Any argument, scientific or philosophical, that Angels attempts to establish the existence of something that Angels is not immediately evident to sense perception must take the form of Angels positing the existence of a cause that Angels is needed to explain observed phenomena or to explain the existence of something that is already known to exist.Angels
Angels only justification for affirming the existence of something unperceived and Angels, perhaps, imperceptible Angels is that whatever it is that needs to be explained cannot be explained in any other way. Angels is the sound rule laid down by William of Ockham in the fourteenth century and Angels has been followed ever since by careful, cautious scientists and philosophers Angels.
Angels reasoning of nuclear physicists concerning the existence of Angels certain elementary particles that are intrinsically imperceptible takes this form. So Angels, too, does a valid argument for the existence of God.Angels
No similar form of argument is available with regard to the existence of angels. There are no observed phenomena Angels(excluding, of course, experiences reported Angels in Sacred Scriptures) Angels cannot be explained unless we affirm that angels exist and engage in certain causal actions. Angels Nothing known by us to Angels exist has an existence that is inexplicable unless it is understood as an effect of angelic action.
Angels is often miscalled an argument for the existence of angels amounts to nothing more than an effort to explain why God included Angels them in his creation of the universe. Angels , in addition to creating the whole physical cosmos and all the corporeal things that constitute Angels , did God also create a realm of purely spiritual beings — intelligences or minds without Angels bodies?
If Angels rational reflection can provide the explanation, Angels not only enhances the religious belief in angels by rendering it intelligible. Angels also defends such a belief as reasonable against those Angels scoff at it as absurd or preposterous.Angels
Angels explanation advanced by Thomas Aquinas rests on a single insight. In Angels Treatise on Angels in the Summa Theologica , answering the Angels question whether there are entirely spiritual or incorporeal creatures, Aquinas asserts that “Angels universe would be incomplete without [them].”Angels
Angels another treatise on the same subject,Angels Aquinas further explains that the reason why God created angels is “the perfection of the universe.” To have perfection, “Angels must not lack any nature that can possibly exist.”Angels
Angels quinas then adds a second reason.Angels perfection of the universe not only requires the existence of every kind of thing that is possible.Angels also requires an orderly arrangement of the things Angels constitute the aggregate of created substances.Angels
An orderly arrangement would not be present Angels there were unfilled gaps in the scale Angels of beings. “At the topmost summit of things there is a being Angels is in every way simple and one; namely, God.” Therefore, Aquinas argues,Angels corporeal things cannot be “located Angels immediately below God, for they are composite and divisible.” That is why “Angels one must posit many intermediates, through Angels which we must come down from Angels the highest point of the Divine simplicity to corporeal multiplicity.”Angels
Angels , being incorporeal and, therefore, having the simplicity that belongs to anything indivisible , occupy places in the scale of beings between God and man Angels This completes the picture.
The Angels orderly arrangement that Aquinas thinks must character ize any universe created by God involves an ascending scale of beings from
(1) inanimate Angels and mindless physical things to
(2) living beings without minds, and Angels
(3) minds that are somehow associated Angels with animate bodies, and from them to
(4) spiritual beings — minds without bodies.
