God, Simplicity, and the Consolatio Philosophiae

American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 78 (2):225-246 (2004)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

One of the primary concerns of the Consolatio is to draw out many of the paradoxical conclusions concerning the relation between creation and God that stem from the premises of classical creationist metaphysics, and attempt to solve them. Once one accepts that God does exist, is omnipotent, omniscient, and simple, it becomes viciously difficult to explain: (1) how anything contrary to God’s will—evil—can exist; (2) how any cause can act independently of God’s will—human freedom; and (3) how “independent causes” can relate to God through their own agency—human prayer. This naturally begs the question: why should we accept the premises of classical creationist metaphysics? This paper addresses this question by analyzing and defending two of the central premises of Boethius’s version of classical creationist metaphysics as they are addressed in Consolatio III,10: (a) that God exists, and (b) that God is simple

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

God Laughs: And Other Surprising Things You Never Knew About Him.Elmer L. Towns - 2009 - Regal Books. Edited by Charles Billingsley.
Simplicity and Creation.Timothy O’Connor - 1999 - Faith and Philosophy 16 (3):405-412.
Aquinas, Divine Simplicity, and Divine Freedom.W. Matthews Grant - 2003 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 77:129-144.
Who is God?Carolyn Nystrom - 1993 - Chicago: Moody Press. Edited by Eira Reeves.
The Relation of God and Being in Descartes.Ilyas Altuner - 2012 - Igdir University Journal of Social Sciences (2): 33-51.
Should We Want God to Exist?Guy Kahane - 2010 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 82 (3):674-696.
Truth-Making and Divine Eternity.Kevin Timpe - 2007 - Religious Studies 43 (3):299 - 315.

Analytics

Added to PP
2011-01-09

Downloads
33 (#419,244)

6 months
1 (#1,042,085)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

Boethius and the Causal Direction Strategy.Jonathan Evans - 2018 - Ancient Philosophy 38 (1):167-185.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references