first way

Aquinas’ first way to prove God’s existence is based on motion. Motion is the key part that makes this argument valid. Motion is here understood in the wide Aristotelian sense of reduction of potency to act. The fact that motion is involved in this proof points to things being in motion in this world. Klubertanz and Holloway say that motion or change, the losing of one perfection and the gaining of another, is a simple, undeniable fact of human experience and knowledge. Motion is everywhere and we causes existence to happen. The first way is formulated as follows: There is motion in the world and this motion is caused by something else that moves. There cannot be an infinite series of movers so there must be a first mover and that first mover is God.

The first step to the solution is understanding what is meant by motion. Klubertnaz and Holloway say that by motion or change we understand a transition from potency to act, the acquiring of any new perfection in any way. This motion or change can take different forms or kinds. There are four kinds: local motion, accidental changes in both qualities and quanitiy, substantial change, and immanent activities of cognition and appetition. The starting point for this motion argument is local motion. The motion only happens in a being as long as it is a being in potency and not in act. Wippel says that in support of this claim, already familiar to us as the principle of motion, Thomas argues that nothing is moved except insofar as it is in potency to that to which it is moved. Aquinas uses motion in a broad sense so as to apply it to any reduction from potency to act.

Motion is established and now the next big fact is that change happens in the world. The big caveat here is that not...

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...be something that moves itself for there cannot be an infinite chain of motions. Aquinas calls this unmoved mover God. This proof is deals with act and potency and the important part is that a thing cannot be moved from act to potency except by something that is already in act. There are objections that have surfaced to the first proof. The main objections deal with the meaning of the words used in the argument, Newton’s first law of motion, and a mathematical infinite and how that is related to the unmoved mover. These objections help to make the argument more available for people since, when answered correctly, they help to prove that the argument is valid and can be used with physics and mathematics language. The proof ends with Aquinas realizing that his unmoved mover is God and this establishes that fact that the argument is indeed a proof of God’s existence.