Philosoft

Well, strictly speaking, God could be an abstract thing but for his alleged ability to affect physical things.

stretch

Then abstract things aren't necessarily potentially materially existing?

fcs25

The currently accepted concept of both the islamic god and the christian god is incoherent.Each named attribute jettisons the others out of the realm of possibilities." Does God exist"? This is really a moot question if the accepted properties are absolutely necessary and binding on this particular concept of god. The reason is because you are asking if square circle exist.

stretch

For example ..... ?

Philosoft

Good question. The way I define "thing," a member of the group "things" would have to be physically existing or potentially existing. So, to amend my previous statement, for God to be an abstract thing, he would need a thinkable form.

stretch

I'm much better at questions than answers.

Philosoft

Well, at some point I fully expect to find massive flaws in my thinking, so your queries will likely prove invaluable.

stretch

I'm not sure what you mean by thinkable form, and how that relates to abstract things.


The term form is conjuring up an image of something that has to be material .... something that has a 'shape'. By form are you talking about something what takes up space?

Or by thinkable form do you something else. There are lots of non-material entities that don't literally have a 'form' .... an idea has no length or breadth or depth (i.e, we don't literally think deep thoughts ), but I assume that there are acceptable definitions of 'idea' in your way of looking at things.

Ditto. IMO, all who philosophize are to some extent 'full of sh*t', including myself.

Philosoft

Or potentially takes up space, like a unicorn or a Norwegian Ridgeback or a Basselope.

Sure. A unicorn doesn't physically exist, but I can picture one in my head as it might look if it did exist.

stretch

I was actually (taking a step backwards and) referring to the definition of/idea of 'an idea', not the definition of/idea of 'a particular idea' such as a unicorn or a Basselope.