Do you believe in the sheer act of being itself?

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- dr_sloth
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Do you believe in the sheer act of being itself?
OP - December 08, 2013, 02:06 PM

I got into a little debate with a christian.
She is saying that we cant compare unicorns to god, because god is "esse ipsum subsistens" - the sheer act of being itself.

This is Aquinas's definition of God.

What the hell is a sheer act of being itself?
It is possible that I am not theologically or philosophically qualified to understand, but surely it is also possible that it simply means literally nothing at all?
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Do you believe in the sheer act of being itself?
Reply #1 - December 08, 2013, 02:12 PM

The idea behind that is that god is a force. It's beyond a force of nature, beyond even the forces of the universe. It's everything, and everything that entails. It just is and cannot not be. Which in many ways renders it meaningless.

`But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'
`How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
`You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'
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Do you believe in the sheer act of being itself?
Reply #2 - December 08, 2013, 02:21 PM

I am so fucking tired of these nonsensical philosophical excuses people come up with in order to distinguish their "inteligent" rational for believing in a sky daddy, in comparison to the "weirdos" who believe in unicorns and leprechauns...

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Do you believe in the sheer act of being itself?
Reply #3 - December 08, 2013, 02:35 PM

Like I said, renders it meaningless.

`But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'
`How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
`You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'
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Do you believe in the sheer act of being itself?
Reply #4 - December 08, 2013, 03:37 PM

Quote from: dr_sloth on December 08, 2013, 02:06 PM
I got into a little debate with a christian.
She is saying that we cant compare unicorns to god, because god is "esse ipsum subsistens" - the sheer act of being itself.

This is Aquinas's definition of God.

What the hell is a sheer act of being itself?

Aquinas' God is existence itself. Essential, necessary existence, not contingent existence.

Basically, God is defined as necessary, therefore God is necessary. His argument doesn't actually get much more sophisticated than that. I find it childish and one of the least interesting arguments. He might as well define God as "argument winner" and insist that he has won the argument.

Too fucking busy, and vice versa.
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Do you believe in the sheer act of being itself?
Reply #5 - December 09, 2013, 10:44 PM

Quote from: dr_sloth on December 08, 2013, 02:06 PM
What the hell is a sheer act of being itself?
It is possible that I am not theologically or philosophically qualified to understand, but surely it is also possible that it simply means literally nothing at all?

You were fed some .

It's okay, happens to the best of us.

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