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God’s Identity with His Essence

Thomas explicitly asserts that God is numerically identical to His essence. God does not have divinity as His nature: He is His own divinity. As we have seen, God is not an abstract object, a post rem property, or a universal. So, what could it mean to say that God is identical to His essenceContinue reading “God’s Identity with His Essence”

God without Matter or Accidents

Aquinas on Divine Simplicity

In the Question immediately following the Five Ways (Question 3), Thomas turns to establishing the simplicity of the First Cause. This simplicity consists of eight characteristics, corresponding to the eight articles of Question 3: God is not a body, and so has no material parts. God is wholly immaterial, not composed of form and matter.Continue reading “Aquinas on Divine Simplicity”

Anomalies and Imperfectly Unified Substances, II

In this post, I will deal with three additional anomalies, possible exceptions to the NSIS principle (No Substance in a Substance): (i) manufacturing organisms from scratch, (ii) borderline cases between organisms and communities, and (iii) transitional forms in evolution. Manufacturing living organisms from scratch If Hylomorphism is true, it should be impossible to manufacture aContinue reading “Anomalies and Imperfectly Unified Substances, II”

Advice to a Young Apologist

I received the following letter today by email: Dear Dr. Koons, My name is Anthony and I am 14 years old. I am a fan of yours and was wondering if I could receive your comment on some concerns that I have. Because I think you are a very good person with wisdom who can helpContinue reading “Advice to a Young Apologist”

Anomalies and Imperfectly Unified Substances, I

The form provides the organism with its actual existence and nature, and, in turn, the substantial form is individuated by the organism’s prime matter (together with its actual history). The form’s function is to animate and (we might say) rationalize matter, resulting in a sentient and rational organism (in the case of human beings). WhenContinue reading “Anomalies and Imperfectly Unified Substances, I”

Advantages of Hylomorphism over Modern Substance Dualism

What are the advantages of hylomorphism over modern substance dualism? Ethical. Hylomorphists can explain the unique and intrinsic evil of such acts rape and torture. For dualists, these acts are evil only either of two ways: as an unjust destruction or use of someone else’s property, or as causing some kind of mental suffering orContinue reading “Advantages of Hylomorphism over Modern Substance Dualism”

Mental Causation: Rational Animals

Let’s turn our attention now to the most interesting case: that of the rational animal (the human being). Human beings have the capacity not only to sense and to imagine but to understand. Understanding in this sense involves the capacity to grasp something universal, a concept that can be used to formulate general propositions andContinue reading “Mental Causation: Rational Animals”

Mental Causation: Non-Rational Animals

It’s relatively easy to see how mental causation, both active and passive, would work on the interactionist model. We can simply apply our usual assumptions about per se efficient causal powers. What is more interesting is to work out how such causation could happen on the two emanationist models. To keep things relatively simple, let’sContinue reading “Mental Causation: Non-Rational Animals”