St. Thomas Aquinas was crucial for the continuation of philosophy in Western civilization. Through his Five Ways, Aquinas reintroduced reason to Christianity to pick up where philosophy left off. If Aquinas didn't work it out, the BIble would've continued to prevent all of Western civilization from observing, and trying to understand our world. While I do grant him this, I cannot help but criticize his Five Ways, especially the First Way.
Within this first proposal, Aquinas is addressing motion, and the way it works. Primarily, he states that nothing can move itself. If this was true, very little would exist. People move themselves and animals move themselves. Oooooo, Tommy, I think you have a little problem, but lets try to bear with him for a little longer. Next, he claims that if every object in motion had a mover, then the first object in motion needed a mover. Alright, I'll let this one slide after I already disproved what this is based on. Aquinas then states that this first mover is the Unmoved Mover, named God. Thats where I must attack again. Wait, why God? Why not, say, a bell pepper? What if it was a bell pepper, and for arguments sake, lets just say that it was. There would STILL be a problem. This is a HUGE leap! What sufficient evidence do we have that the chicken came before the egg? Nobody can just go jumping to conclusions and introducing a completely unrelated third party. This argument of Aquinas', would be like me saying that the chicken came before the egg because of a roll of toilet paper. It is random to say the least!
For these issues, I believe the First Way to be the worst of Aquinas' five proofs. They are all quite weak and are from nowhere inside the ballpark, but if it got philosophy rolling again, I can't say I despise the guy.
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