Brian Reyes Gangca Intro.

to Philo and Research (Thomism)

SVD- Associate Fr. Ramonito Rebucias, SVD Professor


REFLECTION/REACTION ON SUMMA THEOLOGICA QUESTIONS and LIFE AND
WORK OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

Third Article: Whether God Exists?
Thomas Aquinas
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Introduction

St. Thomas of Aquinas was a Dominican friar and a teacher of the novices in the order.
As such, he was commissioned to train the novices in the doctrines and moral theology of the
Church. Critical to understanding the work of St. Thomas, however, is an understanding of the
work of Aristotle.
St. Thomas' views of physics, metaphysics, Natural Law, and ethics are deeply reflective
of Aristotle's views on these matters. On matters where Aristotle is generally silent (e.g., God),
St. Thomas utilizes Aristotelian principles to make new arguments. This is perhaps clearest in his
arguments for the existence of God in his magnum opus, Summa Theologica. The Five Ways are
actually quite a small reading from the Summa. As one of the doctors of the Church, the works
of St. Thomas, in general, and the Summa, in particular, form one of the central pillars in Roman
Catholic moral theology from his day forward and the central source for scientific inquiry until
the advent of Galileo, Descartes, and Newton. The Five Ways are all related in more ways than
simply the conclusion each purports to reach. In each case, the proofs begin with an observation -
things move, there are effects, there are contingent beings, some things are more perfect than
others, and all natural objects have natural ends. The common names for the proofs are taken
from these empirical observations - the Proof from Motion, from Efficient Cause, from
Contingency, from Degrees of Perfection, and from Final Cause (or the Teleological [Theology:
The systematic study of a religious tradition from within that tradition. A student of theology
pays particular attention to theories about the nature of God, the nature of humanity, and the
relationship between the two.] Proof or the Proof from Design [A proof for the existence of God
that begins with the observation that there appears to be an order to the universe. By analogy,
since crafts imply a craftsperson, the orderly structure of the universe is thought to entail an
intelligent designer.]).

Each proof moves from the initial observation to a set of possible explanations. Let us
look at two examples. In the Proof from Motion, we are faced with two possibilities: either there
is some first unmoved mover or there is not. However, if it is the latter case, if there is no First
Mover, then there must be an infinite regression of movers. But, since such regresses are vicious
and result in logical contradictions of the initial observations (in this case, that there is no
motion), then those possibilities that result in an infinite regress is safely and reasonably rejected.
Since there are only two possibilities - either there is a First Mover or there is not, and since the
second possibility entails a vicious regress and thus a contradiction, then there must exist a First
Mover. The last of the Five, the Teleological Proof, is perhaps the most famous of the group.
Commonly known as the Proof from Design, the argument looks something like this: Given that
the universe is orderly, with natural objects (e.g., an acorn) possessing natural ends (e.g., an oak
tree), then there must be some infinitely intelligent being that can install the order. Since natural
objects, like trees, cannot form intentions on their own and since, like all natural objects, trees
have natural ends, then only God - the Grand Designer - could implant the end into the object.
So, by appealing to Aristotelian categories, logic, and metaphysics, St. Thomas advances five
proofs to try to demonstrate to first his Dominican brothers and, ultimately, to all, that God must
necessarily exist.

Reading

We proceed thus to the Third Article:

OBJECTION 1
It seems that God does not exist; because if one of two contraries be infinite, the other would be
altogether destroyed. But the name God means that He is infinite goodness. If, therefore, God
existed, there would be no evil discoverable; but there is evil in the world. Therefore God does
not exist.

OBJECTION 2
Further, it is superfluous to suppose that what can be accounted for by a few principles has been
produced by many. But it seems that everything we see in the world can be accounted for by
other principles, supposing God did not exist. For all natural things can be reduced to one
principle, which is nature; and all voluntary things can be reduced to one principle, which is
human reason, or will. Therefore there is no need to suppose God's existence. On the contrary, It
is said in the person of God: I am Who am [Exod. 3:14].

I answer that; the existence of God can be proved in five ways.

