Atheism and Analogy: Aquinas Against the Atheists

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dc.contributor.authorLinford, Daniel J.en
dc.contributor.committeechairPitt, Joseph C.en
dc.contributor.committeememberJantzen, Benjamin C.en
dc.contributor.committeememberGoodrum, Matthew R.en
dc.contributor.departmentPhilosophyen
dc.date.accessioned2014-06-05T08:01:19Zen
dc.date.available2014-06-05T08:01:19Zen
dc.date.issued2014-06-04en
dc.description.abstractIn the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas developed two models for how humans may speak of God - either by the analogy of proportion or by the analogy of proportionality. Aquinas's doctrines initiated a theological debate concerning analogy that spanned several centuries. In the 18th century, there appeared two closely related arguments for atheism which both utilized analogy for their own purposes. In this thesis, I show that one argument, articulated by the French materialist Paul-Henri Thiry Baron d'Holbach, is successful in showing that God-talk, as conceived of using the analogy of proportion, is unintelligible non-sense. In addition, I show that another argument, articulated by Anthony Collins (Vindication of Divine Attributes), George Berkeley (chapter IV of Alciphron), and David Hume (chapter XII of Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion) can be restructured into an argument for the position that the analogy of proportionality makes the distinction between atheism and theism merely verbal. Since both of these are undesirable consequences for the theist, I conclude that Aquinas's doctrine of analogy does not withstand the assault of 18th century atheists.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Artsen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:3057en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/48434en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectatheismen
dc.subjecttheologyen
dc.subjectanalogyen
dc.subjectGoden
dc.subjectBerkeleyen
dc.subjectHumeen
dc.subjectAnthony Collinsen
dc.subjectd'Holbachen
dc.titleAtheism and Analogy: Aquinas Against the Atheistsen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplinePhilosophyen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Artsen

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