W6: Thomas Aquinas and the Five Ways

Question 1

Thomas Aquinas fifth way of proving God’s existence:

Answer 1

He argues that the behaviour of things in the world implies a grand designer or architect, God

Question 2

Aquinas’ five ways defined God as:

Answer 2

the Unmoved Mover, the First Cause, the Necessary Being, the Absolute Being and the Grand Designer

Question 3

Criticisms of: The First Way: God, the Prime Mover

Answer 3

• Newton’s first law of physics states that a particle would stay at rest or move in a constant velocity if no force is applied to it. Therefore, it is natural for things to move in a constant velocity
• Einstein proved there is no such things as absolute motion, all velocities can only be given relative to something else
• The principle that everything that was moved must have a mover, but there is no mover given for God

Question 4

Criticisms of: The Second Way: God, the First Cause

Answer 4

• Hume argues that it is an assumption that every event must have a cause
• There is no logical reason why we can’t keep tracing events infinitely forwards or backwards
• Even if there was a first cause, it wouldn’t mean that the cause is God. The first cause could be the universe itself, rather than God. There’s no reason to assume one came before the other.
• Kant argues that there’s no way we can be sure we have reached the first cause

Question 5

Criticisms of: The Third Way: God, the Necessary Being

Answer 5

• It’s contradictory to apply rules that all beings exist because of something else, but not apply that same rule to God.
• Hume states that the term “necessary” existence does not have logical conviction of purely logical or mathematical arguments
• The argument is circular, as it assumes the conclusion in one of its premises

Question 6

What is the fallacy of the petito principii?

Answer 6

The conclusion is already assumed in one of its premises

Question 7

Criticisms of: The Fourth Way: God, the Absolute Being

Answer 7

• There is no reason why the measuring stick for what is good and bad must be absolute
• Social standards and norms are subjective. There is no clear cut moral standard

Question 8

Criticisms of: The Fifth Way: God, the Grand Designer

Answer 8

• No clear meaning for things moving towards the “best result”