Class Analysis

On Monday February 21, we began the class discussing the play “Waiting For Godot.” We expressed are opinions on what we like and disliked about the play specifically the role of the master and the slave, how the masters power is essentially controlled by the slave, the slave does not need the master, the master needs the slave. We then moved on to the class material advancing from the question, does god exist? To the question, what is god? Starting with Thomas Aquinas(1125-1274), talked about his beliefs in (self evident/ intuitive knowledge of god – too vague) With Aquinas we can not know the essence of god because of his effects or his existence. We can never know the cause unless we know the effects. Two kinds of demonstration, Apriori-through cause itself ( An ontological argument would be attempting to know god in apriorio, the cause itself)

Aposteriori – through the effects(That we can only know what the subject is or what the cause is through the effects) Aquinas gives us his 5 his 5 proofs of god: Mifestor Via, Efficient cause, Contingent and necessary, Gradiation, Design Argument. We can not associate god with us or to something that we know. God is not a rational, or corpeal being, we can not view him in a human or living form. God is everywhere, he does not have a place, he is everyplace. God is Omnipotent, meaning all powerful. “With god nothing is impossible,” Gospel of Luke, and he is Omisciene meaning all knowing. Again we can not think of any of this in a human sense because we will begin to contradict ourselves.

Via Negativa- everything that god knows is fact, it can not be false because what he says is. He is the creator and his speaking cannot but match what is.

God is also eternal, not in the sense of the human linear time, gods being is without successiveness, and he is eternal.