StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The Existence of God and the Philosophy of Aristotle - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The paper "The Existence of God and the Philosophy of Aristotle" discusses the acceptance of God’s existence. St. Thomas fully acknowledges the existence of God, as he describes the ultimate aim of goodness to be the achievement of perfection, which is attributed to God’s creation…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98.1% of users find it useful
The Existence of God and the Philosophy of Aristotle
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Existence of God and the Philosophy of Aristotle"

Thomas Aquinas Question 5: The General Framework of Good Introduction Thomas Aquinas was influenced by the philosophical concepts of Aristotle, as he approached the facts of life, while relating it with the divine power and characteristics. However, there are major differences in the approach of philosophical reasoning towards various attributes of the human being. For example, while Thomas agrees with Aristotle about happiness being the ultimate goal of human life and everything is done towards meeting this attribute of “goodness”, Aristotle describes good life in teleological and not in eschatological terms believing that human beings are happy when they orient themselves towards good, but nobody can meet happiness in a ace to face situation. On the other hand, Thomas believes that ultimate happiness comes from the divine and the seekers may one day contemplate God in one form or the other. According to Aristotle, knowing God is almost impossible, as there is no creature on this earth, which can resemble him. However, Thomas argues that God can be known through his essence and human beings can achieve this knowledge through the intellectual vision of God, which satisfies the desire of the seeker. Aquinas describes this state of being as true happiness. He differs from secular perspectives of Aristotle, as Thomas acknowledges that there cannot be any true happiness without any relation to God, as the concepts of happiness has its origin and final goal in God. Question 5: general framework of goodness According to the philosopher, saint Thomas, the goodness is termed as transcendental, as it encompass all the categories, like quantity, quality and substance, which are associated to goodness as good quality, good substance and so on. However, the philosopher and saint, Aquinas goes further to define the moral goodness in this question, which he believes is governed by the moral actions. While describing moral goodness, Aquinas relates it to virtuous goodness, pleasant and useful goodness. Question 5 mainly investigates the three points. First, it explores the relation of goodness with ‘being’. Second, the relation of goodness with the ultimate end and third, the order in goodness, as being the way it is divided. According to Summa theology, the Aquinas Question 5 relates to general goodness. The question mainly deals with the idea and thought regarding goodness and our being. Which has the priority in our thought process? Is there any cause related to goodness and is this attribute seen in species, mode or order? How does goodness relate to pleasantness, virtues and usefulness? The following paragraphs try to go into the depth, on the issues raised in this question. Goodness and being In essence, goodness and being are the same; Aquinas suggests that goodness is the ultimate desire of all. However, goodness does have an aspect of desirableness, while the state of being may not have this attribute. Thinkers like Boethius present a different view of goodness as it differs from being. His counter argument is because there may be perception of certain things in nature to be good, but they may not be so actually. Thomas puts his arguments against this objection by saying that the difference lies in our perception and thought process, when we see goodness and being as different from each other, although they are same. Goodness defines ultimate perfection. Therefore, all goodness virtues should be perfect and those that are not perfect are not good. Hence, the difference of goodness and ‘being’ is only a state of mind. Arguing with the objection raised by De Causis, Thomas Aquinas believes goodness can take a form of being as absolute goodness is another form of complete actuality. However, goodness can be measured and quantified in terms of more or less, while ‘being’ has no such parameters. Arguing against this, Aquinas says that goodness can be termed as more or less, only after adding ‘actuality’ to a being, like virtue or knowledge. (Knight) In idea, which is prior, goodness or ‘being’? Aquinas agrees that ‘being’ is prior to goodness in idea, as anything created first is the ‘being’. The conception in mind and intellect will think of ‘being’ before thinking of goodness. Therefore ‘being’ becomes the object of intellect that can be defined intelligently. Arguing further on the state of ‘being’, the desirable perceptions like wisdom and life require the presence of ‘being’ in mind. Since goodness is related to ultimate desire, nothing is desirable without ‘being’. Hence, both go together, while ‘being’ can come prior to goodness in mind, both are related and interdependent. Going further on the difference of goodness and ‘being’, in the realm of an idea, Cajetan believes that desirableness presupposes the idea of goodness and thus, does not constitute the goodness. However, according