God Wills Things example essay topic

Scientific reasoning has brought humanity to incredibly high levels of sophistication in all realms of knowledge. For Saint Thomas Aquinas, his passion involved the scientific reasoning of God. The existence, simplicity and will of God are simply a few topics which Aquinas explores in the Summa Theologica. Through arguments entailing these particular topics, Aquinas forms an argument that God has the ability of knowing and willing this particular world of contingent beings. The contrasting nature of necessary beings and contingent beings is at the heart of this debate.

Aquinas sets up this argument in his discussion of whether or not God exists. His five proofs set up the framework for much of his later writings in the Summa Theologica. As with the five proofs in their entirety, most of Aquinas' reasoning stems from the third proof concerning the existence of God. The first two proofs lead to the third's conclusion that God is 'esse a se', or to be of itself.

From this conclusion of God as an infinite being, Aquinas moves to the third question, concerning the simplicity of God. In article four of question three, Aquinas determines that God is ultimately simple in that his essence does not differ from his being. He writes, 'Therefore, since in God there is no potentiality, it follows that in Him essence does not differ from being. Therefore, His essence is His being. ' God is an unchanging, infinite being. There is no conceivable way in which he could have parts, such as a separate being and a separate essence.

From these proofs and others, Aquinas determines that God is an all knowing, perfectly good, perfectly powerful being. Moving back to the third proof of the existence of God, Aquinas determines that God is the ultimate being and that his existence precludes the existence of contingent beings. The notion entails the idea that without infinity, finite beings would not exist. Aquinas also addresses the issue of the simplicity of God. From a series of logical steps, he concludes that God is altogether simple. He says, God is 'neither a composition of quantitative parts, since He is not a body; nor composition of form and matter; nor does his nature differ from his.

' It only makes logical sense that God, not existing in any physical sense, could not have physical parts or even have any parts at all. I cannot physically separate my thoughts inside my head because they do not exist in space. With these conclusions in mind, Aquinas determines that God is completely simple. From the conclusion that God is ultimately simple, Aquinas goes on in Question 14 to discuss the knowledge of God. In article three, Aquinas discusses whether or not God comprehends himself and he arrives at the idea that God does.

Since God is altogether simple, then his intellect as well as his being are one and the same. Therefore, God must know himself perfectly. The intellect must perfectly comprehend all of the other elements of God. Through this concept, God must be all knowing because it is the nature of his being to do so. God's knowledge extends to contingent beings and everything else insofar as he is the first cause of all of them. The argument follows that if anything is perfectly known, then its power must necessarily be known as well.

The conclusions are as follows: God must understand himself and understand all other things besides himself and that this understanding must not differ from his being. Free will is a hotly debated concept. There are many plausible rejections to the notion that God gave human beings free will. For example, if God knows everything and everything that is to be, then are human beings really truly free to make their own decisions? Many other contradictions exists. The idea of a necessary being giving rise to contingent beings, the existence of a perfectly good being and evil in the world that being created, and the effects that human beings have on God are just some of these questions.

In his discussion of free will and the concept of evil, Aquinas makes attempts to answer these questions and others. The ideas that God is altogether simple and that he has complete knowledge of himself and all things form the foundation for much of Aquinas' arguments for the existence of a world of contingent beings, deriving from a necessary being. Aquinas continues this line of reasoning in his argument that God's knowledge is the cause of things. Aquinas likens this relationship to the artificer and the art. The artificer, working through his intellect, creates the art. As Aquinas says, 'Hence the form in the intellect must be the principle of action.

' Aquinas also says, 'Now it is manifest that God causes things by his intellect, since his being is his act of understanding; and hence his knowledge must be the cause of things, insofar as his will is joined to it. ' Aquinas is saying here that if God's intellect creates things, i.e. human beings, then he must also be the cause of those things because his intellect is the same thing as his will. Keeping in mind that God is altogether simple, this conclusion naturally follows a logical sense of reasoning. Following article 8, Aquinas delves into a new topic in article 9 concerning whether or not God knows things that are not, or rather things that have never happened.

