Figure 1 - from "The Onto-Theological Difference in Analytical Thomism"

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Kenny gives three reasons for the failure of Aquinas to give a “consistent and coherent” theory. First, Kenny holds that Aquinas does not satisfactorily recognize the difference between being and existence: «there is at no stage of Aquinas’ career a clear awareness of the pro- found syntactic difference between the ‘there is’ of specific existence and the other types of ‘is’ he discusses»**. Second, in Aquinas there is no room for the notion of a pure form, a form that would correspond to a predicate that was not a predicate of something. Third, there is a problem about Aquinas’ identification of God with subsistent being. Kenny holds that there is ambiguity as to whether the esse of which God is the pure example of common being or absolute being. «If it is common being, then God seems to be the Platonic Idea of the thinnest

In my opinion, Geach tends to reduce “to be” (esse) to the “being- in-act” (esse in actu) of some form, even though he uses the phrase “that by which an individual form is.” This reductive view does not allow esse as actus essendi to emerge, so to speak, above accidental being (esse accidentale) and substantial being (esse substantiale). As well, Geach’s language is confusing when he tries to distinguish the perfection of the form and the being (esse) of the formal perfection. For Geach, being (esse) seems to become the degree of the perfection itself, rather than the intrinsic source of the perfection, limited and measured by the form or essence. rw o = wees wr Py —- a) 2 om BD

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The Onto-Theological Difference in Analytical Thomism

Abstract: In this paper I want to explore what some Analytical Thomists have written about the onto-theological difference: the ontological difference between a being (ens) and its being (esse) and the theological difference between the creature's being (esse creatum) and divine being (esse divinum). I consider the views and approaches of four Analytical Thomists: Peter Geach; Anthony Kenny; Brian Davies; and Barry Miller. In my conclusion I will offer a general critique of their approaches.

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