Thomas Aquinas on God, Religion, and the World
**1. Thomas Aquinas**
**1.1 God and the World**
*Concept or Nature of God*
The concept or nature of God is considered self-sufficient. He exists eternally, is the supreme being, and represents perfection.
*Evidence of the Existence of God*
Metaphysics analyzes the possibility of rational proof of the existence of God:
- **Ontological Argument:** Reasoning from the knowledge of reality, the idea of a perfect being that exists in reality makes a logical justification. If God is perfect, imperfection cannot exist.
- **Cosmological Argument:** The study of the ordered universe. The cause of the order of the universe is identified with God.
- **Argument from Design (Teleological Argument):** God has created reality for a purpose.
*Relations Between God and the World*
- **Creation:** God creates things from nothing, recognizing God as the creator of the world. Once created, the universe follows its own laws without God being involved in it.
- **Order:** For the believer, God not only creates the world but is present and watchful.
**1.2 Religion**
All cultures have developed different forms of religion as a response to the problems of reality and metaphysical existence. Religion seeks to make a rational analysis. Religion has two functions: it establishes the communication of man with a scope that goes beyond and explains their existence. It is tempting to join a social component that shares the same religious beliefs and influences the forms of social organization.
**1.3 The Sacred and the Religious**
At the core of all religion is the religious, whose features in common are:
- Recognition of an area that transcends human life and physical, contingent existence.
- This area is sacred, apart from the contingent, but it includes the sacred.
The sacred has two main features:
- It inspires fear due to its power, and this can only be maintained with an attitude of submission and devotion.
- It is a fascinating mystery that inspires admiration.
The sacred is expressed in symbols and mysterious manifestations. Religion is a cultural fact always present in history. For some philosophers, religion is a fact of undoubted importance. For others, even if they admit a rational basis for religion, it is based on incorrect action. Religion was also criticized negatively. Marx said it is a form of social injustice that causes numbness. Nietzsche thought that it grew out of resentment and that it was characteristic of those who embrace life. Freud said that it is only an illusion.
**2. Wittgenstein’s Text**
Wittgenstein belongs to analytic philosophy, which analyzes language to undo philosophical problems. It can only address what we can talk about, which is meaningful language. There is a relationship between the plane and reality; reality should reflect the plane. There exists a series of isomorphic relations between the figure and reality so that the structure of the plane and the structure of reality have to have the same form. From the logical perspective, it can be seen that there must be a correspondence between the elements created in an internal, invented system. Wittgenstein points out the existence of errors or mistakes that occur in language and tries to mix concepts from different areas. The aim of philosophy is to classify speech and thus undo philosophical problems. The planning of language is a logical planning, so establishing a relationship between logic and language in which logically structured thoughts are expressed through language. It expresses the fact that a set of limits should be established in philosophy from the perspective of logic.
**3. Impressionism**
Offered in the different images of the Cathedral of Rouen, you can see different points of view with which to observe the cathedral, taking into account the key element of light at different times of day and how it can offer different views of the same image. Perspectivism shows different perspectives from which you can see reality and how it changes. Everything depends on the observer and their capacity for observation.