!

Aquinas, "The Existence of God"

The Existence of God: An Overview

Is the Proposition "God Exists" Self-Evident?

  • Self-evident in itself: Yes, because the predicate (existence) is contained within the essence of the subject (God), as God is His own existence (I:3:4).

  • Self-evident to us: No, because we do not know God's essence.

  • Natural knowledge: A general, confused knowledge of God as man's beatitude is naturally implanted, as man desires happiness. However, this is not specific knowledge that God exists.

  • Meaning of the word "God": Understanding God as "that than which nothing greater can be conceived" only proves mental existence, not actual existence, unless one already admits such a being exists actually.

  • Truth: The existence of truth in general is self-evident, but the existence of a Primal Truth (God) is not self-evident to us.

Is God's Existence Demonstrable?

  • Yes, it can be demonstrated.

  • Method: Demonstration is made "a posteriori," from effects to cause, because God's effects are more known to us than His essence.

  • Faith vs. Reason: God's existence is a preamble to articles of faith, knowable by natural reason, not an article of faith itself. It can be scientifically known.

  • Knowledge of Essence: While we don't know God's essence, His existence can be demonstrated by using the meaning of the word "God" (derived from His effects) as the middle term.

  • Proportion of Effects: Even if effects are not proportionate to the infinite cause, they can still demonstrate the cause's existence.

Does God Exist? (The Five Ways)

First Way: From Motion

  • Things are in motion.

  • Whatever is in motion is put in motion by another.

  • Infinite regress of movers is impossible.

  • Therefore, a First Mover, unmoved by another, must exist; this is God.

Second Way: From the Nature of Efficient Cause

  • An order of efficient causes exists.

  • Nothing can be the efficient cause of itself.

  • Infinite regress of efficient causes is impossible.

  • Therefore, a First Efficient Cause must exist; this is God.

Third Way: From Possibility and Necessity

  • Some things are possible to be and not to be (contingent).

  • If all things were merely possible, at some point nothing would have existed, and thus nothing would exist now.

  • Therefore, a Necessary Being, whose necessity is not caused by another, must exist; this is God.

Fourth Way: From Gradation to be Found in Things

  • Degrees of perfection exist (e.g., good, true, noble).

  • Degrees imply a maximum in a genus (e.g., hottest). The maximum is the cause of all in that genus.

  • Therefore, a being that is the cause of all being, goodness, and perfection must exist; this is God.

Fifth Way: From the Governance of the World

  • Things lacking intelligence (e.g., natural bodies) act for an end, achieving the best result by design.

  • Such direction towards an end requires an intelligent being.

  • Therefore, an intelligent being directing all natural things to their end must exist; this is God.

Replies to Objections Against God's Existence

  • Problem of Evil: God, as the highest good, allows evil to exist but His omnipotence and goodness bring good even out of evil. This demonstrates His infinite goodness.

  • Superfluous Hypothesis: While natural things can be traced to nature and voluntary actions to human reason, these principles themselves require a higher, immovable, and self-necessary first principle (God) for their operation and lexistence.lm