to the philosophy of Aquinas, the idea of goodness is in the perfection, which is the basis for desirableness. (Knight) Is being and good the same? ‘Being’ has relation with nature in terms of quantity, substance and quality, while goodness only adds one more virtue, called desirability, to it, which is also an important aspect of being. Further, good and ‘being’ cannot be the same, as everything in this world cannot be good. For example, evil is called bad and this ‘being’ can never be similar to ‘good’. However, in counterargument to this, it can be predicted that every ‘being’ is good, as it is the creation of God only and all his creations are good. The difference in goodness and being is logical, as is found in different live examples. A barren tree is a ‘being’, but it is not good, as it does not possess the virtues of goodness, like bearing fruit and shade. Similarly, a very young horse cannot be a mule as such being is yet to attain perfection and therefore, cannot be same as goodness. (Knight) ‘Beings’ in this world have different characteristics, which are measurable. Some beings are noble, while others can be evil. Further, Aquinas observes that the degree of such virtues varies and therefore it produces the ‘being’ in varying degrees as noblest, nobler or simply noble. However, there is a cause of being as the cause of goodness also, since both are related to the ultimate goal. Therefore the goodness and ‘being’ are implied in the same cause, which is the cause of God. The maximum cause of God is the ultimate perfection and the goodness follows from this cause. Counter arguments As the god’s existence is the basis of all the perfection and the ultimate desire, which lies in the goodness; Aquinas must first define and admit the existence of God in its pure and unquestionable form. Since God exists, the relation between being and goodness becomes clear. The creatures of God can be both good and evil. While nobility is a virtue related to goodness, it is also the creation of God, as he is responsible for creating the human beings and dividing them into the groups of evil and good. Therefore, the existence of God has a direct relationship with goodness. However, St. Thomas acknowledges that ultimate perfection is the final goal of the ‘being’, which ends in the desirability of being with and knowing God. In arguments 1 to 5, St. Thomas believes that the existence of God is the basis of answers to questions and world does require God as tool to explain the order and mode of different ‘beings’ on this earth. Hence, the existence of God is fundamental requirement of achieving the ultimate perfection, desirability and goodness. The existence of God is fundamental to account for the existence of life in this world and any change in it. Virtues like goodness derive only after the existence of world is established, which comes from the notion that God exists. Goodness has the aspect of final cause The idea of an efficient cause comes after the idea of goodness. For example, any ‘will’ can be good or bad, as defined in the terms of goodwill and bad intention. These terms being the virtues of good and evil, imply that cause cannot always be associated with goodness On the other hand, virtue like beauty is another form of goodness, as it has its cause in goodness. (Knight) Essence of goodness comprises in mode, order and species While being has a mode, order and species, goodness may not comprise of these substances. For example, a man can be white, learned, virtuous, and thus good. However, an evil person my not have such characteristics, as he lacks knowledge of God, or denies the existence of God. The evil intentions make such a person as a bad man. Proportionate division of goodness in terms of virtuous, pleasant and usefulness While these attributes may not be equally divided in goodness, the ‘virtuous’ takes the first place followed by the pleasant and finally the useful. (Knight) Conclusion Thomas Aquinas has moved further on the philosophy of Aristotle, who h as been close to the acceptance of God’s existence. St. Thomas fully acknowledges the existence of God, as he describes the ultimate aim of goodness to be the achievement of perfection, which is attributed to God’s creation. Thus, everything that is good is related to the fact that God exists. Work Cited Knight.Kevin, “The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas”, New Advent 1920, Web, 15 November 2014 < http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1005.htm> Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(The Existence of God and the Philosophy of Aristotle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words, n.d.)
The Existence of God and the Philosophy of Aristotle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words. https://studentshare.org/philosophy/1665686-the-existence-of-god-and-the-philosophy-of-aristotle
(The Existence of God and the Philosophy of Aristotle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 Words)
The Existence of God and the Philosophy of Aristotle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 Words. https://studentshare.org/philosophy/1665686-the-existence-of-god-and-the-philosophy-of-aristotle.
“The Existence of God and the Philosophy of Aristotle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 Words”. https://studentshare.org/philosophy/1665686-the-existence-of-god-and-the-philosophy-of-aristotle.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Existence of God and the Philosophy of Aristotle

