Fight For A Place In The First

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

existed. If a being exists, it is because some being before it caused it to exist. Therefore, if no first cause exists, neither will any other being exist. Therefore, there must be an efficient first cause -- God.
St. Aquinas’s argument assumes that a first cause is needed to explain the existence of anything. St. Aquinas also assumes this first cause to be God. How can anyone rationally conclude that there is a God from the simple statement that a first cause is necessary for the existence of anything? A first cause does not prove God, it only assumes that there is a God, at best. Could one not put matter in the place of God in St. Aquinas’s argument and still assume there is a first efficient cause? The theory that matter “is”, is just as plausible as the theory that God “is”. Matter is closed and finite in extent, with no beginning nor end.
Putting matter in the place of God in the end of the argument given by St. Aquinas is just as plausible. In fact, matter is an ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

CITE THIS PAGE: