Aquinas
Many debates are centered around the topic of the existence of God. People have given what they believe are rational proofs for definite existence, as well as non- existence. When all is said and done, there is no definite proof either way, and we are left to look at the arguments and make a leap of faith. Whether we make it toward science, or toward God is our final decision. Two philosophical and religious figures set out to develop arguments on the existence of God, that have become. These two people were St. Anselm and St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Anselm used a combination of faith and reason to delve into the existence and understanding of God. St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica, states five proofs to explain the existence of God stressing both logic and reason, while de-emphasizing faith.The root of St.Anselms\' argument for the existence of God is his faith, Christianity, and the idea of creation out of nothing. St. Anselm begins his ontological argument for the existence of God with ;Aliquid quo nihil maius cogitari posit. St. Anslem begins with this statement which means something which nothing greater can be thought. Anslem makes a decision to take his faith and then seeks to understand it. The end that
St. Thomas Aquinas promoted the use of reason in an Aristotelian manner, namely that of inference from effects to causes. He criticized the claim made by Anselm in the 11th century that we know that God exists simply by understanding the concept of God. God is that greater than which nothing can be conceived, and it is evident that such a being must exist St. Thomas Aquinas argues the existence of God by stating five proofs. These five proofs are the ways in which we are to appreciate the one God. They are five chief ways for stating the same God. The proofs include similar principles based on senses. They express that things in reality exist. They also explore the impossibility of physical or infinite regress, and the principle of the non-contradictory when proving the existence of God. Anselm goes on to argue his second proof, that being nature. He says that nature is the efficient cause. In the world of senses there is an order of efficient causes. When talking about efficient causes one can not go on to infinity. There is no case known in which a thing is found itself to be the efficient cause of itself. Overall, Anselm concludes that it is necessary to say there is a first efficient cause, and this cause is God. In closing, St. Anselm and St. Thomas Aquinas both argue for the existence of God. They both set out to prove this through either faith and or reason and human logic. Anselm and Aquinas achieve their ultimate end by stating complete and concise arguments. Both philosophers’ arguments are different and they stress different points. St. Anslem relies heavily on the notion of ideas, while Aquinas relies on senses and human nature. Anselm succeeded in proving the existence of God in an ontological argument in which his end result was the proof of God as an idea instead of something in existence. He ultimately proves the idea of God in his mind and reality. Aquinas argued the existence of God by the demonstration of his five proofs. Anslems\' main idea was that if it is not self evident that God exists, we must demonstrate his existence. He knew that we could not do that unless one knows what propositions exist. This led Anselm to develop his proofs on the existence of God. He goes on to explain a fourth proof proving the existence of God. This fourth proof is the gradation of being. The gradation of being basically means that within all beings there are some that are mor
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Approximate Word count = 1637
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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