five ways to prove the existence of God

E87741

argument for the existence of God philosophical argument scholastic doctrine theological argument

The "five ways to prove the existence of God" are St. Thomas Aquinas’s classic set of philosophical arguments—based on motion, causation, contingency, degrees of perfection, and teleology—offered in the Summa Theologica as rational demonstrations of God’s existence.

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All labels observed (1)

Label	Occurrences
five ways to prove the existence of God canonical	2

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	argument for the existence of God ⓘ philosophical argument ⓘ scholastic doctrine ⓘ theological argument ⓘ
aimsToShow	existence of God ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	Five Ways ⓘ quinque viae ⓘ
author	St. Thomas Aquinas ⓘ surface form: Thomas Aquinas
centralConcept	final cause ⓘ first cause ⓘ first mover ⓘ gradation of perfections ⓘ necessary being ⓘ
concludesThat	God is a necessary being ⓘ God is the first efficient cause ⓘ God is the intelligent director of natural things ⓘ God is the maximum in being and perfection ⓘ Necessary Existent ⓘ surface form: God is the unmoved mover
describedIn	Summa Theologiae ⓘ surface form: Summa Theologiae, Part I, Question 2, Article 3 Summa Theologiae ⓘ surface form: Summa Theologica
field	metaphysics ⓘ natural theology ⓘ philosophy of religion ⓘ
hasBeenCriticizedBy	David Hume ⓘ Immanuel Kant ⓘ
hasInterpretation	cosmological argument ⓘ teleological argument ⓘ
hasPart	argument from contingency ⓘ argument from degrees of perfection ⓘ argument from efficient causality ⓘ argument from final causality ⓘ argument from motion ⓘ teleological argument ⓘ
influenced	Christian apologetics ⓘ surface form: Catholic apologetics classical theism ⓘ contemporary philosophy of religion ⓘ
influencedBy	Aristotelianism ⓘ surface form: Aristotelian metaphysics Aristotle ⓘ Islamic philosophy ⓘ Jewish philosophy ⓘ
language	Latin ⓘ
method	a posteriori reasoning ⓘ
religiousContext	Christian philosophy ⓘ Roman Catholicism ⓘ
timePeriod	13th century ⓘ
tradition	Scholastic theology ⓘ surface form: Scholasticism Thomism ⓘ

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

St. Thomas Aquinas → knownFor → five ways to prove the existence of God ⓘ

Summa Theologiae → notableIdea → five ways to prove the existence of God ⓘ