Aquinas’s first three ways

Question 1

What sense of causation is Aquinas thinking of?

Answer 1

Aquinas is not thinking of god as a first cause in a temporal or chronological sense. He is not thinking of a horizontal chain of causes stretching back in time with god at the beginning of a long series of causes. This sense of causation is cause in fieri.

An example of this sense of cause is that my parents caused me but their continued existence is unnecessary for my survival. If Aquinas was thinking of causation in this sense then god would not be required for the universe and everything in it to continue.

Instead, Aquinas is thinking of cause in esse. This Is a vertical series of causes. What this means is that a cause is needed as a constant presence to keep all casual chains working.

examples of this would be:
A play dependent on the actors to keep acting
God is the first sustaining cause- God has to be there continuous. If God would die then the universe would cease to exist.

Question 2

explanation+ examples of motion of state

Answer 2

motion (change) is about moving from a state that thing is currently into a new state that the thing is not yet in.
eg a cold radiator has the potential to become a hot radiator and change takes place in the process of that potential becoming actualised

something else other than the radiator must bring about the change or movement in states and the thing bringing the change in the state must be in that state the thing is moving towards.
eg. the cold radiator cant make itself hot: it must be made hot by something else eg a boiler and that thing eg the boiler must be itself hot.

if your nature doesn’t include the potential for something then it cant be actualised.
eg someone training a rock to move upwards by constantly throwing it up in the air, efforts which are doomed to fail.

Question 3

first way summary points

Answer 3

things change as a result of other things also undergoing change.
this chain cant go back infinitely otherwise there would be no chain at all
therefore there must be a first mover which started the chain off
this is god.

Question 4

Aquinas first way argument from motion

Answer 4

P1 things change (are in motion) in the world
P2 change/ motion means moving from a potential state ( for example a cold radiator that could be hooter) to an actual state (for example a radiator that is now hot) (( example to show p1))
P3 this change (move) from potential to actual can be caused only by something already in that actual state (for example a hot boiler)
P4 nothing can cause it self to change so everything is caused to move by something else.
P5 this chain of motion/change cant go back infinitely otherwise there would have been nothing to start the whole chain and hence no chain.
P6 but there clearly is a chain and so there must have been a first mover that started this chain of things in motion- and this first mover must be itself unmoved.
Therefore this first mover is god

Question 5

issues

Answer 5

this doesnt prove the god of classical theism just that god was the first cause.

there are other examples that contradict this.

Question 6

issues: other examples that contradict this

Answer 6

there are other processes which don’t seem to match this pattern.
eg. a plant dying
according to Aquinas the thing that brought the plant death must be dead itself.
causes of death:
possibly the soil is dead
or the atmosphere is dead
lacking water

but it may be fungi or insects or children that brought about the death of the plant
but fungi/insects/ children are very much alive exactly when the plant is dying.

if Aquinas’s claim was true he would need to show that it is dying creatures that have brought about the death of the tree.
but it is the very life of these creatures that have brought about the death of the plant.

as a result this undermines premise 3.