aseity
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does aseity mean? An aseity is the existence of something that has no source outside of itself or that has always existed with no creation.Aseity is a philosophical term often used in relation to religion, myth, and creation stories. Many religions have stories detailing how the universe was first created, often by a being or force with aseity. In other words, a being or force that created itself through its own will or that always existed created the world.Example: Thinking of a god with aseity always makes me feel insignificant.
Etymology
Origin of aseity
1685–95; < Medieval Latin asēitās, equivalent to Latin ā sē from oneself + -itās -ity
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They would be self-sufficient and exist in-and-of-themselves, maintaining aseity as in the philosophical concept of God.
From Scientific American
To annoy these further by opposing pedantry to banality, one might say that the aseity is quintessential.
From Project Gutenberg
If we take independence in the sense of unlimitedness and aseity, we can speak, as the example of Spinoza shows, of only one, the divine substance.
From Project Gutenberg
He is SPIRITUAL, for were He composed of physical parts, some other power would have to combine them into the total, and his aseity would thus be contradicted.
From Project Gutenberg
For if He began in time, He would need a prior cause, and that would contradict his aseity.
From Project Gutenberg
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.