Question 2: The Existence of God
Join me in this series as we explore Thomas Aquinas’s monumental work, the ‘Summa Theologica.’ In this episode, we’ll delve into the second question: The Existence of God.
Article 1: Whether the existence of God is self-evident?
Thomas Aquinas discusses whether the existence of God is self-evident, suggesting that a proposition can be self-evident in two ways: either self-evident in itself but not to us, or both self-evident in itself and to us. A proposition like “Man is an animal” is self-evident because the predicate is part of the subject’s essence. If everyone understands the terms, the proposition is self-evident to all; if not, it’s only self-evident in itself. However, some truths are self-evident only to those with specialized knowledge, like “Incorporeal substances are not in space.”
Aquinas argues that “God exists” is inherently self-evident because God’s essence is His existence. However, since we don’t fully grasp God’s essence, this isn’t self-evident to us; it needs to be demonstrated through effects we can observe.
Humans naturally have a vague knowledge of God’s existence because we innately seek happiness, which is linked to God, but this isn’t absolute knowledge. Not everyone understands “God” in the same way; some might consider God a physical being. Even if the concept is understood, there’s no guarantee of belief in God’s actual existence. While the general concept of truth is self-evident, the existence of a “Primal Truth” (God) is not self-evident to humans due to our limited understanding.
Article 2: Whether it can be demonstrated that God exists?
Thomas Aquinas explains that there are two methods to demonstrate something:
- “A priori” means you start with the cause and work towards understanding the effect. Imagine knowing that fire is hot (cause) and deducing that if you put your hand in it, it will burn (effect).
- “A posteriori” involves starting from what we know about the effect to infer the cause. If you see smoke (effect), you might conclude there’s a fire (cause) somewhere.
Since every effect has a cause, if you observe an effect, you can argue for the existence of its cause. Thus, even though we don’t immediately grasp God’s existence, we can infer it from the effects we see in the world around us, like the order and beauty of nature.
Aquinas also says that knowing God exists through reason isn’t a matter of faith but serves as a foundation for faith, just like how natural talents are enhanced by grace. If someone can’t follow the logical proof, they can still believe in God’s existence through faith.
When trying to prove that something like God exists by looking at effects, these effects help define what we mean by “God” in the argument, rather than describing God’s true nature or essence. We name God based on what He does or how He impacts the world (like calling Him “Creator” because of the universe). This method proves God exists but doesn’t give us a full picture of who God is, since the effects are not as grand or complete as the cause they come from.
Article 3: Whether God exists?
Thomas Aquinas offers five arguments to prove God’s existence:
- Motion: Everything that moves is moved by something else. This chain of motion can’t go back infinitely; there must be a first mover, which we call God.
- Efficient Cause: There’s an order in causes where one thing causes another. This can’t go on infinitely; there must be a first cause, which is God.
- Possibility and Necessity: Things in nature can exist or not exist. If everything could not exist, at some point nothing would exist. But since things do exist, there must be something that exists necessarily by its own nature, which is God.
- Gradation: There are degrees of goodness, truth, etc., in things. There must be a maximum in each category, which causes the existence of these qualities in others, and this maximum is God.
- Governance of the World: Non-intelligent things act towards an end in a consistent way, suggesting they’re directed by an intelligent being, which we call God.
Regarding the objection that evil exists, thus disproving an infinitely good God, Aquinas responds with St. Augustine’s view that God’s goodness is so great that He allows evil to exist to bring about greater good from it.
On the argument that the world can be explained without God, Aquinas argues that natural processes and human will are directed by something higher, tracing back to an unchangeable, necessary first cause, which is God.
This post has covered Question 2 of Aquinas’s Summa Theologica. I will continue this series with a plan to cover one question every day from this monumental work.
