Evolution, Natural Selection, and God's Causality (Aquinas 101)

Is it possible for God to accomplish his plan through chance events in the world? This is a key question, not only for a right understanding of the theories of evolution and natural selection, but more generally for experimental science as a whole. Contemporary sciences investigate things in the world -- this is to study them as secondary causes. But philosophy (and faith) can be sure that, whatever science discovers, the kind of causality that a creature has is never in competition with God’s transcendent and primary causality of the world and of every being in it. Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P., a Dominican friar from the Province of St. Joseph, explores how God is the source of what science studies.

Primary and Secondary Causality: Principles and Distinctions (Aquinas 101) - Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P.


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Aquinas 101 is a project of the Thomistic Institute that seeks to promote Catholic truth through short, engaging video lessons. You can browse earlier videos at your own pace or enroll in one of our Aquinas 101 email courses on St. Thomas Aquinas and his masterwork, the Summa Theologiae. In these courses, you'll learn from expert scientists, philosophers, and theologians—including Dominican friars from the Province of St. Joseph.

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This video was made possible through the support of grant #61944 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

[wun__]

finally a reasonable christian approach to things. i'm not a christian (also not an atheist), not even much sympathetic to christianism. but many people are, and it is relieving, to say the least, to see someone making some Actual logical consistent sense of things in a conciliatory way for those people. great job. i do hope you get much more views, to outcompete all the nonsense out there.

[renecordero]

This is an excellent presentation. It is amazing how Aquinas can unravel difficult topics and make them easy to understand. Aquinas is a gift that God has given to the Catholic Church and to her mission to save souls and bring them to God.

[xrisc]

Great explanation of primary and secondary causes. I’ve read some of the Summa. I’ve read all of Kreeft’s Summa of the Summa. It’s all still too deep for me. These videos bring me a little closer. I kinda of hope I never finally understand… the fun is learning.

[prayerbladeproductions]

Thank you for making this! I always have seen either the first view you articulated in the beginning of the video, or the second view. It's great to see that those aren't the only options, and that Aquinas's view can reconcile the two views, and make a distinct one.

[dhdh]

I just began new St. Thomas Fan. His philosophy is the only one that may serve as holistic foundation for sound social organization. Greets from Poland.

[anthonyw]

I held the viewpoint that in matters of science and scientific debates (including philosophy), excluding the idea of God is appropriate. These videos are truly opening my vision,

[roisinpatriciagaffney]

Thank you, Father Legge.
Pax Christi.

[shadowlinks]

Can't wait to see more from this series.

[theplinkerslodge]

God is threaded thru reality in dimensions we cannot sense or fathom. All places at one time. With each one of us, all at one time (if asked).

[winstonbarquez]

Evolution may explain the origin of the species, but not the origin of life itself.

[JonTopping]

I'm a bit confused here. From what I understand Aquinas did hold to free will to some degree, and we couldn't call him a divine causal determinist. In this sense of primary causes explained in the video, this would seem to imply that anything that is ever done by a creature ultimately has its source in God as the primary cause. So in the case of evil, it would almost seem to be improper to blame the secondary cause, because ultimately God is the primary cause of that evil act. After all, as the video says, no secondary causation is at odds with God's primary causation. This would seem to imply theological determinism. So I'm confused if the video has misrepresented how Aquinas saw primary/secondary causes, or if Aquinas might have been affirming a contradiction without realizing it, or if there's just some way I'm misunderstanding this.
Thanks for any help anyone can provide!

[john-paulgies]

Agreed. Wholeheartedly.
Still not convinced that evolution is where species come from.
Looking forward to wherever this goes.

[jacobcarne]

“Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly, yet, by the same providence, He ordereth them to fall out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.” Westminster Confession of Faith 5.2

[SevenDeMagnus]

Cool, thank you, this'll make it easier to show agnostics and atheists like Ricky Gervais, Elon Musk, Sabine, Tyson, Kaku, Brian Cox, etc.

God bless.

[danielcarriere]

I'd live a talk on Miracles in terms of primary and secondary causality!

[MarkGido]

This was a big help to me with a issue that I've been wrestling with for years ... Does God control every electron, photon, et cetera? I think this video has set me on the right path -- God is the cause of things that are the cause of other things. So if I got this right, God may not directly guide/control each photon but created the electron, for example, such that when it changes states, the electron can emit a photon. Am I understanding this correctly? Comments?

[lakingssuperfan]

Outstanding and eyeopening, as usual; God bless you all.

[kamiljan]

As great as always! God be with ye panda looking brothers!

[metatron]

There was death before there were humans that committed the first sin. How do you explain that?

[ianb]

I find this answer deeply unsatisfying. I have no issue with God working through secondary causes, and a sort of evolutionary process, to produce the body of man and the various species. That's all pretty straightforward and unproblematic.

But Darwin (and modern neo-Darwininian theory) was quite clearly trying to assert something significantly more than that with his particular concept of natural selection. The point was and is to account for biological function in reductionistic, mechanistic, physicalist terms. It's primarily a metaphysical project that entails a radical nominalism as regards biology, and holds that living organisms are mere aggregates of matter cobbled together over time.

The pervasive function we see in biology is conceived in extrinsic terms like that of human artifacts (a la Paley or Descartes), but with the further reduction that natural selection is supposed to be merely analogical to human artificers, devoid of any intention or foresight, so that even the extrinsic biological function is merely apparent, and purpose doesn't objectively exist in biology at all.

Likewise, "random" for purposes of Darwinian explanation doesn't mean lacking in observable correlations. It means *unintended*, ungoverned and undirected towards any end, neither by direct intervention nor by providence working through secondary causes.

I see a persistent refusal or inability by the vast majority of Thomists and other theistic evolutionists to address these issues clearly, and it's absolutely tragic, because the Darwinian account of biological function is incoherent, and Thomists are best situated to explain *why* it's incoherent and to reassert why biological organisms must be substances. Meanwhile, Darwinists themselves are typically not nearly so circumspect in asserting their own account of biological function (or the absence thereof), so they go unanswered. And that account strikes directly at Natural Law, at essentialism, at the existence of reason and the philosophy of mind, and even at theism itself, doing extraordinary damage to the faith of millions.

Those of us out there struggling in the trenches, we really need your help.