Ockham Against Aquinas' Existence of God: A Critical Analysis

In the realm of philosophical debates, the existence of God has been a topic of intense scrutiny and discussion. Two prominent philosophers, William of Ockham and Thomas Aquinas, have presented their respective arguments on this issue. While Aquinas posits that God's existence can be inferred through reason and observation, Ockham challenges this notion, advocating for a more skeptical approach.

One of the key criticisms leveled by Ockham against Aquinas' argument is based on the concept of genus and species. According to Aristotle, genus is the part of the real definition that answers the broad question 'What is it?' What is man? Man is an animal.' (Spade 2009) In other words, genus is a category that encompasses multiple species or individuals that share common attributes.

Ockham argues that this distinction between genus and species is not essential but rather accidental. He contends that the differences among individual men are not fundamental differences but rather incidental ones. This means that there is no clear-cut distinction between man as a genus and individual men as species. Instead, Ockham posits that man exists as an individual, without any necessary connection to other individuals.

Furthermore, Ockham challenges Aquinas' notion of universals, which he sees as being overly reliant on the concept of abstraction. According to Klima (2017), Boethius argues that universals are regarded as universal mental representations existing in the mind. The process of abstraction allows our minds to form universal representations of particular objects by disregarding what distinguishes them and conceiving of them only in terms of those features in respect of which they do not differ from one another.

Ockham, however, argues that this view is flawed and that universals cannot be reduced to mere mental constructs. He contends that Boethius' model of universals, as depicted in the OntoUML diagram, (Boethius on universals Class/Package) is inadequate, and that genera and species are not real entities but rather abstract concepts.

In conclusion, Ockham's criticisms of Aquinas' argument for God's existence highlight the importance of rigorously examining the foundations of philosophical arguments. While Aquinas posits that God's existence can be inferred through reason and observation, Ockham argues that this notion is based on flawed assumptions about the nature of universals and genus.

References:

Klima, G. (2017). Boethius on Universals. In The Oxford Handbook of Aristotle (pp. 343-364).

Spade, P. V. (2009). Five Texts on the Mediaeval Problem of Universals: Aquinas, Scotus, Ockham, Burleigh and Bradwardine. Hackett Publishing.

Ockham against aquinas existence of god