Argument Analysis Of: St. Thomas Aquinas: The Existence of God Can Be Proved in Five Ways

St.
Thomas Aquinas:
The Existence of God can be proved in five ways.
Argument Analysis of the Five Ways ©
2016 Theodore Gracyk
The First Way: Argument from Motion
1. Our senses prove that some things are in motion.

2. Things move when potential motion becomes actual motion.
3. Only an actual motion can convert a potential motion into an actual
motion.
4. Nothing can be at once in both actuality and potentiality in the
same respect (i.e., if both actual and potential, it is actual in one
respect and potential in another).
5. Therefore nothing can move itself.
6. Therefore each thing in motion is moved by something else.
7. The sequence of motion cannot extend ad infinitum.
8. Therefore it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, put in motion by
no other; and this everyone understands to be God.
The Second Way: Argument from Efficient Causes
1. We perceive a series of efficient causes of things in the world.

2. Nothing exists prior to itself.
3. Therefore nothing [in the world of things we perceive] is the
efficient cause of itself.
4. If a previous efficient cause does not exist, neither does the thing
that results (the effect).
5. Therefore if the first thing in a series does not exist, nothing in the
series exists.
6. If the series of efficient causes extends ad infinitum into the past,
for then there would be no things existing now.
7. That is plainly false (i.e., there are things existing now that came
about through efficient causes).
8. Therefore efficient causes do not extend ad infinitum into the past.
9. Therefore it is necessary to admit a first efficient cause, to which
everyone gives the name of God.
The Third Way: Argument from Possibility and Necessity (Reductio

argument)
1. We find in nature things that are possible to be and not to be, that
come into being and go out of being i.e., contingent beings.
2. Assume that every being is a contingent being.
3. For each contingent being, there is a time it does not exist.
4. Therefore it is impossible for these always to exist.
5. Therefore there could have been a time when no things existed.
6. Therefore at that time there would have been nothing to bring the
currently existing contingent beings into existence.
7. Therefore, nothing would be in existence now.
8. We have reached an absurd result from assuming that every being
is a contingent being.
9. Therefore not every being is a contingent being.
10. Therefore some being exists of its own necessity, and does not
receive its existence from another being, but rather causes them.
This all men speak of as God.
The Fourth Way: Argument from Gradation of Being
1. There is a gradation to be found in things: some are better or

worse than others.
2. Predications of degree require reference to the “uttermost” case
(e.g., a thing is said to be hotter according as it more nearly
resembles that which is hottest).
3. The maximum in any genus is the cause of all in that genus.
4. Therefore there must also be something which is to all beings the
cause of their being, goodness, and every other perfection; and
this we call God.
The Fifth Way: Argument from Design
1. We see that natural bodies work toward some goal, and do not do
so by chance.
2. Most natural things lack knowledge.
3. But as an arrow reaches its target because it is directed by an
archer, what lacks intelligence achieves goals by being directed by
something intelligence.
4. Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things
are directed to their end; and this being we call God.
Ginugunita ngayong Agosto 28 ng Simbahang Katoliko ang anibersaryo ng kamatayan ni St.
Augustine noong AD 430 nang inatake ang Hippo (Annaba, Algeria sa kasalukuyan) kung
saan siya obispo. Siya ay isang pre-eminent Doctor of the Church at patron ng mga
Augustinian na isang religious congregation na ang aral at konstitusyon ay base sa pangaral
ni St. Augustine. Ang kanyang imahe ay prominenteng naka-display sa pangunahing altar
ng San Agustin Church sa Intramuros, Manila, na isang world heritage site na nasa
pangangalaga ng Order of St. Augustine.
Sa pangaral na Katoliko, dating makasalanan si St. Augustine, na isang pasaway na

kabataan na nagbalik-loob sa Diyos dahil sa walang patid na pananalangin ng kanyang
inang si Sta. Monica. Nabinyagan siya, naging pari, naging obispo, at tanyag na manunulat,
nagtatag ng kongregasyon, at naging isa sa pinakadakilang mga santo. Namuhay siyang
banal, nagpakarukha at nagkawanggawa, tumulong sa maralita, at nanalangin hanggang sa
kanyang kamatayan. Siya ang patron ng mga tagapangaral ng Salita ng Diyos at mga may
sore eyes.
Bilang isang masipag na manunulat, sumulat siya ng mahigit 300 sermon, 500 liham, at
marami pang lathalain sa iba’t ibang paksa. Dalawa sa kanyang klasikong obra –
Confessions (isinulat noong 397-401 AD) at The City of God (413-427 AD) – na binabasa pa
rin magpahanggang ngayon. Ang iba pang obra ay ang Explanations of the Psalms, On
Christian Doctrine, On the Trinity, at Literal Interpretatin of Genesis.
Ang talino niya ay nakatulong sa paghubog ng Western Christianity. Karamihan sa kanyang
mga pangaral ay halaw sa theology at philosophy. Tinawag siyang Doctor of Grace, sa
pagiging isa sa pinakadakilang Fathers and Doctors of the Church, at kasama si St. Thomas
Aquinas, isa sa dalawang pinakadakilang intelektuwal ng Simbahan. Si St. Augustine ang
sumulat ng “Our hearts were made foryou, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in
You.”
Isinilang noong Nobyembre 13, 354, sa Tagaste, Africa sa paganong ama at Kristiyanong
ina na si Sta. Monica, nag-aral si St. Augustine noong 370 AD sa University of Carhage at
kumuha ng rhetoric at law. Sumuko siya sa law upang tutukan ang kanyang interes sa
literatura, inabandona ang kanyang pananampalatayang Kristiyano, at namuhay na
makasalanan. Noong 384 AD, tinanggap niya ang pamamahala ng rhetoric sa Milan,
nagbalik-loob sa pananampalatayang Kristiyano, at nabinyagan sa gabi ng Pasko ng Muling
Pagkabuhay noong 387 AD.
Sa pagpanaw ni Sta. Monica, nagbalik siya sa Tagaste, ibinenta ang kanyang mga ari-arian,
ibinigay ang napagbentahan sa maralita, at nagtatag ng isang monasteryo. Naordinahan
siya noong 390 AD at nagtatag ng isang komunidad sa Hippo. Pagkalipas ng limang taon
nailuklok siya bilang obispo at ginawang katuwang ng Obispo ng Hippo, na kanyang
pinalitan sa sumunod na taon.

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St.

The First Way: Argument from Motion

1. Our senses prove that some things are in motion.

The Second Way: Argument from Efficient Causes

1. We perceive a series of efficient causes of things in the world.

The Third Way: Argument from Possibility and Necessity (Reductio

The Fourth Way: Argument from Gradation of Being

1. There is a gradation to be found in things: some are better or

The Fifth Way: Argument from Design

Sa pangaral na Katoliko, dating makasalanan si St. Augustine, na isang pasaway na

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