Summarize Thomas Aquinas’s argument on the existence of God from the Summa Theologica, and explain why you do or do not find it persuasive
Please provide the best answer for the statement.
1. Most theologians understood that there was a seeming conflict between faith and reason, but, they argued, as both proceeded from God, this conflict must, by definition, be a misapprehension. Scholasticism sought to reconcile the two.
2. In Summa Theologica, Aquinas takes on virtually every theological issue of the age, from the place of women in society and the Church, to the cause of evil, the question of free choice, and whether it is lawful to sell a thing for more than it is worth.
Aquinas also takes on the largest issue of all—the summa of summas—attempting to prove the existence of God based on observation and logically drawn conclusions. According to 3. Aquinas, one can prove there is a God by observation of five phenomena: 1) change;
2) causation; 3) necessity; 4) the existence of relative vs. absolute values; and 5) order or “guidedness” in nature.
4. Students’ explanations of whether they find Aquinas’s arguments persuasive will necessarily vary.
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