Quinque viae (2)

In my last blog, I mentioned the first three components of St. Thomas Aquinas' Quinque Viae, or The Five Ways. Here are the fourth and fifth components to complete the five ways to describe God.

Fourth argument: Standard of Perfection (ex gradu)

"The fourth way is taken from the gradation to be found in things. Among beings there are some more and some less good, true, noble and the like. But “more” and “less” are predicated of different things, according as they resemble in their different ways something which is the maximum, as a thing is said to be hotter according as it more nearly resembles that which is hottest; so that there is something which is truest, something best, something noblest and, consequently, something which is uttermost being; for those things that are greatest in truth are greatest in being, as it is written in Metaph. Now 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. Therefore there must also be something which is to all beings the cause of their being, goodness, and every other perfection; and this we call God" (Aquinas, n.d.).

The fourth statement simply states some things have varying levels or degrees, and thus, a level of perfection exists in them. We think of God as something perfect; if something is perfectly good, then that is His. It is Him Himself. Which was why Leo Trese stated that "Strictly speaking, God is not wise; He is wisdom." In the Bible, it was not stated that God is loving, but there was the very phrase "God is love." It means that perfect Love is God Himself; Love is the very essence of Him. We look at this concept of deity in the same manner.


Fifth argument: Grand Designer (ex fine)

"The fifth way is taken from the governance of the world. We see that things which lack intelligence, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Hence it is plain that not fortuitously, but designedly, do they achieve their end. Now whatever lacks intelligence cannot move towards an end, unless it be directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence; as the arrow is shot to its mark by the archer. Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God" (Aquinas, n.d.).

Why is everything so orderly? Back then, it was hard to think that all things in the universe happened ramdomly, without much of a plan or design. And so the fifth argument answers this. The fifth way states that with all this laws existing in nature, there must be a guiding and that somehow planned the grandeur that is the universe. And so this ultimate designer is God.