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Anthony Flew and the God of Aristotle
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Not the Dumb Ox:
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?
RomanJoe:
--- Quote from: Not the Dumb Ox on April 11, 2021, 09:18:09 am ---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?
--- End 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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