God's Attributes

Question 1

meaning of essential?

Answer 1

what makes a thing what it is

Question 2

omnipotence?

Answer 2

all powerful/ can do anything.

Question 3

logically impossible?

Answer 3

cant think of it as it breaks the rules of thought.

Question 4

logic?

Answer 4

rules of thought

Question 5

Key thinker: Descartes

Answer 5

-God as the supreme being
-no limit to what God can do
-believed in the weakness of human intellect

Question 6

arguments that Descartes uses:

Answer 6

-three waves of doubt; evil demon and humans’ puny minds.
-ontological argument

Question 7

examples for Descartes theory?

Answer 7

aeroplane and goldfish analogy:
goldfish have limited intellect compared to humans, goldfish cannot think of an aeroplane as it breaks its own rules of thought and they are limited in their intellect whereas humans can. in the same way, we are like goldfish compared to God as what we can comprehend has limits whereas what God can do is limitless.

Question 8

logically valid

Answer 8

the premises can’t be true without the conclusion

Question 9

stone paradox/ omnipotence paradox?

Answer 9

can God create a stone that he cannot lift?
If yes, God cannot be omnipotent as He cannot lift the stone and if no, He is also not omnipotent as he cannot create the stone.

Question 10

Descartes response to the stone paradox?

Answer 10

Descartes would say this is invalid because humans are limited in what we can comprehend and conceive = therefore even if this doesn’t make sense to us, God can still do both as there is nothing that is logically impossible to God.

Question 11

Aquinas response to the stone paradox

Answer 11

Aquinas would disagree with Descartes due to his belief in reason, which is God-given as seen in natural law. If our reason concludes that it is logically impossible then that thing is logically impossible.

Question 12

Aquinas belief on logical impossibilities?

Answer 12

they are not real or ‘nonsense’ because they do not describe a thing. The logical impossibilities such as a square circle or unliftable stone are not a thing; therefore, they are nothing as they are not a thing.

Question 13

korye on descartes

Answer 13

who? 20th century philosopher of science and critique of descartes
what?believed that descartes view out too much distance between our minds and reality.
reductio ad absurdum

Question 14

Augustine argument for God’s Omnipotence

Answer 14

1) God is perfect

2) If God is perfect, he will never create the square circle, but he can.

3) So, God will never create the square circle, but he can.

Question 15

Omnipotence: Augustine

Answer 15

St Augustine of Hippo was concerned about the problem of evil (Can God create evil and would he?) and concluded that due to God’s omnipotence, it means He can do anything He wants. God will never want to do evil but still can.

Question 16

evaluating Korye

Answer 16

Yes: If Descartes was alive to defend himself, he would say that the knowing is the point. God is transcendent +weakness of human intellect.

No: Korye’s view is only absurd if God does this but He loves us so he won’t.

Question 17

Omnipotence: Aquinas 2

Answer 17

Aquinas aimed to make both reason and revelation compatible; particularly Hebrews 6:18 which says “God can’t lie”. Therefore he believes God can only do good things.

Question 18

Omnipotence 2 : Aquinas argument

Answer 18

1) God is supremely perfect.

2)If God is supremely perfect, then God can only do good things.
This is plausible because of Aquinas’ “like causes, like effects” principle which says like effects come from like causes. For God to be supremely perfect cause, it means he should cause perfect effects. Anything other than good things wouldn’t be considered perfect.

3)So, God can only do good things.