Aquinas Argument
Aquinas’s Argument
During the medieval time period Christianity was practiced by over one-third of the European population. At that time, all European philosophers had three different types of arguments to prove the existence of God: the Ontological argument, which stated that God, by nature, must exist; the Teleological argument, which stated that the world we live in was made by intelligent design. Therefore, a designer must exist to be able to make such a perfect world. Lastly, there is the Cosmological argument, which Thomas Aquinas used to explain not only the existence of mankind, but the existence of our creator. Aquinas used five different Cosmological arguments or theories to justify his beliefs. His five arguments on the existence of God were proven by motion, Efficient Causation, Necessity, Gradation, and Governance.
Although Aquinas had many arguments for why God exists, he also had many questions for people to ponder. One such question is if God’s existence is self-evident. If so, then do we have to prove God’s existence? Another question that he had was how can we know God’s essence? His final question was if faith is enough; do we have to prove God’s existence? Through this paper, I will answer these questions and prove God’s existence by using Aquinas’s argument of Governance.
Governance in Aquinas’ argument states that things cannot happen by chance, that all events were designed to happen as they did because of an intelligent designer. This leads us to believe that God is that intelligent designer. If God is this true designer, than that means that nothing is ever left to chance. In a way it seems as though our past, present, and future have all been mapped out for us. This philosophical theory, in a way, seems to run parallel to the thought of predestination. If we as humans realize that our creator has designed everything in this universe to happen according to his plan then we do not need to question if his existence is self-evident. Or
During the medieval time period Christianity was practiced by over one-third of the European population. At that time, all European philosophers had three different types of arguments to prove the existence of God: the Ontological argument, which stated that God, by nature, must exist; the Teleological argument, which stated that the world we live in was made by intelligent design. Therefore, a designer must exist to be able to make such a perfect world. Lastly, there is the Cosmological argument, which Thomas Aquinas used to explain not only the existence of mankind, but the existence of our creator. Aquinas used five different Cosmological arguments or theories to justify his beliefs. His five arguments on the existence of God were proven by motion, Efficient Causation, Necessity, Gradation, and Governance.
Although Aquinas had many arguments for why God exists, he also had many questions for people to ponder. One such question is if God’s existence is self-evident. If so, then do we have to prove God’s existence? Another question that he had was how can we know God’s essence? His final question was if faith is enough; do we have to prove God’s existence? Through this paper, I will answer these questions and prove God’s existence by using Aquinas’s argument of Governance.
Governance in Aquinas’ argument states that things cannot happen by chance, that all events were designed to happen as they did because of an intelligent designer. This leads us to believe that God is that intelligent designer. If God is this true designer, than that means that nothing is ever left to chance. In a way it seems as though our past, present, and future have all been mapped out for us. This philosophical theory, in a way, seems to run parallel to the thought of predestination. If we as humans realize that our creator has designed everything in this universe to happen according to his plan then we do not need to question if his existence is self-evident. Or