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The Coherence of Aquinas's Account of Divine Simplicity THE COHERENCE OF AQUINAS’S ACCOUNT OF DIVINE SIMPLICITY BY David K. Kovacs B.A., University of Akron, 2007 M.A., Gonzaga University, 2012 M.Phil., Fordham University, 2016 DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY NEW YORK APRIL, 2018 Tables of Contents Works of Aquinas.............................................................................................................................6 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................7 1. The Importance of Ipsum Esse Subsistens in Aquinas’s Philosophical Theology.....................27 1.1. Divine Simplicity: An Overview.........................................................................................28 1.1.1. Aquinas on “God Exists”........................................................................................28 1.1.2. Denying Composition in God.................................................................................30 1.2. Historic Overview of Aquinas on Divine Simplicity...........................................................33 1.2.1. De Ente et Essentia..................................................................................................34 1.2.2. Sentences Commentary............................................................................................47 1.2.3. Summa Contra Gentiles...........................................................................................54 1.2.4. Compendium Theologiae.........................................................................................61 1.2.5. De Potentia..............................................................................................................64 1.2.6. Summa Theologiae...................................................................................................68 1.3. Simplicity Precedes Eternity................................................................................................74 2. Questions about Existence.........................................................................................................78 2.1. The Naïve View of Existence...............................................................................................79 2.1.1. Things and Words; Properties and Predicates..........................................................79 2.1.2. Verbs as Predicates and an Account of the Relation Between Words and Properties..81 2.1.3. Predicates and Predicables: A Warning...................................................................82 2.1.4. The Naïve View Explained......................................................................................85 2.2. The Traditional Analytic View of Existence........................................................................86 2.2.1. Argument One: Plato’s Beard..................................................................................86 2.2.2. Argument Two: Statements of Number are Analogous to Statements of Existence......89 2.2.3. Argument Three: “Wrapping Around” and a Further Argument About Existence..91 2.2.4. Apparent Counter-Examples....................................................................................95 2.2.4.1. Fictional Existence.............................................................................................97 2.2.4.2. Contingent Existence.........................................................................................99 2.2.4.3. “Pope Francis Doesn’t Know that Kovacs Exists”..........................................102 2.2.4.4. Birth and Death................................................................................................103 2.5. Summary............................................................................................................................105 3. Recent Objections to Williams’s Claims About Existence......................................................107 3.1. Barry Miller........................................................................................................................107 3.1.1. The Paradox: Miller’s Response............................................................................108 3.1.2. The Absurdity: Miller’s Response.........................................................................110 3.2. William Vallicella...............................................................................................................115 3.2.1. Attaching Second-Order Predicates to the Names of Individuals..........................115 3.2.2. Vallicella on Plato’s Beard.....................................................................................117 3.2.3. Asymmetry Between Existence and Non-Existence..............................................119 3.3. Kris McDaniel....................................................................................................................119 3.4. Williams’s Master Reply....................................................................................................123 3.5. Barry Miller: Evaluation....................................................................................................125 3.5.1. Evaluation: Barry Miller on the Paradox...............................................................126 3.5.2. Evaluation: Barry Miller on the Absurdity.............................................................127 3.6. William Vallicella: Evaluation...........................................................................................131 3.6.1. Evaluation of Vallicella’s First Argument..............................................................132 3.6.2. Evaluation of Vallicella on Plato’s Beard..............................................................134 3.6.3. Evaluation of Vallicella on the Problem of Non-Existence...................................136 3.7. Kris McDaniel: Evaluation................................................................................................138 3.8. A Verdict on Williams’s View of Existence.......................................................................139 4. Esse .........................................................................................................................................141 4.1. Ens and Esse......................................................................................................................141 4.2. Is Esse an Accident?...........................................................................................................143 4.3. Act and Potency..................................................................................................................146 4.4. “Form Gives Existence”....................................................................................................149 4.5. Participation in Esse...........................................................................................................152 4.6. Being and Analogy.............................................................................................................156 4.7. Aquinas’s Esse Versus Williams’s Existence.....................................................................162 5. Esse Tantum and Impsum Esse Subsistens...............................................................................166 5.1. A Problem From the Outset: Language and God...............................................................166 5.2. Esse and Ipsum Esse Subsistens.........................................................................................171 5.3. God, Esse, and “That Which Is”........................................................................................174 5.4. Divine Simplicity and So-called “Divine Properties”.......................................................178 5.5. The Relevance of God.......................................................................................................181 5.5.1. A Simple Yet Omniscient God...............................................................................182 5.5.2. Prayer to a Simple God..........................................................................................184 5.5.3. The Involvement of God........................................................................................186 5.6. Divine Simplicity and the Trinity..........................................................................................189 5.7. Aquinas, God, and Esse........................................................................................................193 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................194 Bibliography.................................................................................................................................198 Abstract Vita WORKS OF AQUINAS In Sent. Scriptum Super Sententiis SCG Summa Contra Gentiles ST Summa Theologiae DV Quaestiones Disputatae de Veritate DP Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei QQ Quaestiones Disputatae de Quolibet DEE De Ente et Essentia DPN De Principiis Naturae CT Compendium Theologiae In Pery. Expositio Libri Peryermeneias In De An. Sentencia Libri De Anima In Meta. Sententia Libri Metaphysicae In De Caus. Super Librum De Causis Expositio In De Hebd. Expositio Libri Boetii De Ebdomadibus In De Trin. Super Boetium De Trinitate All translations are my own unless otherwise
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