St. Thomas Aquinas: Proving God's Existence Essay

Aquinas first question that he asked is whether the existence of God cannot only be understood, but also confirmed. Aquinas started out by stating the reasons why God could not be demonstrated. “It seems that the existence of God cannot be demonstrated. For it is an article of faith that God exists. But what is of faith cannot be demonstrated, because a demonstration produces scientific knowledge; whereas faith is of the unseen” (20). Here Aquinas is saying that one cannot demonstrate that God exists because it is based off of faith, rather than scientific evidence. Even though many people believe that there is such thing as God due to their respective religions, the fact is that one cannot prove that God exists scientifically, so it cannot be

St. Thomas Aquinas was born in A.D 1225 close to Naples. Thomas Aquinas was the seventh son of lower nobility. Thomas’s parents hoped he would become a person with power and influence, so they sent him to Monte Cassino. Monte Cassino was one of the big, great and wealthy Benedictine monasteries. After the monastery, Thomas went to a University just founded in Naples and it was there that he became a fan of Aristotle’s philosophy. Thomas then went against his family’s wishes, and refused careers in military or politics, and became a friar for the Dominican order. Thomas Aquinas Christianized Aristotle’s philosophy and offered solutions or explanations on God, Humanity, and the Universe.

Is God real? This question has been asked for thousands of years. What proof do we have? So far no physical proof has been found, however Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican Monk, offered some of the best arguments for the existence of God In his book the Summa Theologiae. Aquinas describes five ways that god could be proven. His arguments began with empirical observations of how he sensed the world around him and are therefor a posteriori. Here I will list the premise of each of the five arguments and discuss their validity.

Throughout the paper, Aquinas argues that the existence of God can be proven within his five ways of reasoning. This observation emerged while he was studying the works of the Greek Philosopher Aristotle. He uses the following statement to help the reader understand his first way of thinking, “the first and more manifest way is the argument from motion.” He begins by stating that some things are moving in this world. If you take a look around it seems like almost everything is at motion or has once been in motion. The main idea is that there must have been a first mover that began the chain of movements. If there was not a first mover, then nothing would essentially be in motion. His ultimate argument in the paper is that there must have been an unmoved mover to put things in motion, which he believes was God.

Both Aristotle and Aquinas were prominent philosophers who wrote profound works that discussed the concept of the highest human good and how humans can achieve it. In Aristotle’s, Nicomachean Ethics, the highest human good is a state of constantly seeking knowledge as a way of achieving full capacity as a human. The writings of Aquinas are similar to Aristotle, but, in Treatise on Law, he discusses the type and elements of law. His discourse on law ultimately names the highest human good as being in the perfect community with God. Aquinas’s argument supports obedience to law, preexisting inclinations for the good, and a resolution. Aristotle requires that the person constantly seek knowledge and be at work, which can act as a positive force that drives humans to improve themselves.

Many people struggle with whether or not they think God is real. Did someone create us or are we alone in this world? Is someone watching over us at all times? Is there a heaven? There is so much controversy over these questions.

Religion is a controversial subject among people. Many philosophers, theist, atheist, or agnostic have introduced different arguments regarding the various theories. One such philosopher is Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas was a priest, therefore a theist, with some suggestions about why God exists in actuality. The Five Ways depicts five possible explanations in regards to the existence of God. His most persuasive argument is based on the difference between potentiality and actuality along with the unmoved mover.

Aquinas distinguised between two types of goods, real goods and apparent goods. An apparent is good is something that a person believes to be good but really it is just an error of judgement. Aquinas argued this as he saw humans as perfect because we are 'Gods creation' and therefore humans would never knowingly pursue evil.

singularity there is no time and all of the laws of physics as we know

Does God exist? That question has been asked by people for centuries. Christians, Jews, and Muslims would all say that God exists. They would claim that He is the creator of all things and is of a higher being than man is. Others would claim either that God does not exist or that God is not what the Christians, Jews, and Muslims say He is. Both Anselm and Aquinas address this question: Anselm in his "Proslogion" and Aquinas in his "Summa Theologica." The opinions of Anselm and Aquinas as to the nature of God are the same, although Anselm lacks the proof to back up his claims.

How in such a scientific and empirical world could such a proponent for an architect God, namely Tomas Aquinas, still hold credence in the realm of metaphysics today. If his only contribution to the field is the addition of a creator God to the thoughts of Aristotle, then there is not true medieval mind that advances philosophical thought until the humanist revolution of the renaissance, leaving a void in time between classical thought and modern thought, ultimately this void leads to Aquinas even if contemporary minds disagree with his conclusion. Aristotle himself concludes there must be a “eternal, unmoved substance…without parts and indivisible” (The Metaphysics, pg. 375) but he cannot formulate a proof of this being’s existence through

5.) Aquinas explains that a person cannot have knowledge of a corporeal thing unless that person has the sense in order to have a sensory experience of it. This experience that is explained by Aquinas is the first of his three grades of cognitive power. He calls his first grade of cognitive power the sense, being the act of a bodily organ in order to understand the individuals and their particulars. The second grade of cognitive power he calls the angelic intellect which exists apart from matter. He explains the angelic intellect as a divine mind in which knows the universal and understands the material things through immaterial things. The final grade of cognitive power is the human intellect and Aquinas explains that

Thomas Aquinas’, and some that differ. In Kant’s Groundwork of Metaphysics of Morals, also talks about good will and happiness. As opposed to Aquinas, however, he believes that instinct is better used to attain happiness. According to Kant, without a good will one cannot even be worthy of happiness. What makes the good will is its efficacy in accomplishing some intended end. This will is something that is intrinsic to the human being and is naturally good, despite the fact that result of his willing may not always be perceived as good. Kant explains that the good will seems to act from duty, or from the sake of duty, when it chooses to follow what reason says it should do as opposed to what the agent would rather feel like doing. This moral goodness, Kant says (as translated by Bennett), “can’t consist in anything but the thought of law in itself that only a rational being can have - with the will being moved to act by this thought and not by the hoped-for effect the action.” To achieve this moral worthiness is the absolute goal of life, states Kant. “In the absolute, and the ultimate foundation of morality”, he says, “is the good will, which gains moral credit from acting in accordance with duty for the sake of duty itself.” Here it can be inferred that Kant’s idea of morality that the human will wills to is more inclined to this idea of duty rather than for the ultimate end. Kant also questions how God is made as the moral model of man. Man cannot develop his concept of morality initially from examples, for he cannot judge whether something is fit to be a basis of morality lest it has already been judged in accordance to the principles of morality. He asks, “Where do we get the concept of God as the highest good from? Solely from the idea of moral perfection that reason lays out for us a priori and which it ties, unbreakably, to the concept of a free will.

A critique that could be levy against Thomas Aquinas’ assertion is that the Holy Scripture in the Christianity religion is the word of God. There are other religions that claim that their doctrine is divinely inspired also. So this would allow other religions to claim the same absoluteness of authority on indemonstrable knowledge as Christianity. For example, the Koran and Torah were also said to be inspired by God. The question arises of which doctrine is the definitive Scripture that God attended for us to use. Thomas Aquinas is going to pick his religion holy doctrine over the other ones due to his faith in Christianity.

According to St. Aquinas, there are 5 ways to prove God exists. These are the argument from motion, the argument from efficient causes, the argument from possibility and necessity, the argument from graduation of being, and the argument of design. One of his most compelling arguments is the argument of “Possibility and Necessity.” This proof states that some being exists of its own necessity, and does not receive its existence from another being. In this paper, I will explain this proof in detail, argue why I don't agree with this proof, and why William Paley offers a more convincing approach as to why God exists.