Being Perfect is Not Necessary for Being God
Classic perfect being theologians take 'being perfect' (or some careful variant thereof) to be conceptually necessary and sufficient for being God. I argue that this claim is false because being perfect is not conceptually necessary for being God. I rest my case on a simple thought experim...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
University of Innsbruck in cooperation with the John Hick Centre for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Birmingham
[2019]
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In: |
European journal for philosophy of religion
Year: 2019, Volume: 11, Issue: 2, Pages: 43-64 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Existence of God
/ Perfection
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IxTheo Classification: | NBC Doctrine of God |
Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (KW) Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | Classic perfect being theologians take 'being perfect' (or some careful variant thereof) to be conceptually necessary and sufficient for being God. I argue that this claim is false because being perfect is not conceptually necessary for being God. I rest my case on a simple thought experiment inspired by an alternative I developed to perfect being theology that I call "functional theology." My findings, if correct, are a boon for theists since if it should turn out that there is no perfect being, there could still be a God. |
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Contains: | Enthalten in: European journal for philosophy of religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.24204/ejpr.v11i2.2970 |