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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A paper which looks critically at Aquinas's Five Ways, and at the problems inherent in his arguments for the First Mover and First Cause. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: JL5_JLaqways.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
the First Way, he argues that any object which is in motion has been put in motion due to the action of another force or object. Nothing can move of
its own volition; if all objects in motion are in motion because of a mover, then the first object in motion must also have had a mover; the First Mover
is the "Unmoved Mover", or God. In the Second Way, Aquinas adopts a similar principle, this time to account for creation as opposed to motion. He argues that since common
sense demonstrates that nothing can create itself, everything which exists must have had some predecessor which created it. Since one cannot have an infinite series of objects stretching back, there
must have been a First Cause which is in itself uncaused: like the Unmoved Mover, it is an Uncaused Cause. This, again,
is defined as God. In both cases, the progression of events which is described effectively "ends" with the First Cause/First Mover.
One of the main problems with these arguments is that they both require a change in the established principle in order to account for the existence of God. The
principle being expressed is that everything which causes change, or gives rise to existence, must be the result of some predecessor which itself was responsible for change or existence: however,
that same principle is not applied to the First Cause/ First Mover. Since Aquinas begins the argument with logical observation (stating, for instance, that there is motion and that all
motion is caused by something else), then he is in effect undermining his own stated principle by then introducing an Unmoved Mover or, in the second Way, an Uncaused Cause.
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