On taking the ‘five ways’ seriously as ways

Abstract

So much ink has been spilt over Thomas Aquinas’ five ways! So much that one could fairly question whether any further reflections could be useful. My stance, in this article, is to reflect on the dynamism intrinsic to the quinque viae. It is to take seriously the claim that they are ways. And it is to understand this in the literal sense of their being journeys. So this paper seeks to elucidate what light could be shone on our lives if we were to take up Thomas Aquinas’ broad invitation to undertake a personal journey. This personal journey is, at its core, an intellectual one. After all, these ways are meant to be demonstrations of the ‘to be’ of God. To Aquinas, it is clear that the ‘to be’ of God (Deus esse) is not self-evident or directly intuitively apprehensible to us – whether saints or sinners. So we need to undertake a journey, with different possible ways being proposed. This needs to be unpacked.