The Metaphysical Demonstration of the Existence of God: Metaphysical Disputations 28-29
The two Disputations of the present volume open the second part of Francisco Suarez's Disputationes metaphysicae. Marking a turn from being in general, the subject matter of metaphysics and the concern of the first part, Disputation 28, presents various divisions of being in general, whose members equate with God and creatures. Disputation 29, in an expressly metaphysical way that reflects Avicenna, demonstrates the existence of God, the principal member. The demonstration hinges on the...
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The two Disputations of the present volume open the second part of Francisco Suarez's Disputationes metaphysicae. Marking a turn from being in general, the subject matter of metaphysics and the concern of the first part, Disputation 28, presents various divisions of being in general, whose members equate with God and creatures. Disputation 29, in an expressly metaphysical way that reflects Avicenna, demonstrates the existence of God, the principal member. The demonstration hinges on the principle, "Everything which comes to be, comes to be by another" and scales the ladder of the common analogous concept of being from lesser and lower being to a First Being. In the course of his argument, Suarez rejects any "physical" demonstration, which would employ the Aristotelian principle, "Everything which is moved is moved by another," in order to pass from motion to a First Mover. Other topics that he treats include, in Disputation 28, the analogy of being between God and creatures, and in Disputation 29, the fact that there is only one God who is the creator of all else.
IDisputation 28 : on the division of being into infinite and finite1Sect. 1Whether being is correctly divided into infinite and finite, and what divisions are equivalent to this2Sect. 2Whether being is sufficiently and adequately divided by finite and infinite, and other equivalent members18Sect. 3Whether the aforesaid division is univocal or analogous : the first opinion : the division is equivocal29IIDisputation 29 : whether there is a first and uncreated being51Sect. 1Whether it can be demonstrated - either by a physical or metaphysical argument - that an uncreated being exists52Sect. 2Whether it can be demonstrated a posteriori that God exists by showing that there is only one uncreated being81Sect. 3Whether in some way it can be demonstrated a priori that God exists113
