Tradition
Medieval Christian
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The free will defence cannot explain natural evil
I'm Catholic, and I'm arguing this thesis because it's the one that troubles me most. Alvin Plantinga's free will defence (God, Freedom, and Evil, 1974) argues that it's logically possible that God…
Started by Aoife Brennan9 replies0 views -
The “double truth” doctrine was never Ibn Rushd’s view
In thirteenth-century Paris, some arts masters were accused of holding that something could be true in philosophy and false in faith, or the reverse: the so-called doctrine of double truth. These "Latin…
Started by Youssef Benali5 replies0 views -
What is the principle of double effect, and when does it apply in medicine?
In palliative care we often say that giving high doses of morphine is permitted even if it might shorten life, because of the "principle of double effect". But I've realised I don't…
Started by Omar Farouk4 replies0 views -
Is Aquinas’s First Way really about a first moment in time?
Most of my friends assume Aquinas's arguments for God (Summa Theologiae I, q.2, a.3) are about the beginning of the universe: everything has a cause, so go back far enough and you…
Started by Aoife Brennan4 replies0 views -
Essence and existence: why Ibn Sina’s distinction mattered to Aquinas
In the metaphysics of the Shifa', Ibn Sina distinguishes what a thing is, its essence or quiddity (mahiyya), from the fact that it is, its existence (wujud). You can understand what a…
Started by Layla Haddad4 replies0 views -
What’s the difference between the cosmological and the ontological argument?
First-year question, sorry. In my philosophy of religion module the lecturer moved fast through several arguments for God's existence and I came out mixing up two of them. I think one is…
Started by Aoife Brennan3 replies0 views