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Objection
1
It appears that the
Creator does not exist.
If one of two sets be
infinite, the other would have no place to be.
The word "Creator"
means that the Creator is infinite goodness;
there would be no evil discoverable; but there is evil in the world.
Therefore the Creator
could not exist.
Objection 2
It
is superfluous to assume that
what can be accounted for by a few simple scenarios has been produced by many
complex scenarios.
Everything can be accounted for by other
scenarios.
All natural things can be reduced to one scenario -
nature.
All voluntary things can be reduced to one scenario -
motivation.
Therefore
there is no need to suppose the Creator's existence.
On the contrary,
it is said in the individual of the Creator: "I
am who I am." (Exodus
3:14)
The existence of the Creator can be proved in five ways:
First recognition of motivation.
It is evident to our senses, that in the world
some things are motivated.
Now whatever is in motion is put in motion by another, for nothing can
put itself in motion.
For motion is nothing else than the reduction of
something from potentiality to actuality.
Nothing can be reduced from
potentiality to actuality, except by something in a state of actuality.
Thus that which is actually hot, as fire, makes
wood, which is potentially hot, to be
actually hot, and thereby motivates and changes it.
Now it is not
possible that the same thing should be at once in actuality and potentiality in
the same regard, but only in different aspects.
For what is actually
hot cannot simultaneously be potentially hot; but it is simultaneously
potentially cold.
It is impossible the
potentially of duality
could be self-motivated.
Whatever is in motion must be put
in motion by another.
If that by which it is put in motion be
itself put in motion, then this also must needs be put in motion by another,
and that by another again.
This cannot go on to
infinity, as
what would start the first
motion?
Therefore it is necessary to arrive at a first motion, put
in motion by no other; and this everyone understands to be the
Hand of the Creator.
Second
recognition of causation.
In the reality of sense we find there is an order of efficient causes.
There is no case known in which a thing is found to be the efficient
cause of itself; for so it would be prior to itself, which is
impossible.
In
causation you find
an unbroken chain;
First Cause gives
rise to intermediate cause which in turn is
the cause of the ultimate
cause.
To remove the cause is to remove the effect,
no cause =
no effect.
Therefore, if
there be no First Cause
among efficient causes, there
will be no intermediate, nor any
ultimate
cause.
Therefore it is necessary to admit a first efficient cause,
to which everyone gives the name of
the
Creator.
Third
recognition of possibility and
necessity.
We find
in nature things exist within a limited lifespan.
It is impossible
for these always to exist as they have a limited
lifespan.
If everything has a limited lifespan, then at one time it
may be assumed there could have been nothing in existence.
If this were
true, there would be nothing in existence, because that which does not exist
only begins to exist by being created by something already existing.
If
nothing was in existence, it would have been impossible for anything to have
begun to exist; and thus even now nothing would be in existence.
There
must exist some thing the existence of which is necessary as
every necessary thing has its
necessity caused by another.
It is impossible to go on to
infinity in things which have
their necessity caused by
another, as has been already proved in regard to causation.
We
postulate the existence of something having its own necessity, and not
receiving it from another, but
rather causing in others
their necessity.
This all men speak of
as the Creator.
Fourth recognition of uniqueness
among beings.
Among beings there are some more, and some less true, and
noble.
There is something
which is truest, something noblest
which is uttermost being;
for those things that are greatest in truth are greatest in
being.
Now the maximum in any genus is the cause of all in that
genus; as fire, which is the maximum heat, is the cause of all hot things.
Therefore there must be some things which is the cause of their
goodness, and every other noble perfection; and
this we speak of as the Creator.
Fifth recognition of
balance in the universe.
Things which lack intelligence, such as
natural bodies, act for an end, and
this is evident from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way.
Not fortuitously, but designedly,
do they achieve their end.
Whatever lacks intelligence cannot move
towards an end, unless endowed with intelligence; as
the arrow is shot to its mark by
the archer.
Therefore
some intelligent being exists
by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and
this being we speak of as the
Creator.
Reply to Objection 1.
As
Augustine says (Enchiridion
xi): "Since the Creator is the highest good, the Creator would not allow any
evil to exist in His works, unless His omnipotence and goodness were such as to
bring good even out of evils."
This is part of the infinite
goodness of the Creator, that He should allow evil to exist, and out of it
produce good.
Reply to Objection 2.
As nature works for
a determinate end under the direction of a higher order, what is done in nature
must be traced back to the Creator, as its
First Cause.
So
also whatever is done voluntarily must also be traced back to some higher cause
other than human reason or will, since these can change or fail; for all things
that are changeable and capable of defect
must be traced back to an immovable and self-necessary first
principle.
