Back to Aquinas Arguments

Divine attributes

Divine simplicity

God is not composed of parts, matter and form, essence and existence, substance and accident, or genus and difference.

Guiding question

Can the first cause be composed from more basic principles?

Why it matters

Divine simplicity protects God's absolute primacy: God is not assembled, dependent, or made actual by components.

The argumentative movement

  1. 1Composed things depend on their components and on whatever unites them.
  2. 2The first cause cannot depend on anything prior to itself.
  3. 3Therefore God is simple and identical with His essence, existence, goodness, wisdom, and power.