Proofs or Ways? Many scholars and commenters caution against treating the Five Ways as if they were modern logical proofs. This is not to say that examining them in that light is not academically interesting.  Reasons include: Purpose: The purpose of the Summa theologica "is to help Dominicans not enrolled in the university prepare for their priestly duties of preaching and hearing confessions" by systematizing Catholic truth utilizing mainly Aristotelean tools. Precis: Aquinas  subsequently revisited the various arguments of the Five Ways in much greater detail. The simple list in the Summa theologica is not written to be clear (to a 21st-century reader) and complete, and should be considered a sketch or summary of the idea, suitable for presentation in a lecture or a quick browse. Via negativa: Aquinas held that "we are unable to apprehend (the Divine substance) by knowing what it is. Yet we are able to have some knowledge of it by knowing what it is not." (SCG I.14) Consequently, to understand the Five Ways as Aquinas understood them we must interpret them as negative theology listing  what God is not (i.e. not a moved mover, not a caused causer, etc.). It invites logical fallacy to use the statements as positive definitions rather than negative exclusions. Name: Each Way concludes not with "It is proven" or "therefore God exists" etc., but with a formulation that "this everyone understands as God" or "to which everyone gives the name of God" or "this all men speak of as God" or "this being we call God", etc. In other words, the Five Ways do not attempt to prove God exists, they attempt to demonstrate what we call God, which is a subtly different thing. Some commentators state that "He did not write them as demonstrations  of God's existence but arguments for something we already accept." Medieval science not epistemology: Demonstration in the medieval theology of Aquinas comes from Aristotle's Posterior Analytics: Further treatments: In the Question of the Summa theologica: in Article I, Aquinas finds that the existence of God is not self-evident to humans. In Article II, he says that the approach of demonstration a posteriori can be used to go trace back to assert the a priori existence of God. Article III (i.e., the Five Ways) is a summary or application of this approach, but not intended to be complete or exhaustive. Fuller arguments are taken up in later sections of the Summa theologiae, and other publications. For example, in the Summa contra gentiles SCG I, 13, 30, he clarifies that his arguments do not assume or presuppose that there was a first moment in time. A commentator notes that Thomas does not think that God could be first in a temporal sense (rather than ontological sense) because God exists outside of time. Terminology: In the Summa theologica presentation, Aquinas deliberately switched from using the term demonstrabile (a logical or mathematical proof) to using probile (an argument or test or proving URL A more accurate translation would be "The existence of God can be argued for in five ways." That he deliberately switched terms away from a term used for proof indicates a signal of an intent or nuance.
Proofs or Ways? Many scholars and commenters caution against treating the Five Ways as if they were modern logical proofs. This is not to say that examining them in that light is not academically interesting. Cum Reasons include: Purpose: The purpose of the Summa theologica "is to help Dominicans not enrolled in the university prepare for their priestly duties of preaching and hearing confessions" by systematizing Catholic truth utilizing mainly Aristotelean tools. Precis: Aquinas cum subsequently revisited the various arguments of the Five Ways in much greater detail. The simple list in the Summa theologica is not written to be clear (to a 21st-century reader) and complete, and should be considered a sketch or summary of the idea, suitable for presentation in a lecture or a quick browse. Via negativa: Aquinas held that "we are unable to apprehend (the Divine substance) by knowing what it is. Yet we are able to have some knowledge of it by knowing what it is not." (SCG I.14) Consequently, to understand the Five Ways as Aquinas understood them we must interpret them as negative theology listing cum what God is not (i.e. not a moved mover, not a caused causer, etc.). It invites logical fallacy to use the statements as positive definitions rather than negative exclusions. Name: Each Way concludes not with "It is proven" or "therefore God exists" etc., but with a formulation that "this everyone understands as God" or "to which everyone gives the name of God" or "this all men speak of as God" or "this being we call God", etc. In other words, the Five Ways do not attempt to prove God exists, they attempt to demonstrate what we call God, which is a subtly different thing. Some commentators state that "He did not write them as demonstrations cum of God's existence but arguments for something we already accept." Medieval science not epistemology: Demonstration in the medieval theology of Aquinas comes from Aristotle's Posterior Analytics: Further treatments: In the Question of the Summa theologica: in Article I, Aquinas finds that the existence of God is not self-evident to humans. In Article II, he says that the approach of demonstration a posteriori can be used to go trace back to assert the a priori existence of God. Article III (i.e., the Five Ways) is a summary or application of this approach, but not intended to be complete or exhaustive. Fuller arguments are taken up in later sections of the Summa theologiae, and other publications. For example, in the Summa contra gentiles SCG I, 13, 30, he clarifies that his arguments do not assume or presuppose that there was a first moment in time. A commentator notes that Thomas does not think that God could be first in a temporal sense (rather than ontological sense) because God exists outside of time. Terminology: In the Summa theologica presentation, Aquinas deliberately switched from using the term demonstrabile (a logical or mathematical proof) to using probile (an argument or test or proving URL A more accurate translation would be "The existence of God can be argued for in five ways." That he deliberately switched terms away from a term used for proof indicates a signal of an intent or nuance.
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