This is an amazing introduction to the teaching of Aquinas. Feser's main thesis is that most people do not understand Aquinas because they are beginning with different metaphysical assumptions than Aquinas. In other words, all of these bad caricatures of the five ways of Aquinas are based on fundamental misunderstandings and not looking at the metaphysical assumptions that Aquinas held to. Feser begins to remedy this problem by introducing us to Aquinas' view of the four causes (material formal, efficient, final) as well as his teaching on being and essence. Feser argues that the rejection of the four causes is not based on any sort of good reason, but an unhealthy skepticism. Once we understand Aquinas' metaphysics, we are in a position to look at his 5 ways or proofs for the existence of God.
Feser notes that while most people quote Aquinas' 5 ways from his Summa, the Summa was meant as a beginners guide to theology. Hence the demonstrations for God's existence are not meant for skeptics but for those who already believe in God and need to organize their ideas about God's existence. Feser mentions that the Aqunas' full and thorough proofs for God's existence worked out in detail may be found in Aquinas' Summa Contra Gentiles. Feser then spends several pages on each of the five ways. It is quite interesting because I too, unfortunately, had bought into the modern mindset that Aquinas' 5 ways were just sort of old hat, similar to intelligent design, not too deep, and all more or less the same. Nothing could be further from eh truth. I was amazed at how careful and rigorous the proof from motion is when given in its full detail with all the necessray metaphysical background in place. This requires understanding of what Aquinas meant by motion, potentiality, action, and several other concepts. It was rewarding to spend some time pondering this proof because I realized how shallow much of my metaphysics really is. Feser was also able to explain how Aquinas argued that even if the universe could have existed for an infinite amount of time, it would still require a first cause. This idea had always bothered me, but Feser gave an excellent illustration and the idea is now quite clear in my mind.
In discussing the 5 ways, Feser mentions how the 5 ways are all different from each other. Many people will blow off the first 3 ways, claiming that they are basically the same. Yet Feser looks a wide range of Aquinas' writings on these ways and argues that he had different things in mind and different properties of God that the arguments would deduce. Feser also distinguishes between Aquinas' argument by design and Paley's argument from design. These are nothing alike and should not be confused, which is another common error. After the discussion of the five ways, Feser discusses the nature of man (psychology) and explains Aquinas' view, in particular, of the soul. Again, here is a place where many people do not know what Aquinas taught. Aquinas did not think of the soul as an invisible ether that permeates the body or as some other kind of invisible entity. Rather, the soul is the form of the body; that which animates the body. This can be summed up in Aquinas' theory of hylomorphism. Again, Aquinas' metaphysics are crucial to understanding this concept. One particularly attractive aspect of Aquinas' view of the human soul is that it does fall victim to the objection about "how does the soul (immaterial) interact with the body (material)?" often posed by skeptics. This question simply makes no sense on Aquinas' hylomporphic view.
This book is amazing. It is short, but one can spend hours upon hours pondering it, rereading the same passages to take in all the information and understand the metaphysics of Aquinas. The method of Aquinas was sanctioned in the encyclical Humani Generis and thus Aquinas' teaching is well worth the time of any serious Catholic who wishes to be of one mind with the Church.
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Join or create book clubs
Choose books together
Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Flip to back Flip to front
Follow the Author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
| Price | New from | Used from |
|
Audible Audiobook, Unabridged
"Please retry" |
$0.00
| Free with your Audible trial | |
|
MP3 CD, Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged
"Please retry" | $8.44 | — |
- Read with Our Free App
-
Audiobook
$0.00 - 11 Used from $8.36 13 New from $9.10
- 6 New from $8.44
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now
Frequently bought together
- +
- +
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Choose items to buy together.
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
Popular Highlights in this book
Aquinas held that the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and the content and binding force of the natural moral law could be established through purely philosophical arguments (as opposed to an appeal to divine revelation).Highlighted by 463 Kindle readers- For the Aristotelian, final causality or teleology (to use a more modern expression) is evident wherever some natural object or process has a tendency to produce some particular effect or range of effects.Highlighted by 413 Kindle readers
- Aristotle and Aquinas would have found all of this unintelligible, in part because for them, nothing counts as an efficient cause in the first place unless it is inherently ordered towards the generation of a certain kind of effect or range of effects as its final cause.Highlighted by 341 Kindle readers
From the Publisher
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
This book is poorly written.Feser takes a complicated subject, and just makes it more complicated. The long sentences and use of snark make this book tedious to read.It's a book written by an academic. Which means it's made to sound smart, and if you think it's not, then the implication is you're dumb. When the truth is the writing is purposefully opaque.
Images in this review
Top reviews from other countries
Narwhal85
Great introduction but not for beginners
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 1, 2014Thomist91
Excellent Introduction to Aquinas
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 9, 2013
