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Many of the central issues in philosophy arise from religion and beliefs, particularly the
question of the existence of God. One philosopher that provides an argument for the
existence of God is St. Thomas Aquinas, who said that there are “five ways to prove that
God exists." Another is William Paley, who provides the design argument for the existence
of God. Philosophers are still trying to provide a sufficient argument for the existence of
God, though St. Thomas Aquinas’ and Paley’s arguments deliver a great case in proving
God’s existence.
The first to provide this argument was St. Thomas Aquinas, who stated that there are “five
ways to prove that God exists." The first is the argument arising from change. Everything
that changes is changed by something else, and therefore there must be a first cause of
change because the sequence of change cannot extend infinitely. The second way to prove
God exists is the argument from efficient causes. We perceive efficient causes of things in
series, but nothing is the efficient cause of itself; therefore, there must be a first efficient
cause and that is God. Next, St. Thomas Aquinas argues that if there had once been
nothing in existence, it would have been impossible for anything to come into existence, so
there must be an all-powerful being to have made that possible. One of the final points
Aquinas makes is that there is gradation to be found in things: some things are better or
