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Thomas Aquinas and the Five Ways:

An Attempt at the Unification of Church and State

By

April Antoniou

Dr. McMahon

Philosophy 1001, 03G

24 February 2011
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April Antoniou

Dr. McMahon

Philosophy 1001, 03G

24 February 2011

Thomas Aquinas and the Five Ways:

An Attempt at the Unification of Church and State

The famous author C.S. Lewis once said “An explanation of cause is not a justification

by reason” (Brainy Quote). What he meant is that science can attempt to explain how things

happen but will always fail to explain the reason why things happen. It was through Aristotle’s

theories (such as the theory of motion) that Aquinas would found the basis for his belief that

science and religion could work together. Although Aquinas did not live to see Darwin’s theory

of evolution, with careful thought and consideration Aquinas can be regarded as the most

celebrated early proponent of theistic evolutionism in his attempts to marry the foundations of

science to religion. This article explores why proving the existence of God was important to

Aquinas, reviews Aquinas’s five proofs for the existence of God as well as discover the

challenges to his conclusions. Finally, this essay will examine if one can adopt Aquinas’s view

that religion has nothing to fear from scientific investigations.

In the thirteenth century, the work of Aristotle and his Islamic commentators (those that

preserved his ideas) challenged basic, fundamental beliefs of Christianity through the

understanding of nature through science and other ideas, such as the belief of an eternal universe
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and a collective mind for all people (Aquinas online). Many religious leaders feared that reason

and science were tools that could be used to threaten the faith of all Christians. St. Thomas

Aquinas was a catholic priest who attempted to bridge the gap between religion and science to

show that “reason, together with faith, can discover truth” (). His goal was to ease the anxiety

that many were experiencing when trying to rectify science with religion or religious scriptures.

St. Thomas Aquinas had a great respect for Aristotle’s views on physics and cosmology. In his

book, the Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas presents five proofs for the existence of God.

The first proof of god has to do with what Aquinas referred to as the “first and most

manifest way” of the argument of motion. Aquinas felt this was a clear and obvious analogy in

which “it is certain and evident to our senses that in the world some things are in motion” and

“whatever is in motion is put in motion by another” (Sober 118). To clarify, Aquinas thought

there were a “mover” and a “moved” in any motion of change. In addition, a thing cannot move

itself, but must be acted upon by another force. Therefore there has to be a necessary first mover,

moved by no other, which is understood as God. This idea of motion ties directly to the second

premise of causality.

As stated, Aquinas’s second way is directly related to the first idea of motion.

Specifically, it relates to the ideas of causes, or what Aquinas refers to as “the nature of efficient

cause” (119). He argues that “there is no case known (neither is it, indeed possible) in which a

thing is found to be the efficient cause of itself; for so it would be prior to itself, which is

impossible” (119). In other words, Aquinas argues that something cannot make itself move. By

his reasoning, if there were an infinite backwards series of existence nothing would have ever

happened because something has to cause the first action. Infinite regress is impossible.

“Therefore,” concludes Aquinas, “it is necessary to admit a first efficient cause, to which
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everyone gives the name of God” (119). In addition, this idea of a “first mover” is connected to

the idea of possible and necessary beings discussed in the third way.

In his third proof, Aquinas argues that there are things in the universe that do not have to

exist. He states: “Therefore, if everything can not-be, then at one time there was nothing in

existence” (119). Aquinas believed that there must exist something that cannot not-be

(something necessary) in order to create the cause and effect chain. He named this necessary

thing “God.” What are the properties of this existent being? That is discussed in the fourth way.

The fourth way considers graduation, or what steps or place things have in an ordered

scale. Aquinas believed that there were degrees of greatness in the scale of the universe. Some

are more intelligent, some less. Sober explains: “Fire is the maximum exemplar of heat, from

which lesser degrees of heat derive.” (Sober 51). Therefore, Aquinas reasoned that God was the

maximum exemplar of intelligent man. Aquinas connects the idea of an Omni-Predicated God

with the intelligent design of the world in his fifth way.

The Argument from design, or Aquinas’s fifth way, states the following: All things “act

for an end,” meaning they are purpose-driven. Some of these objects have minds and some do

not. “Hence it is plain that they achieve their end, not fortuitously, but designedly” (Sober 120).

These objects without minds that are able to act “designedly” must have been made by

something with a superior intelligent mind. Generally two hypotheses follow from this line of

reasoning and the thinker is asked to draw a conclusion: Which is more probable? That

everything happens randomly, or that everything happens by design and order? Are there any

other options?
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Aquinas was a very accomplished Theologian. However, many of his “proofs” are no

longer considered to be valid. The first premise from motion commits the birthday fallacy: even

if there was a first mover it would not necessarily follow that there just one mover, or that the

first mover is “God.” The second premise, while scientifically sound during Aquinas’s time, is

now challenged by modern physics. All physical change is not the result of a continual cause and

effect chain, but from the “intrinsic capacities and tendencies modern physics identifies as

fundamental forces” (Magee). For example, gravitational attraction between massive objects

causes change. An intangible human thought can cause a hand to move. So, according to modern

physics, physical change can come from itself. (magee). Aquinas’s third proof has its own

challenges as well. The fact that a thing does not have to exist does not mean that there has to be

a time in which it does or did not exist. In other words, just because something has the property

of being contingent does not necessarily make it so. Aquinas’s fourth argument of the greatest

possible degree of God also fails in its intentions. The fact that there are varying degrees of any

one thing does not imply that the greatest or poorest example of that thing must exist at any

given time. By this rationale, if there were an omnipotent God, there would have to be a similarly

un-omnipotent God.

Aquinas’s fifth law is perhaps his strongest argument. It was made stronger by other

philosophers such as Paley who compared the Earth to a watch. However, as with most

accomplished philosophical arguments, the design theory has its criticisms as well. What

argument fits best in terms of strength and validity?

If anything, it can be concluded that neither tangible nor intangible explanations alone

can prove or disprove the existence of God. There are shortcomings in Aquinas’s proofs, and

there are existence questions science is currently not able to answer. Aquinas’s respect for
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science produced the five ways. Although most of these proofs are outdated, it was Aquinas’s

attempts at marrying theology with science that eased the growing concerns of the religious

community and at least partially allowed for science to continue without blatant retribution of the

church. Can science exist without religion? Can religion exist without science? Or must the two

co-exist? Perhaps Aquinas was onto something.

Bibliography
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Peterson, Michael L. "C. S. Lewis on Evolution and Intelligent Design." Perspectives on Science

& Christian Faith 62.4 (2010): 253-266. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 26

Feb. 2011.

Magee, Ph.D., Joseph M. "On the Proofs for the Existence of God of Saint Thomas Aquinas."

Thomistic Philosophy. n.p., 04 July 2008. Web. 18 Feb 2011.

Reichenbach, Bruce, "Cosmological Argument", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

(Winter 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =

<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2010/entries/cosmological-argument/>.

Sober, Elliot. Core Questions in Philosophy, A Text with Readings, 5th Edition. Boston: Prentice

Hall, 2009.Print.

"C. S. Lewis Quotes." BrainyQuote. BrainyQuotes.com, 2011. Web. 12 Feb 2011.