aquinas and leibniz

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Aquinas & Leibniz – The Cosmological Argument KQ: Why must everything have a reason for existing? Must this be God? First cause Prime mover Infinite regress Change Motion Efficient cause External Contingency Necessity Use each of these words at least once to write a paragraph summarising Aquinas’ argument in Summa Theologica  In the Summa Theologica Thomas Aquinas offered ‘Five Ways’ of showing that God must exists. The first three make up the Cosmological argument, which says…

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For every entity x, if x exists, then there is a sufficient explanation why x exists. For every event e, if e occurs, then there is a sufficient explanation why e occurs. For every proposition p, if p is true, then there is a sufficient explanation why p is true. Aquinas’ Three Ways of proving God’s existence is supported by Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) who is a philosopher associated with The Principle of Sufficient Reason. The principle states that there must be reason or cause why something exists, or why an event happens. The world is not arbitrary.

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The implication of the principle is that the reason anything exists is the free choice of God, without which, there would be no reason for anything. This in turn implies that God must exist to give reason. Why must there be a reason for everything? Leibniz wants to reject fatalism (the view that everything is determined and that there is no freedom or choice in the world). However, he also wants to acknowledge that any given thing or state of affairs is the outcome of something previous – the world is not arbitrary. To avoid arbitrariness (randomness, with no causal relation between X & Y), there must be ultimate source of reasons / causes.

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Does the argument of Aquinas & Leibniz support the existence of the Judeo-Christian God? Why? Omniscient Omnipresent /eternal Omnipotent Benevolent Perfectly good Judgemental Merciful / forgiving