The Medieval Nun - St. Thomas Aquinas Made Simple

The Medieval Nun

St. Thomas Aquinas Made Simple

The Medieval Nun
Keri Peardon, proprietress
3619 Rocky Glade Road
Eagleville, TN 37060
Website: www.TheMedieval Nun.com
Etsy Store: www.TheMedievalNun.etsy.co m
E-mail: Keri@TheMedievalNun.com

Round, The Third

Mediator: Welcome to the third round of the this debate. This round will focus on goodness. This round
will have three questions.

I put before you the question: is every being good?

Popular Party: No, not every being is good. Firstly, whatever is added to being limits it, and goodness has
been added to mankind, thus goodness limits us, so some beings must not be good.

Secondly, no evil is good. Isaiah, verse 5 says, “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil,” proving the
existence of evil. Therefore not all beings are good.

Thirdly, in mathematics, there is no concept of goodness, although mathematicals are entities because they
make up the science of math. If mathematicals are not good, then there is not goodness in all things.

Aquinas: I Timothy 4:4 states that “every creature of God is good.” God created everything [see Genesis]
and it is all good. God does not create that which is not good.

Firstly, while physical substance may limit a being (a third leg, for instance, would be a hindrance), goodness
is not physical, nor could it possibly limit a being in any way. Since everything desires it, adding it to a being
will make that being better, not lesser.

Secondly, no being, on its whole, is evil. Evil arises from a lack of being. Men are evil when they lack virtue,
just as an eye is bad when it lacks vision. But every man has within him the potential for goodness because
God created him.

Thirdly, mathematical equations do not exist in reality, therefore they can neither be good nor evil.

Question One complete.

Afterward: St. Thomas was wrong; all math is evil.

Question Two.

Mediator: I put before you the question: whether to be good belongs to God?

Popular Party: No, good does not belong to God. Good is what all things desire. But some people do not
desire God because they do not know him. Therefore to be good must not belong to God.

Aquinas: I would counter that all beings desire perfection (which is good), and God is perfection, therefore
all beings both desire good and God.

Question Two complete.

Question Three.

Mediator: I put before you the question: is God the highest good?

Popular Party: God is not the highest good. Firstly, for something to be the highest good, it must contain
more than a normal amount of goodness; it must have added goodness. That would make the highest
goodness a composite, and yet it was proven earlier that God is simple. Therefore God cannot be the highest
good.

Secondly, Luke says that none is good but God alone. How can He therefore be the highest good if there is
no lesser good with which to compare him?

Thirdly, you may only compare things which are of the same genus. Is a horse more good than an apple?
God is not comparable with any other thing, because there is only one God; therefore he can’t be the highest
good in relation to anything else.

Aquinas: Firstly, the highest good does not actually add good on top of good; it is relational (e.g. this thing is
more good than that thing), not literal (e.g. good stacked on top of good).

Secondly, all things have the potential for good within them, as we have discussed before. God is not the sole
good thing in creation, but rather He is the essence of goodness and its originator. He is perfect goodness,
which none else can achieve—which also makes Him the highest form of goodness, because something
perfect is better than something which is not.

Thirdly, we are discussing the highest good imaginable, which would necessitate crossing geneses, therefore
it is acceptable to compare God to His creation to see which is the higher good. Again, as God is perfect and
creation is not, God must contain the highest good of all things known or imagined.

Question Three, complete. End of Round Three.