Preview

Aquinas Idea Of God: A Comparative Analysis

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
236 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Aquinas Idea Of God: A Comparative Analysis
The idea of God is intense, as both of these analyses have shown. Aquinas’ idea of God is “Ipsum esse subsistens,” or Subsistent Act of Existing Itself (Magee, 2015). To speak of God as a self-subsistent being is to say He “Just Is.” He articulates every creature is “fundamentally composed of essence and existence.” In order for everything to exist, there must be a First Cause and Aquinas says God is that cause because without it, nothing exists. God is infinite simplicity and perfect. Aquinas and Tillich both see God as Being Itself (Fesser, 2011). Tillich places God “above God.” He writes, “God does not exist.” However, this is not in an attempt to deny God, but to demonstrate that God transcends everything. My understanding

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The view of a timeless God that Aquinas’ presents is more akin to how I see God. He is sees all at once and knows the path I should take; however, I have the choice to walk which path. I also have the choice to use my personal characteristics and individual traits for good. God wills for it to be so, contingent on my choice. I think Aquinas’ argues this…

    • 1193 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aquinas' main argument is well known as 'Aquinas' third way'; the argument from contingency and necessity. The first of Aquinas' ways was 'from motion,' this follows the idea that all objects move and a change of quality is movement. Nothing can move itself, which then leads to the idea of a chain of movement but the chain cannot be infinate, therfor there must be an unmoved mover to begin the chain. This first mover is God. The second of Aquinas' ways was 'from efficiant causes,' this follows the idea that all things are caused by something else because they cant cause themselves or they would exist before themselves. However this would mean that there cant be an infinite chain of causes, meaning there must be a 1st cause that caused all causes, then this 1st cause is God. The third of Aquinas' ways is 'from contingency and…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Aquinas' 3rd Way

    • 474 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Aquinas' third way argument states that there has to be something that must exist, which is most likely God. He starts his argument by saying not everything must exist, because things are born and die every single day. By stating this we can jump to the conclusion that if everything need not exist then there would have been a time where there was nothing. But, he goes on, if there was a time when there was nothing, then nothing would exist even today, because something cannot come from nothing. However, our observations tell us that something does exist, therefore there is something that must exist, and Aquinas says that something is God.…

    • 474 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Cosmological Argument is a posteriori argument (knowledge gained after experience) which attempts to prove that there is a rational basis for the belief in God. This argument is synthetic as it uses senses and is distinctive as it uses evidence of the universe to prove that God exists. The argument attempts to prove that God exists by evaluating the scale and nature of the cosmos. In order for this argument to succeed it has to be inductive and produce overwhelming evidence to show Gods existence. Arguments, like this one, can be interpreted in various ways so there will be different conclusions about God, in other words religious ambiguity. Furthermore most supporters of the Cosmological Argument argue that the universe could only have come into existence if it were caused by an uncaused cause. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican friar, adapted the argument. He stated that everything must have a cause, nothing is its own cause, and a chain of causes cannot be infinite and that there must be a first cause. This first cause must be an infinite, necessary being.…

    • 1280 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tillich's Argument Essay

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Tillich's described God, but trying not to make him exist in a sense. Basically, he is saying if god never existed there would not be one. However, since he do exist, only way he exist is through the believers of him.…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    There has been discussion lately questioning the history of Christianity and how the Catholic Church has developed. St. Thomas Aquinas was an Italian philosopher and theologian of the medieval period born in 1225 in Italy who was a significant mover and shaker. So what was his role in the changing church, how did he use his influence, what change occurred as a result and where is the Church now as a result?…

    • 309 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thomas Aquinas. Again, he believed in God but disagreed with Anselm’s argument proving his existence. Aquinas raises questions about God’s self-evident existence. He claims that things can be self-evident in two ways: in itself and both in itself and to us; even though something may exist self-evidently in itself, this self-evidence may not be known to us as humans and therefore, its existence would not be self-evident to us. This is exactly what Aquinas proposes God to be. God is self-evident in himself because he is his own essence. However, seeing as this essence is unknown to us (as we do not know enough about him), the statement ‘God exists’ is not self-evident to us. This, again, is another criticism which holds weight against the Ontological Argument, highlighting a glaring weakness in its…

    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Descartes constructs an argument for God’s existence on page 32-34 of his third meditation titled: Concerning God and He Exists. In this paper, I will summarize Descartes’s argument in my own words.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Objection 1. It seems that God does not exist; because if one of two contraries be infinite, the other would be altogether destroyed. But the word "God" means that He is infinite goodness. If, therefore, God existed, there would be no evil discoverable; but there is evil in the world. Therefore God does not exist.…

