PHIL 1003T Study Guide - Actual Infinity, Albert Camus, Truism
Document Summary
The second argument for the existence of god that we examined is the cosmological argument. It has a long history and has been developed in several different versions. St. thomas aquinas gives five arguments, the first three of which may be considered to be versions of the cosmological argument. Aquinas" first argument (or first way") is said to focus on motion, but really it"s about change. Aquinas believed that a cold object is actually cold but potentially hot. When the object changes by becoming hot, aquinas would say that it was moved from being only potentially hot to being actually hot. More generally, when aquinas speaks of motion, he has in mind this motion", or change, from potentially having a given quality to actually having it. Hence, while he speaks of motion" in his first argument his real focus is on change. He thinks that an object can"t change unless some other thing acts upon it.
