What's in a Name? The Logic of 'God,' Existence, and The Five Ways: "Respondeo dicendum quod Deum esse quinque viis probari potest."

abstract: After discussing the Goal Objection—a twofold objection to Aquinas's Five Ways—the paper disambiguates the use of the Latin deus (god) in Aquinas's discussion. Then, analyzing the semantics of the disambiguated deus , it argues that the Five Ways are not intended to be a demonstration of there being only one god, as one form of the objection has it. Further, the ways do not lead to idolatry or atheism, as another form of the objection has it. They do not intend to demonstrate the existence of God at all, although their conclusions, if true, are made true by the existence of God.