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The simplicity of divine ideas: theistic conceptual realism and the doctrine of divine simplicity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2019

MICHELLE PANCHUK
MICHELLE PANCHUK*
Affiliation:
Department of English and Philosophy, Murray State University, 102 Curris Center Drive, Murray, KY42071, USA
*
e-mail: mpanchuk@murraystate.edu
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Abstract

There has been little discussion of the compatibility of Theistic Conceptual Realism (TCR) with the doctrine of divine simplicity (DDS). On the one hand, if a plurality of universals is necessary to explain the character of particular things, there is reason to think this commits the proponent of TCR to the existence of a plurality of divine concepts. So the proponent of the DDS has a prima facie reason to reject TCR (and vice versa). On the other hand, many mediaeval philosophers accept both the existence of divine ideas and the DDS. In this article I draw on mediaeval and contemporary accounts of properties and divine simplicity to argue that the two theories are not logically incompatible.

Type
Original Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 57 , Issue 3 , September 2021 , pp. 385 - 402
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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