Cataphatic Way : Aquinas (analogy) Flashcards
What does the cataphatic way provide ?
Ways to say positive things about God
What two perspective does Cataphatic way provide ?
Univocal and equivocal language
What is univocal language ?
Words when applied to God have the same meaning they have in their normal context/same way
E.g “God is loving” “my father is loving”
Univocal language
What is the middle way bridge of acknowledging God is other and outside universe but still using language ?
Aquinas analogy as analogies, everyday language/speech and comparing something everyone is familiar with
E.g William Paley: watchmaker analogy not literal according to Aquinas but analogical to gain understanding of God in our human language
Cataphatic way: St Thomas Aquinas : analogy
What two analogy does Aquinas use for univocal language ?
- Analogy of attribution
- Analogy of proportion
Cataphatic way: St Thomas Aquinas : analogy (univocal language)
What does analogy of attribution of Aquinas say ?
Words applied to humans are related to how words are applied to God because relaxed relationship between two sets of qualities of ‘love’ and ‘wisdom’ are reflection of quality of God
Cataphatic way: St Thomas Aquinas : analogy (univocal language)
What does Aquinas of attribution say about the qualities of love and wisdom and why they’re good ?
God has much greater love than we do so qualities in these world help to understand God because goodness reflects God who created universe
Cataphatic way: St Thomas Aquinas : analogy
What does Aquinas: analogy is attribution use example of
“If urine good, then bull is good “
Cataphatic way: St Thomas Aquinas : analogy
What does “if urine is good, then bill is good” mean for Aquinas: analogy of attribution
If creatures urine is healthy then creature that produces urine must be healthy so God created world so if Love in the world reflect God who is loving and powerful
Goodness in world = Goodness of God
Cataphatic way: St Thomas Aquinas : analogy
Critism of analogy of attribution by Aquinas
J.S MILL: nature kills, all crime men put to death, evil and suffering, so do we attribute to God too as jealous ? Or evil ?
What is equivocal language ?
Words applied to God have completely different meaning From normal use do world completely different when compared
God is loving or my father is loving is completely different
Cataphatic way: St Thomas Aquinas : analogy
Example of Aquinas of equivocal language ?
Analogy of proportion
Cataphatic way: St Thomas Aquinas : analogy
What is analogy of proper proportion (equivocal language) ?
Extent to which a being can be said to have certain properties in proportion to the type of being we are describing
Cataphatic way: St Thomas Aquinas : analogy
What example can be used for analogy of proportion by Aquinas ?
Saying a ten year old is a good footballer is different to saying an England international football player is a good footballer
Cataphatic way: St Thomas Aquinas : analogy (equivocal)
How can the example of footballer like God ?
Human is good: finite context, God is good= infinite context, God is on a much bigger scale as God is omnipotent, omniscience so same word different Context
