An Argument from Divine Beauty Against Divine Simplicity

Topoi 36 (4):657-664 (2017)
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Abstract

Some versions of the doctrine of divine simplicity imply that God lacks really differentiated parts. I present a new argument against these views based on divine beauty. The argument proceeds as follows: God is beautiful. If God is beautiful, then this beauty arises from some structure. If God’s beauty arises from a structure, then God possesses really differentiated parts. If these premises are true, then divine simplicity is false. I argue for each of the argument’s premises and defend it against objections, including an objection based on analogical predication, and an objection that supposes that God is simple while appearing complex.

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Matthew Baddorf
Walters State Community College

Citations of this work

9 God and Perfect Beauty.Peter Forrest - 2024 - In Mirosław Szatkowski (ed.), Ontology of Divinity. Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 195-220.
Omni-beauty as a divine attribute.Robson Jon - 2019 - Religious Studies 55 (1):55-75.
Ontology of Divinity.Mirosław Szatkowski (ed.) - 2024 - Boston: De Gruyter.
God and the grounding of morality.David James Redmond - 2018 - Dissertation, University of Iowa

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References found in this work

Confessions.R. S. Augustine & Pine-Coffin - 2019 - Hackett Publishing Company.
Summa Theologica.Thomasn D. Aquinas - 1273 - Hayes Barton Press. Edited by Steven M. Cahn.
The Metaphysics of Beauty.Nick Zangwill - 2001 - Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

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