Peirce's Cosmological Argumentation: God as Ens necessarium.

Charles Peirce begins his best-known text about religious metaphysics by defining the proper name "God" as Ens necessarium. In two previously unpublished manuscripts, he advocates the hypothesis of such a "necessary being" as the only "rational explanation" that is "adequate to account for the sum t...

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Published in:Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society Vol. 61; no. 2; pp. 45 - 68
Main Author: Schmidt, Jon Alan
Format: Editorial
Published: Indiana University Press Spring2025
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        au: Schmidt, Jon Alan
        affil: Independent Scholar
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        Metaphysical cosmology
        Peirce, Charles S. (Charles Sanders), 1839-1914
        Universe
        Philosophy of religion
        Attributes of God
        Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Freiherr von, 1646-1716
        Philosophical theology
        Philosophers
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          Metaphysical cosmology
          Peirce, Charles S. (Charles Sanders), 1839-1914
          Universe
          Philosophy of religion
          Attributes of God
          Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Freiherr von, 1646-1716
          Philosophical theology
          Philosophers
      keyword:
        Charles S. Peirce
        Cosmology
        Explanation
        God
        Necessary Being
        Reason
        Theism
      ab: Charles Peirce begins his best-known text about religious metaphysics by defining the proper name "God" as Ens necessarium. In two previously unpublished manuscripts, he advocates the hypothesis of such a "necessary being" as the only "rational explanation" that is "adequate to account for the sum total of reality," namely, "the three universes" that together encompass "all the phenomena there are." Combining key statements from those passages into a series of distinct steps yields a cosmological argumentation for this conclusion, one resembling that of Gottfried Leibniz. In conjunction with Peirce's other relevant writings, it has implications for the attributes of God, as well as for the relationship between God and the universe, while also raising questions that call for further study.
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    language: English
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