トマス・アクィナス著 SUMMA CONTRA GENTILESの現代的解釈(7)

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43 : That God is Infinite 44 : That God has Understanding 45 : That in God the Act of Understanding is His very Essence 46 : That God understands by nothing else than by His own Essence 47 : That God perfectly understands Himself 48 : That God primarily and essentially knows Himself alone 49 : That God knows other things besides Himself Subsequent to the consideration of God's goodness and unity is that of his infinity. God's infinity is a "spiritual magnitude" according to which "it is the same to be greater as to be better". Thomas turns next to a discussion of the divine understanding. God is the unmoved mover of the entire universe. But the universal form requisite for moving the whole universe can exist only in an intellect. Hence the first mover must be intelligent. Since understanding is an immanent act, and since in God operation is undistinguishable from essence, God's understanding is identical with his essence. The divine essence is also the proper and immediate object of God's understanding. This position is reminiscent of Aristotle famous characterization of God as "Noesis Noeseos Noesis", God as Thought Thinking Itself or Self-Thinking Thought Thinking Itself (Met. XII, 1072b19-29; 1074b34). God knows all things through one, simple, timeless act of understanding. The multiplication of attributes to a simple God is motivated practically by natural theology's need to construct an a posteriori, analogical, piecemeal account of the being whose simple essence couldn't be known to us as such. Because of our cognitive limitations, we need to give God more than one name.

トマス・アクィナス著 SUMMA CONTRA GENTILESの現代的解釈(7)

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