Question About the Divine Simplicity

  • Thread starter Thread starter lbadiola
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

lbadiola

Guest
Because of the Divine Simplicity, is God identical to His ideas? Note, by ideas, I mean the Platonic forms. I ask because I’m an undergraduate at Arizona State University who is doing a project on Aquinas and Evolution to finish my degree.
 
I say Yes, but His ideas are not identical to the Platonic forms. The Platonic forms are eternal ideas existing independently of God, whereas God’s ideas are identical to His essence. See Summa Theologiae, Part I, Q. 15, Art. 1, Reply to Obj.3.
 
You see, in my project I’m arguing that evolutionary theory and the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas are compatible. One of the arguments that I’ll use to show that this is the case is by saying that evolution is an idea in God’s mind. Then I’ll appeal to the Divine Simplicity to show that God can create using evolution.
 
Well, good luck then. I personally am not a big fan of evolution, not even with respect to the human body. I believe in the God-driven evolution of plants and lower animals. But when it comes to man, I believe that Adam and Eve were especially created and placed by God in Paradise, just as the Bible said. I can’t imagine Adam growing up with hominoids that couldn’t talk, and dating non-human girlfriends before meeting Eve. God knew that Adam would not be happy that way. He knew that in the animal kingdom there was no suitable companion for him so He also had to create Eve in a special way. The Bible said that Adam was talking familiarly with God in Paradise, which means that language was also a gift from God. Adam and Eve did not have to learn it from scratch.
 
The concept of divine simplicity just means God is not a composite. Ie. He has no parts. If He was composed of parts then He would require an explanation for how those parts came together. Which would require an explanation involving a cause outside of himself. But since He is by definition the First Cause or Principle He can not have a cause outside himself and still be the First Cause.

Thus, for instance, God or the First Cause can not be a composite of existence and essence. Instead, He is the only being in which his essence is His existence. Everything else has existence given to it and not part of its inherent nature. So you can say God is existence but not simply has existence.

So I guess by extension you could say God doesn’t merely have ideas but is His ideas. Of course Him being eternal and outside of time, He has them all at once, without change.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top