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- Publisher
- Brill
- Copyright
- © Copyright 2003 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
- ISSN
- 0031-8035
- eISSN
- 2352-8230
- DOI
- 10.1163/22116117-90000278
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
objects such as 1, 2 and 3 not only exist eternally, but they seem to exist necessarily; that is, it seems that even if God had decided not to create pebbles and pomegranates and other countable sorts of things, there would still have to be the number 11, as well as the proposition that it is prime.' (69) This view leads to a number of problems (69-71), e.g. paradoxes about God being omniscient and omnipotent (7). Rejecting deism, the authors argue `... that we can view abstract objects in precisely the same sense in which concrete, contingent things are created.' (71) They assume that all creatures depend upon God for their existence at every moment, throughout the course of their temporal lifespan. `In causal terms, to say that God creates an object x is just to say that, at every moment t at which x exists, God causes x to exist at t (or sustains x at t). Creation is thus an ongoing act, consisting in God's continuously sustaining all things.' (71) `If x is a necessary being, then it is simply the case that God necessarily sustains x at every moment, that he sustains x, so to
Journal
Philosophia Reformata – Brill
Published: Dec 2, 2003