The Via Negativa

The Via Negativa

1. Moses Maimonaides

   • Medieval scholar from Crodoba
   • Draws on Bahya ibn Paquda. Our inability to describe God is related to the fact of his absolute unity. God is free of properties and is therefore unlike anything else. He is therefore indescribable
   • We can know that God exists, but cannot know anything about. We cannot comprehend his essence, and so we cannot assert any positive attribute. This is shown in Exodus 3: 'I am who I am' .
     • Gilbert of Poitiers and Alan of Lille in the 12th century, based on Augustine and Boethius, concluded that God's simplicity meant he is totally other. Using positive terms to describe his nature or attributes would be folly
   • Doctrine of divine simplicity: God does not have any intrinsic accidental properties. This means he does not possess a property the loss or gain of which would cause God to cease being God. God does not have properties in the same way humans do
   • In the BIble, where propositions are made of God, they refer to an action and not a property. For instance, 'God is merciful' refers to actions which resemble acts performed by humans
   • Supposedly negative attributions are not fittingly said of God. For instance 'the wall does not see' is not appropriate, neither is 'God is dead'.

2. Pseudo-Dionysius

   • Sixth century Christian mystic
   • Spoke of the need for the soul to become unified with God. It must go beyond the realm of sense-perception and rationality and enter a 'cloud of unknowing'
   • As a Platonist, Pseudo-Dionysius believed that there was a division between the soul and the body, and that access to God was obstructed by the passions and a desire for understanding
   • Cataphatic theology (via positiva): we contemplate God as he is in relation to the world, using names like 'The Good', 'Light of the World' and 'Life'
   • Apophatic theology (via negativa): names give us real but provisional knowledge of God
   • Argued that our negations must be transcended. Once this occurs, we there is a 'divine silence, darkness and unknowing'. Unclear what is meant but involves an extraordinary form of knowing
     • God is 'beyond denial' and 'beyond assertion'

3. Evaluation

   • Recognises the otherness of God. This is supported by logical analysis and mystic experiences
   • Limits the need for interpretation. With myths, symbols and analogy, some measure of interpretation is needed, thought the Via Negativa can be used in a variety of cultures
   • Antony Flew: by repeatedly saying what God is not, God dies the death of a thousand qualifications
   • Via Negativa does not give much information about God, whereas other religious texts do (like the Bible). Saying white is the opposite of black does not give much information
   • Aquinas: equivocal approach to God undermines religious practices. Communication is severely limited and divine actions, demanding some similarity to humans, are also unknowable. Analogy is a better substitution
     • To affirm something exists is to say at least a partial or incomplete notion of that thing is possible
   • Negation allows some odd things to be said about God, like 'God is a lion', implying he is not weak

4. John Duns Scotus

   • Followed Anslem in arguing that language about God was univocal, so 'Jesus is the Word of God' and 'God is good' can be understood unequivocally
   • For Scotus, God's infinity (comparable to Aquinas' doctrine of simplicity) guarantees that our language is reliable. If we can understand and define God, then the language which serves that end can describe God
     • Thomas Williams: our best ontology both supports and is supported by our theological semantics