Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas wrote the Summa Theologica between 1265 and 1273. The third article of the Summa attempts to demonstrate in a rational manner the existence of God. The article consists of five short, almost cursory proofs, totalling less than three pages. Yet, this remains one of the most influential pieces of scholastic theology ever written. Aquinas' general method was to try to show how God can be known from his effects, meaning from the world around us, and he limited himself, by and large, to arguments based on reason rather than revelation.

The Five Ways, as they are called, are grounded in Aristotle's Metaphysics. Aquinas' mentor, Albert the Great, was one of the first scholars to put pagan philosophy to work in the service of Catholic theology, and Aquinas carried this approach to its zenith. It has been argued that the Five Ways are structured in such a way as to reflect Aristotle's Doctrine of the Four Causes: the First and Second Ways deal with two different aspects of efficient causality; the Third way deals with material causality; the Fourth way deals with formal causality; and the Fifth way deals with final causality.

Thomistic philosophy is basically Aristotelian in methodology and point of view. It is empirical and realist. Thomas preferred an order of study that presupposed the liberal arts and mathematics, and he began with Aristotelian logic, principally On Interpretation and the Posterior Analytics; moved through natural philosophy involving all

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necessary to explain motion. Kenney also puts the lie to Premises four and six. He contends that whereas it is true that something cannot be both actually and potentially x, it is false that the only thing which is actually x can make something else x. For example, though the fire makes things hot, dead men don't kill other people and mothers who fatten their children are not necessarily fat themselves. Therefore, if something can be made actually x by an agent who is only potentially x itself, there seems to be no reason why something could not actualize its own potential to x-ness, and thus move itself. Similarly, Newton's Law, which states that a body will remain either at rest or in motion as long as it is not interfered with in any way, must also be considered. The principle of inertia is capable of accounting for present motion (or rest) with no reference to an external agent. In the Second Way, Aquinas argues again from the fact that the things of this world are in motion. We can see this from the evidence of our senses, though the issue should be raised as to whether sensory information can be fully trusted. The fact that something is moving, however, means that there is something to cause it to move. The rela

Category: Philosophy - T