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Single Idea 9087

[filed under theme 18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 1. Abstract Thought ]

Full Idea

Theists may find attractive a view popular among medieval philosophers from Augustine on: that abstract objects are really divine thoughts. More exactly, propositions are divine thoughts, properties divine concepts, and sets divine collections.

Gist of Idea

Theists may see abstract objects as really divine thoughts

Source

Alvin Plantinga (Why Propositions cannot be concrete [1993], p.233)

Book Ref

Plantinga,Alvin: 'Essays in the Metaphysics of Modality' [OUP 2003], p.233


A Reaction

Hm. I pass this on because we should be aware that there is a theological history to discussions of abstract objects, and some people have vested interests in keeping them outside of the natural world. Aren't properties natural? Does God gerrymander sets?


The 4 ideas from 'Why Propositions cannot be concrete'

Propositions can't just be in brains, because 'there are no human beings' might be true [Plantinga]
If propositions are concrete they don't have to exist, and so they can't be necessary truths [Plantinga]
The idea of abstract objects is not ontological; it comes from the epistemological idea of abstraction [Plantinga]
Theists may see abstract objects as really divine thoughts [Plantinga]