“That All Things Are Directed to One End, Which is God” by St. Thomas Aquinas Essay Example

â€Å"That All Things Are Directed to One End, Which is God† by St. Thomas Aquinas Essay Humans have been searching for the explanation of life and the existence of a higher being or creator since acquiring the capacity for rational thinking. Many theories were forwarded including the teleological or design argument which proposes the existence of God through recognition of the direction and function in nature. The term teleological is from a Greek word telos which means end or purpose. Teleology, therefore, is the assumption of the presence of a purpose or direction in the dynamics of nature. Furthermore, it asserts that nature or universe is a very complex design to occur out of nothing. This means that this design must have a designer who is God. Proponents of this argument include Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine of Hippo, Saint Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, George Berkeley, William James, David Hume, William Paley, John Barrow, Frank Tipler, John Polkinghorne George Wald and John Allen Paulos. But the most comprehensive early version of the teleological argument is credited to St. Thomas Aquinas in his Fifth Way including his Summa Contra Gentiles and Summa Theologica (Ferre).Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274) was an Italian Catholic priest, belonging to the Order of Preachers. He was a philosopher and theologian, with a designation of Doctor Angelicus and Doctor Universalis. He was the founder of the Thomistic school and the leading proponent of natural theology. He is recognized by most Catholics as the Church greatest theologian and model teacher for priesthood by the Roman Catholic Church (Craig).St. Aquinas’ works are characterized by the following elements: (a) an amalgamation of the thoughts of Old and New Testaments, (b) ideas of levels of knowledge and nature, (c) the claim that humans learn to act rationally from nature, (d) separation of the worlds of God and man and (e)transition from paganism, Old Law, New Law and to Christianity (Himma).St. Aquinas wrote Summa Contra Gentiles between 1258 and 1264. It is divided in to two sections. The first section consists of books I to III which cover human truths. The second section consists of book IV which discusses divine truths. Its main points include the dual property of truth which may be partly achieved through reason and partly by other ways, the different levels of intellects, the utilization of pure reason which leads to an uninformed concoction of deception and truth, and the argument that man cannot attain all truth by reason alone as a humbling reminder for mankind (Ferre).A chapter of Summa Contra Gentiles is entitled â€Å"That All Things Are Directed to One End, Which is God† which tackles the meaning of life and death. The following is an analysis of the said chapter through understanding of some of its salient points (Aquinas 32-56).On the opening parts, the Summa Contra Gentiles asserts its main point: that all things originate and leads back to God or the Creator. The cause and the end of everything is what God stands for. Aside from being the cause and the end, God is also referred to as the common good. Accordingly, all things exist for the purpose of attaining semblance to God. God is the Alpha and Omega and this summarizes the thought that He is the end of all things.Next, the summa indicates that knowledge of God is the highest level of intellectual substance. In order to acquire likeness with God, there must be proper operation of the intellectual process of man by understanding God. To achieve this, man must operate in his perfect condition which translates to perfection as embodied by God. Furthermore, the happiness of intellectual substances arises from the understanding of an intelligible object which is God. It suggests that human intellect yearns, loves, and get pleasure from the knowledge of divine things even though it can comprehend a little part of such things as compared to its knowledge of lower things around it.Then, St. Aquinas wrote that the last end of man and of any intelligent being is happiness or beatitude which, in turn, is the knowledge of God. He asks if happiness constitutes an act of the will and came up with the following explanation. According to St. Aquinas, appetite and intellect are separate and appetite is not proper for an intellectual being. All other beings have appetite including man but not all has intelligence. Since the will is a form of appetite and happiness and beatitude is an end of intellectual substance and not of appetite, then the will is not proper for an intellectual substance. In addition, if will is an act of desire or delight then the will cannot be considered the last end or happiness. In summary, the intellect is absolutely higher than the will and the will is only higher than intellect in some restricted sense.The argument that human happiness does not come from carnal pleasures followed. Here, carnal pleasures are referred to as the pleasures of the table and of sex. These pleasures are deemed to be present in nature only f or the sake of operation. Operation refers to the necessary functions of a human being. Pleasures of the table are to be found to facilitate the act of eating and drinking which entails nourishment of the body through food and water. On the other hand, pleasures of sex are in place for reproduction or begetting of children. Pleasure in itself is not the last end but the preservation of the body and the procreation of mankind.   