An online course in the Philosophy of Nature

[Linusthe2nd]

To understand Thomistic philosophy one has to understand some basic principles. These are covered in an online course offered by the great philosopher of nature, Fr. Willaim A. Wallace. home.comcast.net/~icuweb/c02000.htm

I have added the following comment to show how it concludes. But the whole course should be studied carefully.

Here is an excellent analysis of Thomas’ First Way by the brilliant Philosopher of Nature, Fr. William A. Wallace which he gives in an online course:
home.comcast.net/~icuweb/c02006.htm#2

All of Lecutre 6 should be studied carefully.:

6th Lecture: Nature’s First Unmoved Mover

1. Aquinas’s Prima Via
2. The Motor Causality Principle
3. Validity in the Present Day
4. Three Instances of Local Motion
5. Efficient and Material Causality
6. Aquinas’s Own Objection
7. Nature’s First Unmoved Mover

In chapter 3 he gives explains how the argument has not been invalidated by either Newton’s Laws nor by the later developments of modern science, much as I have explained above. There is always an external agent which imparts an impetus which alters the nature of the moved mover so that it moves until stopped.

In chapter 4 he gives three examples.

In chapter 7 he concludes:

Therefore, the first cause is not a body, and does not have parts on which it depends for its being and acting. It is not composed of matter and form, nor of potency and act. It is not capable of being moved or having motion, either by itself or by something else, but it is the unmoved mover of other things. Because it is unmoved, it is not a temporal being but eternal. Because it is unmoved and incorporeal, it does not cause motion mechanically, as one body moves another from without, but rather as mind or intelligence moves a body with a higher order of action.

Linus2nd

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[St_Francis]

Thanks for sharing this, Linus