St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Thomas Aquinas
The Five Ways of the Summa Theologica was written by St. Thomas Aquinas. In this writing Aquinas argues against two objections of the existence of a God and provides five arguments in which he believes to solidify the idea that God does exist, further disproving these objections.
Aquinas’s first argument for the existence of God is that of motion. To Aquinas, everything is in motion and motion must start from somewhere. He explains that nothing can be moved without something previously causing that movement and thus proves that God is real because God is the initial mover. This argument, however, does not prove the existence of God. If we were to think that this argument proves anything it would be that we do not know the initial mover nor do we know what actually causes these motions. God in this sense is used as an answer to a question that we do not really know the answer to.
Aquinas’s second argument for the existence of God is based on cause and effect. Aquinas’s argument is that there is no effect without a cause; God being the cause and the universe being the effect. He also believes that this is not an infinite possibility and that there must be a start and an end and without the middle there will be no beginning or end. Again, he offers an argument that in no way proves the existence of God. Aquinas appears to be filling in the lack of answers with the existence of God and not rebutting the holes that his argument leaves open. When I turn on the light switch in my room, I am essentially the first mover and I am the creator of that light. Does this make me God because I wield the power of light at my fingertips or are there better explanations of how the light came to be?
Aquinas’s third argument is simply that nothing can exist from nothing; therefore, there had to be something in existence to create this world and that was God. This argument is based on the pure assumption that nothing comes from nothing and that
The Five Ways of the Summa Theologica was written by St. Thomas Aquinas. In this writing Aquinas argues against two objections of the existence of a God and provides five arguments in which he believes to solidify the idea that God does exist, further disproving these objections.
Aquinas’s first argument for the existence of God is that of motion. To Aquinas, everything is in motion and motion must start from somewhere. He explains that nothing can be moved without something previously causing that movement and thus proves that God is real because God is the initial mover. This argument, however, does not prove the existence of God. If we were to think that this argument proves anything it would be that we do not know the initial mover nor do we know what actually causes these motions. God in this sense is used as an answer to a question that we do not really know the answer to.
Aquinas’s second argument for the existence of God is based on cause and effect. Aquinas’s argument is that there is no effect without a cause; God being the cause and the universe being the effect. He also believes that this is not an infinite possibility and that there must be a start and an end and without the middle there will be no beginning or end. Again, he offers an argument that in no way proves the existence of God. Aquinas appears to be filling in the lack of answers with the existence of God and not rebutting the holes that his argument leaves open. When I turn on the light switch in my room, I am essentially the first mover and I am the creator of that light. Does this make me God because I wield the power of light at my fingertips or are there better explanations of how the light came to be?
Aquinas’s third argument is simply that nothing can exist from nothing; therefore, there had to be something in existence to create this world and that was God. This argument is based on the pure assumption that nothing comes from nothing and that