Principle of plenitude

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The principle of plenitude asserts that the universe contains all possible forms of existence. Arthur Lovejoy, a historian of ideas, was the first to trace the history of this philosophically important principle explicitly. Lovejoy distinguishes two versions of the principle: a static version, in which the universe displays a constant fullness and diversity, and a temporalized version, in which fullness and diversity gradually increase over time.

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Lovejoy traces the principle of plenitude to the writings of Plato, finding in the Timaeus an insistence on "the necessarily complete translation of all the ideal possibilities into actuality". [1] By contrast, he takes Aristotle to reject the principle in his Metaphysics , when he writes that "it is not necessary that everything that is possible should exist in actuality". [2]

Since Plato, the principle of plenitude has had the following adherents:

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Notes

  1. Lovejoy 1936, p. 50.
  2. Lovejoy 1936, p. 55.
  3. Caldecott, Stratford (Spring 2003). "Creation as a Call to Holiness". Communio. Archived from the original on 2013-04-14. Retrieved 2005-04-24. God creates whatever exists because it is fitting, not because it is necessary to him, nor because he is constrained by something outside himself.
  4. Lovejoy 1936, p. 155.

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