Thomas Aquinas Gradation Argument Analysis

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Aquinas’ Gradation Argument

According to The Internet Encyclopedia (http://www.iep.utm.edu/aquinas) Thomas Aquinas lived in 1225–1274, as a catholic priest in Italy. He was well known for his philosophical and theological ideas or arguments. One of his arguments was that he can prove Gods existence gradation of beings. Anyone who claims they can prove God to be real comes off as possibly heretical or blasphemous. In this case Aquinas teaches bad doctrine and I would classify it as heretical. There is no room for heresy in the church because it creates such an unhealthy environment that is built on a compromised teaching. The only teaching the church should be doing is in accordance with the doctrines strictly found in the Bible. This should be true for Christians however Aquinas was catholic, whereas Catholics practice slightly different doctrines that may or may not allow for his teaching. With this in mind I will refrain from focusing on Biblically arguing his statements, rather I will disprove his argument with simple logical reasoning that any religious or nonreligious person may agree with. Let’s get a better understanding of what Aquinas’ argument is.

The argument of gradation in
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One problem with this is who determines what is good and what is bad? To believe in a perfect scale of morality you would have to have a perfect understanding of what’s good or bad. If you were wrong in the slightest degree, then what you once thought was first perfect is now imperfect. What you thought was God is now something less than God. Another propblem with argument one would bewhat does morality apply to? I would suppose only humans, as it would seem difficult to measure the morality of a rock. (Archie, June 26, 2006) Even if Thomas' concepts of being and goodness were intelligible, there could be equally plausible candidates for being in the highest degree: nature, mater, existence, or even limited

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