Seminar 1 - Assign 01

Jumao-as, Odette Marie V. Assignment in Seminar 1

Section 1-S July 24, 2015

The Five Ways of St. Thomas Aquinas (To Prove God Exists)

The First Way: Argument from Motion From St. Thomas Aquinas’ study on the works of the Greek Philosopher, Aristotle, as well as from his own observation, he was able to reach a conclusion that an object in motion is put into motion by some other object or force. We can observe even on our own that motion is all around us. Our senses prove that things around us are in motion, but that nothing can move by itself. It is to be noted that things move when potential motion becomes actual motion through a certain force. Hence, St. Thomas Aquinas believed that there is ultimately an “Unmoved Mover” who was the one who put things in motion first, and that is no else but God.

The Second Way: Argument from Efficient Causes (Causation of Existence) This way is all about the issue on existence. St. Thomas Aquinas concluded that there is no single object that can create itself, and that some other prior object had to create it. Nothing could ever be the cause of itself. There cannot be an endless string of objects causing other objects to exits, without realizing the existence of the first creator. It is through this principle that St. Thomas Aquinas shares to us that essentially there must have been the presence of “Uncaused First Cause”, who is God.

The Third Way: Argument from Contingent and Necessary Object (Argument from Possibility and Necessity) The third way discusses the two types of object in the universe: Contingent, or possible objects, and the Necessary, or necessity. Everything around us that exists are contingent beings, their existence dependent on a particular happening or maker. As such, there has been a time when everything around us had not existed. However, if we logically think that “everything” is indeed contingent, and that there was a time the contingent beings did not exist, then there should be “nothing” present now, instead of “everything”. Thus, to break the circle of contingency and to pinpoint the start of the contingency, there should be a being which or who is a Necessity or Necessary, and this is God.

The Fourth Way: Argument from Gradation of Being (Argument from Degrees and Perfection) This way covers the quality of all beings present in this world. We can observe that each being, whatever form it may take, has different qualities from each other. These qualities can be graded through degrees, which can be closer or farther away from that benchmark of highest degree. At a certain and final point, there must be perfection. This highest degree of perfection is no other than God.

The Fifth Way: Argument from Design (Argument from Intelligent Design) Looking around us, we can see that there is a particular order of things. Everything around us is a work of art and purpose, and not chaotic. From the air that we breathe, to the wings of the birds and the fins of the fishes in the ocean, everything has a purpose. Comparing it to an architect’s work, the world is a house, built with specifications identified prior its establishment. Hence, if there is design, purpose and order, there must be a Designer responsible for all of these, and that Designer is one we call God.

References: 
 http://web.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/web%20publishing/aquinasFiveWays_ArgumentAnalysis.htm http://www.religiouseducation.co.uk/school/alevel/philosophy/cosmological/5ways.htm