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Quinque Viave: The Five Ways Of St Thomas Aquinas, Robert Ridall

Doctor of Theology Dissertation

Many of the ancient Stoics never experienced any serious problem concerning the existence of God because they tended to be pantheistic. The orthodox Stoic could put his hand anywhere in the universe and affirm with confidence, "Here is god.” Plato’s “highest good” and Aristotle’s “unmoved mover” are actually monotheistic proofs. Both of these men accepted the traditional gods of Greece but they were searching for a metaphysical ultimate to account for all reality. However when one encounters St. Thomas in the thirteenth century he discovers that these metaphysical ultimates of the ancients resemble the Christian God. St. Thomas calmly presents …