Author: Daniel Shields Publisher: CUA Press ISBN: 0813236673 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 320
Book Description
Aquinas's first proof for God's existence is usually interpreted as a metaphysical argument immune to any objections coming from empirical science. Connections to Aquinas's own historical understanding of physics and cosmology are ignored or downplayed. Nature and Nature's God proposes a natural philosophical interpretation of Aquinas's argument more sensitive to the broader context of Aquinas's work and yielding a more historically accurate account of the argument. Paradoxically, the book also shows that, on such an interpretation, Aquinas's argument is not only consistent with modern science, but actually confirmed by the history of science, from classical mechanics through 19th century thermodynamics to contemporary cosmology. The first part of the book considers Aquinas's argument in its historical context, exploring the key principles that everything in motion is moved by something else and that an infinite regress of causes is impossible. The structure of the First Way is analyzed and the argument is connected both with Aquinas's Third Way?a new interpretation of which is also proposed?and Aquinas's second proof from motion in the Summa contra Gentiles. To complete the account of what natural philosophy?prior to metaphysics?can demonstrate about God, a chapter on Aquinas's teleological argument (the Fifth Way) is also included. The second part of the book tracks the history of modern science from Copernicus to today, showing how Aquinas's argument fared at each major turn. The first chapter shows how Newton's understanding of inertia and conservation of momentum supports the idea that motion cannot continue forever without God's causality, and integrates a modern understanding of inertia and gravity with the principles of Thomistic natural philosophy. The second chapter considers the first and second laws of thermodynamics, showing how they too support Aquinas's contention that motion cannot continue forever without God's causality. This chapter also discusses statistical mechanics and contemporary cosmology, demonstrating that science continues to support Aquinas's unmoved mover argument. The final chapter turns to modern biology as well as cosmological fine-tuning to show that modern science also continues to support Aquinas's teleological argument. The result is not only a satisfying defense of Aquinas's natural philosophical proofs for God's existence, but a primer on the broader project of integrating Thomistic natural philosophy with modern science.
Author: Daniel Shields Publisher: ISBN: 9780813236681 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Aquinas' first proof for God's existence is usually interpreted as a metaphysical argument immune to any objections coming from empirical science. Connections to Aquinas' own historical understanding of physics and cosmology are ignored or downplayed. Nature and Nature's God proposes a natural philosophical interpretation of Aquinas' argument more sensitive to the broader context of Aquinas' work and yielding a more historically accurate account of the argument. Paradoxically, the book also shows that, on such an interpretation, Aquinas' argument is not only consistent with modern science, but actually confirmed by the history of science, from classical mechanics through 19th century thermodynamics to contemporary cosmology.The first part of the book considers Aquinas' argument in its historical context, exploring the key principles that everything in motion is moved by something else and that an infinite regress of causes is impossible. The structure of the First Way is analyzed and the argument is connected both with Aquinas' Third Way--a new interpretation of which is also proposed--and Aquinas' second proof from motion in the Summa contra Gentiles. To complete the account of what natural philosophy--prior to metaphysics--can demonstrate about God, a chapter on Aquinas' teleological argument (the Fifth Way) is also included.The second part of the book tracks the history of modern science from Copernicus to today, showing how Aquinas' argument fared at each major turn. The first chapter shows how Newton's understanding of inertia and conservation of momentum supports the idea that motion cannot continue forever without God's causality, and integrates a modern understanding of inertia and gravity with the principles of Thomistic natural philosophy. The second chapter considers the first and second laws of thermodynamics, showing how they too support Aquinas' contention that motion cannot continue forever without God's causality. This chapter also discusses statistical mechanics and contemporary cosmology, demonstrating that science continues to support Aquinas' unmoved mover argument. The final chapter turns to modern biology as well as cosmological fine-tuning to show that modern science also continues to support Aquinas' teleological argument. The result is not only a satisfying defense of Aquinas' natural philosophical proofs for God's existence, but a primer on the broader project of integrating Thomistic natural philosophy with modern science.
Author: Jean W. Rioux Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers ISBN: 1725241463 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 298
Book Description
The complete title of one of the most famous works ever written, Isaac Newton's Principia, was actually Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, or "The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy". Sadly, many contemporary philosophers would be hard-pressed to say just what natural philosophy (or philosophy of nature) is all about. Without question, the philosophy of nature has received relatively less attention than ethics and metaphysics for some time. In "Nature, the Soul, and God," Jean W. Rioux has brought together a number of important readings in natural philosophy, from the Pre-Socratic philosophers and Aristotle to the 19th-century entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre. Collectively, they present three ways in which one might conceive of the natural world in a pre-scientific reflection upon the way things are: either the classical materialism of Empedocles, Democritus, and Epicurus, the formalism of Plato, or the hylomorphic view espoused and defended by Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. In the sections following the consideration of nature are selections from these representative views concerning the immortality of the soul and the existence of God. Through the medium of philosophers both ancient and modern, Rioux makes the point that one's philosophical account of the natural world will have an impact upon how one regards human nature, as well as divinity itself. It all begins with nature.
