Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Robert Barron and Aquinas' proof of God


At Real Clear Religion, Fr Robert Barron, writes about one of the five proofs of God's existence that Aquinas includes in his Summa.


Thomas Aquinas famously laid out five arguments for the existence of God, but he characterized one of them as "the first and more manifest way." This is the proof from motion, which can be presented simply and schematically as follows. Things move. Since nothing moves itself, everything that is moved must be moved by another. If that which causes the motion is itself being moved, then it must be moved by another. This process cannot go on to infinity. Therefore, there must exist a first unmoved mover, which all people call God.

As the song from "The Sound of Music" says: nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could.

It is a good read and elaborates on what it means to "move" (this is not merely a change in coordinates, like a physicist might assume).

It's also a good refresher for those who remember this proof. 




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