ipl-logo

Thomas Aquinas Proof Of God Essay

1178 Words5 Pages

PAPER #2 History of philosophy: Philosophy 20B Thomas Aquinas reasons that “God is one” in the Summa theologiae, part one, question eleven, article three. Using three proofs, one on “Gods simplicity,” the second on “the infinity of Gods perfection” and the last based on “the unity of the world.” The following will be Dissecting and providing explanations along with criticism. As well, what it is meant by “God is one”. The claim of God being one means that God is independent of any other being. He lacks nothing and does not require anything else to help or to complete himself. The act of being One is a Claim to supremacy, as the only entity responsible for all other existence. In the sense that he is a simple composite of himself only and not made of anything more. He first must exist so His earlier argument for whether god has existence trumps the doubt of God’s existence. His five proofs based on: the existence of a first mover, the necessary existent in itself, the first efficient cause, the graduation of things in nature to the best, and the necessity to have a realizer of an objects end, are all found in the Summa Theologiae, part one, question two, Article three. All of the assumed individuals needed for existence take on the name …show more content…

As the last proof is not as secure as the first two. The “infinite perfection of god” stands out the most promising as it capitalizes on the perfection of a single being. It is irrefutable that the perfect being is infinitely perfect since perfection is ideal. As well as the ability of the universe to only produce one perfect simple God. If there were to be many perfect Gods, they would be one in the same and the same being. The “unity of the world” has its reasonings of a single point of expansion to the rest of the universe. As there should be an origin to everything. But is easily defeated by the possibility of a wide range to the rest of the

Show More
Related

  • René Descartes Argument Analysis

    871 Words  | 4 Pages

    He says, “This necessity plainly suffices so that afterwards, when I realize that existence is a perfection, I rightly conclude that a first and supreme being exists” (45). He also later goes on to say that “I cannot think of anything aside from God alone to whose essence existence belongs” (45). Being that he clearly and distinctly perceives that existence could belong to nothing other than a supreme being, and this being achieves all perfections, Descartes reaches the conclusion of his argument that a supreme being indeed

    Read More

  • George Zimmerman's Final Argument

    384 Words  | 2 Pages

    I have to admit that Zimmerman’s talk was hard at times for me to comprehend. I would love feedback if I understood his divine argument wrong, because I have had a few discussions about it with my peers and many took away different views from his final argument for a divine being, and in this paper I will explain how I understood his final argument. To come upon the divine being of God, he had to eliminate all the other contingent and necessary options believed by other philosophers and scientists through reasoning. He explained how it wasn’t possible for their to be no answer for the cosmos, nor were any of the contingent explanations of science, philosophy, or an infinite past made any sense.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Saint Anselm's Ontological Argument

    513 Words  | 3 Pages

    He states that Saint Anselm’s argument is impossible for the mind to grasp, and that imaging up anything to perfection can be done on anything, and the example he used was a tropical island. Saint Anselm counter argues back at Gaunilon that there is no perfect definition of what a tropical island could be unlike God. God does have a perfect definition and is not imagined as lacking any perfection. In God’s perfection he must exist in reality and not just in the mind in order to be the most perfect of all. This topic is a bit over my head for the fact that I never though this complex before about God.

    Read More

  • Aquinas's Argument On The Existence Of God

    1168 Words  | 5 Pages

    God 's existence has been a continuous debate certainly for centuries. The issue of God 's existence is debatable because of the different kind of controversies that can be raised from an "Atheist as being the non-believer of God" and a "Theist who is the believer of God". An atheist can raise different objections on the order of the universe by claiming that the science is a reason behind the perfection of the universe. In Aquinas 's fifth argument, he claims that the order of the universe cannot be explained by chance, but only by design and purpose. To explain this order of the universe he concludes that, there is an intelligent being whom we call "God".

