Chapter 6 Thomist Classical Theism
Proposal review
Divine Simplicity within Aquinas’ Triplex Via Theology
Abstract
Defenders and critics of divine simplicity rightly look to Thomas Aquinas’s important contributions to this pillar of classical theism (=CT). But few contemporary discussions notice the way Aquinas employs pseudo-Dionysius’s triplex via as a principled heuristic that governs and organizes his theological enquiries concerning divine simplicity. This oversight has led to misinterpretations of Aquinas’s doctrine of divine simplicity (=DDS), which must be situated within his triplex via theology (=TVT). In this chapter I show that, like Aquinas’s DDS, the value of Thomist TVT extends beyond historical exegesis and provides exponents of CT with a fertile alternative to the more well-known Anselmian inspired heuristic of perfect being theology (=PBT). In the first part I introduce two problems for CT that cannot be resolved by PBT and Thomistic accounts of DDS that omit Aquinas’s TVT. In the second part, I explain what Thomistic TVT is and why its integrated threefold way of understanding God via causality, negation, and super-eminence can overcome these problems for CT.
Book
Classical TheismKeywords
Philosophy of religion; nature & existence of GodDOI
10.4324/9781003202172-8ISBN
9781032060644, 9781032064093, 9781003202172Publisher
Taylor & FrancisPublisher website
https://taylorandfrancis.com/Publication date and place
2023Imprint
RoutledgeClassification
Philosophy of religion
Nature and existence of God and of the Divine