Thomas Aquinas Argument Against Motion Essay

Philosophers have widely debated the existence of God. Among these philosophers is the Catholic priest Thomas Aquinas. While Thomas had five arguments for the existence of God, I will only be focusing on his argument from motion. Aquinas’ Argument from Motion attempts to prove there is a “first mover” and without this first mover there could be no other mover. In Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica, he argues “it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, put in motion by no other;” this first mover, according to Aquinas, is understood to be God. However, however, his Argument from Motion is far from perfect. One flaw I will touch upon is his assumption that there could not be an infinite regress of movers. He says this because in an infinite regress of movers, there would be no first mover which in turn means no subsequent movers. His reasoning for an impossibility of

In physics, we have Newton’s First Law which is as follows: an object at rest will stay rest and an object in motion will stay in motion unless an external force acts upon it (Lucas). We can use this law when looking at the standard model of the Big Bang Theory. Most scientists believe that before the Big Bang, there was no matter, energy, or space-time (McRae). With the Standard Model of the Big Bang, there is scientific evidence of a definite beginning. The Big Bang is also believed to have started the continuous expansion of the universe. Going along with Newton’s First Law, the Big Bang, which initiated motion, would have to have been caused by an external force. We can take “external” to mean outside of the physical universe. So, outside the universe, this first mover would become immaterial and thus no longer bound by physical law, making it possible that this first mover is unmoved itself. Aquinas would say, the only thing that could be outside the universe is