This thesis presents a case for the traditional doctrine of divine simplicity by
construing it along the lines that God exists as actus purus. My formulation of divine
simplicity draws upon the medieval insight that God is what He is in virtue of what He
does in one, eternal act of will with which He is identical.
In chapter I, I survey the contemporary literature on divine simplicity. In chapter
II, I critique Alvin Plantinga??s Platonic theory of the divine attributes as formulated in
Does God Have a Nature? I contend it brings with it the cost of abandoning the doctrine
of God??s aseity, as well as a problematic understanding of the very notion of what it
means to claim that God has a particular property. In chapter III, I provide rejoinders to
all of Plantinga??s defeaters against divine simplicity. I argue that by understanding the
origin of God??s attributes to be the result of what He does, Plantinga??s two major
criticisms against divine simplicity fail.
In chapter IV, I develop a viable theory of divine simplicity, given an actus purus
conception of God, and I formulate a number of arguments supporting it. By drawing
upon the resources of action theory, I clarify, in detail, what exactly it means to claim
that God is identical with His act of will. And I demonstrate the fruitfulness of an actus
purus construal of divine simplicity by showing how it solves a large number of
problems that theists face.In the last chapter, I note some of the difficulties with my position due to its
commitment to an eternal God, and I suggest some of the ways that these problems can
be overcome. However, in addition to showing the difficulties that face my position, I
also demonstrate the rich number of implications that follow from it. As such, I seek to
demonstrate that the traditional understanding of the divine essence is something that is
worthy for theists to embrace and to explore, because it is full of truth and wisdom that
deserves to be preserved for later generations to celebrate and enjoy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/2618 |
| Date | 01 November 2005 |
| Creators | Gehring, Allen Stanley, Jr. |
| Contributors | McCann, Hugh J. |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | 496772 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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