction notes

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

    Details

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