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Summa Contra Gentiles By Saint Thomas Aquinas

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Summa Contra Gentiles By Saint Thomas Aquinas
Within every human being there is an inborn drive to know the truth. Human beings are not satisfied until they attain the full truth that lacks in nothing. The only being that is capable of lacking in nothing and possesses pure perfection is God. The purpose of each human being is to be properly oriented to the highest good, which is also God. This can only occur by having one’s will desire to know about God through faith and reason.
In chapter three of the Summa Contra Gentiles, Saint Thomas argues that human beings can know about God by utilizing both faith and reason. When explaining the power of reason Aquinas says, “The principle of knowledge that reason perceives about something is the understanding of the very substance of that being.” …show more content…
These consequences are nihilism and relativism. The premise of his claim of utilizing faith rather than intellect alone is located in paragraph five. According to Aquinas, “Human reason has falsity present within it due to the weakness of our intellect in judgment.” What Aquinas is implying is that one’s judgment can distort what the truth really is. This poses two problems concerning one’s intellect since it is the means by which human beings reason. The first problem is nihilism. For instance, two individuals witness a murder at the same time. This does not mean that they both fully know the truth about what to do in this situation. Each individual could perceive the situation differently. The individual who is a nihilist would say that murder is acceptable since he or she views life as having no meaning. This implies that anything is permissible due to freedom and personal meaning of life. The other individual who is moral would make the most ethical choice and call the …show more content…
There are forms of communication in regards to prayer and scripture, but human beings do not have physical access to see heaven in the present life. If one does not understand God, he or she could speak to another individual that can answer his or her questions thoroughly. The individual could also explain his or her reasoning as to why and how the individual came up with the answer concerning God. This is also a problem in regards to knowing about God through reason. One may still not be able to grasp the concept of God and would need faith through a body of believers or by having a religious
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