u/Alotofbytes

Anselm defines god as a being than which nothing greater can be conceived (defined purely in terms of greatness), and further argues that it is greater to exist in both the imagination and reality as proof of gods existence

Gaunilo argues ad absurdum that a perfect island must really exist too, following Anselm's logic. However, an island is already defined by, for example, being a body of land, being surrounded by water, etc. Could the property of "being a property of land" be maximally great to the fullest extent, i.e matching God? Arguably, the island is restricted in it's maximum greatness as it is not defined purely in terms of greatness, as God is to Anselm, instead it is defined in other ways which limit it - for example, if I were to have a fear of the ocean, an island wouldn't be very great would it? What if I even were to have an irrational fear of islands themselves?

Essentially, as I understand it, the universe is a closed system - no energy can be added or subtracted from the universe as a whole, only redistributed in either the form of matter or energy.

Aquinas argues that most things making up the universe are contingent, and will eventually all cease to exist, and are only sustained because of a necessary being "replenishing" contingent things. However, with the advent of modern science we know that the universe is made up of subatomic particles and whatnot, and each contingent "thing", e.g chairs and rocks are actually made up of these particles.

Therefore, everything in the universe is necessary, and nothing is contingent, as it cannot be destroyed (as the universe is a closed system), only rearranged. Is this a viable criticism of Aquinas?

I was thinking about modern long distance runners carrying all sorts in backpacks (water bottles, food, etc), and I thought about what our ancestors might have had with them when hunting prey. Obviously spears and whatnot but what about apples and other things to keep them going? Would they have used rudimentary bags to help them carry things?

Or in a broader sense, what is the earliest evidence of things being carried by humans while not being held in our hands?

What is the earliest evidence for this?

Paper 1 on wednesday 😭. Genuinely doesnt feel real, past 2 years have just swept by. Paris anthology is gonna kill me i think.

For uni realistically i need an A but i think im gonna be lucky to get a C. Oh well.

sorry if this is the wrong sub, but does anyone have a mixed spotify playlist with anything like bob sinclar, michael gray, cassius, fatboy slim etc? the spotify search function is next to useless for me