The
Five Ways:
The five rational arguments that Thomas Aquinas saw as pointing to the existence
of God. The five arguments are:
(1)
the argument from motion (all things in motion need a mover, but
there must be something unmoved that begins other things in motion; God is this
Unmoved Mover); (2) the cosmological argument (all effects must have causes, but
there cannot be an infinite series of causes into the past; thus God is the
first or Uncaused Cause); (3) the argument fromcontingency (all things exist in dependence on something
else, that is, contingent; therefore there must be something that is absolutely
independent, that is, necessary; this necessary being is God); (4) the argument
from perfection (there appears to be an increasing degree of
perfection among things; therefore there must be a being who is the height of
perfection; this Being is God); and (5) the teleological argument (the observable design in the world suggests that
there must be an intelligent designer -
God).
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