When I first read about Aquinas' fourth proof of God's existence, I have to admit that it stumped me. I read it, and it completely went over my head and confused me. I had to go back and read the words over and over again to begin to understand. If the words that follow don't make sense to you, feel free to read Summa Theologica or look up summaries. Seeing the subject written in different words may help the most.
To begin to understand the gradation proof, I'd like to invite you to think about how we compare different things. For example, if we were talking about fruit - let's say kiwi and pears - and we were talking about which was better, I might say that, "Kiwi is the best because it has more flavor." Another person might say that a kiwi is less appetizing than the pear. You can see that the words more and less were used. Here's another example. If a person just took a piece of pizza out of the oven, they would say that it is more hot than a piece of pizza that had been sitting on the counter for an hour.
As humans, we tend to rank things using the words more and less. We use these words as a way to distinguish between the quality of something. This means that some things are better than others; there is a higher order.
So when we think about it, there has to be something that is the highest good. Something that is the most good and true and noble. In Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas states that, "the maximum in any genus is the cause of all in that genus; as fire, which is the maximum heat, is the cause of all hot things. " This basically means that the highest thing with a certain quality causes other things to take on a degree of that quality.
We know that there is some good and truth and nobleness in the world, but what is the highest degree of what is good and true and noble? This being is what we call God.
I know that the fourth proof of God's existence take some reflecting on to understand. I invite you to reflect and pray on it to more deeply understand what this is trying to say. After this post, I will be posting once more about the fifth proof of God before talking about some other things. I'm really excited to be delving deeper into my faith with you all.
God bless!
Your Sister in Christ,
Emily
No comments:
Post a Comment