Lesson 10 – The Least Popular of St. Thomas' Five Ways

Among St. Thomas’s famous five ways for proving the existence of God, the 4th Way is probably the least favorite. The most likely reason why the 4th Way is so unpopular is because it argues for the existence of God based on so-called “gradations of being.” 

Many contemporary philosophers insist that the idea of gradations in being is nonsense. If something exists, then it exists. If something does not exist, then it does not exist. Full stop. There does not seem to be a middle ground, let alone a variation in degrees.

In this and the following videos, we’ll try to make sense of this notion of “gradations” of being and how the 4th Way works.

Course Reading

Excerpt From Aquinas: A Beginner’s Guide | Edward Feser

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

De potentia, Q.3, a.5, corp. | St. Thomas Aquinas

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

The fourth way is taken from the gradation to be found in things. Among beings there are some more and some less good, true, noble and the like. But "more" and "less" are predicated of different things, according as they resemble in their different ways something which is the maximum, as a thing is said to be hotter according as it more nearly resembles that which is hottest; so that there is something which is truest, something best, something noblest and, consequently, something which is uttermost being; for those things that are greatest in truth are greatest in being, as it is written in Metaph. ii. Now the maximum in any genus is the cause of all in that genus; as fire, which is the maximum heat, is the cause of all hot things. Therefore there must also be something which is to all beings the cause of their being, goodness, and every other perfection; and this we call God.

Course Listening

Aquinas’ Fourth Way: Humility vs. Skepticism in Theological Reasoning | Prof. Joshua Hochschild

The Problem of Evil: Does Evil Disprove God? | Prof. W. Matthews Grant