Aquinas on Predication and Future Contingents. A Reply to Costa
In his paper “Aquinas, Geach, and Existence”, D. Costa maintains that Aquinas’ solution to the puzzle of future contingent events entails that future contingent entities already exist (in God’s perspective). This is tantamount to state that Aquinas endorsed a form of eternalism, since he maintained...
| Published in: | European journal for philosophy of religion |
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| Subtitles: | Special Issue - Evolutionary Research on Morality and Theological Ethics |
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Innsbruck in cooperation with the John Hick Centre for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Birmingham
[2020]
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| In: |
European journal for philosophy of religion
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274
/ Being
/ Future
/ Evidence of truth
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| RelBib Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism CB Christian life; spirituality NBC Doctrine of God |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | In his paper “Aquinas, Geach, and Existence”, D. Costa maintains that Aquinas’ solution to the puzzle of future contingent events entails that future contingent entities already exist (in God’s perspective). This is tantamount to state that Aquinas endorsed a form of eternalism, since he maintained that past, present and future timelessly exist in God’s sight. I object that Aquinas’ texts are also compatible with another reading. In any statement of the form “S will be P”, the verb “will be” simply states the truth of the predicative link between S and P, not the existence of either S or P. In other words, I take the verb “to be” occurring in sentences describing future events as having the meaning of the “esse ut verum” (“being as true”). |
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| Reference: | Kritik von "Aquinas, Geach, and existence (2019)"
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: European journal for philosophy of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.24204/ejpr.v12i3.3346 |