The first and more manifest way is the argument from motion. It is certain, and evident to our
senses, that in the world some things are in motion. Now whatever is moved is moved by
another, for nothing can be moved except it is in potentiality to that towards which it is moved;
whereas a thing moves inasmuch as it is in act. For motion is nothing else than the reduction of
something from potentiality to actuality. But nothing can be reduced from potentiality to
actuality, except by something in a state of actuality. Thus that which is actually hot, as fire,
makes wood, which is potentially hot, to be actually hot, and thereby moves and changes it. Now
it is not possible that the same thing should be at once in actuality and potentiality in the same
respect, but only in different respects. For what is actually hot cannot simultaneously be
potentially hot; but it is simultaneously potentially cold. It is therefore impossible that in the
same respect and in the same way a thing should be both mover and moved, i.e., that it should
move itself. Therefore, whatever is moved must be moved by another. If that by which it is
moved be itself moved, then this also must needs be moved by another and that by another again.
But this cannot go on to infinity, because then there would be no first mover, and, consequently,
no other mover, seeing that subsequent movers move only inasmuch as they are moved by the
first mover; as the staff moves only because it is moved by the hand. Therefore it is necessary to
arrive at a first mover, moved by no other; and this everyone understands to be God.
The second way is from the nature of efficient cause. In the world of sensible things we find
there is an order of efficient causes. There is no case known (neither is it, indeed, possible) in
which a thing is found to be the efficient cause of itself; for so it would be prior to itself, which is
impossible. Now in efficient causes it is not possible to go on to infinity, because in all efficient
causes following in order, the first is the cause of the intermediate cause, and the intermediate is
the cause of the ultimate cause, whether the intermediate cause be several, or one only. Now to
take away the cause is to take away the effect. Therefore, if there be no first cause among
efficient causes, there will be no ultimate, nor any intermediate, cause. But if in efficient causes
it is possible to go on to infinity, there will be no first efficient cause, neither will there be an
ultimate effect, nor any intermediate efficient causes; all of which is plainly false. Therefore it is
necessary to admit a first efficient cause, to which everyone gives the name of God.

The third way is taken from possibility and necessity, and runs thus. We find in nature things that
are possible to be and not to be, since they are found to be generated, and to be corrupted, and
consequently, it is possible for them to be and not to be. But it is impossible for these always to
exist, for that which cannotbe at some time is not. Therefore, if everything cannotbe, then at
one time there was nothing in existence.

Now if this were true, even now there would be nothing in existence, because that which does
not exist begins to exist only through something already existing. Therefore, if at one time
nothing was in existence, it would have been impossible for anything to have begun to exist; and
thus even now nothing would be in existencewhich is absurd. Therefore, not all beings are
merely possible, but there must exist something the existence of which is necessary. But every
necessary thing either has its necessity caused by another, or not. Now it is impossible to go on
to infinity in necessary things which have their necessity caused by another, as has been already
proved in regard to efficient causes. Therefore we cannot but admit the existence of some being
having of itself its own necessity, and not receiving it from another, but rather causing in others
their necessity. This all men speak of as God.

The fourth way is taken from the gradation to be found in things. Among beings there are some
more and some less good, true, noble, and the like. But more and less are predicated of different
things according as they resemble in their different ways something which is the maximum, as a
thing is said to be hotter according as it more nearly resembles that which is hottest; so that there
is something which is truest, something best, something noblest, and, consequently, something
which is most being, for those things that are greatest in truth are greatest in being, as it is written
in Metaph. ii. Now the maximum in any genus is the cause of all in that genus, as fire, which is
the maximum of heat, is the cause of all hot things, as is said in the same book. Therefore there
must also be something which is to all beings the cause of their being, goodness, and every other
perfection; and this we call God.

The fifth way is taken from the governance of the world. We see that things which lack
knowledge, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always, or
nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Hence it is plain that they achieve
their end, not fortuitously, but designedly. Now whatever lacks knowledge cannot move towards
an end, unless it be directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence; as the
arrow is directed by the archer. Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural
things are directed to their end; and this being we call God.

REPLY OBJECTION 1
As Augustine says: Since God is the highest good, He would not allow an~ evil to exist in His
works, unless His omnipotence and goodness were such as to bring good even out of evil. This is
part of the infinite goodness of God that He should allow evil to exist, and out of it produce
good.

REPLY OBJECTION 2
Since nature works for a determinate end under the direction of a higher agent, whatever is done
by nature must be traced back to God as to its fin cause. So likewise whatever is done voluntarily
must be traced back to some higher cause other than human reason and will, since these can
change a fail; for all things that are changeable and capable of defect must be trace back to an
immovable and selfnecessary first principle, as has been shown