What Does Plato See as the Relation Between Experience and Knowledge of the Forms

Essentially, Plato asserted the existence of two worlds; the tangible, familiar objects that people come to know through sensory experience and a rational realm of Forms which he viewed as perfect and eternal. … The tangible world, described as the empirical realm, is made up of objects that people can interact with through their senses: people can see, touch, taste, and smell these objects.... As such, any beliefs people derive from their experience with these objects are unclear and undependable; however, the principles of philosophy and mathematics, both of which are discovered through inner meditation on the Forms....
11 Pages (2750 words) Essay

Plato vs Aristotle in the World Series

aristotle in the World Series' concerns the beliefs of Plato and aristotle fluctuate on a lot of matters.... hellip; The major dissimilarity amid Plato's quarrel and aristotle's is their conceptualization of the perception of the human purpose.... The theory is destined to set up tangible values for the knowledge of realism, aristotle believes it burdened with discrepancies and considers that the idea of realism depends ahead on all forms of connections to other rudiments....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Principle of Charity and Its Significance

The principle of charity refers to the philosophy where the listener understands and make attempts to grasp the school of thoughts about an argument or a belief by interpreting the speakers argument.... In oriental philosophy, it is important to adopt this logical principle so as… This methodological principle allows the listener to be optimistic while interpreting the best possible rational meaning and it is only after that the meaning This philosophy requires that whatever one believes to be true or rational, must set aside while assuming the new opinion to be in provisional presumption....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Pre-Socratic and Aristotles Philosophy

Plato's philosophy supports an ontological dualism, which proposes the existence of two forms of realities/worlds.... the philosophy does not explain motion of celestial bodies outside the crystal spheres.... An essay "Pre-Socratic and aristotle's Philosophy" outlines that Plato is able to demonstrate the immorality of the soul.... Pre-Socratic and aristotle's PhilosophyQuestion 1 Pre-Socratic philosophy had significant influence on Plato's philosophy, especially his views of ontology....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Aristotles View on the Natural of Teleology

For Aristotle, his main focus is to establish the existence of other causes other than the material necessity.... This paper "aristotle's View on the Natural of Teleology" focuses on the fact that with regard to aristotle's teleological argument, natural things exist to perform certain functions - the birds have wings for purposes of flying.... aristotle reiterate the ideal way of an understanding of things.... nbsp; … For aristotle, everything exists for a reason and for purposes of performing a particular task, aristotle mainly focuses on teleology to offer explanation related to nature....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Classics of Western Philosophy

The author takes into account aristotle's philosophy on substance, some ideas of Plato, their significance, the main approaches.... This work called "Classics of Western philosophy" describes the dialectical search accordingly to Socrates and Meno.... Plato based his belief on the explanation provided by Socrates which says that as the soul is immortal and as it is the origin of all our intellect death should never be feared by a true philosopher because pursuing philosophy is nothing more than arriving near the penultimate truth that is death....
5 Pages (1250 words) Term Paper

Place in Our Secular and Scientific World for Religion

All of them felt the existence of a greater being, an absolute being, which is above human eccentricities and the weaknesses of Greek gods and goddesses.... In their time, Socrates, Plato, and aristotle were highly regarded for their wisdom and philosophies.... aristotle's Unmoved Mover has been a part of his explanations of many physics and metaphysics phenomena.... rdquo; It was aristotle's belief that anything that has an absolute pattern or design has to be created; it cannot happen accidentally and needs a reason or case for creation....
4 Pages (1000 words) Term Paper

Meditations of Philosophy

Because he doubts everything about science, because there is nothing to prove its existence then he decides that for science to be considered real, there has to be proof of the existence of god.... Descartes believes that for all other things to be real, science also, has to believe in the existence of god, who he believes can open up his mind to show him that science is real.... e further reflects that even simple things have the possibility of being doubted, though has no reason to start doubting god and His deeds....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us