Proof of God's Existence - Aquinas - Flashcards in University Religious Studies

1. 1225 - 1274. Draws on philosophy of Aristotle via Judaism and Muslim predecessors. Sees an important link between philosophy and theology. (7)
4. The believer gives reasons for their belief even though they themselves would never have come to believe through those reasons. (12)
8. We can only see a stick if there is a stick to be seen. We can only see things in the world if they exist. If they exist, then there must be a cause to their existence, as things can't be the cause of their own existence. (4, 4, 4, 4)

2. Others have a similar structure. Effects; contingent things; human values; design (7)
3. Because then they wouldn't be contingent and everything in the world as the whole is contingent. So if things are contingent, they must be caused by something other. Essence / extinction distinction. (3, 3)
5. There is motion in the universe e.g. a stick moves. Things do not move by themselves: they are moved by something else. There cannot be an infinite regression. Therefore there must be a prime mover who is not moved by anything else (God) (3, 5, 3)
6. Wittgenstein. Presents Aquinas as a Natural Theologian (Someone who starts from things in the world around them and work their way from there to the existence of God using reason) (2, 5, 6, 4)
7. Hume - opposes link between cause and effect; Russell - the universe 'just is'; human values as a product of culture; Hume - order could just has easily have been produced by chance (10)
9. Often presented in philosophical form, a series of steps forming a logical argument. (7, 4, 4)
10. (Summary of Theology). A text for Christians training to be ministers. Has three parts. (5, 10)

Get Revising