Aquinas on Varieties of Necessity in the Created World
This essay examines Aquinas’s views on necessity in the created world. Although Aquinas holds that all created being is contingent upon God’s free act of creation, he nevertheless maintains that there are aspects of the created world that cannot be otherwise. This raises difficult questions about ho...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
|
| In: |
New blackfriars
Year: 2025, Volume: 106, Issue: 6, Pages: 492-508 |
| Further subjects: | B
Aquinas
B Necessity B types of necessity B divine omnipotence B Modality |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This essay examines Aquinas’s views on necessity in the created world. Although Aquinas holds that all created being is contingent upon God’s free act of creation, he nevertheless maintains that there are aspects of the created world that cannot be otherwise. This raises difficult questions about how such necessities arise in a contingent world and how they relate to God’s power. Aquinas’s analysis is complicated by his view that “necessity” is said in many ways. In various contexts, he distinguishes between absolute, natural, material, conditional, intrinsic, and extrinsic necessity. The essay offers a roadmap through these diverse kinds of created necessity, clarifying their sources and interrelations. It also considers the diverse ways Aquinas deploys the term “absolute necessity” in different contexts and explores how created necessities relate to God’s power. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1741-2005 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: New blackfriars
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/nbf.2025.10104 |
