E016 The Relationship Between St. Thomas' Fifth Way and Modern Science

Lesson 16 - The Relationship Between St. Thomas' Fifth Way and Modern Science

In many people’s minds, Science and Faith are fundamentally at odds with one another. If we can explain some phenomenon on scientific principles, then we can remove God from the consideration – or, if God is active, then science must step aside. As we have discussed before, this is not the Catholic view and especially not Aquinas’ view of the relationship between God and Nature.

This is beautifully illustrated in Aquinas’ so-called “fifth way” of arguing for God’s existence from the Summa Theologiae, especially in comparison to some modern arguments for God linked to modern science.

Course Reading

The Fittingness of Evolutionary Creation | Rev. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P.

Summa Theologiae I, q. 2, a. 3 | St. Thomas Aquinas

Excerpt from the Summa Theologiae I, q. 2, a. 3:

The fifth way is taken from the governance of the world. We see that things which lack intelligence, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Hence it is plain that not fortuitously, but designedly, do they achieve their end. Now whatever lacks intelligence cannot move towards an end, unless it be directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence; as the arrow is shot to its mark by the archer. Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God.