Via Negativa and Via Positiva
- Created by: mariam26
- Created on: 11-11-20 16:36
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- Via Negativa and Via Positiva
- Via Negativa (or the apophatic way)
- A way of speaking about what God is not
- We can only state what GOD IS NOT
- E.g. "God is not a car."
- We can only state what GOD IS NOT
- The words we assign to describe God are finite/too small
- Our language implies limitations
- By describing God as a 'shepherd' or a 'judge' we imagine an image of what we perceive to be a shepherd or judge
- TOO LIMITED
- By describing God as a 'shepherd' or a 'judge' we imagine an image of what we perceive to be a shepherd or judge
- Our language implies limitations
- Pseudo-Dionysius
- Christian Platonist
- Followed the via negativa method
- Believed we cannot comprehend God using the senses or reason
- We will only end up with an idea of God that is limited
- Strengths of Via Negativa
- 1) Although Aquinas believed in the opposite of via negativa he considered it a starting point
- 2) Allows things to be said about w/o implying that the finite can grasp the infinite
- Weaknesses of Via Negativa
- 1) We would never be able to identify an object if we were required to talk of it in negative terms
- 2) If we deny likening God to humanity then we lose the link of God to the world - if words are so inadequate then no will we ever speak of God
- W.R.Inge
- A way of speaking about what God is not
- Via Positiva (or the cataphatic way)
- A way of speaking about God where positive things are said
- E.g. "God is good."
- Positive things are what God is believed to be
- Augustine, Anselm and Aquinas all supported this way of speaking about God
- Strengths of Via Positiva
- 1) God's importance and separation with Earth is kept sacred
- 2) Is one of the most natural ways of talking about God. Religious believers are more inclined to take positively about God
- Weaknesses of Via Positiva
- 1) Statements about God can never be assumed to be true. All experience with God is ineffable
- 2) Univocal language used ("God is Good") seems to go beyond any human understanding of what 'good' means.
- A way of speaking about God where positive things are said
- Via Negativa (or the apophatic way)
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