cosmological argument, Form of argument used in natural theology to prove the existence of God. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa theologiae, presented two versions of the cosmological argument: the first-cause argument and the argument from contingency.
In fact, the theory of natural law is based on the idea that God wants us to want things – specifically, good things. Aquinas argued that God created the world according to natural laws, predictable, goal-driven systems whereby life is sustained, and everything functions smoothly.
THE MEANING OF LIFE. Thomas Aquinas saw the meaning of life in the dramatic terms of his faith. By Original Sin the race has fallen from a primordial innocence and bliss. God promises a redeemer and at long last, in the fullness of time, Christ is born, true God and true man.
He therefore states his argument in three points: firstly, everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence; secondly, the universe began to exist; so, thirdly, therefore, the universe has a cause of its existence.
Of these, Aristotle is often said to be the father of natural law. Aristotle's association with natural law may be due to the interpretation given to his works by Thomas Aquinas.
Aquinas wrote most extensively about natural law. He stated, "the light of reason is placed by nature [and thus by God] in every man to guide him in his acts." Therefore, human beings, alone among God's creatures, use reason to lead their lives. This is natural law.
St. Thomas Aquinas was the greatest of the Scholastic philosophers. He produced a comprehensive synthesis of Christian theology and Aristotelian philosophy that influenced Roman Catholic doctrine for centuries and was adopted as the official philosophy of the church in 1917.
The Summa Theologica focuses on religious matters pertinent to the organization and doctrine of the Catholic faith, discussions of virtues and the Sacraments, and the nature of the Christian triune God and His creation.
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, life is a gift from God to be loved, nurtured and lived in proper charity. The human being, as a respectful steward of this gift, does not possess absolute dominion over it.
This book provides a detailed, updated exposition and defense of five of the historically most important (but in recent years largely neglected) philosophical proofs of God's existence: the Aristotelian, the Neo-Platonic, the Augustinian, the Thomistic, and the Rationalist.
St. Thomas Aquinasthe Five Ways, Latin Quinquae Viae, in the philosophy of religion, the five arguments proposed by St. Thomas Aquinas (1224/25–1274) as demonstrations of the existence of God.
A flaw in the cosmological argument is in giving special exclusive status to a deity that would need no creator or origin outside of itself- a necessary being--without acknowledging that such status could be given to the basic stuff, physis, of the universe, its energy, that can take different forms..