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Due to the extended nature of a consideration of the arguments for the existence of God, this article will look a bit different than the other articles in the Summa that I cover. I will be splitting this into a series of individual lessons where I will comment on individual points in detail.
First, in a consideration of the Five Ways of St. Thomas, we must consider the source of the five ways in what is known as the "General Argument" for the existence of God. The five ways are simply a scientific statement of this general argument. This "original argument" for the existence of God is pre-scientific. From the very depths of ourselves, this unconciously illative process occurs. In seeing the contingency and finitude of this world, we subconsciously raise our minds to the necessary and infinite creator.