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#Post#: 255--------------------------------------------------
Anthony Flew and the God of Aristotle
By: Not the Dumb Ox Date: April 11, 2021, 9:18 am
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It is my understanding that Anthony Flew converted to deism late
in life and said he had never really encountered Aristotle
earlier.
This passage from his book "There is a God" however makes me
wonder.
In this area I was persuaded above all by the philosopher David
Conways argument for God’s existence in his book _The Recovery
of Wisdom: From Here to Antiquity, in Quest of Sophia._
The God whose existence is defended by Conway and myself is The
God of Aristotle. Conway writes: "In sum, to the Being whom he
considered to be the explanation of the world and its broad
form, Aristotle ascribed the following attributes: immutability,
immateriality, omnipotence, omniscience, oneness or
indivisibility, perfect goodness and necessary existence. There
is an impressive correspondence between this set of attributes
and those traditionally described to God within the
Judeo-Christian tradition. It is one that fully justifies us in
viewing Aristotle as having had the same divine being in mind as
the cause of the world that is the object of worship of these
two religions."
Now I admit my knowledge of Aristotle isn’t impressive, but when
did Aristotle believe in a God with all of those attributes? And
how could one who believes in effectively the same God as the
Judeo-Christian tradition worships call himself a deist?
#Post#: 256--------------------------------------------------
Re: Anthony Flew and the God of Aristotle
By: RomanJoe Date: May 1, 2021, 10:40 am
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[quote author=Not the Dumb Ox link=topic=59.msg255#msg255
date=1618150689]
It is my understanding that Anthony Flew converted to deism late
in life and said he had never really encountered Aristotle
earlier.
This passage from his book "There is a God" however makes me
wonder.
In this area I was persuaded above all by the philosopher David
Conways argument for God’s existence in his book _The Recovery
of Wisdom: From Here to Antiquity, in Quest of Sophia._
The God whose existence is defended by Conway and myself is The
God of Aristotle. Conway writes: "In sum, to the Being whom he
considered to be the explanation of the world and its broad
form, Aristotle ascribed the following attributes: immutability,
immateriality, omnipotence, omniscience, oneness or
indivisibility, perfect goodness and necessary existence. There
is an impressive correspondence between this set of attributes
and those traditionally described to God within the
Judeo-Christian tradition. It is one that fully justifies us in
viewing Aristotle as having had the same divine being in mind as
the cause of the world that is the object of worship of these
two religions."
Now I admit my knowledge of Aristotle isn’t impressive, but when
did Aristotle believe in a God with all of those attributes? And
how could one who believes in effectively the same God as the
Judeo-Christian tradition worships call himself a deist?
[/quote]
The God of Aristotle seems to be a catch all term used to
signify the the attributes later philosophers saw were
implicated in the metaphysical condition of Aristotle's prime
mover. Flew might be calling himself a deist insofar as he
doesn't believe God divinely revealed himself and isn't active
in history in some narrative sense
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