Aquinas’s “five ways” sets out to prove or justify the existence of God by rational means. The arguments which Aquinas uses in his “five ways” are highly influenced by what is known as the cosmological argument”. This argument states that Gods existence can be proved based on the ways in which we experience the world around us.
The idea that God is the reasoning behind the creation of the universe is simple and that is all that needs to be explained. Aquinas made three questions and put them out there to answer anyone who doubts God’s existence. Aquinas had five proofs that he had concluded but his three ways are more so used for arguing the existence of God.
For Aquinas, God is the cause of all actuality in the world, but he causes agents to act according to the nature he gave them. So, he causes free agents to act freely. And as we noted in the essay on the nature of evil as a privation, God causes all that is good and perfect in a free creature’s free act.
Aquinas’ five proofs for God’s existence, during, of course, Aquinas’ time, were found to be compelling enough and soon grew to be influential in religious discourses. For some religious denominations, these arguments still remain significant in defense of the Faith up until the 21 st century, where most of them have been incorporated into doctrines and statements.
Cosmological Proof of Aquinas Aquinas’ argument of the cosmological evidence of God’s existence revolved around five components, which provided the argument of his defense. In Summa Theologia of Aquinas, he argued using these five ways of justifying the existence of God under the basic thought of man’s relation with God as Creator and creation.
Aristotle's Four Causes, Thomas Aquinas' Five Ways, Quinque Viae from the Summa Theologiae, i.e., his five proofs for the existence of God are summarized together with some standard objections. The arguments include from first motion, from first cause, from necessary being, from gradations of goodness, and from design.