    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cosmological Arguement

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages

    St. Aquinas was a Dominican priest, an influential philosopher and a theologian. In his famous book, the Summa Theologica, he explains the classical five ways to prove the existence of God. The first of his ways is motion. Aquinas said that everything that moves is moved by something and that mover must also be moved by something else. However, you cannot have an infinite chain of movers or else there would be no reason for movement to begin, and so, there must be an unmoved mover that is producing movement in everything without itself being moved. That mover may be seen as God. Aquinas’ second way is causation, he explains that everything has a cause and every cause has its own cause. You cannot have an infinite…

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This particular argument is also in favor if the idea that God does in fact exist, but Aquinas has a different explanation from Anselm. Thomas Aquinas presents the argument known as the “Cosmological” or “first cause”. In a few words, this means that Aquinas believes there must have been a first cause in the world. Aquinas argues that the proof of Gods existence is based on the basis of experiences. God must exist because every being that is dependent for existence was caused by something else that happened prior to it. He believes either there is a boundless chain of contingent beings that is extending backwards or there is a first cause, something that was not caused by something else but began everything else. But in reality, there cannot be a continuous chain extending backwards. Therefore; there is a first cause, something that was not caused by anything else but started everything else that currently exists. Aquinas claims the existence of God can be proven in five ways: Argument from motion, Nature of efficient cause, possibility and necessity, gradation, and Governance of the world. Aquinas gives us an argument that is not hard to interpret. There must have been one who created mankind, constructing the world one being at a time. It is very easy to go along with the idea that there is one person or thing that created everything else. While this argument is clear and…

    • 1416 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Aquinas sets up this argument in his discussion of whether or not God exists. His five proofs set up the framework for much of his later writings in the Summa Theologica. As with the five proofs in their entirety, most of Aquinas' reasoning stems from the third proof concerning the existence of God. The first two proofs lead to the third's conclusion that God is "esse a se", or to be of itself. From this conclusion of God as an infinite being, Aquinas moves to the third question, concerning the simplicity of God. In article four of question three, Aquinas determines that God is ultimately simple in that his essence does not differ from his being. He writes, "Therefore, since in God there is no potentiality, it follows that in Him essence does not differ from being. Therefore, His essence is His being." God is an unchanging, infinite being. There is no conceivable way in which he could have parts, such as a separate being and a separate essence. From these proofs and others, Aquinas determines that God is an all knowing, perfectly good, perfectly powerful being. Moving back to the third proof of the existence of God, Aquinas determines that God is the ultimate being and that his existence precludes the existence of contingent beings. The notion entails the idea that without infinity, finite beings would not exist.…

    • 1926 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Agnosticism - 1

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Thomas Aquinas is a firm believer of the existence of a god; He argues for the proof of god by his five proofs. For motion to take place, something must have caused it to move, every effect has a cause, Something that doesn’t exist cannot make something come into existence, a standard of living, and all beings considered unintelligent half to be led some something. For his first “proof of God” Aquinas argues that any motion that takes place requires something to cause it to move. For example a ball won’t move, unless a slope causes it to roll down a hill, or a child kicks it. So the ball always had the potential to move, but its potential cannot be reached unless something acts upon it. By this theory something had to start the movement of the universe, which the only first mover could be God. In his second proof Cause and effect is brought into play. It is very similar to his first proof in that nothing would happen unless something caused it to happen. And because an infinite series of cause and effect is irrational, there must be an original cause that requires no cause; Hence God. The third proof deals with being or not being. All things have the possibility of existing or not existing. The shirt that you are wearing now exists but there was a time when it did not. Aquinas’s argument is that for that something to go from not being to being, there had to be an original being to create it. For example the shirt that you wear had to be created in a factory; And to manufacture something you must “be”. So…

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thomas Aquinas Religion

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Questioning the existence of god was frowned upon in medieval philosophy because it questioning would change the system of how things are done. So there was a great reason to just go with the flow and follow religion. Thomas Aquinas was one to follow religion and actually establish a reason for god's existence in a logical sense. Using logic and faith, god can be proven to have been the cause of all beings in the universe. Three of Thomas Aquinas quinque viae or arguments for the proof of god can be summed in there is a first mover, a necessary being, and order which was created the universe.…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thomas Aquinas is a prominent figure for someone who believes, preaches, and teaches about Gods existence. Aquinas made what is known to be called the Summa Theologica. This piece of writing is known to talk about the relationship between God and man along with questions and articles to show that God truly exists. Part one, question number two in the Summa talks about the existence of God. In this section of Aquinas’ writing, he gives three articles which are questions to support his claim on the topic. The article contains objections to each question and Aquinas thus responds to it show what he thinks of them. This also includes Aquinas’ five proofs for the existence of God.…

    • 2472 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays