DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Classical Theism
HTML https://classicaltheism.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Philosophy
*****************************************************
#Post#: 104--------------------------------------------------
What are the differences between classical theism and thomism?
By: jd3 Date: March 17, 2020, 8:33 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
So many people, including Ed Feser, are both classical theists
and thomists. I understand the former as someone whose
conception of God is that of an unchanging, unmoved mover who is
omnipotent, simple etc. whereas the latter are people who
subscribe to the views of St. Thomas Aquinas. But wasn't Aquinas
himself a classical theist? So in what ways would a classical
theist who is not a Thomist, be different from someone who is
both.
Thanks,
JD
#Post#: 105--------------------------------------------------
Re: What are the differences between classical theism and thomis
m?
By: Brian Date: March 18, 2020, 12:18 am
---------------------------------------------------------
In broad terms, a classical theist is someone who believes in a
metaphysically simple Being, who is the typically conceived of
as the source of all other beings. And as you say, a Thomist is
someone how follows Thomas to some degree in his methods and
convictions.
Some non-Thomist classical Theists would be philosophical
Muslims, Maimonodes the Jew, Plotinus and Empedocles and the
other Neo-Platonists, Plato himself (if you take his very brief
mention of the "Good beyond Being" in the republic as a
statement of Plato's metaphysical doctrine), Aristotle insofar
as his first cause is conceived of as Thought thinking itself,
Sankara and Ramanuja and other philosophical Hindus often follow
lines of thought very similar to the Neo-Platonists when
considering God, and arrive at similar conclusions, and a whole
host of other Christian Thinkers that aren't Thomists.
*****************************************************