Aquinas

Aquinas’ fifth way

Natural objects do not behave randomly and are goal directed

Why is a teleological argument

Design arguments for the existence of god

What does Aquinas’ fifth way suggest

Suggests that things in the world cannot have directed themselves towards their end as they’re insufficiently intelligent or not intelligent at all. They need to be directed towards their end by something that does have intelligence.

What analogy does Aquinas use to show this

He says that humans can direct objects through exerting physical force on it such as an arrow. This is the arrow analogy. The archer targets its arrow towards its goal and the arrow hits its target although it isn’t intelligent and can’t comprehend what it’s doing. The archer had the end goal in mind.

What des the arrow analogy suggest about God

Just as ancient archer has the power to make an arrow goal directed, God also has the power to make the world goal directed. There must be an archer for the arrow of the universe, which must be God