Concepts of God: proof of God by St. Thomas' Fifth Way (The nature of a \'Creator\')

by dhw, Saturday, November 23, 2019, 10:28 (1616 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: I actually am a panenpsychist in belief, God within and without the universe.

dhw: That still means God’s consciousness is everywhere. Once more: what is your point? We were discussing St Thomas’s attempt to prove God’s existence and also to discredit deism. The argument went that “he is at work ceaselessly and everywhere” and the “proof of his existence is […] in every raindrop and in every blown grain of dust”. The design may be seen as proof of God’s existence, but that does not “rule out the God of deism”. I also pointed out that the concept of God outlined here could be pure pantheism, but Nature does not have to be a single, thinking mind, and the concept of universal consciousness is a form of panpsychism, which can be theistic or atheistic. Do you agree with this critique or not?

DAVID: Yours is a good summary of the issues.

Thank you, and goodbye to St Thomas.