Q&A: God’s Incorporeality Derived from Certain Philosophical Arguments
God’s Incorporeality Derived from Certain Philosophical Arguments
Question
A somewhat stupid question that for some reason bothers me.
Maimonides’ proof, and that of the early philosophers, that God is not a body follows from the conclusion that every body is necessarily composite, and therefore not truly one, and that things preceded it causally and temporally, and that every body is finite. But couldn’t one theoretically say that non-composite matter could exist? (As I understand it, a quantum particle is like that; I’d be happy for you to correct me if I’m wrong.) And from that conclude philosophically that there could be “a God who is an eternal body”? I’d also be glad to know whether the claim that God is not a body because every body occupies space, and therefore space preceded it and so it is no longer God, is not preferable and stronger than the previous one; and whether one can somehow posit matter that does not occupy space (prime matter, perhaps?).
I’d also appreciate an explanation regarding the conclusions that arise from the Big Bang with respect to creation ex nihilo, something from something, and primordial matter, if at all. (That is, which of these, if any, tells us something correct about creation itself.)
Thank you very much.
Answer
All these proofs are weak and lack any real basis. Ancient philosophy, and not very logical. There is no point in dealing with this. And certainly not in comparing it to quantum theory.
Discussion on Answer
- Maybe every body occupies space when there is space. Who says there cannot be a body without space?
- Space is not something that is supposed to exist or come into being. It is the framework within which things exist. According to Kant, it is a category that exists only within us.
Why is the argument that says God is not a body because every body occupies space, and therefore there must be space that precedes it—and then He is not first and by definition no longer God—weak? It’s very persuasive to me.
Thank you very much, Rabbi.