Therefore, happiness cannot be attributed to these pleasures.Another way to look at it, according to the argument, is that through the comparison of brute and man. It is known that pleasures of taking in food and pleasures of sex can be found both in beast and man. While man can be described as happy in certain instances, this description is neither appropriate nor applicable to beast in any instance in its life. If pleasures are to be found in man and beast but not happiness, then this goes on to say that happiness does not arise from carnal pleasures.Furt hermore, if carnal pleasures are considered the root of happiness then more usage of table and sex pleasure activities should result to more good. This is not the case, according to St. Aquinas, instead more experience of carnal pleasures or abuse of such pleasures result to harm on the body and inhibition of other pleasures. Unlike intelligence which can be used more to a good end without the risk of abuse, carnal pleasures are attained only for operation of nutrition and reproduction which may not be performed in excess in recognition of related harm or pain.Next, the summa evaluates whether happiness originates from honors. Honor is coveted by men to be bestowed from the wise or the great. In order to achieve this, according to St. Aquinas, men strive for certain things for which they will receive honor. It is only for such specific attributes that man may receive honor from other men. This means that receipt of honor do not necessitate that a man is honorable as a whole. In this case, happiness cannot be attributed to honor.In addition, happiness is achieved through virtue which is inherently a product of virtuous deeds that are voluntary. To do good deeds for honor that is paid by other men cannot be considered voluntary and therefore not virtuous and for this reason honor cannot be considered as the component of happiness.Furthermore, since men are honored for specific achievements, then other traits are shadowed and these traits may be not honorable. If other attributes of a man can be overlooked due to placement of honor, wicked and sinful attributes can also be overlooked leading to proclamation of wicked and sinful men as honorable. Good is never compatible with evil, therefore happiness cannot consist of honor.Whereas honor cannot be considered as a source of happiness, St. Aquinas then looked at glory and came up with the same realization. Glory is defined as the general acknowledgment and praise of a good name or simply being famous or admired. Gl ory is achieved from being honored by people who recognize the person. If glory is desired for the sake of honor which in the previous paragraphs not considered a source of happiness – then the same or lower regard should be given to glory. Glory consists mainly of praise which is given to men who had not yet reached their last end. But glory is not stable since people’s opinion and praise are not constant. This makes glory unstable while good must be stable as well as happiness. Therefore, glory does not constitute happiness.Happiness does not come from wealth, according to St. Aquinas. The main advantage of wealth is its use for acquiring material goods and convenience when spent. The purpose of wealth is for the consumption of man. Fortune, which is a form of wealth, is deemed unreasonable. Evil persons can also have wealth. For the said reasons above, wealth therefore cannot constitute happiness.Worldly power does not equate to good or evil but evil persons can wi eld worldly power just as good persons can. Power is unstable since it depends on its constituents which are the people. Since worldly power is imperfect and can be used for the detriment of other people, it cannot be considered as a root of happiness.Beauty, strength and health are known as bodily goods. These goods of the body are naturally unstable and not subject to the will. These goods are also present in beasts but only men can be considered to experience happiness. Moreover, soul is better than body while intellect is higher than sense. Due to these assumptions, it can be said that bodily goods do not constitute happiness.According to St. Aquinas, happiness does not come from acts of the moral virtues. Moral actions are expressions of passions of which is not benefiting of God. Since the highest end of man is to become like God, having passions through moral actions is straying far from that objective. This behavior has some extent parallel with animals. Since animals do not achieve happiness through it, then this means that moral virtues do not result to happiness.Act of prudence is not a source of ultimate happiness. St. Aquinas argues that act of prudence is not about intellect or reason. In addition, it is not considered of