St. Thomas Aquinas On The Existence Of God - 1048 Words

St. Thomas Aquinas is considered to be one of the greatest minds of the western world as well as one of the greatest theologians. In his work Summa Theologica, which he revised many times over the course of his life, he explored the existence of God, and there are essentially five ways in which St. Thomas Aquinas argues the existence of God. The first way is the argument from change, the second way is the argument from causation, the third argument is the argument from possibility and necessity, or the reductio argument, the fourth way is the argument from gradation of being, and the fifth way is the argument from harmony. These arguments for the existence of God are presented in his work Summa Theologica. In regards to the first argument, Aquinas states that our senses prove that things are in motion. From there, potential motion becomes actual motion, and this actual motion can turn potential motion into actual motion. The example Aquinas uses is, â€Å"Thus that which is actually hot, as fire, makes wood, which is potentially hot, to be actually hot, and thereby moves and changes it.† Because of these arguments made by Aquinas, he says that nothing can be moved by itself because if something is both in actuality and potentially at the same time, then they have to be actual in one way but potential in a different way. Additionally, going back to the wood example, â€Å"For what is actually hot cannot simultaneously be potentially hot; but it is simultaneously potentially cold.†Show MoreRelatedSt. Thomas Aquinas On The Existence Of God1338 Words   |  6 Pagesphilosophers shifted their focus primarily to proving the existence of God, as well as other religious tenets they held. Two Saints of the Catholic Church, St. Anselm and St. Thomas Aquinas, developed their own respective proofs for the existence of God. 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