Why is there Something?

IC XC
✙
NI KA

THE PROJECT was a conversation/presentation for our local chapter of the Dominican lay fraternity on Chapter 12 of The One and the Many: A Contemporary Thomistic Metaphysics by Fr W. Norris Clarke, SJ. The chapter was on Efficient Cause, which is one of the four causes of Aristotelian and Thomistic philosophy. Here follow the notes for the talk. Yes, I ended a talk on Thomistic Metaphysics with Dolly Parton.

I Opening
A Previous section deals with what are things?
–1 Good review on page 178
B This new section is asking why are there things at all?
–1 New problem, also stated on 178, Why is it that this whole world of finite being actually exists at all? How come there is a community of real existents actually present for us to experience? and what explains why these beings actually undergo accidental and essential changes ?

II Causes (review???)
A Four Causes of anything
–1 Material Cause
—a What random stuff is it made of?
–2 Formal Cause
—a What brings the matter out of randomness into order?
–3 Efficient Cause
—a What brings the form and matter together?
–4 Final Cause
—a To what end?

III Since matter and form have been the topic of the previous chapters, the Efficient Cause is the topic of this chapter. Final cause will be next class.
B Objections first…
–1 Materialism
—a Hume
–2 Faith, sorry, you need it.

IV Themes
A Do we have a need for causes?
–1 Infinite regress – turtles all the way down?
–2 Isn’t infinity (and a shrug) just an excuse for don’t having to think about it?
—a Chicken and Egg
—–1 Not metaphysical, but rather actually based on theory of evolution.
—–2 Egg
—b But what caused the egg?
—–1 There is no straight up and purely logical proof of the need for an efficient cause page 182
——-a Faith
——-b Some older arguments for God are eliminated by modern science page 183
B Two icons
–1 The meaning of icons (homage paid to the type passes to the antitype)
—a These two are prints of Russian icons, copies of two from Our Lady of Fatima.
–1 What is/are the cause(s) of each?
–2 Does that explain why they are here?

V Axioms
A Please think of Jesus in this section….
–1 Action (actio) and passion (passion)
—a Thing done, and thing undergoing the thing done
B The action is not in the cause but in the effect
C Cause and effect are simultaneous.
–1 Action and Passion (page 190)
D What causes the effect undergoes no change or loss
E Causal power not observable to our senses
F No effect can be greater than the cause
–1 Can the effect be equal/coterminous with the cause?

VI Implications
A God as efficient cause means continual action/sustaining
–1 What would Christians say? Metaphysics must explain not only a something but a Christian something or they are meaningless (a-logos/alogical)
B Problem of evolution
C God present in all parts of life
–1 Faith, sorry, you need it
–2 In different ways, in different effects
—a Always to the same end, “All things work together for good to them that love God.” (Romans 8:28)
——-1 That is final cause, but we will, as I mentioned talk about that next time.
–3 Future implications, but what about present?
–4 Church is life of the Kingdom (Jesus as Kingdom) in this world
—a Jesus incarnation as fundamental act of being
–5 Sacraments then reconnect us to what is actually already there – our fundamental act of being in Christ.
—a Baptism of Christ/Our Baptism
—b Early Eucharistic prayers… creating communion bread
—c Confession turns our sins into reconnections with God even in the past
—d More on time in the discussion of Augustine!
—e Jesus was tempted. Without sin. So even our temptations can – through prayer (relationship) – be made into the presence of God.

VII Additional Questions?

VIII Closing
A After all this, there is Jesus.