Necessity and contingence of the effect of the prime cause: a comparison between Aquinas and Avicenna

Abstract

This paper deals with the contingence or necessity of the causal relationshipbetween the Prime Cause and its effect, as treated by Avicena andThomas Aquinas. In order to this, we consider the parallel treatments of DivineIntelligence and Will in both authors. They agree that God knows Himself and bydoing so, He also knows the things other than Him. Likewise, that He loves orwants Himself and by doing so, He accidentally wants the things other than Him.However, their conclusion regarding the contingence or necessity of the world isnot the same. According to Avicena, the world is possible in itself but necessarywith relation to another. According to Aquinas, that God wants the world withhypothetical necessity refers to the necessity of His will, without determining thecontingence or necessity of the world in itself. In fact, a universe in which necessityand contingence are combined is preferable, in Aquinas’s view, because itrepresents in a better way God’s multiple perfections.