Being, Beings and God: A Few Thoughts on an Ongoing Debate

Dale Tuggy and William Vallicella have been debating whether God is a "being among beings" in a series of blog posts. Fr. Aiden Kimel has also weighed in. Tuggy posted a timeline of the debate, which appears to include everything except his most recent response.

It's an interesting debate for a number of reasons. It involves some of the most fundamental issues in metaphysics and theology. The debate is timely, because it is often said that the new atheist movement falsely supposes that God is a being among beings. It is striking to see someone on the theistic side of the fence defend a flat sort of ontology against the radical ontological distinctions that have been traditionally drawn.

I won't summarize the debate. Interested readers should just read through it chronologically. But perhaps a few comments on Tuggy's most recent response are in order. 

Thomas M. Cothran has moved his blogging to www.thomasmcothran.com. The rest of this article may be found at www.thomasmcothran.com/being-god-tuggy-vallicella/.