The 5 ways

• What is the first way?

  The argument of motion (the unmoved mover)
• What is the argument of motion?

  Aquinas argues that everything in motion must have been moved by something else. This chain cannot go on forever, so there must eb a mover, an unmoved mover, which is God
• What is the second way?

  The argument of causation (the uncaused causer)
• What is the argument of causation?

  Everything has a cause and nothing can be the cause itself. The chain of causes cannot go back infinitely, so there must be a first uncaused cause which is God
• what is the third way?

  The argument of contingency
• What is the argument of contingency?

  All beings are contingent, they rely on something else for their existence. So there must be a necessary being which is God
• what is the fourth way?

  The argument of degrees
• What is the argument of degrees?

  There are degrees of perfection in the world, and all degrees of perfection are based on a supreme standard of perfection. The supreme standard is God
• What is the fifth way?

  The argument of design
• what is the argument of design?

  The order and purpose in nature suggests an intelligent designer, who is God- this argument is sometimes described as a teleological argument
• The first three ways of Aquinas five was are variants of the cosmological argument.
• Aquinas based the argument on two assumptions:

  1. the universe exists
  2. there must be a reason why