Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

Divine Simplicity And Naming God, Michael Martin

Aristos

This essay explores the doctrine of divine simplicity (DDS) within the framework of classical theism, addressing its compatibility with the plurality of divine attributes. This essay outlines classical theistic arguments for God's existence that are essential to understanding DDS, and establishes that denial of either DDS or the proof of God's existence implicitly negates the other. The DDS maintains that God is absolutely simple, devoid of parts, and physical or metaphysical, affirming His utter transcendence. However, this essay highlights certain distinct attributes that can be logically assigned to God, such as goodness, knowledge, and power. Consequently, an objection emerges: if …