LessonsDivine Attributes: Neither Identical to nor Separate from the EssenceQuiz

فإن قيل: هذا في الظاهر رفع للنقيضين
An objector says: on the surface this appears to deny both contradictories.

In logic, a statement and its negation cannot both be false in the same respect. Thus, if an attribute is not identical to the essence, it seems necessarily to be “other”; how can both identity and otherness be denied?

The response must first define “other.” If it means merely “conceptually non-identical,” one result follows; if it means “able to exist as a separate independent entity,” another follows. The argument turns on keeping the same sense of the term throughout.

Opening interactive controls...

The apparent contradiction objection

Divine Attributes: Neither Identical to nor Separate from the Essence

فإن قيل: هذا في الظاهر رفع للنقيضين
An objector says: on the surface this appears to deny both contradictories.

In logic, a statement and its negation cannot both be false in the same respect. Thus, if an attribute is not identical to the essence, it seems necessarily to be “other”; how can both identity and otherness be denied?

The response must first define “other.” If it means merely “conceptually non-identical,” one result follows; if it means “able to exist as a separate independent entity,” another follows. The argument turns on keeping the same sense of the term throughout.