Thomas Aquinas Argument For The Existence Of God

The first argument for the existence of God comes from Summa Theologica, written by Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. In Aquinas’s book, he makes five separate claims, which are also known as The Five Ways. One of the arguments looks to the universe in order to prove this existence. This claim is often referred to as the “Uncaused Cause” argument. The argument makes three claims or premises which state there is an order of causes within nature, this order of causes can never go in a circle, and the order does not go backwards infinitely. Aquinas then claims that if one were to agree with each of those premises, then there is an initial event that caused the order of causes. Therefore, there is a first cause in the order of causes which Aquinas

A person is created, or X as it will be referred to in the rest of this paragraph, through sexual reproduction of two previous humans. X is an order of events that can easily be tracked with the initial two humans, the act of reproduction, and the production of a new human. This new human that has been created can never create his parents due to the nature of reproduction. Therefore, X cannot act in a circle. X needs a starting point as well. It’s illogical to believe that there was always human life, which may beg the question of what event created the order of causes? This idea will be further discussed in the third part of this paper. However, since X concludes that all three of the first premises are true, there must be an initial cause within this order, or an initial set of parents. However, since “we never observe, nor ever could, something causing itself, for this would mean it preceded itself” there must be an initial event that created the parents in X (45). Aquinas claims that this event or being is

When discussing the existence of God, almost every argument will fall into this category due to its nature. As humans, it’s impossible to truly prove the existence of God with concrete evidence. One of the largest differences between the two arguments is the use of a posteriori, seen in the “Uncaused Cause” argument, and a priori found in the “Design” argument. The use of a posteriori in the “Uncaused Cause” argument directs me to favor Aquinas’s thought process over the one presented in Hume’s book. I believe the use of observation rather than pure thought helps convince me to believe Aquinas’s argument is more compelling for the existence of