Medival Essay (1)

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Valencia College, Osceola *

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2010

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Philosophy

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Dec 6, 2023

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Sebastian Barajas Professor Hernández Philosophy PHI-2010 19 October 2023 Medieval Philosophy The Summa Theologica, written by Saint Thomas Aquinas between 1265 and 1274, is a significant work that addresses the existence of God (AQUINAS’S FIVE PROOFS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD para 1). The argument from motion suggests that God is the First Mover, setting all things in motion and giving them their potential. The argument from Efficient Cause asserts that everything has a cause, and without a first cause, there would be no others, implying that God is the First Cause. The argument from necessity being suggests that while objects can exist and disappear, nothing can come from nothing, implying that something must exist at all times. The argument from Gradation suggests that God is the highest form of good, as created objects progress from unformed inorganic matter to biologically complex organisms. Design and purpose are essential for the order of the universe, requiring divine intelligence from the designer, implying that all things have a specific goal. I personally believe the third reasoning behind St. Thomas of why God exists, makes the most sense has the most order in all of the five ways of how and why God exists. Something had to create us because nothing could have not created us.

The existence of truth is self-evident, as denying it implies the proposition "truth does not exist." God, as the truth itself, is the way and the life, in other words truth is self-evident and cannot be denied, as it implies the existence of God as the way and life (The existence of God para 3). Here is another summary of the third way/reasoning for the existence of God and why I think it is the best from all five, “The world consists of perishable, contingent things, but current existence implies a necessary, imperishable being, often referred to as God” (Five Ways Aquinas para 10). Aquinas' argument suggests that everything around us, including animals and buildings, comes into and goes out of existence. If everything were like this, nothing would exist. Some interpreters argue that assuming an infinite past would lead to all possibilities. Being realized and everything going out of existence, however, this explanation involves the fallacy of composition and doesn't align with Aquinas' principle that destruction is always generation. Another explanation is that an eternal agent can account for the eternity of generation and corruption, but this is not acceptable. For me this makes even more sense and better evidence or at least my favorite reasoning compared to the others. What he demonstrates is that God's existence is the argument from contingency, distinguishing between possible and necessary beings. Possible beings are those capable of existing and not existing, while necessary beings are not capable of not existing. There must be at least one necessary being, which is not necessary in itself or caused by another necessary

being. God is the only being necessary in itself, as there cannot be an infinite chain of necessary beings. (The Five Ways para 6). The world's existence is contingent on a necessary being, God, which continues to hold it in existence. Animated or inanimate things can cease to exist at any time, leading to the continuation of the world. This means that nothing and no one exists forever, and everything could eventually go out of existence (St. Thomas Aquinas’ Five Proofs para 6). Aquinas argues that things in the world are possible, but if the universe were eternal, all possible states would be actualized, including the possibility of not existing. Therefore, something must exist to maintain these contingent beings in existence (Thomas Aquinas’s Five Proofs for God Revisited para 18). The statement "there must be one necessarily existing being" is false, as nothing exists without a cause. Every necessary thing either has a cause or not, and the chain of causes cannot go back infinitely. Therefore, there must be something necessarily existing through its nature, which is called God (para 10). Man is a possible being with the potential for birth and death, along with plants, animals, and structures.

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