Five Proofs of Existence of God by St. Thomas Aquinas - Essay Example

There is no doubt that the major focus of this argument lies in the connection between the ability to act to a certain end and intelligence. Since, it is quite obvious that not all objects in the world possess the above-mentioned characteristic, the concept of God will restore the balance. 

In spite of the fact that the argument which was described may be rather convincing at first sight, if one carefully analyzes it, one may come up with various fallacies that can be found in its logic. To begin with, one should note that the very first premise is faulty. It is an exaggeration to state that all bodies act to a certain end. Indeed, there is a vast array of objects that do not perform any specific function and, therefore, are not able to have a suitable end for their activity. Of course, it is possible to state that inanimate objects should be rejected and the analysis should be limited to animals; however, the life of the latter also does not strive to achieve a certain end.

While there may be some goals that can be identified, from a general perspective, the life of a person, the life of a lion, the life of a plant, and even the life of a rock (meaning its existence in one piece before it crumbles) does not serve any purpose or are designed to achieve a certain goal. They might find one is the process of living, but it surely was not predetermined. The second premise is faulty because it operates with a notion that is rather difficult to design. On the one hand, intelligence is truly a characteristic of a highly developed creature that draws a line between humans and other animals.

However, one can not dismiss the fact that even the simplest microorganisms feature some kind of intelligence. Of course, they are not able to think or consider the abstract matter, but they are surely active and independent from their perspective. In addition to that, there is no single agreed mechanism for identifying intelligence as the latter might manifest itself in different forms. That is why claiming that some natural bodies are not intelligent is an oversimplification.