Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274 AD) brought up many points to prove the existence of God. He had five total points. His first one was the argument from Gradation; it is based on the metaphysical concept of hierarchy of souls. It said that there is a good, a better, and a best. God is classified as the best. Soccio says, “In ascending order, being progresses from inanimate objects to increasingly complex animated creatures. (For instance, a dog had more being than a worm, and a person more than a dog) Thomas believed that what contemporary philosopher Arthur O. Lovejoy called “the great chain of being” continued upward through angels to God.” On page 244.
Next, Aquinas raised the argument from motion. This argument said that the natural state of matter is rest. That everything in the universe is now in motion. The only possible reason, as Aquinas says, for the movement is God had to initiate the movement. In other terms, the original motion comes from God.
Thirdly, Aquinas talks about his Cosmological Argument. It says that everything has causes so there must have been a first cause. The first cause would clearly be God. Someone had to start it all and of course, that someone would be God.
His fourth argument is an argument for necessity. Rooting from Richard Taylor, everything depends on something for existence. The existence of the universe comes from God.
Finally, his last argument is called design argument. It states that everything is designed for other things; therefore there must be a designer. Soccio says, “Thomas asserts that the entire natural World exhibits order and design. Water behaves on orderly ways, as do rocks, crabs, clouds, reindeer, and people. Today, we are even more aware of the complex interrelatedness of the natural world then Thomas was: Rain forests in the Amazon basin scrub the atmosphere in ways that affect the whole earth; this is their telos.” Page: 245
Counter arguments include, but are limited to, the following. In the cosmological Argument, why does there need to be a start to the universe, why can it not just be there? In the argument from necessity, Why does the universe need anything to depend on?
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