Simply Unsuccessful: The Neo-Platonic Proof of God’s Existence
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.2021.3412Keywords:
Neo-Platonic Proof, God, Divine Simplicity, Trinity, IncarnationAbstract
Edward Feser defends the ‘Neo-Platonic proof’ for the existence of the God of classical theism. After articulating the argument and a number of preliminaries, I first argue that premise three of Feser’s argument – the causal principle that every composite object requires a sustaining efficient cause to combine its parts – is both unjustified and dialectically ill-situated. I then argue that the Neo-Platonic proof fails to deliver the mindedness of the absolutely simple being and instead militates against its mindedness. Finally, I uncover two tensions between Trinitarianism and the Neo-Platonic proof and one tension between the Neo-Platonic proof (and, more generally, classical theism) and the incarnation.
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