In “The Existence of God,” Saint Thomas Aquinas presents five ways to prove that God exists. In his fourth argument, Aquinas states the “Argument from Gradation” as the following:
- Premise No. 1: If there is nothing perfectly good, then one object cannot be better than another.
- Premise No. 2: But some objects are better than others.
- Conclusion: Therefore, there is something perfectly good [which is God].
In Aquinas’s fourth argument, “object” may be defined as material items, animals, and other phenomena. In this argument, Premise No. 1 asserts that no one object can be more valuable or preferred in comparison to another object if there is not a standard of total perfection by which to judge the value of the object. Stated another way, if there is no standard of ultimate or total perfection from which to measure an object’s value, which Aquinas refers to as the “perfectly good” standard, then no one object can be better then another object.
Premise No. 2, however, acknowledges that there are in fact, objects that are better than others. when valuing objects that are designed to transport people, a car will most likely be considered a “better object” of transportation than a horse-drawn wagon. Thus, Aquinas’ fourth argument would conclude that a standard of perfection must exist in order for a car to be better than a horse-drawn wagon since the standard of perfection is essential for the process of comparison. By having this perfect standard, one can compare objects; without it, according to Aquinas, one cannot. For this reason, Aquinas concludes that a perfect object, which he concludes is God, is essential. This is his “Argument from Gradation”.
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I, however, question the validity of Premise No. 1, which states that no one object can be more valuable or preferred in comparison to another object if there is not a standard of total perfection by which to judge the value of the object. It certainly would seem that you can, indeed, have an object that is better than another object, without there being an object that is perfectly good by which to measure the object’s value.
For example, most would say that a dog is better than a snake for a family pet. Yet, there is no standard of what makes a perfect pet. The idea of a “perfect pet” probably differs from person to person. Yet Aquinas would argue that in order to measure an object, in this case, an animal to be used as a pet, there must be an animal that is perfectly good and the perfect pet. If there was a perfectly good pet, then every other animal would fall beneath it in terms of their value as a pet. I suggest that this premise is simply not necessary to compare and value two animals as potential pets.
People can value one object over another object simply because they value the objects that way, not because there has to be a measurable standard of perfection. This writer submits that this is simply the way that people think. Moreover, people have their own subjective ideas of perfection, and the “perfect pet” may differ from person to person. The point is this: The standard of total perfection by which to measure something can evolve and change over time. And, if the standard is consistently changing, how can it ever be a permanent standard by which we measure whether something is totally perfect or totally good.
Of course, Aquinas might respond to this argument by stating that the ‘‘Argument from Gradation” uses empirical observation of goodness in contrasting objects and that, consequently, being an à posteriori argument [knowledge from experience], that the argument has support. The fallacy of the argument, however, is that the theory assumes an object of pristine goodness must exist.
While Aquinas, using empirical observation, may have concluded that many people do prefer one object over one another object, those personal choices may not due to a belief that the object of choice was perfect, but that the object was what they simply preferred at the time. As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is an object’s measure of perfection.
If God is to be proven by anything other than faith, I respectfully submit that Saint Thomas Aquinas’ “Argument from Gradation” does not support the conclusion that God exists.
