(January 3, 2023 at 8:26 am)Fake Messiah Wrote:(January 3, 2023 at 7:40 am)GrandizerII Wrote: So in this context, evolution is not considered by this Thomist to be an essential cause of "the origin of species".
Interestingly enough, natural selection would be considered a confirmation (not a rebuttal) of the Fifth Way according to modern Thomists since it is directed towards an end.
If you want more information, please google
For starters, if evolution is so in tune with Thomistic theology then why has not the Catholic Church acknowledged evolution? At "best" the Catholic Church holds no official position on the theory of creation or evolution.
And when it comes to the research you insist I do on google to see how evolution is so in tune with Thomistic theology, then here is a book for you by Dominican Thomist Father Michael Chaberek
"Aquinas and Evolution: Why St. Thomas' Teaching on the Origins is Incompatible with Evolutionary Theory"
https://www.amazon.com/Aquinas-Evolution...099198806X
"Dominican Thomist Father Michael Chaberek explores the areas in which Aquinas’ philosophy seems inconsistent with the theory of evolution, exposing philosophical fault lines in current evolutionary theory. Father Chaberek, the author of Catholicism and Evolution and a contributor to More Than Myth?: Seeking the Full Truth about Genesis, Creation and Evolution, takes on this sacred cow of modern science with clarity, objectivity and intelligence."
Regarding your first question. Ask the fucking pope, lol. This has nothing to do with me. All I argued is that, according to modern Thomists, the Fifth Way is not refuted by Darwinian evolution.
You also seem to misunderstand my motive here. I'm not asking you to research whether the Fifth Way is sound and therefore evolution must be compatible with it. I suggested you google for more information if you wanted to have a more informed understanding of the argument along with any relevant terminology so that you could therefore come up with a better critique of the argument and quotes made by Thomists such as in the OP. You instead followed your confirmation bias and went to look up something that would support what you choose to believe, and it wasn't even real research anyway, since you just linked to a book which I can bet you actually didn't read and have no plan of reading. Also, a look at the reviews suggests that the author acknowledges that the Fifth Way is accepted by many of his fellow Thomists to be compatible with Darwinian evolution, which lends support to what I was saying earlier.
Aquinas could have been a young earth creationist for all I care, it doesn't change how the argument itself is interpreted by modern Thomists. And it's the updated arguments/interpretations that the atheist who wishes to critique arguments for God should focus on ... after, of course, first understanding the argument properly.
