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Single Idea 1414

[filed under theme 28. God / A. Divine Nature / 3. Divine Perfections ]

Full Idea

I call every simple quality which is positive and absolute, or expresses whatever it expresses without any limits, a perfection. But a quality of this sort, because it is simple, is therefore irresolvable or indefinable.

Clarification

'Irresolvable' means cannot be broken into parts

Gist of Idea

A perfection is a simple quality, which is positive and absolute, and has no limit

Source

Gottfried Leibniz (New Essays on Human Understanding [1704], App X)

Book Ref

'The Existence of God', ed/tr. Hick,John [Macmillan 1964], p.37

A Reaction

I don't think this definition of perfections would have occurred to anyone who wasn't planning to prove that perfections cannot be incompatible (as Leibniz is about to do).

Related Idea

Idea 21252 Perfections must have overlapping parts if their incompatibility is to be proved [Leibniz]

The 21 ideas with the same theme [existence of good qualities in their purest form]:

22920 Do I not fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord [Jeremiah]
439 God knows everything, and nothing is impossible for him [Epicharmus]
152 The mind of God is fully satisfied and happy with a vision of reality and truth [Plato]
175 Gods are not lovers of wisdom, because they are already wise [Plato]
3048 Stoics say that God the creator is the perfection of all animals [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius]
22738 The Divine must lack the virtues of continence and fortitude, because they are not needed [Sext.Empiricus]
19371 Nine principles of God: goodness, greatness, eternity, power, wisdom, will, virtue, truth and glory [Lull, by Arthur,R]
1865 It is heresy to teach that natural impossibilities cannot even be achieved by God [Anon (Par)]
9111 God is not wise, but more-than-wise; God is not good, but more-than-good [William of Ockham]
2275 It is self-evident that deception is a natural defect, so God could not be a deceiver [Descartes]
7829 God no more has human perfections than we have animal perfections [Spinoza]
4866 God is a being with infinite attributes, each of them infinite or perfect [Spinoza]
17025 If a perfect being does not rule the cosmos, it is not God [Newton]
5041 God does everything in a perfect way, and never acts contrary to reason [Leibniz]
2114 This is the most perfect possible universe, in its combination of variety with order [Leibniz]
12988 The universe contains everything possible for its perfect harmony [Leibniz]
1414 A perfection is a simple quality, which is positive and absolute, and has no limit [Leibniz]
5048 Perfection is simply quantity of reality [Leibniz]
19327 The intelligent cause must be unique and all-perfect, to handle all the interconnected possibilities [Leibniz]
6959 We can't assume God's perfections are like our ideas or like human attributes [Hume]
18980 If there is a 'greatest knower', it doesn't follow that they know absolutely everything [James]