John of St. Thomas: "We know God by way of negation"

“FROM the notion of pure act conceived as uncreated being arise five principal and, as it were, radical attributes pertaining to the very existence of God. They remove from the notion of pure act five conditions or defects of created and potential being, namely, composition, imperfection, limitation, change, and division or plurality. By means of the attributes which remove these conditions, we know God by way of negation (remotio). The five attributes are: Simplicity, which is opposed to composition; Perfection which is opposed to imperfection; Infinity, opposed to limitation; Immutability, opposed to change; Unity, opposed to division or plurality.”

~John of St. Thomas (John Poinsot): Introduction to the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas.

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