Metaphysical Demonstration of the Existence of God

The two Disputations of the present volume open the second part of Francisco Suárez's famous Disputationes metaphysicae. Marking a turn from being in general, the subject matter of metaphysics and the concern of the first part, Disputation 28, presents various divisions of being in general, whose members equate with God and creatures. Disputation 29, in an expressly metaphysical way that reflects Avicenna, demonstrates the existence of God, the principal member. The demonstration hinges on the principle, "Everything which comes to be, comes to be by another" and scales the ladder of the common analogous concept of being from lesser and lower being to a First Being. In the course of his argument, Suárez rejects any "physical" demonstration, which would employ the Aristotelian principle, "Everything which is moved is moved by another," in order to pass from motion to a First Mover. Other topics that he treats include, in Disputation 28, the analogy of being between God and creatures, and in Disputation 29, the fact that there is only one God who is the creator of all else.