Aquinas' analogy Flashcards
(14 cards)
What is univocal language?
Language that means the same thing in all situations.
For example, in the phrases ‘black cat, ‘black mat’ and ‘black hat’, black means the same thing.
What is equivocal language?
Language that means different things in different situations.
For example, ‘God is good’, and a movie being good.
What is the problem with univocal language?
If we say that lessons was ‘good’, then ‘good’ means something different from saying ‘God is good’, since God is perfect and infinite.
So, Aquinas argues we cannot speak of God univocally.
What is the problem with equivocal language?
If language changes depending on context, then using language to describe God makes him unintelligible (we cannot understand him.)
So, Aquinas argues, we cannot speak of God equivocally.
Why did Aquinas use analogy?
Thomas Aquinas was concerned with the problem of explaining God in human language, so we might not be able to describe him.
Since we cannot speak of God univocally and equivocally, we need to find a way to use language as an indirect description of God.
Therefore, he turned to ‘analogy.’
What does analogy mean?
An analogy is an attempt to explain the meaning of something by comparison with an example more familiar to us.
Why did Aquinas use analogy?
He thought it was a good compromise because it would avoid the difficulties of univocal and equivocal language.
To make an analogy, we would be saying that God is not just like us, but nor is he nothing like us and our world.
What was the benefit of using analogy in Aquinas’ view?
By finding appropriate analogical language, we could say broadly what God is like.
This would give us partial but justifiable knowledge of God.
What is a caveat of Aquinas’ analogy?
It only works within theism. In other words, Aquinas assumes that God exist and his theory rests on that assumption.
What is the analogy of attribution?
Aquinas thought that we could gain understanding of God by considering his role as Creator.
If God made the world, then we could expect it to reflect God in some way.
So, we would justified in drawing analogies between the world and God.
Analogy of attribution (1)
Aquinas explains this concept by the example of a bull and its urine.
The health of the animal is present in its urine; we can tell that the bull is healthy by studying this. However, the health of the bull is only complete in the bull itself.
So too with God: what the world tells us of his goodness is meaningful, but it is also limited.
Analogy of Attribution (2)
That gives us the order of reference- God’s goodness is foremost, because he is the source of this quality. The world has goodness only in a secondary respect.
Hick’s development of Aquinas’ Analogy
Hick argued that humans possess God’s qualities because we are created in his image (Genesis 2). Yet, because God is perfect, we have his qualities in a lesser proportion.
Hick explains this by giving the example of faithfulness.
Humans can be faithful, in speech and behaviour. Dog’s can be faithful too, but there is a great difference between this quality in a person and an animal.
But, there is a reasonable similarity, or we would not recognise the dog as faithful. So, there is a ‘dim and imperfect likeness’, just as there is between us and God.
Analogy of proportion in summary
The idea that qualities of something or someone is proportional to its nature.
Hick: ‘The doctrine of analogy provides a framework for certain limited statements about God.’
