St. Thomas Aquinas, The Existence of God

St. Thomas Aquinas, The Existence of God

The Teleological argument has two sides one of which is called the Analogical. These are arguments based on analogy that some objects are bound to be similar in some ways but different in others. For instance a sparrow is very different from a car, but both are similar in that they both move. The other type of argument is Abductive arguments; these begin with evidence that needs explaining and conclude with the best explanation for this evidence.

St. Thomas Aquinas came up with the Five ways to prove the existence of God. 1) Motion; 2) Causation; 3) Contingency; 4) Goodness; 5) Design. The First way is the argument from Motion; this means that there is something moving and that movement is caused by something that is making it moving. These movements however cannot be traced all the way back; therefore its first mover is God (the unmoved mover) St. Thomas Aquinas, studying the works of the Greek philosopher Aristotle, concluded from common observation that an object that is in motion (e.g. the planets, a rolling stone) is put in motion by some other object or force. From this, Aquinas believes that ultimately there must have been an UNMOVED MOVER (GOD) who first put things in motion. The second way is the argument of Causation; this deals with the issues of existence. Aquinas argues that there must be an Uncaused Causer (God) who began the chain of existence. It explains that nothing can be the cause of itself, and we cannot create an endless string of objects causing other objects to exist. This Way deals with the issue of existence. Aquinas concluded that common sense observation tells us that no object creates itself. In other words, some previous object had to create it. Aquinas believed that ultimately there must have been an UNCAUSED FIRST CAUSE (GOD) who began the chain of existence for all things. The third way is Contingency, a contingent being cannot exist without a necessary being, being able to create it.

Aquinas believed that the existence of contingent beings would ultimately necessitate a being which must exist for all of the contingent beings to exist. The necessary being in this is God. This Way defines two types of objects in the universe: contingent beings and necessary beings. A contingent being is an object that cannot exist without a necessary being causing its existence. Aquinas believed that the existence of contingent beings would ultimately necessitate a being which must exist for all of the contingent beings to exist. The fourth way is Goodness; Thomas Aquinas formulated this idea from observation of interesting objects and qualities of things. For instance if we saw two paintings we could say that one is more beautiful that the other. So we could say that one has a higher degree of beauty than the other. For Aquinas this meant this could be used for any quality, such as beauty, knowledge, intelligence etc and there ...