    Read More

  • Saint Thomas Aquinas Argument For The Existence Of God

    871 Words  | 4 Pages

    The objection addressed the validity of the argument which had the premise 1, nothing is the efficient cause of itself except God and premise 2, a chain of causes cannot be infinite. The argument thus concludes there must be a first cause. This conclusion agrees with my thesis that Saint Thomas Aquinas’s argument formulated in the second way leads to a valid argument, which concludes that there must be a first cause and that God

    Read More

  • St. Thomas Aquinas's Argument Analysis

    788 Words  | 4 Pages

    1. God is said to be omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Many arguments have attempted to prove the existence of God and in my opinion, none of the arguments succeed in actually proving the existence of such a god. However, there is one argument that, if it worked, would be the best in proving the existence of God which is Saint Thomas Aquinas’s argument. Aquinas tries to prove God’s existence in five ways with the first being the argument from motion.

    Read More

  • Thomas Aquinas's Five Proofs For The Existence Of God

    419 Words  | 2 Pages

    The second proof is the argument from efficient cause. This proof explains that nothing is the efficient cause of itself and if the cause does not exist neither does the result. If the first thing in series does not exist nothing in the series exists, and therefore nothing would exist. Because we know that is false the first original cause must be God. The

    Read More

  • Problem Of Evil Mackie Analysis

    1089 Words  | 5 Pages

    The existence of God has been presented by a multitude of philosophers. However, this has led to profound criticism and arguments of God’s inexistence. The strongest argument in contradiction to God’s existence is the Problem of Evil, presented by J.L Mackie. In this paper, I aim to describe the problem of evil, analyse the objection of the Paradox of Omnipotence and provide rebuttals to this objection. Thus, highlighting my support for Mackie’s Problem of evil.

    Read More

  • Thomas Aquinas Cosmological Argument

    1784 Words  | 8 Pages

    As he goes into depth on his opinion of the existence of God with each point he gives and their explanations, it is clear to see that his “five ways” argument is persuasive and valid. With his helpful and insightful thinkings, it is evident that God does very much exist and is the all powerful being that created the universe around us. I also agree that this first cause argument on the cosmological argument is a sound argument and that God is the “something” outside the universe that is responsible to explain the existence of the

    Read More

  • Descartes's Argument On The Existence Of God

    753 Words  | 4 Pages

    The argument for God’s existence is that God is a perfect being, he is infinite, independent, supremely intelligent, and supremely powerful. Descartes goes on to talk about how God exists because he can conceive of him as better than himself (AD 40). God is perfect and perfect at everything, and was the first thing that sent everything into motion (AD 45). God is the ultimate cause.

    Read More

  • Descartes Non Deceive God Analysis

    726 Words  | 3 Pages

    Descartes declares he has to determine if there is a God and if he does exist, whether he can be a deceiver. The reason he has to determine the existence of God and what he is, rests in his theories of ideas. This is because we do not know if there is an outside world and we can almost imagine everything, so all depends on God’s existence and if he is a deceiver. “To prove that this non-deceiving God exists, Descartes finds in his mind a few principles he regards as necessary truths which are evident by the “natural light” which is the power or cognitive faculty for clear and distinct perception.” If arguments is presented in logical trains of thought, people could not help but to be swayed and to understand those arguments.

    Read More

  • Essay Ontological Argument For The Existence Of God

    818 Words  | 4 Pages

    If we think god is perfect and superior than everything we know then anything greater than god can’t be imagined. If we think god as not

    Read More

  • Existence Of God Analysis

    1027 Words  | 5 Pages

    So, we end up getting the point that one can conceive or imagine a being which is greater than God. But the conclusion of this whole process leads to a contradiction because the basic assumption is that God is a being which nothing greater can be conceived. So we cannot imagine something which is greater than

    Read More

  • Criticisms Of Anselm's Ontological Argument

    1411 Words  | 6 Pages

    For example, there are religions which view God as a physical object or as one that has a body. Therefore, Aquinas observes that Anselm’s definition can only work with those who define God in one way. Secondly, he observes that even if all people were to understand the meaning of the word “God”, it would then only subsist in people’s imagination and not physically. However, his claims can be refuted on the basis that, when one says that “no greater God can be conceived”, then one would only be talking about God. The word God is what you call a being that is above all understanding.

    Read More

  • Aquinas Belief In The Existence Of God

    368 Words  | 2 Pages

    Aquinas’s argument in his ‘Second Way’ states that everything in this world has its own efficient cause. Meaning that there is a maker or cause for every effect. Every maker in turn is the effect of a

    Read More

More about Thomas Aquinas Proof Of God Essay

Open Document