Philosophy of God in Aquinas

Catalog description

This course will examine the philosophical writings of Thomas Aquinas on the existence and nature of God. Topics include the procedure of philosophical theology, the methodological problem of attaining true knowledge of God, Aquinas's "five ways" of demonstrating the existence of God, and arguments for the various "attributes" of God: simplicity, perfection, goodness, infinity, ubiquity, unchangeableness, eternity, and oneness. Aquinas's innovative method of analogical predication will be employed to offer a philosophical interpretation of core theistic assertions that God has life and knowledge that God wills and loves, that God exercises providence both justly and mercifully, that God is all-powerful and perfect happiness. This course may be taken to satisfy the major requirement for a course in the ancient or medieval period.