Philosophy
Introduction
The question about the existence of God is one of the most debatable in the world. In the course of centuries, a lot of philosopher of different religions and even atheists try to prove or to object the existence of God. Thomas Aquinas is one of the most prominent and influential philosophers and theologians in history, the founder of the theological and philosophical school of Thomism, and the saint of the Catholic Church. Summa Theologica is one of the most famous treatises of Thomas Aquinas. It was launched in 1265, and until his death (1274) it remained incomplete. Nevertheless, it is among the classical philosophical and theological works. It is one of the examples of medieval European thought (Gracia, Jorge J. E, Gregory M Reichberg, and Bernard N Schumacher, 2003). "Summa Theologica" is also known by the statement of the five proofs of God's existence (Lat. viae Quinquae). According to the original plan, Thomas Aquinas wanted to make it as a "guide for beginners". It would be focused on the presentation and consideration of all basic theological doctrines of his time. Actually, he made a fundamental set of almost all the problems of Christian theology in the West. He subjected them to scrupulous scholastic analysis. Throughout the whole book, Aquinas repeatedly quotes St. Augustine, Aristotle, and many other Christian, Jewish, Arab and pagan philosophers.
Thomas Aquinas is one of the leading critics of the ontological argument for the existence of God which was proposed by Anselm of Canterbury. The a priori character of the ontological argument is the reason for his criticism. Aquinas himself believed that proof of the existence of God can be based only on the data of the outside world, which after the act creation contains traces of this act. We can know God itself only through his actions, and the presence of things precisely proves God's existence.
Aquinas about existence of God
In the given abstract from Summa Theologica, Aquinas tells us that the truth concerning God had two modes. The first is that the human mind cannot understand. The second is that human mind can attain. It is about the existence of God and the understanding of absolute intelligibility in God. Aquinas tells us the main part of the knowledge of understanding is a comprehension of a substance of a matter.
Aquinas refers a lot to the Aristotle’s principles in his work. If the human can understand the substance of anything then nothing will be beyond human understanding. But, this doesn’t concern God. Everything is different with God. It is beyond the human mind to grasp the substance of God because begins with sense and what is beyond sense won’t be grasped.
Nevertheless, knowledge of our understanding can be gathered through the notion of sense, and it will help us to realize the existence and some other necessary things concerning God. So, Aquinas agreed that there are some things that human mind can get concerning the Truth about God.
Also, the understanding depends on the keenness of human mind. But, for those whose mind is plain the way to understanding philosophical theories is unattainable. Even angels cannot comprehend the Devine Mind completely. However, the Divine Mind entirely understands his nature and the nature of the substance of angels. Aquinas thinks that such kind of misunderstanding meets us every day. We observe nature but we do not know about all its properties, and we will never understand it completely.
Still, Aquinas asks us to investigate and pay attention to every kind of information about God regardless the fact that there are a lot of things beyond human reasoning.
Impact of other philosophers
As it was already mentioned, Aquinas made a fundamental set of almost all the problems of Christian theology and he often quotes St. Augustine, Aristotle, and many other philosophers. Ibn Sina, also known as Avicenna, wasn’t an exception. Thomas Aquinas was influenced by the metaphysics of Avicenna. We can see a lot of references to his ideas in the Summa Theologica. Actually, there are more than 400 quotes of Avicenna in Aquinas’ writing. Aquinas either confirmed or objected his ideas and showed them from keener perspective.
One of the greatest examples of the impact of Avicenna is the idea of the eternal creation of Aquinas that definitely arose from the position of Ibn Sina and not a contemporary theory (Hasse, D. N., 2008).
Works Cited
Gracia, Jorge J. E, Gregory M Reichberg, and Bernard N Schumacher. The Classics Of Western Philosophy. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2003. Print.
Hasse, Dag Nikolaus. "Influence Of Arabic And Islamic Philosophy On The Latin West". Plato.stanford.edu. N.p., 2008. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.
