Preview

Thomas Aquinas Five Proofs For God's Existence

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
257 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Thomas Aquinas Five Proofs For God's Existence
In Thomas Aquinas’ Five Proofs for God’s Existence argument, the first argument states that there has to be a first mover, a God, which sets everything in motion. Many scientific theories and studies have disproved the existence of a God. The logic behind the first mover, a God, is unconvincing because the bible’s story of creation conflicts with the big bang theory. The bible proposes that the universe was created over the course of seven days, whereas the big bang theory suggests the process took only seconds to complete. The second argument maintains that God is the first maker. This argument is uncertain because before the big bang there was a spot called a singularity where all matter was combined into an infinite density. This spot
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Telelogical argument
    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Telelogical argument

    St.Thomas Aquinas believed that existence of god could be proven. In his Summa Theologiae Aquinas put forward five proofs (or five ways) for the existence of God:First Way – Argument from Motion Second Way – Causation of Existence Third Way – Contingent and Necessary Objects Fourth Way – The Argument from Degrees and Perfection Fifth Way – The Argument from Intelligent Design.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Examine the cosmological argument for t
    • 789 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Examine the cosmological argument for t

    Thomas Aquinas developed Aristotle’s ideas and offered the ‘Five Ways’ which have the aim to prove the existence of God. Three of the five form the cosmological argument. The first way is motion, the second is cause and the third is necessity and contingency.…

    • 789 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    to what extent is the cosmological argument a weak argument
    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages

    to what extent is the cosmological argument a weak argument

    But even with Thomas Aquinas’ third proof which cannot be ruled out by infinite regress, the cosmological argument is still not convincing for the existence of God because, like all the other cosmological theories, they make a huge assumption at the conclusion that the answer to it all is God, yet there is no evidence to suggest why it would be God so I see no reason to accept this. Even Aquinas said that the cosmological argument could not prove that God exists; you had to have had faith as well with it.…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Key Features of the Cosmological Argument
    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Key Features of the Cosmological Argument

    Thomas Aquinas developed Aristotle’s ideas and offered the ‘Five Ways’ which have the aim to prove the existence of God. Three of the five form the cosmological argument. The first way is motion, the second is cause and the third is necessity and contingency.…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Thomas Aquinas And The Existence Of God
    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Thomas Aquinas And The Existence Of God

    A. For Thomas philosophy is ancilla theologiae (handmaiden of theology). Aquinas was first and foremost a theologian, though he was quite capable of distinguishing philosophy proper from theology. He held that…

    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Plato's Design Argument Analysis
    • 2372 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Plato's Design Argument Analysis

    The argument starts by stating there is an efficient cause for everything. Nothing can be an efficient cause of itself. It is not possible to regress to infinity in efficient causes (Harris, 44). To take away the cause is to take away the effect. If there is no first cause then there will be no others (Harris, 45). Clearly Aquinas argues for an Efficient Cause. It indicates that each prior cause must itself have its own cause leading to God as the Efficient Cause (Harris, 45). His “Third proof” is the argument from…

    • 2372 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    Descartes Proofs Of God S Existence
    • 1242 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Descartes Proofs Of God S Existence

    Descartes uses the proof ‘Meditation III’ to explain God’s existence. The proof is given via reasoning, which begins by describing how he comes to such a conclusion. Descartes does this by mentally closing himself from the general public, ignoring hearing, sight, and the remaining of his senses as he deeply looks and depends upon himself. This state gives him the opportunity of making an introspective look at the existence of God, with no influences from another party (Steven 500). Descartes is able to organize his thinking, and from his reasoning, he is able to come up with the notion that God exists due to his finite existence.…

    • 1242 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    What Is The Cosmological Argument For God's Existence
    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages

    What Is The Cosmological Argument For God's Existence

    Thomas Aquinas is a medieval scholar who wrote the five cosmological arguments that support the existence of God. A cosmological argument is an argument that supports the existence of God and that everything that exists was caused by something else. One of Aquinas’ ways to prove God’s existence is through the argument of possibility and necessity. He argues that there must be a first necessary being to set the chain of causes in motion which results in the universe today.…

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Philosophical Arguments For The Existence Of God
    • 989 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Philosophical Arguments For The Existence Of God

    Evaluate the arguments for the existence of god There are three main philosophical arguments for the existence of god; the Teleological argument (also known as the design argument), made by William Paley, which presents the central idea that the universe is so complex, perfectly designed and purposeful that it must have had an intelligent designer, the Cosmological argument, made by Thomas Aquinas, which is based on the main idea that everything has a starting point so an uncaused god must have made/caused the universe, and the (entirely a priori) Ontological argument, made by Anselm, based on the main idea that god is perfect, and that existence is a predicate of perfection so therefore God must be real both in our minds and reality as he…

    • 989 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Arguments Against The Cosmological Argument
    • 1314 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Arguments Against The Cosmological Argument

    This can be, and often is, used as evidence against the cosmological argument, but many cosmologists continue to believe it can work alongside God being the creator of the universe. Some people postulate that the Big Bang happened randomly, and does not need a cause – instead, it was itself the cause of the universe (however, this argument can potentially lead to design rather than causation). This reasoning, in my opinion, is very logical; there is no logical reason for God to necessarily be the ‘necessary being’ – it could, in fact, be the universe itself, as Hume stated. People who argue for the existence of God based on causation believe that the Big Bang must have had divine causes, and, although the Big Bang may have been the physical beginning of the universe, God is the being that started it off.…

    • 1314 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Cosmological Arguement
    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Cosmological Arguement

    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
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Ontological Argument Analysis
    • 1416 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Ontological Argument Analysis

    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
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Cosmological Argument For The Existence Of God
    • 1287 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Cosmological Argument For The Existence Of God

    The Cosmological argument is a philosophical argument for the existence of God. It is explained that everything has a reason, is the first reason, the first reason is of no significance. The cosmological view tries to prove the existence of God by observing the universe. Scientists believe that the universe must have a beginning, it needs something to give it existence. So that we can contact to God, God is always there, no reason, no beginning, no limit, beyond time, is infinite. Moreover, according to Aquinas, he also states five way for support the existence of God. For example, Unmoved Mover, First Cause, Contingency, Degrees of Perfection and Teleological. First of all, Unmoved Mover definition is there is nothing can be moved itself.…

    • 1287 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Agnosticism - 1
    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Agnosticism - 1

    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
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Cosmological Argument Theory
    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Cosmological Argument Theory

    The Christian philosopher Saint Thomas Aquinas started the theory that if any object in the universe is moving, it must have been moved by something else that was also moving, and this second moving object must have been moved by something else that was also moving, and this must have been moved by a fourth moving object, and this by a fifth, and so on. (Textbook p.284) Aquinas believed there must be someone who started this chain of motion; therefore, there must be a God. There has been recent scientific evidence that suggests the universe began with the “big bang.” The “big bang theory” is a theory that billions of years ago, the universe began as an infinitesimal point that exploded suddenly into a huge ball of matter and that has continued exploding outward to form the gigantic universe we see around us. (Textbook p.285) I believe in the “big bang theory” and think it points to scientific proof that God does exist. There is proof today that the planets of the universe are gradually moving farther apart as time passes. This is proof that the “big bang theory” is true. With this being true it is proof that the earth has only been around for a few billion years and that it had a definite beginning. And only an infinitely powerful Being-God-can account for this beginning of the universe. (Textbook…

    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics