The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast Ep. 378: Aquinas on God and Mind (Part Two)
Oct 27, 2025
The discussion dives deep into Thomas Aquinas's arguments for God's existence, including his famous Five Ways. The hosts critique the causality argument and explore self-causation and naturalistic alternatives to uncaused causes. They tackle the problem of evil while contemplating Aquinas's views on time and eternity. Also, there’s a fascinating debate on whether we can accurately describe God using analogical language and how we infer God's nature from the world around us. It's a rich conversation blending philosophy with modern science.
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Five Ways As Causality Variations
- Aquinas' five ways are variations on a causality theme that seek a terminating ground for change, causation, contingency, and properties.
- Each way points to a single necessary or unmoved ground rather than an endless regress within nature.
Intrinsic Activity Versus External Cause
- The regress problem hinges on whether entities can act intrinsically or must be acted upon externally.
- Modern physics and Aristotelian form both offer ways to think of basic entities as having active properties.
Broader Notion Of Causation
- Aquinas, as an Aristotelian, allows multiple senses of causation including material/formal causes that need not be temporally prior.
- This broadens 'cause' beyond simple temporal chains and supports non-temporal foundations.