Objection 1.
It appears that
not all things are life in the Creator. For it is said (Acts 17:28), "In the
Creator we live, and move, and be."
But not
all things in the Creator are in
motion.
Therefore not all things are life in the
Creator.
Objection 2.
Further, all things are in the
Creator as their first model.
But things modelled ought to
conform to the model.
As
not all things have life in
themselves, are they life in the Creator?
Objection 3.
Further, as
Augustine says (De Vera Relig.
29), a living substance is better than a substance that does not live.
If, therefore, things which in themselves have not life, are life in
the Creator, it appears that things exist more truly in the Creator than
themselves.
But this appears to be false; since in themselves they
exist actually, but in the Creator potentially.
Objection 4.
Further, just as good things made in time are known by the Creator, so
are evil things, and
things that the
Creator can make, but never will be made.
It appears that even evil
things and things that will never be made are life in the Creator, as known by
the Creator, and this appears inadmissible.
On the contrary, (Jn.
1:3,4), it is said, "What was made in the
Creator was Life."
All things were made, except
the Creator.
Therefore
all things are Life in the
Creator.
To live in the
Creator is to understand.
In the intellect, the thing
understood, and the act of understanding, are one.
Hence whatever is in the Creator as understood is the
Life of the Creator.
As
all things that have been made
by the Creator are in the Creator as things understood, it follows that
all things in the Creator are the divine
life itself.
Reply to Objection 1.
Creatures are
said to be in the Creator in a twofold sense.
In one way, they are held
together and preserved by the
divine power.
Creatures are thus said to be in the Creator, even as
they exist on their own.
In this sense we must understand the words of
the Apostle when he says, "In the Creator we live, move, and be"; since our
being, living, and moving are themselves caused by the Creator.
In
another sense things are said to be in the Creator, as in the Creator who
desire them, in which sense they are in the Creator through their proper ideas,
which in the Creator are not distinct from the divine essence.
Hence
things as they are in the Creator are the
divine essence.
And
since the divine essence is life and not motion, it follows that things
existing in the Creator in this manner are not motion, but life.
Reply to Objection 2.
The thing modeled must be like the
model according to the form, not being.
For
sometimes the form has being of
another category in the model from that which it has in the thing modeled.
Thus the form of a house has
in the mind of the architect immaterial and intelligible being; but in the
house that exists outside his mind, material and sensible being.
Hence
the ideas of things, though not existing in themselves, are life in the divine
mind, as having a divine existence
in that mind.
Reply to Objection 3.
If form only, and
not matter, belonged to natural things, then in all regards natural things
would exist more truly in the divine mind, by the ideas of them, than in
themselves.
For which reason, in fact, Plato held that the "separate" man was the
true man; and that man as he exists in matter, is man only by participation.
But since matter enters into the being of natural things a natural
thing has being more truly in its own nature than in the divine mind, because
it belongs to human nature to be material, which, as existing in the divine
mind, it is not.
So a house has nobler
being in the architect's mind than in matter; yet a material house is a
house more truly than the one which
exists in the mind; since the former is actual, the latter only potential.
Reply to Objection 4.
Although evil things are in the
Creator's knowledge, as being comprised under that knowledge, yet
they are not in the Creator
as forged by the Creator, or preserved by the
Creator, or as having their type in the Creator.
They are known by
the Creator through the types of good things.
Hence it cannot be said
that evil things are life in the Creator.
Those things that are not in
time may be spoken of as of as life in the Creator in so far as life means
understanding only, and inasmuch as they are understood by the Creator; but not
in so far as life implies a principle of operation.
Thomas Aquinas,
Prima Secundae of the Summa Theologiae
Summa Theologica would remain
uncompleted.
December 6,
1273 While celebrating Mass a
mystical experience took place in which
Thomas experienced an unusually
long ecstasy.
Thomas abandoned routine and refused to dictate to
Reginald of Piperno.
When Reginald begged him to get back to work,
Thomas replied:
"Reginald, I cannot, as
all I have written seems like straw to
me."
Thomas Aquinas seven conditions that must coincide
to make a war just became the traditional doctrine of the Catholic
Church:Victory must be
assured;
the cause
fought for must itself be just;
the purpose of the warring power
must remain just while hostilities go on;
war must be truly the last resort,
all peaceful means having been
exhausted;
methods
employed during the war to vanquish the foe must themselves be just;
the peace concluded at the end of the war must be just and of such
nature as to prevent a new war;
the benefits the war can
reasonably be expected to bring for humanity must be greater than the evils
forged by the war. |
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