He shifts the terms of the debate, focusing on the question of whether any created universe could be eternal rather than the question of whether this universe we actually live in is eternal. This is well illustrated by his reaction to the infinite souls argument that so excited Bonaventure. Aquinas effectively dismisses it as irrelevant. He observes that God could have created a universe with no humans at all (Aet. §12). The prospect of infinite human souls is no obstacle to God’s creating an eternal world if it is in His power to create a world that has no souls in the first place. What about
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