Hi, Richard, At 02:24 PM 11/19/2004, you wrote: >>And this is because we can know nothing of His Essence?<<
Not exactly. The classical realists, following Plato, made "forms" a part of God's nature. The form for a person, a cat, a dog, or a tree was a fixed universal in the Mind of God. As a result, God's creative process was determined by these universals (templates). Cats resembled one another as a consequence of taking part in the same universal - the same expression of God's Essence. The nominalists and terminists (i.e., terms or terminology) challenged the idea of fixed universals and argued that universals were merely accidental (not fixed) names for particulars considered to have similar characteristics. That "naming" could be done by God or by man. Thus, if God *names* something as good, it is good. A cat is a cat because people have labeled it as such. Mark A. Foster * http://markfoster.net "Sacred cows make the best hamburger" -- Mark Twain and Abbie Hoffman __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
