Theism
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A Simple Argument for a First Cause from St. Albertus Magnus
In Peter Lombard’s Sentences, Book I, Distinction III, the Magister considers how God can be known from creatures. Later commentators will take the opportunity in their comments on this section to present arguments for the existence of God. St. Albertus Magnus reads the Lombard as providing four reasons “for proving that God exists, and is…
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Translatio: Scotus’s Lectura Proof of the Existence of God
[Preliminary notes: 1. The translation below is at times extremely wooden and clunky; this is because I have tried to translate as literally as possible. For clarification on a particular phrase or section, leave a comment below. 2. In the text, Scotus first gives the pro et contra arguments for Question 1, then the same…
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Yandell’s Presentation and Analysis of the First Way
Keith E. Yandell was a respected philosopher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, retiring in 2011. He specialized in the philosophy of religion, and wrote the philosophy of religion volume for the Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy series (which I highly recommend). In that volume, he included a chapter on arguments for monotheism, and spent a…