An Introduction to the Five Ways of St. Thomas Aquinas, Part 10

The Fourth Way: The Argument from Degrees of Perfection

1. Among beings, we see that there are some that are more good and others less good, some more noble and others less noble, some more true and others less true, etc…
2. But “more” and “less” (ie: degree of perfection) are determined by their relation to a “most” (ie: a greatest perfection) as one rock is determined to be hotter than another because it is closer to what is “hottest.”
3. So there is something which is greatest in goodness, in nobility, in truth and, as such, something which is greatest in being, since greater and lesser degrees of perfection reference a greatest degree, and it is better to be than not to be.
4. Now, the greatest degree of perfection is the cause of all perfections in any particular being.
5. There must, therefore, be a cause of all goodness, nobleness, truth, and every other perfection in all beings, and this we call God.

All things that are good, noble or true participate in the perfections of goodness, nobility or truth. The degree to which they participate in these perfections is what determines whether they are more or less good, more or less noble, more or less true. This is how the greatest degree of perfection is the cause of all perfections. So, something that is more noble than another participates in the perfection of nobility to a greater degree than something that is less noble. Just so, a thing has being because it participates in the perfection of being. It’s better to be than not to be, so things that exist participate in a greater degree of being than those that don’t exist, obviously. Since the greatest degree of perfection is the cause of all perfections in any particular being, then there must be a greatest Being that is the cause of all being, just as there is a greatest good, a greatest nobility, a greatest truth that are the causes of all goodness, all nobility, all truth. Now, for Thomas, this greatest Being is not only the cause of all being, but of all goodness, nobility, truth and, indeed, of every perfection, because every other perfection is rooted in being, since no being could possess any other perfection unless it first participated in the perfection of being. A “perfection” is something that is good and something one ought to have according to one’s nature, while a privation is the lack of a good thing that one ought to have according to one’s nature. According to human nature, humans should have two arms. To have only one arm, by a genetic anomaly or for whatever reason, would be a privation. Of course, the first perfection is to exist, while the greatest privation would be to not exist. God, being pure Act and pure Being, is the Being that possesses all perfections and no privations.

Objection to the Argument from Degrees of Perfection

So, God possesses perfect smelliness?

Richard Dawkins famously protested in his book, The God Delusion, that one may as well argue that God possesses perfect “smelliness.” But, smelliness, as it should be clear from the discussion above, is not a perfection, but a privation. Things smell badly not because they possess the perfection of smelliness, but because they lack the perfection of cleanliness. God possesses all perfections and wants for nothing. Therefore, God cannot be smelly!

At a more serious level, of course, Thomas isn’t really concerned about smelliness or cleanliness, or other mundane attributes things may possess. The examples he uses are intended as helps to understand what he is talking about: namely, that those qualities that are transcendent, toward which all things are drawn by their very nature, are measured as better or less in any particular thing according to a hierarchy of perfection. But, this hierarchy of perfection, to which we all submit (for we regard it better to be truthful rather than untruthful, to be noble rather than ignoble, to be morally good rather than immoral, and even to be rather than to not be) depends on some standard of perfection from which all others attain their own degrees of perfection.

If you have an orange bouncy ball, for instance, we can see that a bouncy ball shares in a higher degree of being than the color orange, for the ball has actual substance, while the color orange depends on the existence of a material substance in order to exist (in other words, the color “orange” doesn’t exist out there independent of things that are orange). Angels possess a higher degree of being than bouncy balls, for angels don’t depend on material substances to exist, and don’t share in the tendency of material things to corrupt. God, then, possesses an even higher degree of existence, because His existence is dependent on nothing else. Indeed, God is the Being on which all others depend. We see this hierarchy of being, then, and recognize that it only makes sense in light of the existence of that Being Who possesses all perfections and no privations.

We can take this hierarchical principle that applies to the quality of existence and apply it to the other transcendent qualities: goodness, truth, nobility. We see that some things are more good, more truthful, and more noble than other things. Again, this only makes sense in relation to a Being Who is perfectly good, perfectly true, perfectly noble; in other words, a Being Who possesses every perfection and no privations.

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.