"The Distinctiveness of St. Thomas' "Third Way

Bibliographic Data

ID3889424
AuthorsLawrence Dewan (Dominican University College, corresponding author)
Year1980
Volume19
Issue2
Pages201-218
Publication date1980-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDialogue (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0012-2173 • E-ISSN: 1759-0949
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0012217300024847
OpenAlexW1994418710
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited9

In the present paper I propose to examine St. Thomas Aquinas' third way of proving the existence of a God (henceforth TW), keeping in view and applying the proposals I have made elsewhere concerning the number andorder of the "Five Ways" and the role therein played by TW. I maintain that the first three ways take as starting-points the three types of act or actuality presented by Aristotle in Metaphysics 9.6: that the first way starts from imperfect actuality (motion), the second from secondary actuality (action or efficiency), and TW from primary actuality (being, or substantial actuality). The idea, of course, of a way of proving the existence of a God is that one proceeds from an effect, itself better known to us than its cause, to a knowledge of the existence of the cause. The problem is to develop a vision of the effect as an effect, i.e., a vision such as to reveal dependence on another, and so lead us in knowledge to the existence of that other

Action (physics) · Epistemology · Imperfect · Linguistics · Metaphysics · Motion (physics) · Optimal distinctiveness theory · Physics · Sociology · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Medieval Philosophy and Theology · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Theology and Philosophy of Evil

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