Aquinas' 5th proof of God
Does God Exist? This would seem like a simple question. However philosophers, theologians, and ordinary people have struggled since the beginning of time answering it. Cultures, countries, and obviously religions have all stemmed from this “simple” question. There is no “yes or no” answer, at least one that has tangible proof behind it. There have been many philosophers who have spent almost their whole lives developing a proof to solve this riddle. St. Thomas Aquinas is just one in particular who spent much deliberation on proving God’s existence. He wrote much of this in his book entitled “Summa Theologica.” In fact, he actually came up with five proofs. They proved God’s existence through motion, causality, contingency, and from perfection and order. Aquinas’ best argument is his second proof saying that God exist through the theory of causality. Aquinas’ second way of proving the existence of God through causality results in a proof which has five steps to it. First, Aquinas says some events cause other events. The world is a sequence of events. Next, he says that if an event happens, then it must be caused by something outside of itself. Every event that exist
The first major objection is whether God is the first cause Himself. Aquinas writes, “There is no case known in which a thing is found to be the efficient cause of itself; for so it would be prior to itself, which is impossible.” God has made effects, but His cause is non-existent. For example a match lights into a fire after it has been struck, not before. Taking away the cause is also taking away the effect. If there is no striking of the match, then there is no flame. This relates to the objection because if something did not start the universe then the universe would not exist. Thus, something must have started the universe, which would mean that there must have been a first efficient cause. He says there must be a first cause and an end cause. If God was an efficient cause then nothing starts the chain, thus the chain goes on forever. Likewise, the ultimate cause must have effect. s has a cause. Event “B” is an effect from the cause of event “A,” which was prior to event “B.” Event “B” being an effect from the cause of itself is contradictory. Aquinas moves on to state that there can be no infinite cause/effect chain. There cannot be an infinite regress of efficient causes. Then, he pulls these together to say that there is a first, uncaused cause. Finally, he brings his proof to a close by claiming God must exist. Thomas Aquinas’ second proof seems to be deductively sound, but not really necessary. He seems to go out of his way to say things that are obvious and unnecessary. His proofs can be used as a foundation for building stronger logical arguments for the existence of God, but should not be used as the only needed proofs. This is because of the objections that are raised in this proof. The first objection is, “What physical proof is there to God’s existence?” This is a rather vague objection since every single person who has believe in God has asked themselves for tangible evidence of his existence, and only few have received. The next two objections are not self-answering, but rather a bit more complicated. To explain Aquinas’ proof in more d
Some topics in this essay:
Thomas Aquinas,
Bang Theory”,
Thomas Aquinas’,
God Exist,
Altogether God,
existence god,
efficient cause,
god exist,
Stephen Hawkins,
cause intermediate cause,
believe god,
intermediate cause,
cause intermediate,
efficient causes,
cause cause,
god cause,
event “b”,
cause prior impossible”,
believe god heart,
“b” effect cause,
efficient cause prior,
Join now to see the rest of the essay!
Approximate Word count = 1433
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
Example Essays Home
