There is a good reason for thinking that the existence of a strictly uncausable thing (the sort of thing that composes any First Cause of the Universe) would have to be atemporal, beyond the limits of time. Any time-bound entity would be the sort of thing that could change and that could conceivably even beginContinue reading “Strictly Uncausable Things”
Category Archives: Acts of Existence
In Search of the Uncausable
Thomas draws on a key insight from Plotinus: an uncausable entity must not just be simple—the fact of its existence must also be simple. Any compounding of elements in this fact creates the potentiality for causation. For something to be uncausable in the relevant sense, there must be a metaphysical explanation for its lack ofContinue reading “In Search of the Uncausable”
Six Accounts of Actuality: Taking Stock
In earlier posts I have set out a range of solutions to the problem of accounting for the nature of actual existence: possibilism, actualism, and theories of predication. In this post, I would like to take stock. We have a total of six viable solutions to the problem of actuality, compatible with a broadly AristotelianContinue reading “Six Accounts of Actuality: Taking Stock”
Five Theories of Predication
How can possibilists account for actuality as an absolute feature of some possible entities and not others? As we saw, we cannot treat actual existence as another accident or accident-like entity, since such entities would have to be included in all possible worlds, whether actual or not. Instead, the factor that explains something’s actuality willContinue reading “Five Theories of Predication”
Divine Simplicity: Possibilism
In article 4 of Summa Theologiae I, Question 3, Thomas reaches the crux of the matter: his claim that God’s essence is identical to His act of existence. This article provides Thomas with the crucial bridge from the Five Ways to the standard list of divine attributes (infinity, perfection, and so on), as well asContinue reading “Divine Simplicity: Possibilism”
The Analytic Thomist 