Concept
Divine simplicity
Overview
In classical theism, the doctrine of divine simplicity (also known as absolute divine simplicity) states that God is simple in that he is a single, unified entity with no distinction between his attributes. His essence is identical with his existence; that is to say, his essence is simply to exist, which makes Him fundamentally distinct from all other entities.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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Reply Obj. 1: Person and property are really the same, but differ in concept. Consequently, it does not follow that if one is multiplied, the other must also be multiplied. We must, however, consider that in God, by reason of the divine simplicity, a twofold real identity exists as regards what in creatures are distinct. For, since the divine simplicity excludes the composition of matter and form, it follows that in…
Aquinas Thomas, Summa Theologica, Part I
Names Divine simplicity several times; the author is tied to Divine simplicity in the knowledge graph.
We can talk, it is true, of God’s powers, acts, and attributes, but these discriminations are only “virtual,” and made from the human point of view. In God all these points of view fall into an absolute identity of being.
William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience
Close in meaning to Divine simplicity; the term itself is not named.
The fundamental principle of the atheism of Spinoza is the doctrine of the simplicity of the universe, and the unity of that substance, in which he supposes both thought and matter to inhere. There is only one substance, says he, in the world; and that substance is perfectly simple and indivisible, and exists every where, without any local presence.
David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature
Close in meaning to Divine simplicity; the term itself is not named.
Philosophers who discussed Divine simplicity
Related ideas
- Condemnations of 1210–1277
- Empiricism
- Eastern Orthodox Church
- Analogy
- The Guide for the Perplexed
- Christian universalism
- Avicenna
- Gregory Palamas
- Heaven
- Bahya ibn Paquda
- Al-Ghazali
- Anaximenes of Miletus
- Al-Farabi
- Basil of Caesarea
- Metaphysics
- Monism
- Maimonides
- Muslims
- Augustine of Hippo
- Philo
- Thomas Aquinas
- Anselm of Canterbury
- Omnipresence
- Ontology
Opposing perspectives
Place in the tradition
Part of Monism.