special value but just of contingent practical concerns. Furthermore, prudence is required and observed only by other people and does not concern the knowledge and imitation of God. Some animals exhibit prudence. Given these three reasons, prudence does not constitute happiness.Happiness does not originate from the practice of art, according to the text. Practice of art, according to St. Aquinas is practical where there is no ultimate or last end. The end product of the practice of art is art itself which is just for man’s use and no other meaningful end thus confirming that it cannot be what constitutes happiness.Finally, St. Aquinas sums up the above points and adds that contemplating about the truth does not constitute happiness. This is so because the act of contemplation of truth leads to nothing but to itself and nowhere else beyond man’s happiness. Happiness entails knowledge and imitation of God. All occupations of man are simply about contemplating the truth and contemplation of sciences is just the first steps and not the end of human inquiry. Since happiness consist of the knowledge of the highest intelligible substances, then it is only warranted that contemplation of God is what constitutes happiness.Analysis of the above points leads to the following observations. First, St. Thomas Aquinas prepared the background of his arguments by classifying the different levels of what is found in nature or the universe. In the first tier, are the inanimate objects that obviously do not possess intelligence and thus a last end. The next level is the animals or creatures possessing some levels of mental facility but do not exhibit purpose or any capacity of happiness. The third level is the d omain of man. Man possesses the following characteristics: intelligible substance and capacity for happiness. The fourth and highest tier is for the divine things or God. The divine being has knowledge of all the things that compose the lower tiers.After preparing this background for his argument, St. Aquinas explained the importance of intelligence and what it entails in the understanding and imitation of God. He asserts that man can achieve knowledge of all the objects in level of man and below him but can only try to understand divine things but not all about them. Through understanding of God can man achieve a level of likeness with Him. Moreover, St. Aquinas explained what happiness or beatitude means and its place in reaching man’s last end.Next, St. Aquinas listed all the possible sources of happiness for man. These are act of the will, carnal pleasures, honors, glory, wealth, worldly power, goods of the body, acts of the moral virtues, act of prudence, and practice of art. Neither one of these material and abstract elements offer happiness as an end to man. This conclusion was arrived at by determining if each has merit in attaining happiness as compared to animals, if stable, and if it is absolutely good and not compatible with evil. Ultimately, St. Aquinas claimed that none of the above objects or achievements can result to happiness which is close to happiness associated with knowledge of divine things. Therefore, only contemplation of God constitutes definitive happiness of man.

Cells essays

Cells essays Proteins made from ribosomes attached to the rough endoplasmic reticulum enter the lumen of the ER and move to the smooth endoplasmic reticulum. A small vacuole (vesicle) pinches off the smooth ER and carries the protein to the Golgi apparatus, where it is further processed. Mitochondria are bounded by a double membrane. The inner membrane is folded to form little shelves, called cristae, which project into the matrix, an inner space filled with a gel-like fluid. A vacuole is a large membrane-enclosed sac that usually functions as a storage area. Plant vacuoles contain not only water, sugars, and salts but also pigments and toxic substances. The pigments are responsible for many of the red, blue, or purple colors of flowers and some leaves. The green pigment chlorophyll, found within the grana, makes chloroplasts and leaves green. Chlorophyll absorbs solar energy, and chloroplasts convert this energy into ATP molecules. Chloroplasts carry on the process of photosynthesis, in which light energy is used to produce food molecules, such as glucose. Chloroplasts take in carbon dioxide, water, and solar energy in order to produce glucose and oxygen. The energy-related organelles, chloroplasts and mitochondria, convert one form of energy into another. While chloroplasts are unique to plant cells, mitochondria are found in both plant and animal cells. Chloroplasts carry on photosynthesis, during which light energy (photo) is used to produce food molecules, like glucose (synthesis). Chloroplasts take in carbon dioxide, water, and solar energy in order to produce glucose and give off oxygen. Mitochondria are often called the powerhouses of the cell: just as a powerhouse burns fuel to produce electricity, the mitochondria convert the chemical energy of glucose products into the chemical energy of ATP molecules. Chromatin, a threadlike material, contains DNA and is found within the nucleus. At the time of cell division, chromatin conde...