Author: Glenn F. Chesnut Publisher: iUniverse ISBN: 1532070349 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 371
Book Description
This book is more than just a set of logical proofs. It shows us who and what God is, and explains how our universe exploded into existence in the Big Bang, some 13.799 billion years ago, in such a way that all other Being in the universe derives its existence and nature — and its capacities for growth, power, moral character, change, and novelty — from God as the Ground of Being. This is a book for people who are interested in philosophy. It begins with a discussion of some of the fallacies into which the concept of infinity has led careless thinkers over the centuries. In particular, Chesnut demonstrates how often the modern defenses of atheism have been based on what are no more than pseudo-infinite regresses. This includes in particular self-delusive attempts to get rid of God by constructing what would be no more than imaginary universe-sized perpetual motion machines. The last half of the book then has as its central focus the set of Five Proofs for the Existence of God formulated by the great medieval thinker St. Thomas Aquinas, where Chesnut begins by showing how each of the proofs was interpreted in the middle ages. But the development of modern science requires that the Five Proofs be reworked for today, so he shows, for example, how the Proof from Motion can be reworded as an Argument from Energy, subject to the laws of thermodynamics, and how the Proof from Gradations in Truth and Value forces us to decide whether we will accept that at least some moral values are real, or instead will become what modern psychologists call psychopaths. This present book, combined with the work Chesnut authored nine years ago — God and Spirituality: Philosophical Essays — sets out an architectonic philosophical system for the twenty-first century, grounded on one side in the classics of the ancient Greco-Roman world and the medieval period, but on the other hand taking seriously the revolutionary changes in western thought produced by the development of twentieth-century science, including relativity, quantum theory, the uncertainty principle, and Gödel’s proof.
Author: Jean W. Rioux Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers ISBN: 166670248X Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 268
Book Description
The full title of Newton’s Principia is “The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.” Sadly, some contemporary philosophers might be hard-pressed to say just what natural philosophy is about—sadly, because it remains foundational to questions arising in other disciplines: metaphysics, ethics, philosophical psychology, and the philosophy of god, to name a few. In Nature, the Soul, and God, Jean Rioux has brought together primary readings in the philosophy of nature, presenting ways in which philosophers conceive of and account for the natural world in a pre-scientific reflection upon the way things are. Its three main sections comprise: a consideration of what the world would look like if natural philosophy were not possible, some representative natural philosophies (materialism, formalism, dualism, and hylomorphism), as well as an investigation into the implications these philosophies of nature have for other important questions, such as human freedom and the immortality of the human soul. Through the medium of philosophers both ancient and modern, Rioux makes the point that one’s philosophical account of the natural world will inevitably have an impact upon how one regards oneself, and even things divine. It all begins with nature.
Author: Simon Oliver Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1134237553 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 254
Book Description
In the post-Newtonian world motion is assumed to be a simple category which relates to the locomotion of bodies in space, and is usually associated only with physics. This book shows this to be a relatively recent understanding of motion and that prior to the scientific revolution motion was a broader and more mysterious category, applying to moral as well as physical movements. Simon Oliver presents fresh interpretations of key figures in the history of western thought including Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas and Newton, examining the thinkers’ handling of the concept of motion. Through close readings of seminal texts in ancient and medieval cosmology and early modern natural philosophy, the books moves from antique to modern times investigating how motion has been of great significance within theology, philosophy and science. Particularly important is the relation between motion and God, following Aristotle traditional doctrines of God have understood the divine as the ‘unmoved mover’ while post-Holocaust theologians have suggested that in order to be compassionate God must undergo the motion of suffering. The text argues that there may be an authentically theological, as well as a natural scientific understanding of motion. This volume will prove a major contribution to theology, the history of Christian thought and to the growing field of science and religion.
Author: Norman Kretzmann Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 019924653X Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 315
Book Description
Norman Kretzmann expounds and criticises Aquinas' theology of creation, which is natural (or philosophical) in that Aquinas developed it without depending on the data of Scripture.
Author: Ignacio Silva Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1000437418 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 242
Book Description
Providence and Science in a World of Contingency offers a novel assessment of the contemporary debate over divine providential action and the natural sciences, suggesting a re-consideration of Thomas Aquinas’ metaphysical doctrine of providence coupled with his account of natural contingency. By looking at the history of debates over providence and nature, the volume provides a set of criteria to evaluate providential divine action models, challenging the underlying, theologically contentious assumptions of current discussions on divine providential action. Such assumptions include that God needs causally open spaces in the created world in order to act in it providentially, and the unfitting conclusion that, if this is the case, then God is assumed to act as another cause among causes. In response to these shortcomings, the book presents a comprehensive account of Aquinas’ metaphysics of natural causation, contingency, and their relation to divine providence. It offers a fresh and bold metaphysical narrative, based on the thought of Thomas Aquinas, which appreciates the relation between divine providence and natural contingency.
Author: Garrett J. DeWeese Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1351932845 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 312
Book Description
Is God temporal, 'in time', or atemporal, 'outside of time'? Garrett DeWeese begins with contemporary metaphysics and physics, developing a causal account of dynamic time. Drawing on biblical material as well as discussions of divine temporality in medieval and contemporary philosophical theology, DeWeese concludes that God is temporal but not in physical time as we measure it. Interacting with issues in the history of philosophy, contemporary philosophy of science, and philosophy of religion, this book offers students a thorough introduction to the key issues and key figures in historical and contemporary work on the philosophy of time and time in theology.
Author: Daniel Shields
Author: Daniel Shields
Author: Gerard Hughes
Author: Jean W. Rioux
Author: Glenn F. Chesnut
Author: Jean W. Rioux
Author: Simon Oliver
Author: Norman Kretzmann
Author: Ignacio Silva
Author: Garrett J. DeWeese