Here's an argument against the necessity of really distinct Divine ideas in the Divine intellect:
- If, necessarily, every Divine idea is really distinct from every other, then God has a really distinct idea of every natural number.
- If God has a really distinct idea of every natural number, then God has an actual infinity of really distinct ideas.
- But God cannot have an actual infinity of really distinct ideas (for there can be no actual, real, extensive infinities).
- Therefore, possibly, some Divine ideas are really identical to each other.
The conclusion here is weak, but it's hard to see why, if, possibly, some Divine ideas are really identical to each other, it couldn't be the case that all Divine ideas are really identical to each other. One would have to find an argument against this latter conclusion which wouldn't work equally well against the conclusion that some of the Divine ideas of the natural numbers are really identical. What could that argument be? So, probably, it's possible that there's just one real Divine idea, really identical to the Divine essence.
