Whether God exists or not has been debated for hundreds of years. Believers diligently argue their views, while skeptics just as diligently refute them. In this article we will touch on 5 evidence of the existence of God Thomas Aquinas. We will also familiarize ourselves with refutation examples in order to clearly understand the strengths and weaknesses of this system.
On the evidence of St. Thomas
Saint Thomas Aquinas is a famous Catholic theologian whose works have acquired the status of the official creed of the Western Church, led by the papal throne in Rome. The mentioned 5 proofs of the existence of God Thomas Aquinas were presented by him in a fundamental work called “The Sum of Theology”. In it, the author, among other things, argued that the existence of the Creator can be proved in two ways, namely with the help of cause and with the help of consequence. In other words, we are talking about arguments from cause to effect and from investigation to reason. Five proofs of the existence of God Thomas Aquinas are based on the second approach. Their general logic is as follows: since there are obvious consequences of the cause, the cause itself also has a place to be. Thomas claims that the existence of God is not obvious to people. Therefore, it is possible to prove its existence if we consider the Creator as the root cause of obvious consequences to us. This statement is based on St. Thomas Aquinas. The 5 proofs of the existence of God, briefly described, of course, will not allow you to fully appreciate the depth of thought of this outstanding theologian, but will help to make up a general impression of the problem raised.
The first proof. From motion
Nowadays, this argument of Thomas is usually called kinetic. It is based on the assertion that everything is in motion. But nothing in itself can move. For example, a horse moves a cart, a car makes the motor move, and a sailboat drives a stream of air. Molecules, atoms and everything that exists in the world move, and all of it receives an impulse to action from outside, from something else. And then, in turn, from the third and so on. The result is an endless chain of causes and effects. But there can be no endless chain, as Thomas says, otherwise there would be no first engine. And if there is no first, then there is no second, and then the movement would not exist at all. Accordingly, there must be a primary source, which is the cause of the movement of everything else, but which itself is not amenable to the influence of third forces. This prime mover is God.
The proof of the second. From a producing cause
This argument is based on the assertion that every thing, every phenomenon is the result of some generating cause. A tree, according to him, grows from a seed, a living creature is born from a mother, glass comes from sand, and so on. Moreover, no thing in the world can be the cause of itself, since in this case it would be necessary to recognize that it existed before its appearance. In other words, an egg cannot lay itself, and a house cannot build itself. And in the end, again we get a chain of endless causes and effects, which should rest on the original source. His existence is not a consequence of the preceding reason, but he himself is the cause of everything else. And if it had not been for it at all, there would have been no process of producing causes and effects. This primary source is God.
The third proof. From necessity and chance
Like all 5 evidences of the existence of God Thomas Aquinas, this argument is based on the law of cause and effect. However, it is very peculiar. Thomas claims that there are random things in the world that may or may not exist. Once they really were, but before that they were not. And it is impossible to imagine, according to Thomas, that they arise by themselves. Accordingly, there must be a reason for their appearance. Ultimately, this leads us to postulate the existence of such an entity, which would be necessary in itself and would not have external reasons in order to be a necessity for all others. This essence of Thomas defines the concept of "God."
The fourth proof. From the degree of perfection
Thomas Aquinas based 5 evidence on the existence of God based on Aristotelian formal logic. One of them says that in all things that are in the world, various degrees of perfection are manifested. This refers to the concepts of goodness, beauty, nobility and form of existence. However, the degree of perfection is known by us only in comparison with anything else. In other words, they are relative. Further, Aquinas concludes that against the background of all relative things a certain phenomenon should be allocated, endowed with perfection in an absolute degree. For example, you can compare things in beauty either with respect to the worst or relatively better things. But there must be an absolute criterion, above which nothing can be. This is the most perfect phenomenon in all respects and is what is called God.
The fifth proof. From leading the world
Like all 5 proofs of the existence of God Thomas Aquinas, this is based on the idea of the root cause. In this case, it is considered in the aspect of meaningfulness and expediency, which the world has and the living creatures that inhabit it. The latter strive for something better, that is, they consciously or unconsciously pursue some goal. For example, procreation, comfortable existence, and so on. Therefore, Thomas concludes that there must be a higher being who intelligently rules the world and creates its own goals for everything. Of course, this creature can only be God.
5 evidence of the existence of God Thomas Aquinas and their criticism
Even a superficial analysis of the above arguments shows that they are all aspects of the same logical chain. The 5 proofs of the existence of God Thomas Aquinas are concentrated mainly not on a higher essence, but on the material world. The latter appears in them as a consequence or a complex of various consequences of a single root cause, which itself has no reason, but which must exist. Thomas calls her God, but, nevertheless, this does not bring us closer to understanding what God is.
Therefore, these arguments cannot prove the existence of a confessional Lord, Christian or any other. Based on them, it cannot be argued that there exists the very Creator worshiped by the followers of the Abrahamic religions. In addition, if we analyze the five proofs of the existence of God Thomas Aquinas, it becomes clear that the postulation of the Creator of the world is not a necessary logical conclusion, but a hypothetical assumption. This is evident from the fact that the nature of the root cause in them is not disclosed, and it may turn out to be completely different than we imagine. These arguments do not convince the truth of the metaphysical picture of the world that Thomas Aquinas offers.
5 proofs of the existence of God briefly illuminate the problem of our ignorance of the fundamental principles of the universe. Theoretically, it may turn out that our world is the creation of a kind of super-civilization, or a consequence of the still undiscovered laws of the universe, or a kind of emanation, and so on. In other words, for the role of the root cause, one can offer any fantastic concept and theory that has nothing to do with God, as we imagine it. Thus, God, as the Creator of the world and the root cause of everything, is only one of the probable answers to the questions that Thomas formulates. Accordingly, these arguments cannot serve as evidence in the truest sense of the word.
Another counter-argument concerns the fourth evidence, which postulates a certain gradation of the perfection of phenomena in the world. But, if you think about it, what can serve as a guarantee that such concepts as beauty, goodness, nobility and so on are quite objective characteristics, and not subjective categories of the human mind, that is, a product of mental differentiation? In fact, what and how measures beauty, and what is the nature of aesthetic feeling? And is it possible to think of God within the framework of human concepts of good and evil, which, as history has shown, are constantly undergoing changes? Ethical values change - values and aesthetic ones change. What seemed to be the standard of beauty yesterday, today is an example of mediocrity. What was good two hundred years ago today qualifies as extremism and a crime against humanity. Inscribing God into this framework of human concepts makes him just another mental category, and the same relative. Therefore, the identification of the Almighty with absolute good or absolute good is by no means evidence of his objective existence.
Moreover - such a God will certainly be beyond evil, dirt and ugliness. That is, it cannot be absolute evil, for example. We will have to postulate the presence of several gods, personifying various mutually exclusive phenomena in their absolute degree. None of them, accordingly, by virtue of their limitation, can not be a real God, who, as an absolute, must contain everything, and therefore, be one. Simply put, no concepts and categories of the human mind are applicable to God, and therefore cannot serve as evidence of his being.