The theistic arguments
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2008-05-28

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Thomas Aquinas’
COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

Prima via – motus
P1 Everything is in motion.
P2 Nothing can move or change itself since
everything cannot be a secondary
mover.
P3 There cannot be infinite regression of
secondary movers.
C Reductio ad absurdum: Must be an
unmoved mover, the source of all
change. Ex hoc dicemus deus.

Secundum via – causa
P1 There is an order of efficient causes.
P2 Nothing can cause itself since causes
pre-exist their effects.
P3 If the chain of causes was infinite, there
would be no first cause.
P4 Without a first cause, there would be no
further causes. Reductio ad
absurdum: There are further causes.
C Must be a first cause. Ex hoc dicemus
deus.

Tertia via – contingency & necessity
Prima Pars
P1 In this world, all things are contingent.
P2 If this is so, then once there must have
been nothing.
P3 Nothing can come from nothing.
P4 A necessary being must exist.

Tertia via – contingency & necessity
Secundum Pars
P5 Everything necessary has its cause
either inside or outside of itself.
P6 There would be an infinite regression of
necessary beings if each had its cause
for existence outside of itself.
P7 Reductio ad absurdum: Cannot have
infinite regression because there would
be no ultimate cause of existence.
Continued…

Tertia via – contingency & necessity
From previous…
C There must be a de re necessary being,
with its own reason for existence within
itself, that causes and sustains all
contingent beings. Ex hoc dicemus
deus.

Copleston’s
COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

Copleston’s cosmology
P1 Everything in the universe is contingent
and might not have been.
P2 Universe is the totality of all contingent
things and is itself contingent.
P3 Following from that, applying Leibniz’s
Principle of Sufficient Reason, the
cause for the universe must be outside
of it.
C Must be a de re necessary being that is
the reason for all contingent beings.

Thomas Aquinas’
TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

Quinque via - Teleology
P1 Things lacking intelligence, such as
living organisms, have a purpose.
P2 These things cannot move towards their
purpose without some intelligent being.
P3 An arrow can’t reach its target without
first being fired by an archer.
C By analogy, there must be some
intelligent being which directs all
unintelligent natural things to their telos.
Ex hoc dicemus deus.

William Paley's
TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

Teleology by the watch analogy
P1 A watch has certain complex and
supporting parts
P2 Anything exhibiting such features must
have been designed.
P3 Following from that, the watch has a
more intelligent designer.
P4 Universe is like the watch, it is complex
on a more wondrous scale.
C Therefore, the universe was designed.
Ex hoc dicemus deus.

Anselm of Bec’s
ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

Ontological argument
P1 Deus est aliquid quo maus cogitare non
potest est.
P2 It is greater to exist in re than in
intellectum alone.
P3 God can exist in intellectum.
P4 Since Deus est aliquid quo maus
cogitare non potest est, God must exist
in re as well as in intellectum.
C God exists.

Rene Descartes'
ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

Ontological argument
P1 God is that than which nothing greater
can be conceived.
P2 That than which nothing greater can be
conceived possesses all perfections.
P3 Necessary existence is a perfection.
C God exists.