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.

• Summa theologiae I, q. 2., a. 3, 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."