Aquinas is referring to possibilities that never actually came into being. Aquinas argues that God does indeed know all of these things. God does not exist in any sense of time, therefore he doesn't see things in chronological succession. Aquinas writes, 'for since God's act of understanding, which is his being, is measured by eternity, and since eternity is without succession, comprehending all time, the present glance of God extends over all time, and to all things which exist in any time, as to objects present to him. ' God knows all possibilities and these possibilities are real because God has willed them.

The previous quote from article 9 explains God's concept of knowledge quite well and shows how God can know everything that is and everything that might have been. God does not exist in time, making any notion of time concerning knowledge irrelevant. At this point, Aquinas has established the idea of God as an all knowing, altogether simple, first cause infinite being. The intellect and will are the same thing in God, as well as everything else in this altogether simple being is the same.

Aquinas has also established that God's knowledge causes things, mainly contingent beings on our planet. God is indeed all knowing but he still gives human beings a choice to determine their future, considering that God knows all the possibilities in the universe. Aquinas also discusses the necessity of what God wills. There are two ways in which God wills things: absolutely or by supposition.

The first one involves God willing something that is necessary to a thing's existence, such as that man is an animal. Supposition involves necessity at the present time an act is taking place but is not absolutely necessary. Aquinas gives the example of Socrates is sitting down but that he doesn't have to necessarily always be sitting down. But at that exact moment of him sitting down, he is definitely necessarily sitting down.

If this wasn't necessary, then he wouldn't be sitting down but he is. God is not required to will another but himself. As Aquinas says, 'God wills the being of his own goodness necessarily, even as we will our own happiness necessarily, and any other power has a necessary relation to its proper and principal object, since the goodness of God is perfect and can exist without other things, inasmuch as no perfection can accrue to him from them, it follows that for him to will things other than himself is not absolutely necessary. ' God is not affected by contingent beings in anyway and is free to will whatever he wants. God wills some things absolutely but also by supposition.

Since God is unable to will something after he has willed it, he is naturally unable to not will in the same manner that Socrates cannot be sitting in a chair and not be sitting in a chair. God's will is further discussed in article 6 where he writes about whether or not God's will is always fulfilled. Aquinas argues that God's will is always fulfilled. If God wills something absolutely, it must necessarily happen.

God can also will something antecedent ly. By doing this, Aquinas is inferring that God can will something with all of the consequences considered. This can happen naturally because, as was discussed, God knows all things and all things that are not. Aquinas says that God wills universal causes antecedent ly but God also wills certain situations consequently. For example, Aquinas says, 'Thus, that a man should live is good; and that a man should be killed is evil...

But if in a particular case we add that a man is a murderer or dangerous to society, to kill him is a good; that he live an evil. ' Aquinas essentially claims that the will of God depends upon the actions of contingent beings. The decisions that human beings make affect the life they eventually lead. Naturally, this challenges the notion of God as unchanging and immutable and without potentiality.

There are some things that God wills to maintain the order of the universe. In certain situations, when God has a motive, he allows the contingent beings to choose. The nature of God remains unchanged and yet he still makes decisions based on the actions of contingent beings. God is not necessitated to give contingent beings free will and it seems that Aquinas argues this successfully. God remains unchanging but at the same time makes his will consequent upon the actions of contingent beings. How can an all-good, perfectly moral being allow for the existence of evil in a world that he created?

This is the question that is closely related to the previous paragraph discussing the relationship between necessary and contingent beings. Evil is not a consequence of the will of God rather it is a lack of good. Aquinas also says that evil in the world is unavoidable. In Question 2, article 3, Aquinas says that God allows evil in order to produce good out of the existence of evil.

The existence of evil in the world is indirect. Also, it would seem that God, being all powerful, could eliminate evil in the world but this has not happened. Aquinas reasons this out by discussing the two types of evil, natural and moral. For example, a person dying is often the result of natural events in the community and this person's death opens up resources for others who are still alive. The sense of competition in this world adds a sense of necessity to death. There cannot be life without death.

This is a similar situation to evil, in that good cannot exist without evil. Natural rules and laws are put into place to make this world, one in which God willed a sense of morals, exist, so natural evil and suffering must exist. With free will, there must be choice. Therefore, evil must exist because human beings make the wrong choices. We are not perfectly good.

Things like temptation are part of who we are.