Hassan
Abdulqadir Hassan
Phil 1000
Final Paper
1. Compare and contrast two philosophers on their philosophical views?
Thomas Aquinas:
Thomas Aquinas was born near Naples. His father was a devote follower of the Catholic
Church so he had Thomas enroll in Benedictine abbey school at Montecassino. Benedictine
are Roman Catholic monks famed for their modest lifestyle, which involves physical labor as
well as spiritual discipline. Thomas acquired basic religious knowledge, academic skills, and
good study habits from these monks.
Thomas believed in God and he offered his famous proofs for the existence of God that
he called the “Five Ways”. “The Five Ways are cause-effect arguments, beginning with our
experience of effects and moving toward their cause, God” [1].
“Thomas reasoned that some “first mover” had to exist outside the series of becoming—
some force or being with the ability to move other things without itself needing to be moved
by any outside force. God is just such an Unmoved Mover” [1]. Since we see things in
motions, Thomas first way is regard as general way of thinking God exists. Since motion
requires an initial forces, Thomas believed the initial force was God.
Thomas’s believed cause was the reason the universe existed. Without cause, nothing
could be its own source of existence. Hence, “the cosmological argument assets that it is
impossible for any natural thing to be the complete and sufficient source of its own
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existence” [1]. There must be something that existed before I become to exist and that can
only mean this cause is God.
The third way stated that people exist for a time and eventually cease to exist. For people
to exist, the universe had to also exist and as time moves, people will cease to exist so that
another time could exist. Thus Thomas’s argument for necessity states that for anything to
exist, there is something whose existence is necessary-God.
There are degrees to goodness from lack of good being evil to actual goodness being
good. Since no one is perfect, there has to be a perfect being-God. God is the perfect being
who people measure their goodness against but never reach can that perfectness.
Thomas’s fifth way argues that everything thing needs a purpose or design. Man could
not have design himself to be what he is if he had power. Man is intelligent but not able to
design the universe thus God is the only being able to design and give purpose to everything.
David Hume:
Hume rejected the idea of existence of God, the existence of motion and cosmological
argument. Hume states causation cannot be proven or unproven and is unknowable. The
existence of God as Unmovable Mover are ideas stitched together up by man. The insufficient
proof of God by man demonstrates that God is no real.
2. Which philosopher has better philosophical views?
I believe Thomas’s “Five Ways” have merits and makes it possible to believe the God
exists. I grew believing the existence of God through religious teaching. As I got older, I
begun to question these dogmas. So in a way when I was young, I believed in Thomas’s
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philosophy and much later in my life, I started to question those beliefs like Hume did but not
reject them. Hume’s philosophy takes out the stress of being wrong since he leans towards
agonistism.
3. Address the strengths and weakness of ideas espoused by each philosopher?
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas’s philosophy is based on reason and observation. Through reason, Thomas was
able to prove the existence of God and any reasonable person can also believe in God after
looking at Thomas’s logic. There is always a beginning, design and purpose for everything
that exist and it can be traced by to the ultimate designer-God. Thomas was able to simple his
philosophy by point out how anybody can see motions in real world and put together a belief
using logic and reason. The weakness in cosmological argument can be that if Godomnipotent, perfect, all knowing- exists than why can’t He prove his existence by, for
example, eliminating evil or get rid of pain and suffering.
David Hume:
Since no man was present when the universe was built by God, how can any man prove
God exist? “Hume reveals that the power of logic and reason are, nevertheless, beliefs to which
so many are devoted are barely intelligible. Hume teaches us that neither the scientist nor the
philosopher nor the priest has the method and the answer to timeless questions” [1].
4. Should provide an argument of why one philosopher provides a better philosophical
system than the other one?
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Thomas used common sense arguments to prove that God exist. His “Five Ways” are
logically sound during his time with the Catholic Church. However, his reason and logic
would fail to prove the existence of God today. The scientific methods have evolved to
explain what would seem like “miracles” at Thomas’s time to normal possibilities. Hume
open many people eyes to the old ways of philosophy by rejecting almost all the notions
about reason and logic being the ultimate way to know what is actually there.
Reference:
1. Soccio, Douglas. Archetypes of Wisdom. Eighth. Boston: Wadsworth, 2013. 225,230236,303. Print.
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