Abstract
Peter Damian (c. 1007–1072), an Italian cardinal and religious leader, has a modest place in the history of philosophy because of his little treatise De divina omnipotentia (On Divine Omnipotence). Damian is often depicted as a thinker who, in his attempt to defend divine omnipotence, denied the universal validity of the principle of contradiction and affirmed that God can change the past. Such a view is based on a misinterpretation of Damian’s statements. He actually held that the past cannot be changed, but he did not see this as a limitation of divine omnipotence but as an expression of God’s power. Damian’s treatise reflects an early phase in the scholastic deliberation on philosophical theology.
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Bibliography
Primary Sources
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Holopainen, T.J. (2018). Peter Damian. In: Lagerlund, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1151-5_378-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1151-5_378-2
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