Week 2 Course Material

Course Slides and Readings

Before the second session, please read:

• "Essence and Existence, God’s Simplicity and Trinity," by Thomas Joseph White, 57-73, in The New Cambridge Companion to Aquinas, ed. Eleanore Stump and Thomas Joseph White. Link here.

• Re-read Summa theologiae I, q. 2., especially article three, and especially the sections beginning with "I answer that, ...". PDF which we will read together in class available here.

Further Reading

Optional reading:

• "The Five Ways," by John F. Wippel, 159-225, in Thomas Aquinas : Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives, ed. Brian Davies. Link here.

• "Aquinas and the Five Ways," by Joseph Owens, 16-35, in The Monist 58, no. 1 (Janurary 1974). Link here.

• "Essence and Existence, God’s Simplicity and Trinity," by Thomas Joseph White, 74-84, in The New Cambridge Companion to Aquinas, ed. Eleanore Stump and Thomas Joseph White. Link here.

Assignment

After the second session, write 300-500 words in response to one of the following:

1. According to Aquinas, is the proposition "God exists" self-evident? If not, is it demonstrable? Explain his reasoning.

2. Explain the difference between a self-evident proposition and a demonstrable one. Are these the same for all people?

3. Contrast Aquinas's understanding of a propter quid demonstration and a demonstration quia.

4. Give a summary of one of the "Five Ways" Aquinas offers to demonstrate the existence of what we call "God."