Utrum verum et simplex convertantur: The Simplicity of God in Aquinas and Swinburne

This paper explores Thomas Aquinas' and Richard Swinburne's doctrines of simplicity in the context of their philosophical theologies. Both say that God is simple. However, Swinburne takes simplicity as a property of the theistic hypothesis, while for Aquinas simplicity is a property of God...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal for philosophy of religion
Main Author: Tapp, Christian 1975- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: University of Innsbruck in cooperation with the John Hick Centre for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Birmingham [2018]
In: European journal for philosophy of religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274 / Swinburne, Richard 1934- / Simplicity of God
RelBib Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
NBC Doctrine of God
VB Hermeneutics; Philosophy
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
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Description
Summary:This paper explores Thomas Aquinas' and Richard Swinburne's doctrines of simplicity in the context of their philosophical theologies. Both say that God is simple. However, Swinburne takes simplicity as a property of the theistic hypothesis, while for Aquinas simplicity is a property of God himself. For Swinburne, simpler theories are ceteris paribus more likely to be true; for Aquinas, simplicity and truth are properties of God which, in a certain way, coincide - because God is metaphysically simple. Notwithstanding their different approaches, some unreckoned parallels between their thoughts are brought to light.
Reference:Kritik in "Divine Simplicity and the Grammar of God-talk (2018)"
Contains:Enthalten in: European journal for philosophy of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.24204/ejpr.v10i2.2555