In this sense, the work demonstrates that God exists through reason. I mean difficult in that Feser expects a lot from readers, and he gives a lot too.įeser, as the book’s title indicates, shows five proofs for God’s existence. I should note: I do not mean difficult because one cannot understand or follow Feser’s arguments. As noted, he does not waste words.Īs a reviewer, I am thus somewhat restrained when it comes “to whom” I would recommend this book.
He does not ease into arguments through stories or long illustrations. While Five Proofs can be read by an average reader, it will likely tax almost anyone who reads it. In short, he is not afraid to engage with the best of those with whom he disagrees.įeser’s success here also reveals a potential weakness. What makes this latter point so powerful is that Feser cites and refers to a wide range of scholarship that argues against him. At the level of clear logic and argumentation, Feser successfully conveys with persuasiveness five arguments for God he also answers an ocean of objections. Here is a 330-page book dedicated to arguing line-by-line for the existence of God. It thereby serves as a refutation both of atheism and of the fideism that gives aid and comfort to atheism.Edward Feser does not waste words. Its aim is to vindicate the view of the greatest philosophers of the past- thinkers like Aristotle, Plotinus, Augustine, Aquinas, Leibniz, and many others- that the existence of God can be established with certainty by way of purely rational arguments. This work provides as ambitious and complete a defense of traditional natural theology as is currently in print.
Finally, it answers at length all of the objections that have been leveled against these proofs. It also offers a thorough treatment of each of the key divine attributes-unity, simplicity, eternity, omnipotence, omniscience, perfect goodness, and so forth-showing that they must be possessed by the God whose existence is demonstrated by the proofs.
This book provides a detailed, updated exposition and defense of five of the historically most important (but in recent years largely neglected) philosophical proofs of God's existence: the Aristotelian, the Neo-Platonic, the Augustinian, the Thomistic, and the Rationalist.
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