Simplicity and Creation

Faith and Philosophy 16 (3):405-412 (1999)
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Abstract

According to many philosophical theologians, God is metaphysically simple: there is no real distinction among His attributes or even between attribute and existence itself. Here, I consider only one argument against the simplicity thesis. Its proponents claim that simplicity is incompatible with God’s having created another world, since simplicity entails that God is unchanging across possible worlds. For, they argue, different acts of creation involve different willings, which are distinct intrinsic states. I show that this is mistaken, by sketching an adequate account of reasons-guided activity that does not require distinct intrinsic states of willing corresponding to each possible act of creation.

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Timothy O'Connor
Indiana University, Bloomington

Citations of this work

Divine Simplicity.William F. Vallicella - 2019 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Another Look at the Modal Collapse Argument.Omar Fakhri - 2021 - European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 13 (1):1-23.
Simplicity and aseity.Jeffrey E. Brower - 2008 - In Thomas P. Flint & Michael Rea (eds.), The Oxford handbook of philosophical theology. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 105-28.
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