Arguments 1-3: Hey Look! Stuff!  Where’d It Come From?

Written by: Gregory Watson

At the end of the introduction, I mentioned that St. Thomas bases his arguments upon facts of the world around us—facts that are undisputed by modern science.  There are a number of websites out there that try to dispute with Thomas claiming that his Five Ways are mired in an Aristotelian concept of the universe, and therefore aren’t valid because of the advances of modern science.  However, the very genius of Thomas’ arguments are their very simplicity.  The principles espoused in them are not dependent upon a particular understanding of the universe, be it Aristotelian, Cartesian, Newtonian, or that of contemporary physics.  Things still move and change, they still cause effects, they still depend on other things, they still vary in degrees of perfection, and they still act toward definite ends.  Our understanding of how these things occur may be more developed and nuanced, but the philosophical conclusions that result from them are just as inescapable.… Read more