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Description
Flashcards by Jessica Anne, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Jessica Anne
almost 9 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| Aquinas First Way Idea of Motion or Change | An object has the potential to become something different, so movement is the fulfilment of that potential. Nothing can be both potential and actual at the same time. When it is potential it hasn't happened and so cannot be actual. Whatever is moved must be moved by another. The chain of movers cannot have infinite regress. According to Aquinas, the 1st mover is God. Therefore God exists. |
| Aquinas Second Way Idea of Cause and Effect | Nothing could be the efficient cause of itself. The reason for this is that it would already have had to exist in order to bring itself into existence. This would be impossible. Therefore; if we trace causes back far enough, there must be a 1st cause, caused by no other. Infinite regress is impossible since then there would be no 1st cause. According to Aquinas this is what we understand to be God. |
| Aquinas Third Way The idea of Possibility and Necessity | The world consists of contingent beings which at one time did not exist. If everything at one time did not exist, there would have been nothing in existence, since there would be nothing that could bring anything into existence. As there are contingent beings existing now, there must be something non-contingent. According to Aquinas, this is what we understand to be God. |
| The argument's basis in observation | Aquinas' argument appeals to events that we see and experience in the universe. Because the argument is based on experience, it is an a posteriori argument and an inductive argument. |
| The rejection of Infinite Regress | Contingent beings are temporary since at some point they come into existence and at some point will go out of existence. Contingent beings cannot regress infinitely as they are temporary by nature. The only explanation for existence of contingent beings is a necessary being. Infinite regress is to deny any final explanation. The choice is between no explanation and explanation (God). |
| God as the first mover, first cause and necessary being | Each of Aquinas' 3 ways concludes in the existence of a being which is said to be GOD. God is outside of time and space, transcendent from this universe. Arguments do not attempt to fill out or demonstrate the whole nature of God himself. The unmoved mover and uncaused causer and the necessary being are words describing God. |
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