god's simplicity

what do philosophers mean by 'god is simple'? 

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  • GOD'S SIMPLICITY
    • refers to the traditional god- unchanging and  incorporeal but what do philosophers mean by saying 'God is Simple'?
      • Augustine: god is unchangeable and thus cannot lose or gain characteristics
      • Aquinas: God is simple = signifies god existing
      • simplicity of god matters= it is the implication of any understanding   of god's nature that god is not physical
    • GOD IS GOD
      • cannot be broken down/ explained in parts
        • God is not a 'thing' (Aquinas)
        • Brian Davies: god is not a thing like a human being but god is a thing in the same way we talk about the human race as a whole
      • Aquinas: god's nature + existence are the same thing
        • to talk of god is to talk of a being who exists
          • ontological argument: Anselm claims existence is a predicate of god
    • GOD IS UNCHANGING
      • change involves movement from being one thing to another
        • God is perfect= lacks nothing- cannot change into something else and still remain perfect (a perfect being doesn't have to change- change implies imperfection
      • Logically, only something unchanging can be the creator of the universe (which does change)
        • Brian Davies: if something changeable accounted for there being a world which changes, it would be part of such a world and cannot account for it
          • anything that changes is part of the world- not distinct from it
    • GOD IS IMMATERIAL
      • Aquinas: god has no body which has characteristics
        • God is simply God!

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