Free Essay SamplesAbout UsContact Us Order Now

Philosophy Presentation or speech

0 / 5. 0

Words: 275

Pages: 1

67

Student’s name:
Instructor’s name:
Course:
Date:
Negative Theory
Isaac Frank undertook one of the integral tasks to compare the proponents of negative theology as envisioned by Maimonides and Aquinas. Besides, he defends the negative theology from contemporary criticisms. According to Frank, Negative theology refers to a doctrine that does not defend the positive attributes of any being and thus they are predictable of God existence (Buijs 723). God is entirely unknowable or unknown, and therefore their logical argument or reasoning is to say what God is not.
Aquinas and Maimonides have a different way of approaching logical relations between epistemic thesis and the semantic thesis. Maimonides makes his argument from one thesis and then transfers his conclusion to the next (Buijs 731). For instance, he starts with the epistemic thesis ENT and then concludes with the semantic theory SNT. Maimonides concludes that humans cannot be able to describe Him conclusively since they do not know him (Buijs 731). This is because one cannot use the attribute of action as a means of expressing its essence. Such descriptions do not follow the associated reasoning implying that predicting such characteristics of God will not violate the ENT and SNT reasoning.
Contrary, Aquinas handles Semantic and epistemic claims entirely independent from one another. Thought they are derived from the metaphysics of God, and he cannot establish a logical connection between them, he capitalizes on this aspect to refute Maimonides’ theology (Buijs 731).

Wait! Philosophy Presentation or speech paper is just an example!

It can, therefore, be concluded that Aquinas argues in denial of SNT to modify ENT.
The two also shows differences in their theories of analogy as a feature of their theories. The two thinkers though confronted with an inherent limitation of the human capabilities, Maimonides presents his solution amidst attributes of action that creates an environment that does not describe the essence of God (Buijs 731). However, Aquinas uses the solution presented in his analogy theory which creates an avenue where positive talks about God’s nature is carried out.
The three thinkers differ concerning negative theology, Maimonides theory is that God is perfect unity and he does not accept the aspect of plurality. God also exists as a necessary existence, and thus people are left to know what God is not (Buijs 733). Aquinas denies Potentiality and corporeality nature of God. He notes that God is eternal and infinite. However, these attributes do not provide complete knowledge of God and lead to imperfection and humans are left with limited knowledge concerning God. Maimonides is radical and inconsistent with Franck, but Aquinas does not uncover the radical negative theology of Frank (Buijs 733). He leaves a room in which the various attributes of God can be predicted.
Works Cited
Buijs, Joseph A. “The Negative Theology of Maimonides and Aquinas.” The Review of Metaphysics, vol. 41, no. 4, 1988, pp. 723–738. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20128659.

Get quality help now

Top Writer

Arnold Foster

5.0 (218 reviews)

Recent reviews about this Writer

Thanks for the awesome essay! I’ve got an A-grade, and my teacher said it was the best paper in the class! I would definitely use your services again if I need help with my homework.

View profile

Related Essays

Economic Problems

Pages: 1

(275 words)

Brain Plasticity.#3(j.R)

Pages: 1

(275 words)

Business Management Couchsurfing

Pages: 1

(275 words)

Speech Introduction Elements

Pages: 1

(275 words)

Findings between Variables

Pages: 1

(275 words)

Technology affect on society

Pages: 1

(550 words)

Organization Structure revised

Pages: 1

(275 words)