Given the problems with Possibilism, it might seem that we should abandon possibilism and embrace actualism. Actualism certainly captures the right kind of inequality. Actual things are real, and there simply are no non-actual things. Absolutely everything is actual! At the same time, there could have been things that do not exist. Perhaps there couldContinue reading “Two Problems with Actualism”
Category Archives: Individual Essence
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”
Defining ‘Substance’ Using Ontological Dependence
I want to propose here an alternative approach to defining ‘substance’: using Fine’s notion of ontological dependence (1995), instead of relying exclusively on grounding (as in this previous post). A thing x ontologically depends on y iff the essence (real definition) of x includes y. Fine believes in individual essences –the essence of an individualContinue reading “Defining ‘Substance’ Using Ontological Dependence”
The Analytic Thomist 