Pints With Aquinas 79: Edward Feser Explodes Richard Dawkins' "refutation" of Aquinas' 5 ways
Nov 7, 2017
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Teaching From Shallow To Deep
- Edward Feser describes starting readers at the 'shallowest part of the shallow end' before diving into deep philosophical waters.
- He crafts explanations to take determined readers from simple beginnings to technical abstraction.
Distinct Starting Points Of The Five Ways
- The Five Ways end at the same conclusion but start from distinct philosophical analyses: change, efficient causation, and contingency.
- Dawkins misses these different starting points and thus mischaracterizes Aquinas' arguments.
Motion Means Actualizing Potential
- Aquinas' first way analyzes change as actualization of potentiality, not mere spatial motion.
- Ignoring that metaphysical background collapses the argument into a straw man.