Creatio ex nihilio and the Eternity of the World in Aquinas and Avicenna

Abstract

Contrary to the claim of some contemporary physicists, according to which there is a certain incompatibility between creation and the eternity of the world (hypothesis assumed, for example, in the theory of multiverses), the present paper analyzes Aquinas and Aviccenna’s concept of creation in order to distinguish it from the concept of motion. To achieve this I do two things: first, I distinguish between these two concepts in order to clarify in which sense all creation is ex nihilio; then, I discuss the compatibility between creation and the eternity of the world, particularly in Saint Thomas Aquinas, who claims that eternity does not necessarily imply the rejection of creation.